The idiosyncratic musical style and production practices by Sheldon, Sidney Thompson (aka Sid Le Rock) are shaped by the DIY electronic-music movement that has encouraged his creativity to develop and thrive since the late ’90s. This is a contributing factor to his impressive discography that currently stands at twelve albums under his various aliases, including Sid’s collaborations with artists from various fields and musical genres such as Depeche Mode, DJ Koze, Placebo, and persistent impressions of the journeys he has made throughout the world as a result of his live music performances.
These invaluable experiences are the supplements for his next important leap forward as follows: As a tribal member of the Algonquin First Nations, Sid seeks to explore his ancestral heritage to uncover the traditional, ceremonial soundscapes of the Native American indigenous peoples as an integral component for his new solo album project – Invisible Nation. It is his respectful endeavour to bind this seamlessly together through his knowledge of music theory and his own distinctive production sound. Sid Le Rock’s current album concept is a fusion of traditional music and organic elements utilised by the Aboriginal peoples of Canada, combined with the modernisation of electronic-based music. Mixing of both sound styles achieve balance with a shared importance to rhythm as a source of impulse and functionality. It is his equitable attempt to produce and deliver a complementary synthesis of sonic peculiarities, modern electronic methods and the repurposed use of ceremonial music, to showcase a profound pride and pay homage to his forebears.
The Algonquin First Nations otherwise referred to as Anishinaabe, are a group of indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada. They consider music and dance to be sacred and an integral part of their lives. It is a culture in which it heavily relies on rich oral traditions to pass on its stories, teachings, history, and cultivates their verbal language. Membranophone, idiophone, aerophone, and chanting are traditionally essential components to our sacred sound, "Drumming is the heartbeat of Mother Earth, chanting is the heart”. This musical connection produces a narrative depth that can transport an effective atmosphere to dance-floors, bridged by the unconventional virtues, to which electronic music permits limitless possibilities. Sid Le Rock’s latest release, marks his eighth studio album – Invisible Nation, is an exploration into his cultural roots, combining myth and musical expression to bring forth a prideful nation.
Suche:native dance
Two monster sounds from The Trinikas circa 1969, the culmination of the female four piece’s short-lived career.
Recorded in Missouri and sneaking out on the Pearce label, ‘Black Is Beautiful’ was a post-hippie dance anthem that later made a short-lived appearance on their native west coast Century label.
A horn-led classic with a four-part vocal and a truly funky drummer in attendance, it’s a spiritual blast.
The B-side of the original single is dusted off here too; a funkier cut that’s turned up in a few DJs’ setlists thanks to a re-issue via Numero and Jazzman.
‘Remember Me’ with its staccato guitar, upbeat horns and swirling organ is an infectious head-nodder.
Remastered for full-on soul supremacy.
Berlin and London based avant-pop duo Private Agenda will release their second full-length album – A Mannequin – on Lo Recordings on 22 October via digital, limited-edition LP and music box formats.
Berlin and Reunion based duo, Amine Mesnaoui and Labelle are set to release their debut album on revered London independent imprint Lo Recordings on the 1st of April 2022.
‘African Prayers’ is a collection of seven new compositions, which includes lead single ‘Bleu Noir’, that aims to bring a contemporary and fresh interpretation to the Lila Ritual of the Moroccan Gnawa masters - also known as the Ritual of the Seven Colors.
With a firm belief they can deliver a sound that finds its anchor in heritage and yet escape folkloric clichés and stereotypes, the two musicians have strived to make something that is rich in meanings, minimal but complex, simple but deep. This is a record that is universal and invites the listener to the depth of meditation, to the dance, even to the spiritual state of trance.
Mesnaoui plays a prepared piano that is modified by different objects, which are inserted into its strings while Labelle simultaneously plays electronic instruments and further processes the piano sound. These instruments are not native to the traditional context
Lost somewhere between the mysterious alleys of 70s Istanbul and the scorching sun and crystal blue sea of Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Şatellites self-titled debut album is set to be released on Batov Records on April 1st.
