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“A genius” - Nai Palm
“One of the most incredible live performances I’ve seen” - Gilles Peterson
“He's like a human centipede sewn out of all the greatest musicians from the past 80 years” - Liam Pieper

Emerging from Brisbane’s music-art bohemian West End in 2008, self-taught, prodigious musician Lachlan Mitchell aka Laneous, began his eclectic and colourful journey in music as the leading member of funk band KAFKA, stamping his trademark falsetto croon on an Australian music landscape that wasn’t quite ready for an artist whose standout influence was D’Angelo’s ‘Voodoo’. Word of their talent soon reached UK’s perennial tastemaker Gilles Peterson who featured the band on his compilation, Brownswood Bubblers Four alongside other breakthrough acts at the time, Mayer Hawthorne, Floating Points and Lone. A world-class guitarist, vocalist, composer, visual artist and – significantly - muse, Mitchell’s unique ability to shine, create and inspire across genres was his obvious forte, even then. Regularly sought after to provide features for other bands and cover art for Hiatus Kaiyote albums Tawk Tomahawk and Choose Your Weapon, he worked diligently to support his community. But while Hiatus’ Nai Palm told media Laneous was “a genius” he often credited music and drawings to pseudonyms.

In 2016, after 8 years of humbly dominating the Australian underground art, soul and jazz scene [with ‘mutant-soul/croon punk’ cult group Laneous & The Family Yah, reggae band Kooii and improv-jazz-beat trio, Vulture Street Tape Gang] Mitchell relocated to Melbourne - a move that would instigate and inspire the long-awaited debut solo LANEOUS record that fans and peers had been craving for nearly a decade. Excited to create new music with an artist they’d previously referenced as an inspiration, Paul Bender and Simon Mavin (Hiatus Kaiyote) came on board swiftly, joined by Hudson Whitlock (Cactus Channel) on drums and Donny Stewart (Jazz Party) on vibraphone and flugelhorn - a key element in bringing Mitchell’s vision of an exotica/soul infused album to life. In classic Laneous fashion, the musical references for the record run deep, winding through an eclectic array of artists from Martin Denny, Burt Bacharach and The Beach Boys to Shuggie Otis, Wild Cookie and Wu-Tang.

The debut single Modern Romance was unleashed in October 2018 with a kinky, captivating visual accompaniment that marked the return of the Laneous legacy. After selling out the Melbourne launch of the single, the band was invited to headline Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide FM x Northside Records live Melbourne broadcast, teasing exclusive album cuts and drawing high praise from Peterson, stating it was “..one of the most incredible live performances I’ve seen’.

Out May 10 via Soul Has No Tempo, Mitchell’s MONSTERA DELICIOSA stands as a sublime genre work, peerless in Australia - his magnum opus bears the name that’s backed him from day one:

When the Tramp Records crew read the internet-sweeping spam/story of Nigerian Astronaut and Air Force pilot Abacha Tunde, they knew that they had to spring into action to help this unfortunate fella out. Dr. Bakare Tunde, the cousin of Abacha Tunde explained the situation as follows: "My cousin was the first African in space when he made a secret flight to the Skylab Space Station in 1979, shortly before it crashed to Earth. 19 years later he was on his second spaceflight, this time to a secret Moon Base located on the far side of the Moon. In 1999 his crew members returned to earth, but his place was taken up by return cargo. There have been occasional supply flights to keep him going since that time. Although he is in good humor, he wants to come home, now, after 20 years in space."

After this hilarious story the idea of a compilation album was born - and "Trip To The Moon" is the result. The goal to raise three million dollars to cover the cost of Abacha Tunde's return flight may never be achieved. Nevertheless, a 41 year experience in the music business is the basis for a fantabulous track listing of 11 amazing and highly underrated Rare Grooves about the Moon!

