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High Roller Records, Als der inzwischen verstorbene Rhett Forrester die New Yorker Band Riot nach ihrem gut aufgenommenen Album "Born In America" von 1983 verließ, dauerte es nicht lange, bis er mit der Arbeit an seinem ersten Soloalbum begann. "Gone With The Wind" wurde ursprünglich 1984 auf dem französischen Label Bernett Records veröffentlicht. "Even The Score" von 1988 war das zweite und letzte offizielle Soloalbum von Rhett Forrester, da der legendäre Sänger am 22. Januar 1994 im Alter von 37 Jahren in Atlanta, Georgia, erschossen wurde. Obwohl auf "Even The Score" kein weiteres Studioalbum folgte, hörte Rhett nicht auf, neue Musik aufzunehmen. Er arbeitete mit verschiedenen Musikern in unterschiedlichen Bands und Projekten über einen Zeitraum von sechs Jahren bis zu seinem frühen Tod 1994 zusammen. Zwei davon sind auf "The Canadian Years" zu hören. Dr. Dirty (die Gruppe hieß ursprünglich Mr. Dirty, wurde aber wegen der Verwendung von zwei D's als Logo in Dr. Dirty umbenannt) war das Geistesprodukt des Gitarristen Rob Robins. Er erklärt: "Scot Gaines, der Bassist, und ich hatten schon fast ein Jahr lang geschrieben, als wir Rhett Forrester in Calgary trafen. Er hatte gerade seine Zeit bei Rick Plester's Black Symphony beendet. Wir waren auf der Suche nach einem Sänger, mit dem wir ein paar Gigs spielen konnten. Rhett wurde erwähnt, und wir trafen uns mit ihm, und es schien, als würde er gut passen! Wir haben ihm sofort die Songs vorgespielt, an denen wir gearbeitet hatten. Rhett war immer großartig im Studio und hat seine Parts aufgenommen. Ein echter Profi. Egal, was wir ihm vorsetzten, Rhett lieferte immer eine großartige Leistung ab." Die eigentlichen Demo-Sessions für Dr. Dirty fanden von 1992 bis Anfang 1993 statt. Rob Robins: "Wir haben vier Songs in Calgary aufgenommen: 'Red Bone Rock', 'Smoking Gun', 'In And Out' und 'Coming Home'. In LA haben wir 'Rescue Me', 'Hold On', 'Love Song' und 'Too Little Too Late' aufgenommen. Ursprünglich hatten wir ein gewisses Interesse von einem Label, gerade als sich das Projekt auflöste. Einer der wohl ungewöhnlichsten Beiträge von Rhett Forrester war 1992 (kurz vor den Dr. Dirty-Sessions) in Form von The Black Symphony (bestehend aus den drei Songs "In The Beginning", "Redemption" und "End Of Time") entstanden. Black Symphony war das Baby des kanadischen Gitarristen Rick Plester, der erklärt: "Ich habe so ziemlich das gesamte Material für die fünf Alben von The Black Symphony geschrieben. Ich habe in Magazinen in ganz Nordamerika Anzeigen für einen Leadsänger geschaltet und Rhett Forester hat sich gemeldet. Als er mich aus heiterem Himmel anrief, war ich angenehm überrascht, denn ich war schon vorher ein Fan von Riot gewesen. Ein paar Wochen später flogen wir Rhett nach Calgary in Kanada, wo ich zu der Zeit lebte. Einige Tage nach seiner Ankunft nahmen wir drei Songs in einem Studio in Calgary auf. Rhett war sehr unterhaltsam, es machte Spaß, mit ihm zusammen zu sein. Ich genoss seine Freundschaft. Er war sehr engagiert und brachte eine Menge mit. Am Ende war es traurig, dass ich ihn wegen seiner Drogenprobleme und abgebrannten Brücken gehen lassen musste."

