Search:new born

Beautiful Full Cover Art, Limited to 300 - Lumière Noire - The new label by Chloé!

Il Est Vilaine aren't from Brittany, but they sure are tricksters. The Francophiles among you might have caught on to the corny pun in their name (beating a certain presidential candidate to the punch all while turning the name of the pastoral Ile-et-Vilaine region into, literally, 'he's a nasty woman") but the real takeaway is that these born-and-bred Parisians don't take themselves too seriously - especially in an era in which there is much too much of that happening. It was in 2014 (and on Dialect Recordings) that Florent and Simon tossed their debut 12 into the ring, the rightfully named Scandale - a tight little bombshell released that roused the electronic music scene out of its complacent little catnap.So there we had it, two outcasts refusing to eat at the same table as the tech-house scene queens, serving up three whiplash-on-the-dancefloor cuts drenched in sweaty hedonistic disco and wrapped in a battered motorcycle jacket (with a gooey post-punk-pop core for good measure.) A clear mission statement right out of the gates, watermarked with mystical incantations and throbbing with rock 'n' roll's primitive drive. Everything and the kitchen sink, and a bag of chips - an invitation to just let lose that's even better than the sum of its parts. Moving on to this new platter. We set the scene: motorcycles blazing from the airport strip to the strip joint, our heroes traded their Oberkampf stomping grounds for a sleepless weekend of Spanish groupies, discount bikinis, whiskey and bukkake. And a creative spurt that left us with a mutant of a record, the sound of rock and techno crashing through a drum kit mid-coitus, interrupted by La French Chanson

Echocord returns late June with a new release, Joel Alter under his Jor-El alias, entitled 'Tilted Reality' and comprising three originals from the Swedish artist.
Currently based in Copenhagen, Sweden born producer and DJ Joel Alter is a name synonymous with
the contemporary Techno scene on both his home turf and across the globe, his back catalogue to date features a long player for the Uncanny Valley imprint, solo EP's for D'Julz' Bass Culture, Sweatshop and collaborative works for Kontra Musik alongside Henrik Johnsson amongst much more.
This time round though we see Alter return under his Jor-El guise under which he first started releasing material on DJ Hell's Internation Deejay Gigolo imprint. Up first is title-track 'Tilted Reality' laid out over seven minutes with a slowly unfolding dynamic feel, encompassing spiraling atmospherics, distorted rhythms and blooming stab- sequences.
'Elevation' follows and takes a more direct groove-driven approach via straight four-four percussion and hooky bass chops, whilst tension building pads and fluttering dub echoes gradually build around the foundation.
'Solitude' closes out the package deliving into deeper realms with soft ethereal dub chords, acid tinged leads and emotive strings.

'Spirit Reflection' is the third album LP from Los Angeles singer-songwriter
Gaby Hernandez. Blissful layers of instrumentation, electronics, vocal harmonies and folkloric percussion intertwine with west coast feel to create aunique, beautiful and multi-layered album.
The album features a stellar line-up of LA talent, jazz star Kamasi Washington, Stuart Howard (AKA Lapalux), Kelis and Gaslamp killer collaborator Dexter Story, plus Ninja Tune, Plug Research and Soul Jazz artist Carlos Niño, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and Gabriel Reyes-Whittaker all accompany Gaby, with stunning results. Even before Spirit Reflection had been finished, the demo mixes caught the ear and gained support from Gilles Peterson, Lefto, Toshio Matsuura (U.F.O.) and JRocc (Beat Junkies). Born, raised and based in Los Angeles and of Chilean descent, Gaby Hernandez has been writing and recording since 2001. She was a founding member of the 'creative music ensemble' Build An Ark alongside others including Carlos Niño, Dexter Story and Dwight Trible.