The Swinging Astronauts open the set, followed by La La Wilson's equally great rhythm & blues rocker "The Moon Man Is Back". With The Moon-Dawgs, this album makes a slight turn into the 1960s garage rock era while Hase Cäsar (backed by none other than the famous Ingfried Hoffmann and his orchestra!) contributes one of two songs of german origin. Now it's time for some funk: Rev. Jamel & Bob Johnson's "Walking On The Moon (Men Are Starving)" criticizes the US government for spending millions of dollars for their space program instead of supporting their own people. "Mars in 75" is deepfunk at its best although some may lament the lack of production. Sidney Ownen's breakbeat-laden "Sputnik" is sought after in collector's circles and needs no justification as to why it is included on this album. Ernest & D.L. Rocco's "Moon Child" is our personal favourite, closely followed by the hypnotic groove of "Mondgesicht" by legendary german saxophonist Ambros Seelos. Scott Cunningham's name should ring a bell as he was featured on several Tramp compilations over the past few years. Finally, the album closes with a psychedelic folk track titled "Voyage To The Moon".

Tramp Records is absolutely convinced that this album will surely be the best way to shorten the wait for Abacha until a rescue space mission finally brings our African soul brother back home.

Key selling points:

- deluxe gatefold LP with detailed liner notes and unseen photographs
- the vinyl LP comes with a full album download code
- most of the songs appear on a 12" album for the very first-time

Primarily based in Leeds, The Lewis Express is comprised of many of the musicians that have graced previous ATA releases: George Cooper, Piano (Abstract Orchestra) Neil Innes, Bass (The Sorcerers, The Magnificent Tape Band, Tony Burkill), Sam Hobbs, Drums (Dread Supreme, Tony Burkill, Matthew Bourne) and Pete Williams, Percussion (The Sorcerers, The Magnificent Tape Band, Tony Burkill).Recorded over an intense two-day session, 'Clap Your Hands' is heavily influenced by the classic soul jazz recordings of The Young Holt Trio / Young Holt Unlimited, and Ramsey Lewis, from who this group take their name. As with many of the classic Ramsey Lewis cuts this album was recorded live, capturing the rich inter-relationship between the players and leaving in some of that chunky room noise.

'Clap your hands' builds on the template set by their eponymous debut album and further explores the 60's soul-jazz of Ramsey lewis, Young-Holt and Ray Charles as well as the latin boogaloo of Eddie Cano and Pete Terrace. The band's intention was to produce an album of dancefloor friendly, uplifting, funky soul-jazz with a stripped back line up of Piano, Bass, Drums and Percussion. Ranging from the mod-jazz of 'Stomp Your Feet' (a Ramsey-esque groover that's just made-to-measure for dancers) and 'Out From The Rock' (Funky drums and plenty of blues-dipped soul from the Piano) to the driving boogaloo of title track 'Clap Your Hands' and the Ellignton-esque 'Moola Umemo' (Remeniscent of Ellington's 'Money Jungle'). Each track is, in it's own way, aimed squarley at the dancefloor and sure to go down well with both DJs and listeners alike.

"Clap Your Hands" is certainly a more contained album from The Lewis Express, whose debut moved around different camps. It's a tighter, more focussed record that wears it's inspiration proudly on it's sleeve.

Radio support expected from Gilles Peterson (BBC6 Music, Worldwide Fm), Craig Charles (BBC6 Music, Radio 2), Jamie Cullum (Radio 2) and Huey Morgan (BBC6 Music).

Hoarder is the latest project in a long line of collaborations between Andy Butler (Hercules and Love Affair) and multi- media artist Joie Iacono. Building a sonic world sourced from organic, electronic, and found sounds, the two have waded neck deep into noise-oriented, darker territories over the past 3 years in the studio, and just the tip of the iceberg is revealed on this first EP with London based Khemia Records,
While the four tracks definitely nod to 80’s industrial and techno, with Butler’s knack for arrangement and tenure producing music, and their combined years steeped in the culture, the Ep feels inspired by the era rather than replication or straight homage.
The intention to create a complete visual world alongside these musical experiments is very evident in the video for “Tetanus Spike”. Culling from her years as a visual artist, working with under names like David Armstrong, Dike Blair, Annie Sprinkle and Billy Sullivan, Iacono’s nuanced and sometimes brutal take on portraiture and her inherent sense of rhythm with the moving image boldly comes through. The anti-aesthetic and chaos they are investigating most definitely reflects from their shared love of Fluxus and Actionist art, and the power of performance. Ultimately, in an existential moment of fragmentation, unease, and a creeping sense of powerlessness Hoarder’s approach feels right. Rejecting the superficial and longing for lost authenticity, the time to destroy and rebuild has indeed come, and Hoarder can and will further help provoke it’s onset.