Als der inzwischen verstorbene Rhett Forrester die New Yorker Band Riot nach dem viel beachteten Album "Born In America" von 1983 verließ, dauerte es nicht lange, bis er eine Solokarriere startete, die in zwei Studioalben mündete: "Gone With The Wind" (1984) und "Even The Score" (1988). Am 22. Januar 1994 wurde der legendäre Sänger in Atlanta, Georgia, im Alter von 37 Jahren erschossen. Die "Sessions"-Compilation vereint eine Reihe verschiedener Projekte, an denen Rhett Forrester im Laufe seiner allzu kurzen, aber dennoch beeindruckenden Karriere beteiligt war. Die meisten dieser Aufnahmen sind im Vergleich zu den bekannteren Veröffentlichungen von Rhett Forrester, sei es mit der legendären Band Riot, Jack Starrs erstem Soloalbum "Out Of The Darkness" oder Rhett's eigenem Solo-Output, in Vergessenheit geraten. Den Anfang machen die "Dirty Water Sessions", die erstmals auf dem längst vergriffenen Compilation-Album "Hell Or Highwater" zu hören waren und in Texas mit dem Gitarristen und Co-Autor Jonathan Grell aufgenommen wurden, der früher bei der Band Winterkat spielte. Diese Songs sind die allerletzten Aufnahmen, die Rhett vor seinem frühen Tod machte. Als nächstes folgt das Projekt "Dogbone", eine Band, die Rhett mit den ehemaligen Keel-Mitgliedern Brian Jay und Dwain Miller gründete. Diese Aufnahmen wurden Mitte der 1990er Jahre in begrenztem Umfang halboffiziell veröffentlicht, sind aber bis heute weitgehend ungehört geblieben. Außerdem enthält "Sessions" den einzigen Track aus dem "Thrasher"-Projektalbum mit Rhett. Dieser Track wurde von Andrew Duck McDonald und Carl Canedy produziert und war auch auf der "Hell Or Highwater"-Compilation zu hören. Den Abschluss dieser Veröffentlichung bilden die Demos für Dr. Dirty, bekannt als "The Clear Lake Sessions". Diese Aufnahmen bildeten die Grundlage für die vollständigen Dr. Dirty-Aufnahmen, die auf der High Roller Records-Veröffentlichung "Rhett Forrester - The Canadian Years" zu hören sind.

Als der inzwischen verstorbene Rhett Forrester die New Yorker Band Riot nach dem viel beachteten Album "Born In America" von 1983 verließ, dauerte es nicht lange, bis er eine Solokarriere startete, die in zwei Studioalben mündete: "Gone With The Wind" (1984) und "Even The Score" (1988). Am 22. Januar 1994 wurde der legendäre Sänger in Atlanta, Georgia, im Alter von 37 Jahren erschossen. Die "Sessions"-Compilation vereint eine Reihe verschiedener Projekte, an denen Rhett Forrester im Laufe seiner allzu kurzen, aber dennoch beeindruckenden Karriere beteiligt war. Die meisten dieser Aufnahmen sind im Vergleich zu den bekannteren Veröffentlichungen von Rhett Forrester, sei es mit der legendären Band Riot, Jack Starrs erstem Soloalbum "Out Of The Darkness" oder Rhett's eigenem Solo-Output, in Vergessenheit geraten. Den Anfang machen die "Dirty Water Sessions", die erstmals auf dem längst vergriffenen Compilation-Album "Hell Or Highwater" zu hören waren und in Texas mit dem Gitarristen und Co-Autor Jonathan Grell aufgenommen wurden, der früher bei der Band Winterkat spielte. Diese Songs sind die allerletzten Aufnahmen, die Rhett vor seinem frühen Tod machte. Als nächstes folgt das Projekt "Dogbone", eine Band, die Rhett mit den ehemaligen Keel-Mitgliedern Brian Jay und Dwain Miller gründete. Diese Aufnahmen wurden Mitte der 1990er Jahre in begrenztem Umfang halboffiziell veröffentlicht, sind aber bis heute weitgehend ungehört geblieben. Außerdem enthält "Sessions" den einzigen Track aus dem "Thrasher"-Projektalbum mit Rhett. Dieser Track wurde von Andrew Duck McDonald und Carl Canedy produziert und war auch auf der "Hell Or Highwater"-Compilation zu hören. Den Abschluss dieser Veröffentlichung bilden die Demos für Dr. Dirty, bekannt als "The Clear Lake Sessions". Diese Aufnahmen bildeten die Grundlage für die vollständigen Dr. Dirty-Aufnahmen, die auf der High Roller Records-Veröffentlichung "Rhett Forrester - The Canadian Years" zu hören sind.

With "Onaida", Natascha Rogers shares a liberating folk spell that draws inspirations from Yoruba spirits, Afro-Latin rhythms and her Native American ancestry. Born in the Netherlands to a Dutch mother and a father with Amerindian origins, Natascha Rogers dares to be intimate and unveils a highly spiritual chiaroscuro record, raising purity, care and reconciliation to the level of the art, through folk enchantments. Sensitive to the ancestral call of the drums, she travelled the Black Atlantic for several years and received the teachings of the greatest Mandingo and Afro-Cuban master percussionists. As a distinguished percussionist and vocalist, she has graced the stage and has accompanied artists around the world, but for Onaida she set out on her own, retreating to a studio to escape the noise, rush and fast information cycles of our modern world. This album marks a rebirth for Natascha Rogers, as it symbolizes her return to the piano, her first instrument. Channelling these inspirations for Onaida, Natascha Rogers, has created a space of her own, where themes of humanity, spirituality, nature and womanhood are centre stage while also paying tribute to her ancestors. Sung in English, Spanish, or Yoruba, the album is a tapestry of intimate ballads and universal prayers, drawing inspiration from dreams, Amerindian poetry (Joy Harjo), and Cuban santería with ritualistic batá drum pulsations. On the powerful folk-tinged song "The West", she invited gifted singer-songwriter Piers Faccini. Onaida is a true initiatory experience, a second birth for Natascha Rogers who finds balance and accuracy with this singular opus. Natascha Rogers headed to the quiet commune of Pommerit-le-Vicomte, to write this new release, accompanied by sound engineer Joachim Olaya and published on acclaimed French imprint No Format!

