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Those of you who have followed Lucky Brown's tireless efforts since joining the Tramp family in 2007 can hear without a doubt the progress he and his various ensembles have made in almost every musical aspect. His songwriting skills amazed us right from the start of our relationship. What deserves much more respect is that during the past years he has proved to be probably one of the most authentic and steady but at the same time most innovative creative minds on the contemporary funk scene. Sure, many of today's funk bands are able to deliver a two-and-a-half minute funk killer, what distinguishes Lucky Brown, however, is his ability to create compositions which also employ the idiom as a means to deliver an artistic message, a hard-to describe feeling, or a conscious concept, just like James Brown and Fela Kuti mastered in the 1970s. Furthermore, Lucky has developed his own trademark production and sound whose depth and honesty form a basis from which his work will ever remain timeless.

But that's nothing new as you can hear on both of his first two albums for Tamp ("Lucky Brown's Space Dream, 2011 and "Mystery Road", 2015) On "Mesquite Suite" he is forging new paths by soaking up musical styles from all over the world to infuse with his own totally unique way of producing. Perfect examples are the Mulatu Astatke-ish tracks "Pauraque" and "Mother Corn Stalk" with its distinctive New Orleans Swamp-Jazz flavor. Fans of the Menahan Street Band or El Michels Affair may see in "Taterbug" and "Estrellas De La Tierra" their favourite tracks. But it's the entirety which makes this album standout.

It has been Lucky Brown's aim to paint for the world a picture of the vernacular jazz that America's neighborhoods once crafted as their own homegrown cultural heritage. Lucky Brown's music is a rejection of the elitism, classism, and status of the music industrial complex and is an antitoxin to it's resultant homogeneity. He wants with his heart and his art to transmit an everyday people's sound, made by everyday people, dedicated to the upliftment of all people.

Tobias Kirmayer, August 2018

key-selling points:
- limited to 500 hand-numbered copies
- incl. full album download code
- double vinyl LP with deluxe gatefold cover

Kinobe scored one of the biggest chill-out club hits of the Noughties, the deathless 'Slip Into Something More Comfortable'. Known from dancefloors, club backrooms, bars, radio spins, Café del Mar compilations and TV spots the world over - most famously the 'femme fatale' Kronenbourg beer advert - 'Slip...' established the duo at the forefront of a scene that still includes Groove Armada, Air, Röyksopp and Zero 7. Now Kinobe are back in a big way. Founder member and songwriter Julius Waters is now joined by Chuck Norman, multi-instrumentalist, producer and programmer who has worked with the Pet Shop Boys, Peter Gabriel and Robbie Williams. Norman has beefed up the classic Kinobe sound, while adding a pop sensibility to a raft of sparkling new material destined to soundtrack 2018 and beyond. On August 31st 2018 comes Golden Age, the first Kinobe album in 9 years. Lead single 'Little Words' might just be one of the tunes of year, a Donny Hathaway-esque, soulful slice of too-slow-to-disco that nods towards 60s hipster groovy. At once instantly familiar and brand new, a heartfelt three-and-a-half-minute pop-dance floorfiller - with a hook once heard, never forgotten. Elsewhere the Stephen Hague mixed 'End Of The Road' is a huge gospel-tinged ballad destined to own daytime radio, 'Skyhigh' is a gorgeously haunting sundowner, 'Heartstring' is all cosmic soundtrack strings while 'Sunray' is Kinobe at their very best, with its irresistible hooks, washes of melody and downtempo beats. Golden Age is shaping up to be the chilled album of the year, a thirteen-track soundscape of sparkling songs and idiosyncratic instrumentals that is vintage Kinobe. With live shows and festival appearances planned through the rest of the year, the return of Kinobe is only just beginning. Welcome to the Golden Age.