The Şatellites’ sound shimmers between traditional Turkish folk and instrumentation, ethereal psychedelic guitar leads and groovy dance floor baselines. The resulting concoction of songs draws on cross continental influence yet at its core is a desire to illuminate the vivid qualities of classic Turkish music, honouring the Anatolian folk and psych artists from this golden era of music. From the funky disco beat of Disko Arabesque to the celestial lead guitar in Yağmur Yağar Taş Üstüne, the band add fire and flair to time-honoured pieces of Turkish music giving them new meanings. Covering important tracks such as female singer Kamuran Akkor’s track Olurmu Dersin, and musician and guitarist Zafer Dilek’s Yekte, the album covers an array of original pieces of different musical styles and sounds, that once have and continue to flow out of Turkey. The band boasts six members; Ariel Harrosh (Bass) Lotan Yaish (Drums), Yuli Shafriri (Vocals), Tsuf Mishali (Keys and Synths), Tal Eyal (Percussion) and Itamar Kluger (Diwan saz, both electric and acoustic, electric baglama, Greek 4 double string bouzouki). They came together some years after band leader Itamar Kluger discovered the saz whilst travelling the Kaçkar mountains in Turkey’s eastern region. The saz being a long necked, plucked stringed instrument native to the rural areas of the country, which remains an integral part of Şatellites’ union, and plays predominance throughout the bands’ album and music.
In the same way the guitar was electrified in the 1930s, the electrification of the saz in the 1960s led to an explosion of rock music dredged in middle eastern influence, a musical genre fittingly called “Anatolian Rock” and based on the principles of Anglo-American and psychedelic rock music, yet incorporating the style, rhythm, and scales of traditional Anatolian folk music.
As such, throughout the creation of the album, the band conceived the idea of intertwining differing elements such as the groove of funk, the rhythm of disco, and reverb of psychedelic, with traditional middle-eastern rhythm and structure, opening up the wealth of Turkish music to the western world, so that anyone and everyone can relate to something from the album. With that said, Şatellites emphasise that their music is not fundamentally Turkish music, on the contrary, they merely try to sound as close to the genre as possible. Their sole aim is to honour this amazing culture and to present it to the world in a more accessible and attainable form.
As a confluence of ideas and methods, WILD ROCKET endeavour to interpret the subtle signals of the universe - the interplanetary vibrations - and present them as brash manifestations of sound. Scientists and Shaman alike have endeavoured to interpret the universal whispers, to elucidate meaning from the measurable and the sensible. It is known that to measure and interpret is to alter and colour those signals and this is what drives the development of WILD ROCKET's sound and interpretation.
FORMLESS ABYSS showcases the band's unflinching pummelling style, drifting from repetitive blows to unhinged swirls of din yet always remaining innately infectious and perhaps surprisingly danceable. The record is presented as a continuous piece in three parts.
The title track A FORMLESS ABYSS appears here for the first time in recorded form – a behemoth of a tune which builds around a drone, joined by dual drums and minimal bass locked into a repetitive groove. A groove that is slowly expanded via multiple guitars and synthesis. Vocals eventually join at just the right moment imploring the listener to “leave your criticisms down” and realise “we're all equal now” in the formless abyss or the place between worlds where our earthly preoccupation with human differences are meaningless. We're all in it together, whether we realise it or not.
The second track INTERPLANETARY VIBRATIONS may seem familiar to some in a simpler form. The expanded line up and extended development of the core theme brings a new interpretation and experience that is more than worthwhile. The track's vocals juxtapose the hybrid Germanic language of English with the ancient native Irish language of Gaeilge. Both used to promote meaning and interpretation of the interplanetary vibrations felt by all. The track features large dynamic shifts and changes of pace as the message that “it's time to leave” propagated by the Earth itself becomes more frantic and more desperate. The track culminates in a wash of smashed gongs and distorted guitars, leaving the listener to interpret the message for themselves. Should we leave, to protect ourselves or the Earth itself?
The final track FUTURE ECHOES is a doom/kraut juggernaut coming in at just under twenty minutes. Only one question is asked and none answered, are we doomed to repeat the mistakes of previous civilisations over and over, or can we find the cracks of light that echo through and show us a new way forward? We're left in a swirling formless abyss to consider who we are and where we're headed. Will we ever reach the cosmic truth? Or will we be continuously mocked by the cosmic trout?