Warehouse find!

With '100% Dope' we find Central Processing Unit bringing up their hundredth catalogue number, and you'd struggle to find a more fitting artist to ring in a century of releases for the label than Cygnus. The one born Phillip Washington has been with CPU since the very beginning, his 2012 LP 'Newmark Phase' representing the first record ever released on the imprint. That album's combination of textured techno and grizzly Drexciyan electro set the tone for CPU perfectly, and it's no surprise that Cygnus has returned to the Sheffield imprint several times down the years.

While '100% Dope' is an expert demonstration of what Cygnus and CPU do, this EP also shows just how much both artist and label have grown over the past nine years. At its heart '100% Dope' is a set of prime machine-funk from a master of the form, but these are also some of the most daring and innovative tracks that Cygnus has ever produced.

Take opening cut 'Bad RGB Controller'. In the undulating synth lines we have a ghost of grime as well as Drexciyan drive, and as such the track reminds one as much of Mr. Mitch or Last Japan as it does, say, Dopplereffekt. Furthermore, 'Bad RGB Controller' shifts gear around the halfway mark into a highwire electronica mode which has the wit and spark of prime Bogdan Raczynski. Entries like 'Float Back To The Surface' are similarly unpredictable. There's some lovely industrial techno bite to this one - the snare drum will echo in your head long after the party's died down - but Cygnus periodically pulls out the rug from underneath us with passages of impressionistic texture that almost border on sound art.

'Float Back To The Surface' is one of a trio of vocoder-led jams here. On 'Throwing Shade' we hear I-F and Egyptian Lover, with Cygnus' vocals clattering around like pronouncements from some funked-out robot overlord atop hissing-piston drums. Then there's the enticingly-titled 'CPU Records'. 'CPU Records' delivers all the crisp electro snap we've come to expect from a record emblazoned with that signature black-and-white artwork, yet this thing is also widescreen and cinematic in ways that demonstrate the maturation of the Cygnus sound. With a wicked vocoder vocal that celebrates the label's many achievements, 'CPU Records' is a victory lap tune if ever we've heard one.

Central Processing Unit keep it 100 on for this new EP. '100% Dope' by Cygnus is CPU's 100th catalogue number, and the Texan producer delivers on the promise of the record's title with a collection of brilliantly unique electro joints.

Clear Vinyl

Blue Lake is the musical moniker of American born, Copenhagen based multidisciplinary artist and musician Jason Dungan, who signs to the Tonal Union imprint for the release of his new longform album ‘Sun Arcs’. It follows 2022’s release ‘Stikling’, earning a nomination for ‘Album of the Year’ at the Danish Music Awards plus warm praise from The Hum blog and musicians and DJs alike including Jack Rollo (Time is Away/NTS) and Carla dal Forno. A self taught player, Dungan began freely experimenting with self-built multi-string instruments, preferring to build his own hybrid 48-string zither and working in the realms of left-field ambient music, off kilter folk and improvised acoustic minimalism.

The starting point of ‘Sun Arcs’ saw Jason travel for a week alone to Andersabo, a cabin set in the idyllic Swedish woods just outside of Unnaryd, known also as the music project, festival and residency space which has been run by Dungan since 2016, hosting artists like Sofie Birch, Johan Carøe and Ellen Arkbro. Whilst writing 1-2 pieces per day, a conscious decision was made to leave behind everyday distractions and shut out the outside world to instead focus on the natural passage of time as Dungan recalls: “My only sense of time came from these daily walks out in the woods with my dog, and an awareness of the sun’s path as it moved across the sky each day.”