Depeche Mode - Speak & Spell 12" Single Box

Depeche Mode realized the format's potential and embraced the power of 12" vinyl and the avenues of innovation it opened up. The 12" single allowed the band to explore new sonic possibilities while the physical beauty of the packaging gave Depeche Mode room to develop a sophisticated and commanding visual aesthetic. Depeche Mode used their singles discography as a means of offering left field remixes and other delights for their fans.
Each box set in the series will contain the singles from each Depeche Mode album on audiophile-quality 12' vinyl, with audio remastered from the original tapes and cut at the legendary Abbey Road Studios. The artwork for the exterior of each of the new box sets draws on street art iconography inspired by the original releases, while the vinyl sleeves themselves feature the original vinyl single artwork.
Speak & Spell | The 12' Singles contains a facsimile reproduction of the rare Flexi Disc 'Sometimes I Wish I Was Dead' b/w 'King of the Flies' (the Fad Gadget track as on the original release); Dreaming Of Me 12': 'Dreaming of Me' b/w 'Ice Machine'; New Life 12': 'New Life (Remix)' b/w 'Shout! (Rio Mix)'; Just Can't Get Enough 12': 'Just Can't Get Enough (Schizo Mix)' b/w 'Any Second Now (Altered)'; original single poster reproduction; download card.











Shortly before the turn of the year 2017/18, my friend Jan Müller wrote me an e-mail: »Dear Martin, I'll send you the new album of my band ›Dirty Dishes‹ now. The album is titled ›Kabinett Von Papen‹. It is a concept album, which has the third-last government cabinet of the Weimar Republic as a subject. So, please tell me how you see it - whatever your verdict, I'll use it as an incentive to put my mind and body in the service of global pop culture even more so in the future«.

Dirty Dishes is founded in 2005 by Jan »Rasmus Engler« Müller (Tocotronic) and Rasmus »Jan Müller« Engler (MHerrenmagazin, Little Whirls, Ludger) when the two are bored during recording sessions for the second album of their group Das Bierbeben. Immediately, they write two pieces of music (»Bon Giorno«, which has alcohol and drug abuse as a subject, as well as »Drink a Coke«, a Brigitte-Mira-dedicated anthem for the caffeine-containing soft drink), which are released in the same year as a single under the title »Hurra...! Endlich Ferien!« on the label K.i.N.d.V. Two years later, the duo releases their debut album »Tea Is Not Our Cup of Coffee«. Here one can hear the first experimental and more conceptual works such as »Dirty Dishes as Goofy as Asterix«. The following albums (»Mit uns nicht!«, 2009, and »Von der raffinierten Kunst, jemanden in einen Tümpel zu stoßen«, 2013) juxtapose song and experiment. The first pure concept album, including now-permanent members ALEXANDER (Schrottgrenze, Station 17), Guido vom Flockenberg (Back On The Road), Isabella Stellmann (pedagogue) and Zopfus (ByteFM), is »Der Egel vom Tegel - Die kleine Rock-Operette der Dirty Dishes« (2010), followed by »Round about Ignaz Kiechle«(2013). The latter brings together songs that deal with significant events in the life of former Agriculture Minister Kiechle and were recorded freely improvised in just one recording session.

On the now-available »Kabinett Von Papen«, composed in monastic retreat, each piece is named after a minister from Papen's presidential cabinet (1.6.1932-3.12.1932) and represents them tonally and/or lyrically succinct.

Next up on Nang it is time for a slice of spot-on male vocal house and disco. Liverpool based Thomas Lang made some fine albums in the 80s and 90s with John Murphy (who went on to carve a highly successful career in movie tracks) and David Hughes. Somewhere in between that and a string of recent albums (Torch Songs and The German Alphabet) he also managed to buy one of the finest recording studios in North West England, Parr Street Studios (the "Abbey Road of the North").

We are pleased here at Nang to see a new avenue turned in Tom's life, his first foray into the dance world. "Scared" was written with late Liverpool songwriter John Uriel quite some time ago. It first emerged as a b-side to Tom's comeback single "August Day" in 2011. Here at Nang we always loved the smooth and sophisticated vocal and melody. When Tom suggested some remixes we were on board.

"Scared" is a peak time vocal house track, here presented with remix options.

The a-side sees fellow Liverpool DJ crew The Imposters taking the track on a dubbed out trip, before flipping over for their hypnotic, swing-house rework which highlight the layered vocals and smooth sax. Camanchi take us for some peak time House action.