WILD ROCKET have proven themselves on the live circuit, playing with such visionaries as Ufomammut, Slomatics, Earth, Boris, The Cosmic Dead and old school rock legends Girlschool. One of the heaviest bands to emerge from the melting pot of talent in the Irish music scene, WILD ROCKET's reputation precedes them wherever they travel and audiences and venues alike are left to piece themselves together in the discombobulation.
Jimpster’s lockdown LP was made throughout 2020 and finally sees the light of day at the end of February 2022 having been delayed around 6 months due to the ongoing vinyl pressing hold ups. Birdhouse is the revered producers seventh full length LP and can be considered a full circle as he takes a step away from the dance floor to revisit his early inspirations of jazz, 70’s fusion, library music, ambient and sample-based downtempo electronica. With its soulful touches, vocal and live musician features and trademark warm Jimpster production, we also think it could be his most accomplished and accessible yet.
The opening title track sets the tone for what’s to come with rustling percussion, widescreen choral samples, dub FX and drifting pads all coming together to create a sense of optimism. The first of six vocal features comes next. Ascension with UK vocalist Oliver Night (featured on IG Culture’s recent Earthbound LP) is a simple soul jam with live bass from Nick Cohen and Jimpster’s beloved Fender Rhodes joining the lo-fi drum groove.
Next up we’re treated to Voodoo featuring brilliant young NYC MC/poet/producer who first grabbed Jimpster’s attention with his mind-melting track Signs, released in 2020 on Youngbloods. Yoh’s sung (not sung) vocal flow adds a new dimension to the Jimpster sound and is hopefully the first of many more collaborations to come with this perfect pairing. Still Believe takes us on a tripped-out journey into slo-mo, lopsided MPC beats punctuated with otherworldly vocal samples, live bass and Rhodes making for an immersive late night mood.
The first of two tracks on the LP featuring London vocalist and songwriter Cairo drops next entitled Beautiful Day. Another incredibly talented young artist introduced to Jimpster through a mutual friend, Cairo adds a deep and uplifting vibe making for a track you’ll come back to time and time again. A slow-burning nu-soul groove which will draw you in with its warm glow. Lazarusman is a Johannesburg-native poet and vocalist known for his collaborations with Stimming, Joris Voorn and Booka Shade. Here he delivers a poem called Heavy, perfectly punctuating the haunting reverb-drenched horn, Detroit-esque chord stabs and filtered drums.
Future Paradise drops the BPM's further still for a slow-stepping synth ride mixing up rising arpeggios, dubby flugel horn FX and the lushest of strings. It’s been 15 years since Jimpster and Capitol A last joined forces on Left n Right from Jimpster’s Amour LP. Known for his work with Jazzanova, King Britt, Mark De Clive-Lowe and 2008 club anthem Serve It Up on Mantis, the San Francisco native MC delivers his inimitable flow to a blunted jazzy hip hop groove making for one of the LP highlights.
Up next, Rain is an intimate and understated slice of contemporary soul music which pushes another spellbinding Cairo vocal front and centre, underpinned by loose, crunchy beats, dusty keys and moogy flourishes. Picking up the pace, Doors Of Your Heart sees Jimpster get busy chopping up a funk groove whilst Nick Cohen lays down another killer live bass line. Lush keys, modular synths and some crazy FX processing take this into the stratosphere and call to mind some of his earliest productions in the late 90’s on his seminal LP Messages From The Hub.
Winding things down, Jimpster continues to revisit some of the sounds and flavours of his earliest work on Tell You, which goes seriously deep with touches of cinematic big band horns and a looped up vocal sample. Closing out the LP we have the aptly titled Full Circle complete with sublime Metheny/Mays-style pads, muted synth arps and subtle FX to drift away to.