The album’s immersive world unfolds with the opener ‘Dallas’, an ode to his home state and a musical synthesis of these two disparate spaces (Texas and Denmark), the touchstones of Dungan’s life. A folk-esque single acoustic builds to a flowing arrangement of clarinets, organ and cello drones coupled with percussion. ‘Green-Yellow Field’ chimes in as the first of two solo oriented zither recordings twinned with the dreamlike title track ‘Sun Arcs’, both densely rich as cascading and overlapping harmonic tones resound. ‘Bloom’ emerges with a krautrock psyche before an eruption of cello drones, slide guitar and free-ranging zither playing, ushering in the anticipation of spring. With half of the recordings conceived in Andersabo, Jason returned to Copenhagen to form the album's centre piece ‘Rain Cycle’ which features a tempered Roland drum machine alongside shifting zither improvisations. ‘Writing’ explores the shimmering harp-like qualities of sweeping playing figurations with Dungan mapping out adjusted tuning “zones” on the zither for unconventional but creatively liberating effects. ‘Fur’ captures the feeling of openness and the momentum of time, seeing Dungan perform waves of solo clarinet, often in one takes and embellished with textural drones, a zither solo, and layers of guitar. ‘Wavelength’ the album's closer is fondly inspired by the film works of Michael Snow and Don Cherry’s seminal live album ‘Blue Lake’ (1974), as it builds out from a drone-generated zither chord and features an alto recorder solo. Dungan found a deep connection to Cherry’s stripped back performance ethos, focusing on the core beauty of minimal instrumentation creating a genre-less meeting between folk and jazz. A dialogue is formed between the solo and the bandlike performances, interlinked in a geographical duality with all finding a sense of commonplace as musical sketches of visited landscapes. The bountiful instrumentation ebbs and flows as further layers emerge with Dungan constructing his material much like an artist would, recording and reviewing, adding and subtracting.

Musically it portrays a form of double life led by an American-identifying person living in Scandinavia, and a new found presence in Denmark, seeking out underdeveloped marshlands and barren stretches of beach adrift from other rhythms and distractions. Highlighting their individual and potent importance Dungan concludes: “Both places feel like “me”, I think on some level the music is always some kind of self-portrait.” ‘Sun Arcs’ depicts the intricate balance of nature’s cycles and the paths outlined by the seasons, from a winter dormancy to a warm sun drenched scene. The album scales new glorying heights and further defines Dungan’s musical narrative, inhabiting a unique space in left-field, improvised and experimental music, borning his most accomplished compositions to date. A singular and visionary expression, drawing on an array of instruments and sound worlds with a renewed sense of joy and discovery.

The album's rich tapestry was mixed by Jeff Zeigler (Laraaji, Mary Lattimore, Kurt Vile /Steve Gunn) and mastered by Stephan Mathieu (Kali Malone, KMRU, Félicia Atkinson).

The organic minimalism of composer and producer Kirk Barley is collected on his new studio album Marionette, released via Odda Recordings.

Whether drawing from field recordings, found sound, instrumental improvisations or synthetic processes, Barley’s compositions evoke unfolding sound worlds, as simple ideas or motifs are layered and developed into complex set-pieces that reveal themselves over time.

Marionette showcases the breadth and variety of the Yorkshire-born artist’s sound, weaving together familiar and uncanny moods of rural England and its Victorian architecture, as suggested by the gated garden print of the album’s cover. Unfurling between physical textures – the patina of vinyl crackle or gentle rain – and the hyper-real spaces that his music inhabits, Barley describes the compositions as “landscape or static scene paintings,” with many of the album’s tracks taking nature’s rhythms as their compositional cue.

On ‘Seafarer’, this manifests in the repeated synth swells of a boat on rough waters, while title track ‘Marionette’ imagines an eerie scene, were shadows flicker by an open fire. Similarly,‘Lake of Gold’ layers plucked strings at different scales and velocities to create what Barley calls the “rain-like quality” of the rhythm.

Drawing from jazz, minimalism and techno, Barley focuses on the detailed qualities of sound, experimenting with time signatures, temporals and tuning systems. His esoteric alter-ego Bambooman (2013-2018) found a home on Matthew Herbert’s Accidental imprint, releasing the album Whispers in 2017.

In contrast, under the pseudonym Church Andrews (most notably in collaboration with drummer Matt Davies), he produces synthetic, often beat-focused music, using digital synthesis and algorithmic composition techniques, with the live drum performances triggering and modulating Barley’s synths. The duo has recently performed at festivals such as Rewire and Waking Life, filmed sessions for Fact Magazine and Slate & Ash, and recently had their music played out by Aphex Twin.

Under his own name, Barley released his debut album Landscapes in 2019 on 33-33 Records and received support from the likes of NTS Radio and BBC 6 Music. Barley has performed at events across the UK and Europe alongside the likes of Andy Stott, Beatrice Dillon, Jan Jelinek, MF DOOM and Madlib. He has also completed commissioned work for the British Art Show, Camden Arts Centre, MSCTY and the Open Music Archive.

Franco-British artist, born in Birmingham suburbs in 1993, Albert Newton welcomes us into the metaphysical universe of his debut album scheduled for release early 2024 on Byebye records.