Gaby was the only vocalist on Teebs' debut Brainfeeder release Ardour. She made major contributions to AmmonContact's Ninja Tune releases New Birth and With Voices, plus The Life Force Trio's Plug Research album Living Room. She was also the vocalist on Dimlite's Outernational Duet - released as part of his highly acclaimed Sonar Kollektiv longplayer This Is Embracing.
Hernandez was invited by Mia Doi Todd to sing on the Jonathan Wilson produced song Canto de Iemanja, which was included on Todd's City Zen record Cosmic Ocean Ship and the Red Hot + Rio 2 compilation, which also featured Beck, Seu Jorge, Aloe Blacc, David Byrne and Madlib. Among her main musical comrades is the prolific multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer Dexter Story, for whom Hernandez sang on the track Water Bearer from his LP Seasons, on Kindred Spirits. David and Graham from Mr Bongo met Gaby and Carlos Nino at the end of their hugely successful Arthur Verocai album launch and rare record sale at the RAPPCATS venue in LA. Gaby and Carlos passed us a copy of 'Spirit Reflection'.and we put it on the deck. It immediately grabbed us and we couldn't stop listening to it. When we got back to the UK we got in contact straight away and signed the album. We're very proud to be releasing it'... ...this is a future classic, an 'album' in the truest sense of the word. Brilliant.' says Graham.

Welcome to Nightlife. Johannes Klingebiel's debut on RSS Disco's Mireia Records. An atmospheric journey. Melancholic, yet euphoria-inducing. Johannes' five tracks cast their shadows into the darkness, mirroring patches of light that can be found if you wander out far enough. It's simultaneously the soundtrack of sweaty dancers losing their sense of time and place and the hopeful feeling of a new day during a drive into the first light in the hazy morning hours. Johannes is a studied drummer. He released music on labels like Mule Musiq, Ancient Future Now and Feines Tier. He's also one half of Alma & Mater and travels constantly with the bands C.A.R. and Vimes. Oh and he's a great DJ as well. He probably never sleeps. That's how he manages to capture the magic of Nightlife. The vinyl comes in a screen printed sleeve with hand stamped labels and is limited to 300 pieces. Vital Sales Points: - Nightlife EP is a very good record - You might know Johannes from earlier great releases on Mule Musiq, Ancient Future Now, Feines Tier - Johannes is a good boy - songs from this EP have been featured on the last four Laut & Luise podcasts (~25 000 plays each) with lots of interest for the tracks - people on ecstasy really like it - Johannes recently put out an edit of 'Born Slippy' which is being played a lot by Dixon, John Talabot, Ame, Axel Boman etc.

The fifth record on NEW YORK TRAX is by Løt.te, the Turkish-born, Brooklyn-based DJ, producer and designer affiliated with The Bunker New York by virtue of two well-received vinyl releases. This politically charged EP titled 'State of Exception' is Løt.te's personal reflection on the current social and political climate in Turkey. With rhythmic synths brought to the foreground, Løt.te committed a masterpiece that only a skilled and thoughtful artist like himself can. The opening 'Ultra Vires' is a relentless synth-driven warehouse track mercilessly rolling at the speed of 140BPM. The deeper Ausnahmezustand follows; it is a reflective and rhythmical piece perfect for both home listening and the dance floor. 15.07.2016 opens the B side with its tense yet playful atmosphere and numerous constantly evolving layers of sound. Finally, Graft is a shockingly intense introspective piece. Crafted with Japanese taiko drums and digital synthesizers pushed to their limits, it is a lesson in perfect sound design.

Until he was about 20, Texas-born Melvin Sparks was a rhythm & blues guitarist, backing Jackie Wilson, Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye as a member of The Upsetters. But Sparks gave up his seat on The Upsetters' bus in New York City, where a chance introduction to George Benson led him to a place in soul jazz history. Melvin played and recorded with Lou Donaldson, Leon Spencer, Bernard Purdie, Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff, Idris Muhammad, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Charles Earland, Grover Washington Jr., Reuben Wilson and so many more. Even during the quietest years of soul-jazz Melvin stayed relevant through hip-hop and r&b, a quick search at WhoSampled turns up more than 150 samples of his funky chicken scratch. And Melvin's legacy is heard in contemporary soul/funk bands like The New Mastersounds, Soulive and The Greyboy Allstars, all of whom he also guested with several times before his early departure from this realm in 2011.