In 1994, hip-hop was going through an at-times painful growth spurt. Since N.W.A.'s and Ice-T's ascent in the late '80s, the rap game was no longer owned by the East Coast. After the worldwide popularity of Dr. Dre's The Chronic in 1992, things were looking even worse for hip-hop's hometown. The East Coast / West Coast feud that would later indirectly claim the lives of Biggie and Pac was still in its infancy, but New York needed a shot in the arm. The hype behind young Queensbridge native Nasir 'Nas' Jones had been in full swing months before his smash debut album Illmatic, thanks to Columbia Records' promo machine. From his earliest appearance on Main Source's 'Live at the BBQ,' to his own accomplished debut 'Half Time' (as Nasty Nas, on the Zebrahead soundtrack in late 1992), it was clear that this kid was something special. In fact, the pressure on him must have been overwhelming at times. April 19, 1994 couldn't have come soon enough. And as soon as the first lines of 'N.Y. State of Mind' kick in, bolstered by perhaps DJ Premier's darkest beat of all time, the entire East Coast breathed a collective sigh of relief. God's Son had arrived. Backed by an absolute all-star cast of New York's top-shelf producers - Premier, Pete Rock, Large Professor, Q-Tip and a youngster named L.E.S. - the album never lets up. Serious to a fault, and lyrically dense to an extent that has possibly never been matched, the 20-year old Nas stood on the shoulders of his predecessors and proudly proclaimed, 'Don't f*** with the East... we are BACK.' Illmatic was actually a slow-burn, which might surprise fans that have come to its genius more recently. Despite an unheard-of '5 Mics' in The Source - despite an unwritten rule of never awarding classic status to debuts - it didn't go gold until early 1996, and didn't hit platinum status until late 2001. But when you dive deeper that shouldn't be a shock: like Black Moon and Wu-Tang's debuts, it was a dark, hard record, made for heads in New York, not teeny-boppers in Des Moines. There were no dance beats, no crossover love songs. Just boom-bap and rhymes, skills and heart.
Written and recorded over the past year, Penny and Sparrow’s remarkable new album, Olly Olly, is a work of liberation and revelation, a full-throated embrace of the self from a band that’s committed to leaving no stone unturned in their tireless quest for actualization. The songs here are fearless and introspective, embracing growth and change as they reckon with desire, intimacy, doubt, and regret, and the arrangements are similarly bold and thoughtful, augmenting the duo’s rich, hypnotic brand of chamber folk with electronic flourishes and R&B grooves. The duo — Andy Baxter and Kyle Jahnke — produced Olly Olly themselves, working on their own without an outside collaborator for the first time, and the result is the purest, most authentic act of artistic self-expression the pair have ever achieved. “Andy and I talk about the process of making this record like a sort of musical Rumspringa,” Jahnke says. “It was an opportunity to truly become ourselves, to evolve outside of the roles we’d been put in — or put ourselves in — because of the way we’d grown up.” Texas natives Baxter and Jahnke first crossed paths at UT Austin, where they developed a fast friendship and a deeply symbiotic musical connection. Jahnke was a gifted guitarist with an ear for melody, Baxter, an erudite lyricist with a mesmerizing voice and crystalline falsetto, and the duo quickly found that their vocals blended together as if they’d been singing in harmony their whole lives. Beginning with 2013’s ‘Tenboom,’ the staunchly DIY pair released a series of critically lauded records that garnered comparisons to the hushed intimacy of Iron & Wine and the adventurous beauty of Bon Iver, building up a devoted fanbase along the way through relentless touring and word-of-mouth buzz. NPR praised the band’s songwriting as a “delicate dance between heartache and resolve,” while Rolling Stone hailed their catalog as “folk music for Sunday mornings, quiet evenings, and all the fragile moments in between.” The duo’s most recent album, 2019’s Finch, marked a turning point in their career, pushing their sound to experimental new heights as it wrestled with notions of masculinity and religion and transformation in deeper, more personal ways than ever before. The record debuted at #2 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart and was met with a rapturous response from critics and audiences alike, racking up more than 40 million streams on Spotify and earning the band their biggest headline tour to date.
Sudi Wachspress returns to Tartelet Records with Dance Planet, a third LP of emotionally-charged house music to welcome us back to the dancefloor. The spirit of true house runs deep in the sound of Space Ghost. Oakland native Sudi Wachspress is intuitively plugged into the romantic, mystical energy of 4/4 club music as a unifying force of empowerment and liberation, carrying the torch from vital forebears like Larry Heard, Alton Miller, and Blaze.
His new album, Dance Planet, carries a greater responsibility to spread spiritual affirmations. As the global dancefloor community emerges from a mentally-taxing recess and confronts their social self like it’s the first day of school, Space Ghost’s message couldn’t be more supportive.
“Don’t be afraid to be yourself, don’t be afraid to let go,” he intones on “Be Yourself.” More than just a beat and a hook, his music is pointedly created to heal and energize. “I’m a big fan of old-school house vocals that have a positive message,” says Space Ghost, “tracks that can perhaps enhance your mood or strengthen your confidence in yourself.”