Wiederveröffentlichung des Albums aus dem Jahr 2000! - "Humble African" ist für viele Experten der beste Longplayer, den Roots-Ikone Culture aka Joseph Hill in den 90er & Nuller Jahren veröffentlicht hat. Mit den Gästen Marcia Griffiths, Morgan Heritage und Tony Rebel sowie einer starken Besetzung an Musikern als Rhythmusgruppe mit kompletten Bläsersatz von Dean Fraser (Saxophon), Chico Chin (Trompete) und Nambo Robinson (Posaune). Am Mischpult saßen bei der Aufnahme die Toningenieure Errol Brown und Shane Brown, den finalen Mix übernahm Stephen Stanley unter der Federführung des Produzentenduos Lynford "Fatta" Marshall & Collin "Bulby" York aka Fat Eyes Team.

Vinyl-Wiederveröffentlichung des vierten Studioalbums von Millencolin aus dem Jahr 2000.

Melancholie verbinden die meisten mit Schwermut. Für Skater ist "Melancholy" aber einfach ein Trick mit dem
Board. Und wer des Schwedischen mächtig ist, verbindet Millencolin mit einer Ska-Punk-Band. Die wird von
Nikola Sarcevic (Gesang, Bass), Erik Ohlsson (Gitarre) und Mathias Färm (Gitarre, Drums) im Herbst 1992 in
Örebro, Schweden, beim - ist doch klar! - Skaten gegründet. Komplett ist die Band 1993, als Schlagzeuger
Fredrik Larzon dazu stößt. Einige Platten und weltweite Touren später erscheint im Frühjahr 2000 ihr viertes
Album "Pennybridge Pioneers". Pennybridge ist die wörtliche Übersetzung des Namens ihrer Heimatstadt
Örebro (Öre = Penny, Bro = Bridge). Produzent ist Brett Gurewitz, Chef der Labels Epitaph und ehemals
Mitglied der amerikanischen Punk-Urgesteine Bad Religion. Für viele Kritiker gilt "Pennybridge Pioneers" als
beste Veröffentlichung von Millencolin. Kennzeichnend für das Album ist der Abschied von Ska-Rhythmen bei
gleichzeitiger Hinwendung zu eher rockigeren Riffs. Wenn man so will, bietet "Pennybridge Pioneers"
Punkrock nach amerikanischer Tradition in einer schwedischen Variante. Die Vinyl-Wiederveröffentlichung
kommt wie seinerzeit das Original via Epitaph auf den Markt.

French lifeguard and sonic artist Roméo Poirier’s long sold out debut tape finally gets a vinyl reissue. “Plage Arrière” is a deep sea meditation on a constellation of Greek beaches across three islands. Trumpets, echo-clicks and Harold Budd-esque shimmer piano whirl together on these seductive scapes, which recall the sub-aqeaous ambitions of Jürgen Müller or Jan Jelinek inspecting a coral reef.

Like sand-caked postcards, or pieces of seaglass tumbled and re-engineered by their surroundings, each piece exists a keepsake from the song's namesake beach.

These missives glide in and out of earshot, bustling like miniature engines, finely tuned and rhythmically confounding. They echo the factory sampling work of YMO on Technodelic: industrial but somehow good-natured, a symbiosis of machinery and wildlife - like an artificial reef or propeller blades smothered in algae.

Plage Arrière is Roméo’s second album this year following “Kystwerk”, where he joined forces with the Norwegian poet Lars Haga Raavand. “Plage” also marks the inaugural release for SWIMS, a new experimental-focused imprint of Cold Blow, who are releasing the LP alongside London label and NTS residents Kit Records.

The album has been remastered for vinyl by Sam Annand of Esk. Building on its original artwork, the vinyl edition features new photography by Roméo himself.

Eduardo De La Calle presents his new 12 inches in the new Rhod platform...

4 very sequential techno cuts with synoptic reviews and clearly syncopatic reactions produced with the intention and need of an intense search for new sounds and structures.

Eduardo always shows influences from the early and old pioneers who took control in the techno music business on previous decades...

we can name a few artists like New World Aquarium, Luke Slater or more recently Aubrey that have strongly influenced Eduardo in recent and format times also labels like Shelter Records or Solid Groove are important to be mentioned, they are platforms where Eduardo has also received notable influences when making this record.

In general terms a very solid 12" inch with character an over all... a work with personality for the most demanding DJs.