After releasing his first EP «Bedroom Posters (*Spring)» in 2020, Henry met a quantum researcher and an astrophysicist who opened his eyes to the reality and beauty of the scientific world we live in. These encounters would prove a major inspiration for the writing of his first album, «Twin Earth».

A 10-track album influenced by a wide range of musicians from Bowie, MGMT and Tame Impala to Frank Ocean or even Philip Glass. Produced by Max Baby (Hannah Jadagu, Goldie Boutilier).

The multilayered lyrics map the traditional rollercoaster of emotions as well as their place in the celestial architecture . Nothing is ever perfect on this twin planet, but Albert Newton looks upon it with tenderness and gratitude, and shares a much-needed optimistic vision.

This is the story of the one the great disco labels, a legendary label who were at the forefront of a genre during it fruition and creative peak. Sam Weiss started SAM Records in Long Island City, New York in 1976. Sam, and his brother Hy, were born in Romania before moving to the Bronx in New York City when they were young. Sam and his brother were no strangers to the music business having been in the industry since the mid-50s running labels Old Town and Parody Records. • During the mid-1970s Disco took New York by storm and emerged into a revolutionary musical force that re-shaped the face of the City. It was however a genre major labels largely ignored initially. It was the smaller, independent labels that led the way in disco’s early years. Founded in 1974, Salsoul was the first. Sam’s new label SAM Records arrived a year later, followed by West End and Prelude in 1976: four labels from which umpteen disco classics emerged. • This compilation compiles all of the classic material that SAM release during the years 1975 and 1983. Offering up a treasure trove of disco essential this compilation features tracks from Gary’s Gang, John Davis & The Monster Orchestra, Komiko, Rhyze, Convertion, Vicky “D”, Greg Henderson alongside deeper cuts by Lucy Hawkins, K.I.D and more. • The audio used here has been sourced from the SAM archives and in many cases the mixes are appearing in their truest 12-inch form. The set is complete with extensive liner notes by The Guardian’s chief music critic and disco authority Alexis Petridis. • SAM Records has forever left its footprint on the Disco and music history, and this compilation is an essential addition to anyone’s collection.

Bassmæssage is the heaviest and most consistent bass music night out of Leipzig, operating way over 30 low frequency terrapeutic events since 2007.

Hosting ventral vibrations by the likes of Mungo's Hifi, Moonshine, Rupture, Hardwax and the homies of Jahtari, maintaining strong relations within the local soundsystem culture like Zoumo and Plug Dub and pushing a ton of grass-roots DJs and visual artists, out of doubt it is a sure shot for all who like it low and want it vibrant.

2015 saw the release of the "Volume One" vinyl, blending all kinds of styles and tempi by artists who had played at a Bassmæssage. Dub met Dubstep, Footwork went along some Snailfunk Drum'n'Bass and even Skweee had a cameo. And all this happened on one plate with a warm vibe from start to finish.

It is about time to revive the label with a new vinyl compilation named "Second Drop", following the tradition of a nice roundup across various bass music tearitorries. One side pumps at uplifting 160 BPM, while the flipside is shifting down to relaxing 135 and even 120 speeds.


Nuphlo and Bukkha team up for the energetic modern halftime piece "Drip". Nuphlo might ring a bell as part of The Nasha Experience from London and Leeds, connecting asian roots with nowadays UK bass sounds. Bukkha is state-side born and has recently emigrated to Spain, from where this worldwide touring DJ machine is firing a plethora of bass music styles on renowned labels like Moonshine, System and Innamind.

DjBadshape passes the breakbeat driven torch with handsome melodies and subby kickbass on "Drift" to reflect Leipzig's well various scenes. While checking her tracks on Defrostatica and Human, one may also find artworks for Bassmæssage and more.

Sun People is closing the 160 side with the deep but dirty retro 90s jungle bit "Rise Up". Combining Techno, Footwork and UK Hardcore Breakbeats, the Graz based bass buab made it to releases on Exit, Rua and Alphacut.

Flipping sides, Dub Across Borders redefines steppers dub into the dreamy yet rolling "Bass Tree Dream". The project was found by a Copenhagen dubber when living in Colombia, fusing the rural folklore with soundsystem energy into a world-bass music. This can be heard on labels like Basscomesaveme, Translation and 45Seven and is best to be experienced in its live dubbing appearance which premiered at a Bassmæssage in 2015.

Paranoid One grabs these feelings and drops them a bit more sinister, "Glimp" manages to hide a playful 4 to the floor kick as well beyond its smooth soundscapes and percussions. As Paranoid Society these split personalities from Tallinn were delivering to Modern Urban Jazz and Alphacut already since a decade at least.

bhed finishes with the slow far-away dubsteppish "Minerva". Make sure to not only check the releases on Row and Trusik but also the freshly baked Neuburg based live act in between cosy ambient and lush bass music at the next Bassmæssage on 18th November in LeipZig!