Wachspress has always represented a beacon of musical uplift, both on his previous Endless Light and Aquarium Nightclub LPs for Tartelet and on his swathes of self-released music and last year’s Free 2 B on Apron. Compared to most house-oriented artists, he places emphasis on the long-player format to create an encircling experience for the listener, smoothing out psychic wrinkles and massaging areas of tension for a fully holistic hit.
Sorang, the debut album of Yalta native Wulffius, represents his work over the last eight years. The playful creature on the cover, Stone Eater, is based on childhood sketches of producer's father. The name of the album alludes to the first collection of his father's poems, which took its name from a short story by Konstantin Paustovsky, a master of nature writing in Russian prose. Sorang is the name of the south wind that "blows once in centuries", and you can hear its unique warmth in these tracks. There is a sense of wholeness here, and a palpable style and atmosphere that permeates the individual pieces.
Wulffius creates what he himself refers to as "B-sides": something too strange to be danceable, with "complex ease" and rhythmical variety. The music has a charming serenity and beauty thanks to Wulffius' intuitive approach, which is childlike and whimsical in the best possible sense. By the way, Paustovsky wrote Sorang in an hour and a half at a speed writing competition. You can hear a similar spontaneity here, but make no mistake, this is the work of a master and has been crafted over a period of years. It all comes from experience.
Fast becoming America's most auspicious triumvirate of minimal electronic music interpreters, Imbue's sixth enactment on their self-titled imprint, provides a diverse assemblage of sonic deities, which are destined to gratify the ears of both discernible crate diggers and avid ravers alike.
Enriched with enchanting soundscapes that embody the essence of seasonal fulfillment that can only be associated with the Spring bloom, Imbue dig-deep into their musical repertoire to deliver a comprehensive septenary compilation.
The A-side immediately transcends you on an atmospheric, cosmic journey, underpinned by Imbue's signature acoustic sound - a superimposition of live electric guitar and analog synthesizers. As the journey progresses, ubiquitous rolling percussion seamlessly intertwines with discrete fragments of synthetic grooves, evoking an innate sense of serenity.
The B-side continues to enthrall the listener with yet more seismic grooves, conjuring a rhetoric of warm, alfresco beach vibes, synonymous with Imbue's native origins, in Miami, Florida.
A thoroughly consistent and uncompromising selection of entangled rhythms, scales and timbres, Bloom provides a palatable soundtrack, full of joie de vivre. And, as its wonderfully beautiful cover intimates, the record should arrive just in time for summer, and the reopening of our hallowed dance floors.
Once again melding relatable words of life, love and late nights to the hip-shaking grooves that have ignited numerous festival stages, irrepressible indie-soul-funk six-piece Red Rum Club return with their head-bopping new single, Nightcalling. Their first new material of 2021, the pin-sharp, three-minutes of pure cocktail-swilling, dancefloor-carving magic heralds the release of their third album, How To Steal The World, announced for a Fri 12 November 2021 release via Modern Sky.
Unaccustomed to the new ‘wait and see’ conditions of modern living, Red Rum Club bottled their impatience, wrapped up their worries and gathered their thoughts together in cathartic writing and recording sessions for album number three. Reacting with force
to dark winter lockdowns and the extended live break, Nightcalling is a story of new love set to the beat of a smooth soundtrack that’s as close to the sound of red-hot Miami as it is the band’s wind-blown, native Mersey.
Once again melding relatable words of life, love and late nights to the hip-shaking grooves that have ignited numerous festival stages, irrepressible indie-soul-funk six-piece Red Rum Club return with their head-bopping new single, Nightcalling. Their first new material of 2021, the pin-sharp, three-minutes of pure cocktail-swilling, dancefloor-carving magic heralds the release of their third album, How To Steal The World, announced for a Fri 12 November 2021 release via Modern Sky.
Unaccustomed to the new ‘wait and see’ conditions of modern living, Red Rum Club bottled their impatience, wrapped up their worries and gathered their thoughts together in cathartic writing and recording sessions for album number three. Reacting with force
to dark winter lockdowns and the extended live break, Nightcalling is a story of new love set to the beat of a smooth soundtrack that’s as close to the sound of red-hot Miami as it is the band’s wind-blown, native Mersey.