This release documents Melvin's final band just months before his death. Organist Beau Sasser and drummer Bill Carbone had been working with Sparks for several years, and, despite the power dynamic - they were in their early 30s, Melvin an elder-statesmen of the genre - the unit was sharp, relaxed and performed Melvin's music with a jovial spirit. The trio played the Burlington, VT club Nectar's regularly, but this night featured two "onlys." Per the recommendation of Nectar's agent they used the "Grippo Horns," the only time Sparks used a horn section in the last several years of his life, and they allowed a multitrack recording of the show. Both were strong decisions.

The tracks on this album, lovingly mixed by guitarist, producer and Melvin Sparks fan Eddie Roberts, demonstrate that Melvin played as well in the final months of his life as at any time. Sparks counts "Whip! Whop!" off at what he said The Upsetters called a "showtime tempo," and peppers it, as well as most of the album, with quotes from jazz standards, pop songs and cartoon themes, all woven effortlessly into the bebop-funk dialect he helped create. He unfolds amiable melodies, patiently and methodically, through his several-minute lead on "Breezin'." And Sparks is audibly uplifted by the Grippo Horns helping him perform his 1973 arrangement of "Ain't No Woman" for the first time in decades.

Tropical Odds is the second album by White Sea, the solo alias adopted by gifted American singer, songwriter and producer Morgan Kibby of M83
Born in Alaska, and now a resident of Los Angeles, Morgan fronted The Romanovs before joining acclaimed electronic music group M83 in 2007, co-writing, arranging and playing keyboards on the albums Saturdays = Youth and Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, as well as completing several world tours.
As White Sea, her first solo album In Cold Blood arrived in 2014, a dramatic debut praised by Billboard for its 'canyon-sized hooks, knowingly grandiose melodies and succulent vocals' and judged 'pop's newest break-up classic' by Flavourwire.  
Outside of M83 Morgan has also collaborated with artists such as Greg Kurstin, Panic! at the Disco, Mark Ronson and School of Seven Bells, remixed Ellie Goulding and Britney Spears, and composed the award winning soundtrack to Eva Husson's provocative 2016 movie Bang Gang (une histoire d'amour moderne).
New album Tropical Odds stems from an interactive project launched via White Sea's website featuring digital singles and videos released at regular intervals throughout 2015 and 2016. Explains Morgan: 'Generally being able to create and mix and master my solo material within days has given me the direct freedom to share songs I want people to hear. In short, if I write something that I like, I put it out!'
Now gathered together in album form, the musical moods on Tropical Odds range from the sombre reflections of Gangster No. 1 and Yesterday to the hedonistic rush of Stay Young, Get Stoned and Never a Woman, high drama on Bloodline and Arcadia, and heartbreaking balladry on Secret, One Bad Eye and Lessons.

After kicking off the year with Body Reflections pt.1 on Tresor, Berlin-based, Bournemouth-born Ben Thomas aka BNJMN is back with new label Tiercel. As an outlet for floor focused tracks he kicks off the imprint with "Paean" - 2 slabs of atmospheric, hypnotic, sci-fi Techno plus an ambient excursion in true otherworldly BNJMN fashion.

The A1 track "Mass Conductor" solidifies BNJMN as a producer who can take the mood in any direction, creating layer upon layer of dense sonics which build to a pulverising climax. "The Greater Void" is a jarring beatless soundscape which takes you to the edge of the earth and finally the title track "Paean" is a song of worship - smooth yet hard, manic yet playful; taking you on a journey of paradoxes and sonic mysteries.