Over the last several years, the Zappa Family Trust and UMC have lovingly been restoring Frank Zappa's iconic catalog together by reissuing his classic albums on CD and pressing long-out-of-print records back on vinyl. Next up in the ongoing vinyl initiative, coming on the heels of the reissue of his enigmatic Burnt Weeny Sandwich, is Zappa's 1970 stylistically diverse and subversive album, Chunga's Revenge, which will receive a 180-gram audiophile repressing on black vinyl on July 20. Supervised by the ZFT, the record, which has been unavailable on vinyl for more than three decades, will be press pressed at Pallas In Germany and feature reproductions of the original artwork. Chunga's Revenge, although released under Frank Zappa's own name, introduced a new Mothers lineup that included former Turtles members Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, aka Flo and Eddie, as well as keyboardist George Duke, drummer Aynsley Dunbar and multi-instrumentalist Ian Underwood. The album is one of Zappa's most eclectic efforts, encompassing the improvisational title track, the raucous guitar jam "Transylvania Boogie," the bluesy "Road Ladies" and the jazzy "Twenty Small Cigars," along with more conventional rock numbers like "Tell Me You Love Me," "Would You Go All the Way" and "Sharleena."

The music on this EP was conceived in China, between 1989 and 1993. The original tracks were mixed to DAT in real time, in a small neighbour-proof studio inside my apartment in Macau, a 19th floor with a view to the hurricanes. There's a small, unexpected or improbable story behind each track, some little magic fused with the local atmosphere, certainly guaranteeing their lasting authenticity 25 years later.

TAIPEI DISCO
Late 80s Guangzhou was an exotic city where the traditional past coexisted in harmony with the present and even already with the future.
I'd rather spend my weekends in Guangzhou than diving into Hong Kong consumerism - as most ex-pats in Macau did. I took a cab at the border and travelled 150 Km through chaotic roads with family and friends until reaching the hot, humid, mega South China metropolis.
We ate on street joints in the evenings, went on to a karaoke bar and ended up at Taipei Disco, the only proper club in town. All the others were inside hotels and played generic music or they were seedy, sleazy, smoky cabarets.
Taipei Disco used to be a cinema and played cantonese pop music and anglo-saxon pop/rock (that was new). The spacious dance floor was generously lighted, the atmosphere was airy and modern. Boys and girls were in the habit of dancing in pairs, one in front of the other, observing a respectful yet sensual distance. When the girl took a few steps back, the boy went along and vice versa. With legs and feet (more than the upper bodies) synchronized with the music, they never exceeded in extroversion. Cool.
I always carried a MicroComposer and a portable DAT recorder in my travels through China and weekends in Canton. Any spontaneous musical idea was imediately recorded and memorized. The MicroComposer allowed multitrack recording, which was very handy on the road. Based on the emphatic choreography of Taipei Disco's dancers, i started to compose a rhythm track while sitting at a table, with headphones, listening to Cantopop in the background. As if by magic - not a rare occasion in music - everything began fitting together. Odd as it may seem, the track ended up sounding more germanic (Kraftwerkian) than Cantonese pop.

The story ends in a circle: the cantonese DJ at Taipei Disco, whom i used to ask to play certain records, wanted to play my music at the disco when it was basically only just a rhythm track and little else. From a cupboard under his set up he took out a battered keyboard (unrecognizable brand) and invited me to play over the track with the available sounds on the keyboard. The circle was complete, with Cantonese clubbers happily dancing forwards and backwards, as if it were another Cantopop hit.
I didn't get payed but the house offered us free ice cream cups in which little Portuguese flags were sticked.
The track would be finished later, in studio, with vocoder strings ensemble and synth solos.

TAIPEI DISCO (LIVE)
The live version of 'Taipei Disco' was recorded during a live set at the China Pop venue, in Macau, 1993. China Pop was a rock club built in the ample space of an old fishing warehouse, located in the labyrinthic Inner Harbour area. It was decorated with large Mao Zedong and Cultural Revolution posters and memorabilia and had a unique atmosphere, fusing Pop Art with film noir. We began our performance at 1AM, pretty early for Macau's nightlife standards. We were lucky. An audience showed up. And in Macau there were always several friends among the audience, which tranformed a musical performance into a relaxed party.
The atmosphere was particularly surreal on that night. The front row was dominated by French Crazy Horse dancers, a sort of Oriental Moulin Rouge. The girls had finished their last performance of the evening at the Crazy Horse and were still energized from their show. During our performance, right in front of us and perfectly synched, we could hear the famous irreverent screams of can-can dancers. You always had to expect the unexpected in Macau.