The Override Switch combines the talent of two Detroit natives: Jeff Mills and Rafael Leafar. The latter is a multi-instrumentalist with a strong affiliation to jazz music. Through Mike Banks, he was introduced to Jeff Mills, where the idea for The Override Switch began to manifest. The album is a homage to artists like John Coltrane, J Dilla, Kraftwerk and those who inspire experimentation with what can be evoked through music.
Honing your skills is under-appreciated in times of instant gratification and the continuous stream of music. Rotterdam-based producer Kofi The Unknown subverts this idea and took time for spiritual introspection, studying rhythms and sound production. Where being a late bloomer normally is seen as a sobriquet, the producer, composer and beatmaker wears it as a badge of honour and solidifies it as an honorary title by pinning it to his debut EP on Wicked Wax: The Late Bloomer. Wearing his heart on his sleeve, Kofi The Unknown shares his journey that led to The Late Bloomer, an emotional journey through sophisticated dance music, straight from the heart, aimed at the soul and feet.
Highly influential to Kofi’s sound and this EP is London’s Broken Beat scene. Syncopated drums, soulful chords and heavy bass lines work in tandem to emphasise the danceability the genre is known for. This is further solidified by the track Kofi released leading up to this release: One for Motet, an ode to the Broken Beat MC and Jazz Refreshed host Jason Hicks. The Late Bloomer further develops Kofi’s ode, but provides his Rotterdam flavour and brings his Hip Hop and Funk lineage into the mix.
Embrace Mistakes sets the stage for what’s to come in various ways. It is a textbook case of how dance music can tell a story and be introspective. Kofi’s honesty shines bright on the entire EP and strikes from the first kick drum on. It also shouldn’t be hard to recognise and feel the emotion the producer shares on the title track The Late Bloomer. The emotionally-laced chords and crushing drums are reminiscent of late nights at a warehouse or emotional sequences from a dystopian movie.
Staying true to his ethos ’exploring the university that music holds’, Kofi finds this beyond music production as The Late Bloomer provides an audible experience through creative mixing. Stuttering analog synths, enveloping leads, multiple percussion rhythms and off-beat snare rolls hit from all directions of the stereo spectrum, further underlining the sophistication of his merit. While the EP follows the Broken Beat accents on dance, it is an equally mindful listening experience.
Kofi The Unknown is a Rotterdam native producer with a knack for rhythms. His keen ear is informed by mentor and Dutch enigma Trian Kayhatu. While Kofi has taken the time to perfect his skills under the guidance of Trian, the two are simultaneously working on the exciting follow-up project to this debut EP. Without looking too far ahead, enjoy The Late Bloomer. It’s not only a crown jewel Kofi proudly wears, it is also establishing him as a future household name in the sophisticated dance scene. "
MILKY CLEAR VINYL.
''The lightness of the C86 Sarah Records guitars come with the significant counterweight of more ominous Factory Records basslines.The lyrics and vocals are stark, sandpapery and sardonic, akin to Jonathan Richman, Kiwi Jr and, Bodega.'' Ducks Ltd. - EP Review - God Is In The TV
Toronto’s Ducks Ltd. (formerly Ducks Unlimited), the bright jangle-pop duo of Tom McGreevy (lead vocal, guitar, bass, keyboards) and Evan Lewis (guitar, bass, drum programming), accomplish the impossible. The pair craft songs that play to very specific inspirations without drowning underneath them—immediately evidenced on their critically acclaimed EP, Get Bleak, and sharpened on Modern Fiction, their debut LP. “The Servants, The Clean, The Chills, The Bats, Television Personalities, Felt,” Evan rattles off. “Look Blue Go Purple is one I reference a lot with our production.” Echoes of ‘80s indiepop abound, but they never overwhelm. This is not a nostalgic record, after all, nor is it a derivative one. Instead, across 10 cheery-sounding songs, Ducks Ltd. explore contemporary society in decline, examining large scale human disaster through personal turmoil (hence the title, taken from a university course called Gnosticism and Nihilism in Modern Fiction, influenced by Graham Greene novels. Bookish indie fans, look no further.)