1983, in the history of synths, is a key year. During the January edition of NAMM (the most important music fair in the US), indeed, MIDI - the standard protocol for electronic instruments interaction - was introduced to the world. Until then, programming and making synths work together was something practiced by a restricted elite of 'wizards", explorers armed with cables and analog patches, who could create new sonic worlds - but totally temporary, not replicable. Real superheroes of sonic synthesis, scientists of filters who, nowadays, are highly considered by musicians all over the world, after decades of forced exile. In Italy, the seeds of this tradition were planted in RAI's Laboratory of Phonology (in Milan), in the middle of the 1950's; later, pioneers like Piero Umiliani, Federico Monti Arduini (aka Il Guardiano Del Faro), Marcello Giombini, Giampiero Boneschi and Fabio Borgazzi (Fabio Fabor) introduced electronic music in pop. Fabor (together with Antonio Arena) is the protagonist of 'Superman", an album of library music released by the World label (owned by Minstrel group) in 1984. Borgazzi, born in 1920, lived through the whole saga of Italian easy listening music (from big orchestras to the digital revolution), always keeping up with the latest styles and trends. So it's not a surprise, here, to see him using a LinnDrum and the first Japanes synths; and it's perfectly natural to find some electro-funk touches

Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Fit of Body (aka Ryan Parks) is part of a new generation of ATL producers; underground artists who draw on the space and grit of Southern hip hop and team it with curveball electronica discovered on late night, weed-fuelled web trawls.Having honed his sound on a string of feted self-released cassettes released on his own Harsh Riddims label - which has also put out everything from bizarro hip hop to gleaming synth pop - and dropped a hyped 12' released on the CGI imprint, the Healthcare EP finds Fit of Body delivering his most accomplished work to date. Five woozy original tracks jammed out on second hand drum machines, bass guitar, cheap mics and creaking synths, this is techno as it was first imagined; raw machine soul made for strange times and unknown futures.
Finding a commonality between Arthur Russell's vocal delivery, Jermaine Dupri's club shaking bass, and the militant drum attacks of Underground Resistance, the EP ghosts past rigid categories, instead taking a journey through heat and haze. On the A side, Parks switches between the languid analogue house of 56k, the melancholic Drexciyan electro of Ridin 2 That Trap or Die, and the lo-fi post punk grooves of 770-997-2341. On the flip he offers the late night 808 soul of Antonio Girl, followed by the uptempo techno ballad All This Time (Since), a song sad and euphoric in equal measure. On 12', the EP is closed with a remix from fellow ATL producer Divine Interface who stretches 56k into a glistening shard of time-stretched trip hop.

Newly launced Samo Records is setting out to explore the depths of the dancefloor by celebrating the darker, moodier facets of electronic music.The NYC label's first release comes from Pixelife (Sean Dack), a highly accomplished visual artist and veteran of NYC's underground. In addition to releasing on such respected labels as Throne of Blood, Horn Wax, and Let's Play House, he also makes up half of GHOST COP, a band known for its textured synths, iconic vocals, dissonant beats, and captivating live sets. Incorporating the same expert sonic-layering techniques he employs in his live analog sets, he's created a dynamic EP that's both intimate in feel and broad in scope.'Omega Block' stomps out of the gate, all driving rhythms and throbbing basslines with an underlying element of frenetic foreboding — aptly reflecting these geopolitically tense times, while still remaining suitable for losing yourself on the dancefloor. The track gets the remix treatment by Bristol, U.K.-born, Berlin-based Antoni Maiovvi, a self-described 'electrodisco horror mindmelt DJ/live performer/film composer' who heads up Giallo Disco Records with Vercetti Technicolor. Here, he trades his trademark horror elements for successions of staccato beats and a stripped-down sensibility that successfully translates to perfect late-night-at-a-warehouse vibes.Chimeras in the Matrix' soars with gorgeous dystopian melodies overlaying squelchy undertones, revealing labyrinthine layers and anxious crescendos before building to a full-on acid frenzy. Producer/remixer/DJ Tronik Youth (who, like Maiovvi, also hails from the U.K. and currently lives in Berlin) is co-head of the prolific (averaging nearly a release a week in 2016) NEIN Records, which he founded five years ago with Ian Considine; the label has released music from the likes of Rodion, Curses, In Flagranti, Heretic, Man Power, Daniele Baldelli, The Emperor Machine, and Moscoman, to name but a few. He is also a member of Permanent Wave, a spooky, pitched-down, dark-wave-inspired disco project with French singer Justine. He brings a chuggy, bleepy edge to his take on 'Chimeras in the Matrix' with bouncy rhythms, multiple breakdowns, and echoing robo-vocals, taking the original's intensity down while upping the dancefloor quotient.