RED MAMBO (IMPROMPTU)
I was familiar with the Portuguese-speaking African countries well before having lived in China. I found myself returning several times to one in particular, always attracted by its magic and very distinct, identitary culture and music: Cape Verde.
During the early years of DWART a lot of the inspiration for drum machine rhythms (Roland's TR series) came from African music, especially from new musical trends that gained full autonomy with Cape Verde's independence from Portugal, as was the case with funaná.
I had the privilege of having known and befriended some of the greatest Capeverdian composers, musicians and singers during the 70s and 80s, such as Bana, Luís Morais, Cesária Évora, Paulino Vieira, Chico Serra, Tito Paris, and historical bands such as Bulimundo (ambassadors of funaná) and Os Tubarões (great innovators of morna, coladera and funaná, with the sonic impact of an afro-beat big band).
When Luís Filipe de Barros began playing Os Tubarões for the first time on Portuguese radio, that was the turning point for African music in Portugal. The 'Tabanca' album was so widely heard and talked about that it quickly got a Portuguese release through one of the big labels of the time.
The mystic of this band from the Santiago Island would reach the East. Os Tubarões played to a packed room in Macau in 1992, and after the bombastic gig we arranged a dinner and party at my place.
We ate and drank generously and the moment came for a jam session at the small studio on the 19th floor. Because Os Tubarões didn't all fit in the studio, we recorded an impromptu with only three of the musicians: Tótó Silva (electric guitar), Mário Russo Bettencourt (bass) and Zeca Couto (piano). And there we were improvising without barriers, suddenly detached from cultural roots, labels and constraints, a truly unique moment. The track is now being released exactly as it was recorded, imbued with the real communion between the musicians. And it could only be titled 'Red Mambo'. I wish to dedicate it to the memory of Ildo Lobo and Jaime do Rosário, founders of Os Tubarões, sadly and too soon departed from the land of music.

In 1963, John Coltrane recorded a studio album that has Remained unknown and unheard until now. The album was recorded at Van Gelder Studios, the 'Abbey Road' of Jazz, with Coltrane's Classic Quartet and at the height of his career. The music on this album represents one of the most influential groups in music history performing in a musical style it had perfected and reaching in new, exploratory directions that would affect the trajectory of jazz from then on. In short, this is the holy grail of jazz.

Etch Presents the second release on his new imprint Altered Roads. Again looking down different avenues in terms of sonic diversity, tempo and functionality with disregard for preconception. Opening with the spacious and weightless drum choppage of 'Lost Orbit VIP' looking back to BBC Radiophonic era synth work and all the cosmological imagery that conjures up. The second track 'Phenomena' is a different beast altogether, stripped back to the bare minimum of a claustrophobic sub bass, off-kilter Loefah-meets-J Dilla beat and the monotonous groan of an unknown entity, built off the back of an admiration for psychological survival horror video games such as Silent Hill and Forbidden Siren. The first track of side b 'Beggars Belief' is a distant cousin of Etch's 2015 release on Wisdom Teeth 'Toxin', with grimey basslines clashing with swung beats, broken glass and gushes of warm synth chords. The final track 'Paging Dr.Octagon' Etch directly inputs his admiration for Kool Keith's alien surgeon. Chopping up old school breaks in the hardest way possible over looped synths and samples from the Mo Wax classic.

First Terrace return with the second instalment of their split series, an ongoing project which sees the work of two artists illuminated in each other's light. Built on the acknowledgement that context alters perception, the light shone by the opposing track alters the shadow cast, the effect of the other. In answer to the forked road presented by FTS001, we chose the quiet path*. As such FTS002 is a journey softly travelled. These pieces will not leave a scar on the sonic landscape, rather glide above the tips of the reaching leaves, high on a different mission. Vida composed her pieces to be absorbed in complete darkness. They were exhibited as part of the project In the Dark in Berlin, 2016. The lack of visual stimulus enhances the listening experience, sharpens the ears. At the same time, the audience is made vulnerable, they cling to the sound as it is their only guide through this passage of time. More information on In the Dark can be found here. Chihei presents a new long form piece conjured with guitars and effected into abstraction. It is parallel in form to the ebb and flow of water over the margins of a beach, ever the same yet constantly renewed. *(this time)

In 1963, John Coltrane recorded a studio album that has remained unknown and

unheard until now. The album was recorded at Van Gelder Studios, the 'Abbey Road' of Jazz, with Coltrane's Classic Quartet and at the height of his career. The music on
this album represents one of the most influential groups in music history performing in a musical style it had perfected and reaching in new, exploratory directions that would affect the trajectory of jazz from then on. In short, this is the holy grail of jazz.