Writing the album was intimate. Tom drafted the nucleus of a song on an unplugged electric guitar and brought it over to Evan’s apartment, where the pair sat in his bedroom, placing percussive beats from a drum machine under nascent melodies, passing a bass back and forth, adding organs and bridges where necessary. “It’s computer music trying extremely hard not to sound like computer music,” Tom jokes. Fearful that limited and expensive studio time would kneecap the project creatively, eroding their charming naivete, the pair re-recorded the album in a storage space owned by Evan’s boss. Ornamentation through collaboration followed: there’s Aaron Goldstein on Pedal Steel in the Go-Betweens’ “Cattle and Cane”-channeling interlude “Patience Wearing Thin,” Eliza Niemi on cello (“18 Cigarettes,” a song loosely inspired by a 1997 Oasis performance of “Don’t Go Away”), and backing harmonies from Carpark labelmates The Beths (on an ode to friendship at a distance, “How Lonely Are You?,” “Always There,” and on the sped-up Syd Barrett stylings of “Under The Rolling Moon.”) While in his native Australia due to covid-19, Evan worked closely with producer James Cecil (The Goon Sax, Architecture in Helsinki) on Modern Fiction’s finishing touches—at one point, in the mountains of the Macedon Ranges in Victoria, recorded a string quartet (featured on “Fit to Burst,” “Always There,” “Sullen Leering Hope,” “Twere Ever Thus,” “Grand Final Day.”)
It’s danceable, depressive fun, with some relief: in “Always There” and “Sullen Leering Hope,” Modern Fiction’s faithful heart. “There’s a tendency in my writing, because of my world view, to be very bleak.” Tom explains. “A quality I don’t always see in myself and really appreciate in others is the courage to go on.” And yet, the record manages resiliency—enough for pop fans to fall in love with.
If there was ever a dance oddity it’s the bizarrely named single ‘Prisencólinensináinciúsol’, released in late 1972 by Italian entertainment icon Adriano Celentano, first appearing as a 45 on his own Clan label. A cult favourite if there ever was one, GW Edits kicks off their label with a sumptuous edit sewing the A and B side of the record into an 11-minute masterpiece named ‘Adriano Italiano’.
Renamed ‘The Language Of Love (Prisencol…)’ for the UK market, the original failed to make any impression on the UK chart instead becoming a cult DJ treasure. The fact that it was regularly reissued over the next few years illustrates its enduring appeal.
The novelty of its title and zany nonsensical lyrics may have caught the attention, but what sealed the deal was that groove! On top of that, Celentano’s vocal (as well as that of his wife Claudia Mori, who injected the short female section) that mimics the way English sounded to non-English speakers, comes across nowadays as proto-rap, receiving kudos as such in more recent times. The track is most certainly an anomaly, having no bearing whatsoever on hip-hop culture, yet somehow unconsciously envisaging it.
The flip side of the record was appropriately called ‘Disc Jockey’, also featured that infectious rolling groove complete with offbeat hat. It wasn’t as DJ friendly though, the drums not dropping for the first minute, whilst it also featured a more traditional sounding song in Celentano’s native tongue instead of the rhythmic rap gobbledygook of ‘Prisencólinensináinciúsol’.
Here the two are sewn together for a full-length ‘Adriano Italiano’, running at just over 11 minutes, with the addition of a further two-minute instrumental version. The full-length appears on vinyl for the first time and, along with the original ‘Adriano Italiano’, launches the GW Edits series, bringing this eccentric favourite to a new generation of DJs in time for its 50th anniversary next year.