The acclaimed Cleveland-born saxophonist Joe Lovano came to Blue Note Records in 1990 and over the next 25 years became one of the most recorded artists in the label’s history, building a formidable and far-ranging catalog that explored the full breadth of his artistry. Recorded in September 1997, Trio Fascination: Edition One stands out as one of the more remarkable sessions in Lovano’s discography with the saxophonist joining forces with two all-time legends—bassist Dave Holland and drummer Elvin Jones—in a spare trio setting that finds these three masters conversing freely. Throughout Lovano can be heard on tenor, soprano, alto, and straight alto saxophones, as well as alto clarinet, and the set consists of nine creative Lovano originals including the pulsing opener “New York Fascination,” the spacious “Sanctuary Park,” the Sam Rivers tribute “Studio Rivbea,” and a stunning rendition of the lone standard “Ghost of a Chance.” This Tone Poet Vinyl Edition marks the album’s first-ever release on vinyl.

The Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series was born out of Blue Note President Don Was’ admiration for the exceptional audiophile Blue Note LP reissues presented by Music Matters. Was brought Joe Harley, a.k.a. the “Tone Poet,” on board to curate and supervise a series of reissues from the Blue Note family of labels.

Extreme attention to detail has been paid to getting these right in every conceivable way, from the jacket graphics and printing quality to superior LP mastering (direct from the master tapes) by Kevin Gray to superb 180g audiophile LP pressings by Record Technology Inc. Every aspect of these Tone Poet releases is done to the highest possible standard. It means that you will never find a superior version. This is IT.

This stereo Tone Poet Vinyl Edition was produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray (Cohearent Audio) from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at Record Technology Inc. (RTI), and packaged in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket.

Many More was born Junior Morrison in Kingston Jamaica on November 26, 1976 to parents Francis and Millicent Morrison. Originally living in Duhaney Park, Kingston, they moved around Jamaica to Manchester, Portmore and by the time Junior was 10 years old began splitting time between New York and Jamaica.

A counterculture movement united by an expansive, experimental and deeply soulful sensibility, Japan’s rebel protest music challenged the status quo and changed the country’s music industry in the process.
The birth of Japan’s nascent acid folk scene was rooted in the messy and invigorating political climate of the late 1960s. It is a story of Dadaists, communists, pharmacists and cult leaders, led by a young generation of upstart students, artists and dreamers hellbent on turning their world upside down.

Born on the campuses of Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, and centred around newly formed independent label and left-wing stronghold URC, this uniquely Japanese form of folk expression provided an outlet for musicians who were tired of aping Western sounds and instead found ways to sing in Japanese and integrate traditional forms in new ways.

At the forefront of this movement was Yellow Magic Orchestra’s Haroumi Hosono, a polymath innovator whose band Happy End released the first Japanese language rock album, and whose influence would go on to be felt across Japanese music for decades. Alongside, and informed by the Kansai scene’s Takashi Nishioka and Happy End collaborator Ken Narita, they experimented with cadences and accents of the Japanese language to open the door for others to experiment with their own forms of psychedelic folk too.

Some, like Nishioka, were more inspired by Dadaism than drugs, while others, like Kazuhisa Okubo, would ultimately find work as a chemist, having founded two further folk groups that flirted with varying levels of success. Obstinately uncommercial, relentlessly creative, the music featured on Time Capsule’s Nippon Acid Folk represents a broad church of influences.

Perhaps the wildest addition to this congregation however was Hiroki Tamaki, a classically-trained violinist and committed iconoclast, whose synth-prog odysseys hinted at his obsession with the divine. Subsumed by the teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, he penned an album in praise of the infamous religious leader of which two superbly mind-bending tracks are featured on this compilation.

Charting the decade from 1970 to 1980 as the dreams of political and spiritual liberation seeded in the ‘60s turned to dust, Nippon Acid Folk surveys a little explored corner of Japanese music history, but one which ultimately laid the foundations for an independent music industry, launching the careers of Hosono and others in the process.

Nippon Acid Folk 1970-1980 is pressed on 12” vinyl and represents the start of Time Capsule’s deep dive into Japan’s rich history of folk and psychedelic soul music.