Mastered by Javier 'KTC Mastering'
Design - Antonio Romero

Rhod Records.

Mateo Kingman conceives of his second album Astro as a cure for the healthy. It’s a journey across the constellation of the snake, a journey at once earthly and cosmic. The poetic text expressed with a multiplicity of vocal timbres drives the musical journey, starting with the decision to face up to our demons, passing through a deep sense of vertigo and sacred healings, to return us to ourselves, reconciled and grateful.
 
Musically, Astro expresses an intense investigation, tying together different threads: contemporary urban song (trap, hip hop, and elements of electronic music), traditional Latin American melodies influenced by shamanic icaro chants, and the emphasis on synthesizers, resulting in a new, hypnotic kind of sound. 
In a world in which we increasingly need more stimuli and approval from the outside, Astro invites us to take a look inside and explore all the aspects of the self, from the darkest to the lightest. On this record, Mateo Kingman shows a strong point of view as the author, although he moves away from the sounds and themes with which he made his name, daring to mix current trends, urban rhythms and vocal experiments, forming a constellation through which we can all travel, showing a clear personal and musical evolution.   

Danny McLewin and Tom Coveney aka Psychemagik have dropped their new single, the effortlessly smooth and immediately deep ‘We Can Be One Ft Quinn Lamont Luke’.

An invigorating and ethereal slice of psychedelic funk, formed of reverberating acid rifts and the balearic vocals of New York’s Quinn Lamont Luke, ‘We Can Be One’ beautifully lays down the foundations and entry point into the endlessly unique and diverse world of Psychemagik.

DJs, producers and unrivaled selectors, Tom and Danny are known for their beautiful production work, obscenely vast record collections and transcendent mixtape journeys.
They boast one of the most impressive and comprehensive remix outputs in contemporary electronic music for names including Roisin Murphy, Noel Gallagher, Haim, Bryan Ferry, Beyond The Wizards Sleeve, Paul Weller and Metronomy.

This year, First Word Records celebrates its fifteenth year in the game. The year commenced triumphantly with First Word being named "record label of the year" at Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Awards 2019. Over the past six months, we've seen new music from 14KT, Souleance, Myele Manzanza, Teotima, Don Leisure, Children of Zeus and a range of artists across Europe, on the 'Music! Musik! Musique!' compilation.

To commemorate the 15th anniversary, First Word has a series of releases in the works for the second half of the year which see collaborations by artists from the label's current roster. To kick off, we have this special double-AA sided 7" single featuring Darkhouse Family, Kaidi Tatham & Tyler Daley.

Darkhouse Family consists of two Cardiff beatmakers & musicians, Earl Jeffers - founder of Melange Records and producer of 'A Library Excursion' from 2018, and Don Leisure, who recently provided us with 'Halal Cool J', the beat-tape sequel to 2017's 'Shaboo'. Over the years they've had releases, solo & individually, on Fat City, Metalheadz & Earnest Endeavors to name a few, bridging the gaps between various strains of dance music, beats and hip hop, with the organics of jazz and funk. Recently making noise across the UK with their new live band, and production work for the likes of Kamaal Williams, this is their first new release since their highly-acclaimed 2017 debut album 'The Offering' & subsequent remix project which also featured DJ Spinna, and one Kaidi Tatham.

Kaidi Tatham is one of the most revered multi-instrumentalists in the game. His endless contributions have included Bugz In The Attic, Amy Winehouse, Slum Village, Mulatu Astatke, Soul II Soul, Moonchild, Leroy Burgess, Amp Fiddler and loads more. Dubbed by Benji B last year as "the UK's Herbie Hancock", his versatility as a musician is actually more akin to Prince. He can play most things, and play them well. Providing flute duties on this track, he also graces the flipside with a full "flutestrumental" version. Aside from numerous other projects, Kaidi released three EPs on First Word to date, 'Changing Times', 'Hard Times' and 'Serious Times', and an album last year, entitled 'It's A World Before You', which featured daddy of 2000 Black, Dego, son of Jazzy Jeff, Uhmeer and Children of Zeus, Konny Kon & Tyler Daley.