Peter Hunnigale aka Mr Honeyvibes was born in South London on December 12th, 1960. Peter Hunnigale was to develop into one of Britain's most formidable reggae 'Lovers Rock' artist of our time. It was clear at a tender age Peter's main interest was in music and being born of Jamaican parentage, he was exposed and influenced by music of West Indian culture.

Untamed Love is an UFO in Peter Hunnigale's career, recorded at Omega studio (London) and originally released on the Cosmic label in 1986. Some people have no words to describe it. You can call it brit-boogie, rare funk, sick jam, musical bomb, or god jam, whatever it's a typical mid 80's tune with a rhythmic background sound that is captivating and memorable, thanks to heavyweight synth and awesome vocals. The original 12'' vinyl record is still very hard to find and expensive nowadays. If you are about to discover this song, make sure you are sit down when you listen to it because this song will blow you down hey girl I like the way you smile'.

Growing up in Britain meant that Peter Hunnigale was also open to other genres of music and with seeing the popular acts of the day perform on television and hearing the songs on the radio Peter knew what he wanted to be. Peter is also a great musician and did live work with reggae legends such as The Chosen Few, The Pioneers, B.B. Seaton and many others, while earning the respect of their peers as a competent bassist and qualified engineer. He won a Best Newcomer award at the Celebrity Awards in 1987, and won Best British Reggae Album at the British Reggae Industry Awards the same year.

Espen Beranek Holm is a Norwegian musician and comedian, born 1960 and began his music career as a clarinetist. Inspired by early synthesizer bands Kraftwerk and The Residents, he began making experimental pop music. His debut single Dra te' hælvete' was released in 1981 and was immediately banned by national TV/radio channel NRK due to explicit lyrics. This gave the young artist tons of publicity, helping the single spend almost 6 months on the national charts.

Beranek returned to the Starholm Studios in Oslo from June - September 1981 to record nine new compositions. His debut album, Sound of Danger', was released on Mind Expanding Records in November 1981. Nowhere near as accessible as the previous single, the album fared poorly commercially. Withdrawing from the single's fun, kitsch pop, the album is cool and static, driven by thin rhythm boxes, cold synths, and glacial guitars. Taking heavy cues from David Bowie, all of the songs are sung in a nasally English accent, a rare occurrence in Norway at the time. The lyrics are melancholic, but tinged with paranoia. There are also upbeat tracks that evoke a prog or glam sensibility a la King Crimson, Alan Parsons, or Roxy Music.

All songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. Housed in the original jacket featuring red, black, and white lines that evoke a visualized Richter Scale designed by Monica Moltzau. Each copy includes a 2-sided 8x11' insert with lyrics and an autographed press photo of Beranek.

Omar has a totally unique, individual style and sound still marks him out as a future thinking and utterly unrivaled artist, who has collaborated with so many legendary names that it would be foolish to deny his worldwide reputation - who would dare contradict the likes of Stevie Wonder, Erykah Badu, Carleen Anderson, Angie Stone, Common and fellow fans and followers like Maxwell and Jarrod Lawson

Following on from 2013's album The Man, 2016 sees his new long player further cement this undeniable reputation. Love In Beats is Omars' 8th studio album of his long, illustrious career and may just be the most eclectic & varied to date. Somewhat more electronic in it's conception and sound than it's predecessor, Love In Beats incorporates soul, Caribbean rhythms, an undercurrent of funk, with touches of zouk, a jazzy waltz, spoken word and also features collaborations with Us soul legend Leon Ware, Blue Note pianist Robert Glasper, grime MC Ty, Guadeloupe born singer Jean-Michele Rotin, and Uk soultress Natasha Watts, The Floacist and Mayra Andrade, the Cape Verdean born singer who lives and records in Paris.

Co produced by Scratch Professer, Omars Grammy winning brother,this collection should create excitement worldwide, the sounds are varied - but all have Omars' unique fingerprint on them, style and substance beautifully merged!