Gold Vinyl
Though the hallowed halls of Berlin’s nightlife excess now sit cold, the sounds that once haunted their depths beat ever onward, and colder still. Birthed in these hushed plaguelands, XTR HUMAN’s new full-length G.O.L.D evokes the frozen melancholy of a post-pandemic city, driven ever onward by the impetus of night’s primary currencies: sweat, release and change. The latest full-length from Johannes Stabel, G.O.L.D finds the German producer evolving as much as the rest of the world has had to. Taking his political and socially conscious lyrics into his native tongue brings a deeper and more powerful thrust to their weight—particularly at a time when Germany is weighing its own social consciousness after years of being seen as a leading world figure. Across G.O.L.D’s ten tracks, Stable brings our zeitgeist into a new realm, where the anger and frustration at our current existence is refined into the energy that fuels our engines, that primal desire always amplified during times of social upheaval—the desire to move your body. Many of the songs delve into Stabel’s own experiences as a German, from explorations of the Deutsch mentality of persistent fear to tackling the fake news, jingoism, racists and coronavirus deniers on hypnotic bangers ‘Dark Germany’ and ‘Dieser Klang’; issues just as prevalent in Germany as in the USA and UK. Yet each song carries just as much weight on to the dance floor, melding driving EBM bass with soaring synthlines and coldwave atmospheres that dispel the tenseness that such heavy topics imbue, in favor of intensity and beauty. Influenced by the pop hooks of Austrian New Wave legend Falco, G.O.L.D never neglects its danceability and HD club accessibility, no matter how heady the lyricism. ‘Starker Junge’, a dissection of toxic masculinity, drops down onto the listener with sparkling synths and razor-sharp guitar, while capitalist critique ‘Fleisch’ is a pogo synthpop anthem that could send any floor into a twirling frenzy. Wrapped in darkened beats and political ideals, G.O.L.D can’t hide the light that emanates from within its glistening, imminently catchy hooks and groove-laden rhythms. In a time where the dance floor sometimes seems like a distant memory, it’s the perfect philosopher’s metal to transmogrify your existence. All songs written and recorded by Johannes Stabel Mixing by Andrew Wiseman Arwork by Nicolas Zupfer Mastering at Dadub Studio
Bouquet Records features Olive T. for their sixth EP release on vinyl to infuse their 2021 roster with the desired verve and energy that dormant club kids are thirsting for.
Releasing in early summer, the energetic dance tracks herald a return to the dance floor, uplifted by soul-stirring synthesiser orchestral strings.
The native New Yorker and scene fixture was influenced by 90's house, inspired by Raze, Deee-lite, Green Velvet, and smooth disco flows.
The ascension sensation of 'Goin' Up' builds on familiar house grooves with digital synths and a thoughtful utilisation of today's technology.
Known to play a range spanning hip hop to club, jazz to funk, disco to garage, and more, Olive T has DJ'd countless venues and over international airwaves.
An early exposure to house and techno, combined with a wide span of diverse musical taste, shaped her unique style. In 2020 she started her own 2 hour radio show on The Lot Radio.
Olive T worked with Tiro! due to her admiration of his use of traditional sounds of the 90's era, sensing he also listened prolifically to 90's house and techno. Tiro!'s remix of 'This Is A Bop' adds organic flare to the original.
A long-time fan of Matt Karmil, she invited him to remix 'Opaque' - He flips the track upside down to reveal a different, but still vibrant interpretation, with his technical approach to remixing.
Olive T has released singles and remixes on Nervous records, 2MR, and on her own. The four track record 'Goin' Up' marks Olive T's first label-released EP, and first release on San Diego-based Bouquet Records.
John R. Miller is a true hyphenate artist: singer-songwriter-picker.
Every song on his thrilling debut solo album, ‘Depreciated’, is lush with
intricate wordplay and haunting imagery, as well as being backed by a band
that is on fire.
One of his biggest long-time fans is roots music favourite Tyler Childers, who
says he’s “a well-travelled wordsmith mapping out the world he’s seen, three
chords at a time.” Miller is somehow able to transport us to a shadowy honkytonk and get existential all in the same line with his tightly written compositions. Miller’s own guitar-playing is on fine display here along with vocals that
evoke the white-waters of the Potomac River rumbling below the high ridges
of his native Shenandoah Valley.
‘Depreciated’ is a collection of eleven gems that take us to John R. Miller’s
home place even while exploring the way we can’t go home again, no matter
how much we might ache for it. On the album, Miller says he was eager to combine elements of country, blues, and rock to make his own sound. He wanted
‘Depreciated’ to conjure references to recently lost heroes like Prine, Walker,
and Shaver without sounding derivative.
Miller has certainly achieved his own sound here with an album that is almost
novelistic in its journey not only to the complicated relationship Miller has with
the Shenandoah Valley but also into the mind of someone going through transitions. “I wrote most of these songs after finding myself single and without a
band for the first time in a long while,” Miller says. “I stumbled to Nashville and
started to figure things out, so a lot of these have the feel of closing a chapter.”




