Tyler Daley hails from Manchester, alongside son of Zeus, MC / DJ / beatmaker, Konny Kon. Somewhat of a veteran in the game, Tyler is currently one of the most-recognisable talents in the British soul scene, also lending his talents to dance music royalty along the way, including the likes of Goldie, Zed Bias, DJ Marky & Lenzman. With Children of Zeus, the duo have had a whirlwind 12 months since the release of their debut album 'Travel Light', performing shows across the globe & gaining new fans daily. The record was named "album of the year" by Complex magazine and BBC 6 Music's Huey Morgan, amongst a number of other notable tastemakers & selectors. Hot on the heels of the 'Excess Baggage' EP, Tyler laces this one with his inimitable brand of bars and soul.

A veritable super-group amongst the First Word stable, this low-slung slinky joint sees the guys work up a unique blend of jazz, soul, beats and hip hop - guaranteed to go 'All The Way'…

'All The Way' is released on First Word Records on July 26th 2019, limited 7" vinyl & digital.

Produced & mixed by Darkhouse Family

Vocals by Tyler Daley (Children of Zeus)


b B1. All the Way (Flutestrumental) [feat. Tyler Daley & Kaidi Tatham]


[b] B1 | All the Way (Flutestrumental) [feat. Tyler Daley & Kaidi Tatham]


[b] B1 | All the Way (Flutestrumental) [feat. Tyler Daley & Kaidi Tatham]

Like many Canadians, Joseph Shabason and Ben Gunning like to untangle themselves from urbanity and disappear up north a few times a year. Unlike other cottage-goers, Ben and Joseph don’t while away the ur-time on jet-skis and lounge on docks reading pulpy mysteries. Instead, they bring a car full of synths, drum machines, saxophones, guitars, samplers, effects, and recording equipment to jam the days away in a cabin-fever inducing haze of wood smoke, cedar musk, hot wires and jazz sweat.

Muldrew, recorded on the northern Ontario lake by that name, is the culmination of several years of this collaborative tradition. Resisting their penchant for composition and arrangement, the duo embarked on this project with only an open framework that encouraged restraint. The result is a sparse and improvisational album, hung on enough structure for each song to evoke a distinct, albeit ambiguous mood. Space is paramount and even the most digital elements breathe with the resonance of the room and mingle with creaking floors. The resulting album is steeped in the placid stillness and northern ambience of a lake at dawn, and the emotive expanse of a forest at dusk. Imagine an ECM cottage-series, or Jon Hassell and John Martyn scoring a Bela Tarr film set in rural Canada. This is the future-proof music of metropolitan polyglot minds invigorated by nature’s mute refusal to follow a click-track.

DMM Pressing. Limited Edition of 500.

The 2 songs are remixed by south London-based artist Klein (Hyperdub), and Tokyo-based
experimental hiphop musician Killer Bong (Black Smoker Records)
Mastered by Bunsho Nishikawa, who is known for his works with goat and Tenniscoats,
among others.

The ominous clockwork nursery song “Kazega Fuitara Sayonara” (Goodbye When The
Wind Blows) was originally written by Koichi Yamanoha and released under the name of
Grimm Grimm via Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine) and Charlotte Marionneau (Le
Volume Courbe)’s Pickpocket Records / Honest Jons in 2014.
London-based Tokyo-born singer-songwriter experimentalist Koichi Yamanoha has been
operating under the guise of Grimm Grimm since 2013. The project is an outlet for his
fragile, haunted, otherworldly forays into baroque folk, futurist lyricism and electroacoustic
oddities. His debut album, “Hazy Eyes Maybe”, was released by ATP Recordings in 2015. A
track “Last Word Is Mine” from the album was used over the end credits for the Aaron
Brookner / Jim Jarmusch directed documentary film “Uncle Howard” (2016), featuring
William Burroughs. His sophomore album, “Cliffhanger” was released in June 2018.
And currently the 3rd album has been mixed and co-produced by Marta Salogni.

The virtual 3D music video for Klein remix has been directed and edited by London based
film maker Kenichi Iwasa. He filmed the footage in Tottenham using Super 8, 3rd
generation iPhone and 4K Camera, and created the zero zone virtual world with glitchy SFX
work by William Cunningham. Iwasa is also known for his legendary Krautrock Karaoke
night as well as being a sought after collaborator throughout Europe.