From the remote township of Te Mata, in the rugged hills of New Zealand, comes a new imprint following in the tradition of mid-80s rub-a-dub from an often overlooked corner of dancehall culture.The brainchild of local farmer and radio personality Red Robin - alongside the deadly production duo Naram and Art - the first 12' features two heavy-like-lead riddims with discomix cuts from four unsung heroes of the 80s with conscious, street-level lyrics.
Side A finds legendary singer Winston 'Midnight Riders' Powell rise again on a synth-infused piece of classic rub-a-dub. Despite being his first release in decades, he delivers a cutting edge vocal from his Kingston 9 borough about life Outta Road in the Jamaican capital. He then crosses live to special agent Speng Bond for a deejay report on the current state of Britain in Dread Outta Road. With a more uptempo riddim, the flipside sees Toronto-based 80s star Steve Knight fire some timely shots at corrupt politicians with Dem a Fraud, before Los Angeles-based MC Tippa Lee comes correct with a self-affirming deejay cut on Salute the Veteran.
Both sides are served with one-away dub mixes from Naram and added textural touches from Disrupt. Six cuts on one record, strictly limited pressings.

Repress!

First Word Records is very proud to present the debut album by Children of Zeus - 'Travel Light'. It's been a long road leading to this album for Tyler Daley and Konny Kon.

They first embarked on their expedition into the music game two decades back - Tyler entered the scene as a songwriter, producer and vocalist, originally under the moniker Hoodman, whilst Konny began MCing, DJing and beat-making for hip hop crews The Microdisiacs and Broke'n'£nglish, along with DRS & Strategy.

To date, Children of Zeus have released three sell-out singles on First Word ('Still Standing', 'I Can't Wait' and 'Slow Down') and a compilation EP comprised of tracks made by the duo over the last decade entitled 'The Story So Far...'. Children of Zeus are finally at the stage where they are releasing their debut album proper, the over-riding ethos of which is about keeping their eyes on the road ahead, whilst shedding the baggage they've accumulated over the years - 'Travel Light'.

Features mainly come from Manny family, ( K S R ), LayFullStop, Metrodome (Levelz) and former Broke 'n' £nglish spar DRS. Guest production comes in the form of Switzerland's Sebb Bash, Nottingham's Juga-Naut, and London's Beat Butcha, and there's your favourite DJ's favourite DJ,

Mr Thing, slicing up the turntables on two tracks too. There's a few extra special ingredients on this album, along with their trademark sub-heavy, rhodes-laden hip hop soul hybrid. Reggae music has always been an integral piece of the CoZ sound-system ethic, so we see Tyler putting on his lover's rock hat for 'Hard Work', and they invite soul queen Terri Walker to join them on the fierce 'Sling Shot Riddim', while the album closes with the epic K15-produced jazz-bruk opus, 'Vibrations', on which Konny breaks it down quite simply: "high frequency means that you travel light, so get lifted yo, we'll live gifted".

Long as the journey has been, the time for looking back is over. This is about the present and future of Children of Zeus. A shining light in Manchester's now-school, and rightly heralded by many as the best new act to emerge in British soul music in the past decade. Aside from the above features, this project is written, performed and produced entirely by Tyler and Konny.
Since the crew first took flight, the end destination has never changed, the aim remains the same - to create timeless music, in their own unique style, without compromise, irrespective of industry and life distractions. The moral being this - travel light.

Betty Harris' The Lost Queen of New Orleans Soul collects together the steady stream of amazing soul and funk singles issued by Betty Harris from 1964 to 1969, under the musical guidance of legendary composer, musician and producer extraordinaire Allen Toussaint, a collection which truly captures the heart and soul of the city of New Orleans during this era.
Betty Harris's powerful, fiery soulful vocals found a perfect accompaniment with the New Orleans' players that Toussaint put together to back her, which by the time of her funk classic 'There's A Break In The Road' were the legendary super-tight, super-funk New Orleans group The Meters.
With the extraordinary song-writing skills of Allen Toussaint alongside the powerful, soaring, confident and emotive singer and the groove of The Meters, you have an unbeatable combination. That Harris never in fact lived in New Orleans (she flew in from Florida for all her sessions with Toussaint's local in-house players) seems almost an irrelevance, a geographical aside to the defining New Orleans sound captured on the recordings featured here.
All of these singles featured here were released on Allen Toussaint and his business partner Marshal Sehorn's local New Orleans label Sansu, widely distributed in the southern city but in only limited quantities elsewhere. As a consequence, Betty Harris' music failed to achieve the commercial success of other New Orleans artists such as Lee Dorsey (who she recorded with) and The Meters (who backed her). And so at the end of the decade she stopped recording, retired from the music business to raise her family in Florida.
This is no reflection of the stunning musical quality of all these songs which encompass everything from southern soul, heavy funk, deep soul ballads and northern soul. Betty Harris has been a cornerstone of Soul Jazz Records' New Orleans Funk and New Orleans Soul compilations. Always soulful and always funky, Betty Harris' music contains the essence of New Orleans music. She is the Lost Soul Queen of New Orleans.
This collection is released on CD, heavyweight gatefold double LP vinyl (+ download code) and digital and comes complete with full biography, original label artwork.