'Soul Jazz Records' new journey into the mighty vaults of Clement Dodd's Studio One steps once more into the fertile musical environment of Jamaican music in the late 1960's and early 1970's, from the sweet harmony vocals of seminal 1960s Rocksteady right up to the nascent birth of Reggae and Roots music at the start of the 1970's. Sleevenotes to this album are by Steve Barrow, author of 'Rough Guide to Reggae' as well as Soul Jazz Records' own 'Reggae Soundsystem Cover Art' books.

While Ska at the start of the 1960's had taken American Rhythm and Blues as its main influence, Rocksteady focused on the emergence of American Soul music - with Jamaican vocal harmony groups such as The Gaylads, John Holt & The Paragons, Carlton & The Shoes showing a particular fascination with the close harmonies of Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions and other US Soul acts. Here The Heptones even feature with a cover of Bob Dylan's 'I Shall Be Released'.

The influence of Soul music on Jamaican Rocksteady and Reggae is almost palpable, so much so that one wonders how much more successful singers like Delroy Wilson, Alton Ellis, Slim Smith and John Holt would have been had they been born in Chicago, Detroit or Memphis. Artists such as Alton Ellis, Delroy Wilson and Owen Gray defined the era - a slowed down beat as Jamaican political and social heat slowly increased when the 1960's progressed into the start of the 1970's - and the music evolved further from Rocksteady into Roots Reggae. This album is released on heavyweight gatefold sleeve double vinyl (plus download code), CD with slipcase and digital album (ex-North America).

There's a myth about music critics that says we are frustrated, wannabe performers. Evidence to the contrary: Vivien Goldman. Ever since she migrated from pitching editors on the little-known music of Robert Nesta Marley to becoming one of the foremost chroniclers of the perfect storm of reggae, punk, hiphop and Afro-Beat, the London-born, New York-based Goldman has made documenting music her primary life work. But between 1979-82, Goldman was also a working musician, creating songs that, years later, would be sampled by The Roots and Madlib. These rare girl grooves are now collected for the first time on Resolutionary, courtesy of Staubgold Records.

Resolutionary takes us through Vivien's first three musical formations: first as a member of experimental British New Wavers The Flying Lizards; next as a solo artist, with her single 'Launderette,' featuring postpunk luminaries; and then as half of the Parisian duo Chantage, with Afro-Parisian chanteuse Eve Blouin. Goldman's synthesis of post-colonial rhythms and experimental sounds are threaded together by her canary vocal tones and womanist themes. Her eclectic musical crew included PiL's John Lydon, Keith Levene and Bruce Smith; avant- gardists Steve Beresford and David Toop; The Raincoats' Vicky Aspinall; the mighty Robert Wyatt; Zaire's Jerry Malekani; Manu Dibango's guitarist; and Viv Albertine, then of her good friends, the Slits. The majority of the tracks were produced by dubmaster Adrian Sherwood, and Resolutionary channels the history of a time when the bon-vivant voice of music was in the air, and Vivien Goldman was its eyes, ears, and mouth.

Clear Vinyl

Khemia Records the new imprint from Kaos London announces the fourth and final edition in their current series. A limited edition, transparent vinyl (333 copies): The 'Winter Solstice Edition' featuring Codex Empire and MARMO.
* On the Solar side British born, Vienna based, industrial techno pioneer Codex Empire delivers 'Sevde' an experiment in long-form techno written specially for the label. A massive, propulsive beast, punctured with hammered rhythms and sub-aquatic bleeps, a maelstrom of whiplash cracks, disembodied voices and electrostatic, reverberating across an insistent techno groove.
* On The Lunar side MARMO present 'Alchimia' a track written specially for this release. MARMO is a conceptual, straight-forward, complex music sculpture. 'Alchimia' unfolds an epic sonic journey across vast swathes of desert.
* Intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life.- Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
* Credits: 'Sevde' written and performed by Codex Empire 'Alchimia' written and performed by MARMO Mastered by Andrea Merlini, Utrecht Produced by Khemia Records, London Distributed by SRD Artwork commissioned from REIN VOLLENGA X LVM Khemia Records London
* Credits: 'Sevde' written and performed by Codex Empire 'Alchimia' written and performed by MARMO Mastered by Andrea Merlini, Utrecht Produced by Khemia Records, London - Distributed by SRD Artwork commissioned from REIN VOLLENGA X LVM Khemia Records London



e

REPRESSED !!