TRjj is made up of several people that meet regularly since 2016. It is practiced collectively with interchanging names and roles, so the full control about disguised authorship would be guaranteed. Everyone involved was set to meet half way. TRjj is a filter for the kinship of many. Its the freedom attained, once you have gotten rid of yourself. This heteronomic practice would be ideal to advocate against reasons which are claimed, biographies that are scripted, economies that are fueled and histories that are written to be recognized as something apparently truly valid and fully finnished.

Limited to 200 copies. Sturqen is a highly overlooked techno duo from
Portugal … they have been releasing their own style of techno since 10
years Has been the style of Sturqen since they started … This new EP
showcases their style of dark beats … from EBM orientated to
pounding industrial to flirt with … Review: This is exactly the kind of
techno that also goes down well with the EBM and industrial group:
analogous, somber, hypnotic. The most important track here is
probably “Nik”, a high-pitched song, interspersed with atonal noise and
driven forward by a whipping 1987 EBM beat. Especially through this
song and also the experimentally broken “Absoluto”, “Marginais” owns
the weirdness of old EBM / Industrial records from the early 80s and
also the works of the legendary Alien Sex Fiend … Maybe “Nik”
became so after their own named by crazy singer; said “Absoluto”
certainly reminds more than a little bit of ASF’s old street tunic
“Hurricane Fighter Plane” … Either way: The Portuguese Sturqen fit so
well as a techno act on that label, that in the past has given us the
works of Agent Side Grinder, Sulfur Yellow, and the crazy techno /
EBM mystics Newborn Night Music. On vinyl, limited to just 200 copies.
Uwe Marx for Sonic Seducer

Both Unhuman and Roberto Auser
should be names that ring a bell… Unhuman is from Greece but
residing in Berlin… with his music he is always bordering techno,
industrial and noise… for Enfant Terrible/Gooiland Elektro he crafted
two tracks which pay tribute to old school EBM and New Beat… slow
and dark beats… with a post-punk attitude and a decadent touch which
makes them perfect for the dance floor early in the morning… Roberto
Auser has built a name of his own but still stays something like a best
kept secret of the Dutch electronic music scene… this mainly due to his
output which is never to be pinned to one specific genre or style… For
this release he came up with two harsh pounding tracks with dark
beats and industrial sounds and a true rave spirit… see you on the
dance floor!

Yeketelale is the third album from Franco-Ethiopian group uKanDanz, combining a heady brew of rock energy, saxophone zigzags and Ethiopian melodies, all fronted by veteran singer Asnake Gebreyes grooving harder than ever.

In Ethiopia, sons follow fathers and, together, their names tell a story. Some discographies are the same way. After Yechelal (''It's Possible''), Awo (''Yes!''),here's Yeketelale (''It Continues''), the third album from Ukandanz.
The adventure that links Damien Cluzel (guitars) and Lionel Martin (tenor sax), the two founders of the group, with the Ethiopian singer Asnake Guebreyes continues and, with this album, takes on new colors and a new dimension. It is a polished synthesis that keeps the rock energy of their first recordings and gives even more space to the subtle vocal ornamentations that mark great Ethiopian singers. Add to that a groove that is more danceable than ever, carried by Adrien Spirti's synth bass and Yann Lemeunier's drums, and you have the magic formula of Yeketelale.

This came about slowly over the course of a dialogue that began in the early 2000s when Damien Cluzel, arriving with a circus in Ethiopia, met up with the occupant of the next room in their hotel. A stroke of luck: this was Francis Falceto, high priest of the Ethiopiques collection (Buda, 30 volumes to date) which had introduced to the West the treasures of swinging Addis, the capital that vibrates to the sound of big brass orchestras. With him, he dives into the capital's nightlife and meets a galaxy of musicians. The singer Asnake Guebreyes is among them.

Recruited by the famous Police Orchestra at the tender age of 16, he already had all the power, energy and class of his role model, Tlahoun Guessessé ''the Ethiopian James Brown''. He began his solo career at the beginning of the 1990s with several major successes, most famously an explosive duo with the singer Fekker Addis.

This experience made a big impact on the French guitarist. Having learned how to blend in with a uniquely Ethiopian groove, he was now ready to take it to other places and in other directions. In his old friend Lionel Martin, he found an ideal partner to engage in such experiences. But they needed a singer. The idea of Asnake Guebreyes was mentioned. Then Francis Falceto called and suggested going to see him at the Addis Music Festival. Ukandanz, a rock version of Ethiopian groove, was born.