“Challenge” was released in 1981 on Bootleg, a record label born inside a record store in Pavia with the same name. “Challenge” keeps the original and uncompromising punk attitude alive. 3 groups: No Suicide (from the Udine province), Mercenary God (from Gemona), No Submission (from Treviso), all sick children of the industrious, rich and Christian Democratic north-eastern part of Italy. I read about them in “New Fahrenheit” (a controversial article about local rivalries, common backgrounds and eventually separate roads.) but I don’t know their music. Something tells me that “Challenge” is the record I was looking for, perhaps because of its very powerful cover with no slogans, and a circled “A”. I send the money in a sealed envelope and wait. When the package arrives, I open it, I put the record on the turntable and let the needle go. The first listen is enough to realize that this is a crucial release, a real “challenge”.

The challenge is against an indifferent market. The instrument is a sound that is already changing skin. No Suicide, Mercenary God and No Submission have nothing to do with Great Complotto, they are the other face of the northeastern underground. Punk is their background, (read “hardcore” for No Suicide) but for all of them there is a progressive detachment from the original material, including a common attitude towards the caustic sound coming from the harshest side of British wave. A classic example of “work in progress” able to generate great songs like “The Degraded Men” by No Submission (the band that later evolved into Wax Heroes), one of the peaks of Italian post-punk. Mercenary God will give birth to The Sex, while No Suicide with their tight hypnotic hardcore will disbanded soon. It’s 1981 when the rain clouds on the “Challenge” front cover seem to remind us that the wind is going to change soon.

3 bands, 11 songs, an unearthed piece of history 43 years after its first release. Thanks to this reissue, “Challenge” is now back on track. A different disc, today as then. (Luca Frazzi)

The Sex featuring members of Mercenary God and No Suicide. A mixture of different elements with a rock substrate for an uncategorized result. Another Post-Punk gem from the 80's Italian North-Eastern scene.

My adventure buddies? The silent, enigmatic Patti, former singer of the mysterious No Suicide, and the young, faithful Chris, a passionate Police fan, we met on the battlefield and he immediately became my brother. For him, learning to play the bass was a way to get close to Sting, in other words, just one step below Paradise. Patti instead played keyboards as an extension of her mysterious and glacial presence, so still and distant that the audience sometimes wondered if she was real. And then there was my fixation for the drum machine, a futuristic device which could transform the drumming sweat into an invisible, yet physical, dreamlike pulsation. A particular combination of characters and a special astral conjunction, that’s what you need to get a nucleus source of sonic emotions, and in some ways this is what we were. You could clearly feel it during the concerts. When at the end of ‘81 My Mercenary God lost their drummer and had to disband, I felt clearly that the music had already changed.

Our old 70’s rock ‘n’ roll sound was no longer representative of the day. We were like some sort of yesterday’s newspaper. Thus I Sex was born (later The Sex). According to Freudian thought that sees sexual instinct as the driving force behind every (creative or destructive) human act. And in fact we immediately started creating, destroying, assembling and deconstructing our sound. Suddenly “tomorrow became now”. It was an outburst of creative independence in the form of homemade cassettes put together with makeshift tools, at least until the arrival of the legendary 4 track recorder. I was 19 years old, Chris was only 17. Nothing more than kids after all. Yet we were already veterans, veterans of a lost war. Wise, naive, disillusioned dreamers, everything and the opposite of everything. But, above all, we were totally devoted to our creative delirium up to the point of losing touch with reality, crossing limits, breaking down barriers and almost bordering on madness. Perhaps we were just too involved, especially if in relationship with what we could receive in return. We always spread our energies as if there was no future. We unconsciously felt that we had to live in the moment, now or never, and in retrospect it really was like that, and this is why these songs exist now. Songs created with the intent to tell an inner universe that is, now as then, far from any convention.

"He’ll always be a man of his people, but Jamie Webster’s message has cut through hearts all over the land since the folk troubadour’s debut album ‘We Get By’ in 2020. The songwriting may have evolved from those defiant early days on the acoustic guitar, but the hard-hitting storytelling that made his name remains as he continues to give a voice to the masses through towering anthems to hold close through uncertain times.
Though born from frustration and adversity, Webster's music has always managed to encapsulate a sense of unity and togetherness through tough times. Take the breakthrough single ‘Weekend In Paradise’ which distills a living for the weekend ideology of the working classes. An anthem just about everyone working nine to five can relate to, the flagship single speaks volumes of the journey so far as it surpasses 20 million streams on Spotify alone. His second album ‘Moments’ charted in the Official UK Album Chart #3, Indie Chart #2, Official Vinyl Chart #2, Scottish Album Chart #2. The scale of public support for the songs of singular, life-as-he-sees-it-singing, aspirational indie voice of Jamie Webster looks set to reach new heights as he announces the release of his third album, 10 For The People, on Fri 2 February 2024 with Modern Sky UK. While working confidently towards his third Top Ten album chart finish early next year, Webster’s Pied Piper-pull is set to draw a previously unimaginable 40,000 fans to one place as he also announces a HUGE outdoor headline show at Sefton Park, Liverpool on Fri 12 July 2024. "