Device Control is Jake Reif's new solo production outlet which draws equally from the pools of early Wax Trax and Medusa's with the hybrid pit jack of early Farris or Rush. Machine made yet with a soul, all four cuts are for the true hyper jackers on the floor, tested and recomended.
Born in New York and spending his formative years in the mid-West, Jake Reif has served time amongst some of the best, producing alongside both Mystic Bill as well as Reade Truth; releasing well recieved 12s on Rong Music and a break out remix on Snuff Trax in recent years. Back in the day you could catch Jake clocking hours working at Sonic Groove Records among a motley crew of heavy hitters whilst honing his talents.

Virginia-born singer/songwriter Nicole Wray has everything you'd want in a singer: an infectious Jackson-5-family-member flare, a range like Aretha's, and a church upbringing that's brought a pure, healing texture to her voice. But the struggle she's been through has made her more than a singer. Nicole Wray is an artist. When talking about Queen Alone, her first solo album in some time, Nicole explains, It's a reflection of my soul. It's who I am today.' And aptly so. Nicole is writing and singing songs about her life. And yet to even start to know her soul, you have to go back to the beginning. Growing up in Portsmouth was tough at times for Nicole. However, at the age of fifteen, life opened up quickly when Missy Elliot paid a visit to Nicole's family home to audition her on the spot. Missy was there on the rumored strength and quality of her voice. Instantly blowing her away, she signed and left with Missy that night. Two years later, at age 17, she had a hit gold single off a solid debut album (Make It Hot). Suddenly she was part of a team that included late '90s R&B and rap royalty: Missy, Aaliyah, Ginuwine, Playa, Timbaland and Magoo. She made it, and fast. However, as rapidly as she achieved success, Nicole then found herself needing to re-make it. By late 2001, her time with Missy and company had run its course. They amicably parted ways and Nicole, once on top of the R&B world, was unsure of what was next. It was a very low, but important, point in her life. While neck-deep in this struggle, Damon Dash and Roc-A-Fella Records called. They signed an album deal and by 2004, in what was starting to be a pattern, just as things were looking up Roc-A-Fella suddenly (famously) split. Nicole found herself in a familiar situation. In 2013, Nicole paired up with London vocalist Terri Walker and released the album Lady. Once again, Nicole was tested. Terri parted ways with the group to pursue her own projects shortly after the album's release. Fast forward to now-the transformation from singer-for-hire to pure artist is evident in this new full-length solo release, Queen Alone. The record was written and recorded in 10 days at the legendary Diamond Mine Studios, in Queens NY with Leon Michels and Tom Brenneck handling production. Nicole says she is Singing out loud now-singing from the stomach.' Back in 1998 she was coached how to sing, and told to stay in a pocket that never let her show her range, power, and passion. Today, after stutter-stepping in and out of the industry, there is a new soul and substance to her songs-all of it from her life. They Don't Hang Around", tells the story of her post Roc-a-Fella days, Guilty", is about her brother's incarceration, Make Me Over" tells the relatable story of being broke with expensive taste, and 'Let It Go', a perfect way to end the record, is about the simple act of letting go and moving on. Almost echoing her new record, Nicole says, You have to go through something for it to be real.' She has been living with one foot in fame and the other in real life. The result is clear: she's feeling something real in her music again. And it's hard for us as listeners not to follow suit.

Visitors - Projections is the first collaboration between veteran dj producer Tony Scott & Italys Antonio Ruscito .

Projections is a wonderful piece of work where the structures and melodies of the tracks combine perfectly with haunting atmospheres , weaving analog lines & attention to detail that makes for a very unique soundtrack.
A welcome return for Edit Select & a new star is born in Antonio Ruscito , a must for all techno heads ..