Some pieces, like the disturbing Yene Hassab, call to mind Herbie Hancock's experiments in the seventies, as well as the Juju guitars of the Gulf of Guinea. Others, like the dark Fetsum Deng Ledj Nesh, allow Asnake's voice to soar above the synthetic waves, like a siren song for a freighter in distress. Dance and trance are not left out, with inspiration from the inexhaustible Ethiopian traditional repertoire. In a nod towards Asnaké's first album (Ahadu, also reissued by Buda) Ukandanz returns to its track Ajiré, transfigured by the guitar, claps and synthetic bass and takes us back to the glory days of breakdancing. Listening to the two versions gives the key to understanding the unique touch of Ukandanz and of the rich musical colours of Yeketelale (''It Goes On''), a fusion musical journey that brings the electric spark of the Frendj (Westerners) to Ethiopian lyricism.

Suzanne Doucet was born in Tuebingen, Germany where as a three year old, Doucet discovered her innate artistic gifts. Instinctively, she was always drawing, playing music, singing, and writing. By the age of 18, Suzanne was an established pop star in Germany with several #1 hits. She also made her mark as a composer, actress, TV moderator, director, engineer, and producer. At age 25. she took a sabbatical from the music business to go on a spiritual odyssey. In 1970 she released a triple album of field recordings and mind-expanding psychedelia under the name Zweistein. For the next ten years, she developed her own style of New Age music while exploring many areas of metaphysics and spiritual practices, including astrology, music therapy, tarot, yoga and the Kabbalah.

In 1979, Doucet launched a record label in West Germany named Isis, after the Egyptian goddess of feminine divinity. She formed the duo New Age with her musical partner Christian Bühner, and released the 1982 cassette album ‘Transformation’ and the follow-up ‘Transmission’, released on cassette in 1983. After this release, Bühner and Doucet moved to Los Angeles, hoping to find more kindred spirits in the burgeoning New Age scene there. Doucet met Tajalli (William Wichman). William had a small home studio and they played music together almost every day. William had a Juno 60 and Suzanne had her SD-1 keyboard. Their album ‘Brilliance’ was released in 1984 on cassette with the critically acclaimed track "Crystal Flight," which was featured in several Visionary Videos. All songs have been remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios and each album is housed in jackets using the original cassette artwork.

Exactly a year on from 'Travel Light', we release the final single from Children of Zeus' debut album. A dinked 7" single, containing one of the stand-out tracks from the album, 'Hard Work', and a re-vocalled Lover's Rock version of 'The Heart Beat' (a demo version of which appeared on 'The Winter Tape' from Christmas 2018).

'Hard Work' is a term than can easily summarise the past twelve months in the life of Tyler Daley and Konny Kon. They've been busily touring Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Europe and the UK twice in that time, as well as rocking shows at countless festivals across the continent.

'Travel Light' was named "Album of the Year" by Complex Magazine, BBC 6 Music's Huey Morgan and Rinse FM's Jyoty, as well as taking 2nd place at the Worldwide Awards (for which their label First Word was named "Label of the Year") and numerous high-placing's from Fact, Mixmag, The Vinyl Factory, Juno, Bandcamp, Mi-Soul, Wordplay & Piccadilly Records, amongst numerous other notable selectors, blogs, tastemakers and musicians, with fans far & wide from Radio 1's Benji B to Chase & Status, Jazzy Jeff to Lily Allen, Stormzy to Goldie.

The depth of styles & genres included on 'Travel Light' confirmed that Tyler & Konny are not easy to put in a box. Their initial inspirations of Manchester pirate radio in the 80's/90's all make up to form the sonic tapestry of hip hop, soul, r&b, broken beat, jungle and, in this instance, reggae.

One of the album's biggest surprises was this now-anthemic track, 'Hard Work', which sees Tyler Daley effortlessly ride a one-drop riddim drenched in positivity, and is a highlight in their live sets, as anyone who's witnessed will testament to. Meanwhile, the flip-side transforms the quiet storm vibe of 'The Heart Beat' into a heavy, heavy dubwise track, creating an essential accompaniment and fitting sequel to the original lick.

Pressed on a limited edition rustic JA-style dinked 7", this one is, of course, essential for any discerning collector, fan and DJ. Released on First Word Records, July 12th 2019.