"He’ll always be a man of his people, but Jamie Webster’s message has cut through hearts all over the land since the folk troubadour’s debut album ‘We Get By’ in 2020. The songwriting may have evolved from those defiant early days on the acoustic guitar, but the hard-hitting storytelling that made his name remains as he continues to give a voice to the masses through towering anthems to hold close through uncertain times.
Though born from frustration and adversity, Webster's music has always managed to encapsulate a sense of unity and togetherness through tough times. Take the breakthrough single ‘Weekend In Paradise’ which distills a living for the weekend ideology of the working classes. An anthem just about everyone working nine to five can relate to, the flagship single speaks volumes of the journey so far as it surpasses 20 million streams on Spotify alone. His second album ‘Moments’ charted in the Official UK Album Chart #3, Indie Chart #2, Official Vinyl Chart #2, Scottish Album Chart #2. The scale of public support for the songs of singular, life-as-he-sees-it-singing, aspirational indie voice of Jamie Webster looks set to reach new heights as he announces the release of his third album, 10 For The People, on Fri 2 February 2024 with Modern Sky UK. While working confidently towards his third Top Ten album chart finish early next year, Webster’s Pied Piper-pull is set to draw a previously unimaginable 40,000 fans to one place as he also announces a HUGE outdoor headline show at Sefton Park, Liverpool on Fri 12 July 2024. "

After two EPs with his punk-jazz duo La Récré, a recent solo album on Born Bad Records and two soundtracks for Monia Chokri films "Babysitter" and "Simple Comme Sylvain", Forever Pavot is everywhere yet never where you expect him to be. He now returns to BMM with a new rap album titled "Forever XP".

On the other side of the globe, LA-based rapper and street activist XP The Marxman received a beat with a nice sample from one of his producers. XP traced the sample back to Forever Pavot, and decided to reach out to him to collaborate.

That's how the atypical Forever XP album was born. Pavot's first time working with a rapper was also XP's first time working with a composer, yet they managed to blend both their universes in such a flawless way that it's like they were meant to create music together.

"SUPERCALIDEEPSTATE encapsulates the transformative power of music born from deep introspection and a heightened state of consciousness. Composed over the course of may and june 2022 in the heart of an Iraq base camp. These four tracks emerged as a result of intense meditation sessions, fueled by inspiration and a profound connection to inner peace.

The creative process was marked by an unshakable sense of flow, as if the music itself were a channel for the artist's heightened awareness.

The resulting tracks are a mesmerizing blend of ambient, experimental, and electronic sounds. Each composition is an invitation to explore altered states of consciousness, with the music serving as a portal to uncharted territories of the mind. The album offers a glimpse into Andrea's inner world, where sound, inspiration, and introspection create a deeply moving and spiritually enriching musical journey."

Vinyl Pressing by AFG Media Company.
Produced and mixed by Andrea Carolini.
Mastered by MaSpaventi Studio.
Graphic Project by Studio Natale.

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (OMD) return with their 14th studio album Bauhaus Staircase, over six years after the triumph of their Top 4-charting record The Punishment of Luxury. The album was born from the impetus to kickstart new explorations during lockdown when as Andy McCluskey admits: “I rediscovered the creative power of total boredom.”

The album’s first offering as a single is the title track which serves as a nod both to Andy McCluskey’s love of the Bauhaus era & the power of protest art. “I am a huge lover of visual arts especially mid 20th century movements” Andy comments. “The song is a metaphor for strength and artist passion in the face of criticism and adversity. When times are hard there is a tendency for Governments to look at cutting funding for creativity just at the moment when the arts are most needed to nourish our souls. It seems appropriate that the song and its eponymous album were created during Covid Lockdown.”

Ranging further from the beautiful film noir ballad of ‘Veruschka’ and the dance stylings of ‘Anthropocene’ - a term for the current epoch in Earth’s evolution to the sinister ‘Evolution Of Species’ and the hectic ‘Kleptocracy’ - OMD’s greatest straight-up protest song - the new album is a broad electronic sonic masterpiece that lyrically tackles the topics of the future. The record closes on ‘Healing’ - a moment of reflective calm.

By rights OMD should be in semi-retirement performing classics like Enola Gay and Maid Of Orleans on the nostalgia festival circuit like so many peers. Instead they’ve created a landmark album worthy of their finest work. Bauhaus Staircase remains unmistakably the work of a duo who are still perfectly in sync 45 years after their first gig at legendary Liverpool club Eric’s.


“I’m very happy with what we’ve done on this record" McCluskey summarises. “I’m comfortable if this is OMD’s last statement.”