Artist and musician Alex Puddu, whom many already know for his "Danish Pornography" series and solo records, has written and produced the second album for his soulful band The Moonfires. A second coming that showcases strong R&B classic melodies, Afro vibes and tight funky grooves that take the listener up to a level of great bands like New Birth, Ohio Players, Mandrill, and Black Heat. This is Alex Puddu at his groovest!!!

'Middle of the Road Less Travelled' is not only the debut release by Michal Turtle on Light of Other Days, it is also his first new material released since the amazing reissues put out by Music From Memory in recent years. The three tracks on this EP were written and produced by Michal in 2017 with additional production and guitar playing by Light of Other Days' very own HOVE.

The two met back in 2016 when HOVE contacted Michal after he heard the 12' «Are you Psychic» and was blown away. As it turned out Michal was living in Basel which is only a short train ride away by train from the Light of Other Days home base in Zurich. The two started meeting and playing music together. Soon after, they put together a live-show for Michal's music which had its debut show at Phono Festival in Denmark in 2017. During this time, they started working on new music together as well. The result is this EP.

The music on 'Middle of the Road Less Travelled' is a continuation of Michal's musical exploration into other-worldly territory. Michal is a master in building hypnotic textures from repetitive rhythms that collide with trippy and atmospheric synthesizers. The delayed and dubby guitar lines by HOVE were recorded during rehearsal sessions in Michal's living room in Basel and the last track of the EP 'Agallo (Real)' ends with vocals performed by Lucianne Lassalle. Besides playing in local bands with Michal back in the 80s, Lucianne also performed and co- wrote early Michal Turtle tracks like 'Phantoms of Dreamland' or 'Village Voice' from his first record 'Music from the Living Room'.

Fresh off the back of the languorous poolside disco and tropical pop of their debut album 'Shapes On Shapes' released last November, LA based duo Wild & Free return with a collection of essential remixes from label mates and influences alike by revisiting the heady disco of recent single 'Ferns and Stuff'.
Both multi-instrumentalists, singers and producers in their own right, Wild & Free duo Drew Kramer and George Cochrane came together in 2015 and have spent the past 2 years crafting a series of acclaimed EPs and remixes (for the likes of Joe Goddard (Hot Chip), Panama, Gigamesh, RAC and Ben Browning of Cut/Copy) that saw them tipped by the likes of Spin, XLR8R, Indie Shuffle, Clash Magazine, Data Transmission and many more and take their live show on the road playing alongside the likes of Brooklyn's Body Language.After releasing a few solid ep's and two full lengths album's Xinobi has gained real recognition among established and well-known artists and opinion-makers, and his underground cult has amplified. What has followed is remixes, edits and reworks for artists such as Sbtrkt, The Avener, John Grant, Toro Y Moi, Nicolas Jaar, Agnes Obel, Kris Menace and Tensnake.Along with Moullinex and Mr. Mitsuhirato he gave birth to the still-growing-influent Discotexas who here lend their label mates their expert musical arrangement skills with 'Discotexas Club Mix' thrown in for good measure. And it doesn't stop there, with legendary New Yorker Justin Strauss, who has produced and mixed records and remixes for the likes of LCD Soundsystem, Beyonce, La Roux and Goldfrapp contributing a 'Whatever/Whatever' mix as part of the slick and hugely influential production duo he formed with Bryan Mette.
Already noticed for his remixes and array of collaborators and with several releases under his belt (including a track on the 'Bonjour Colette' compilation), Tokyo-based Yuki Abe AKA producer/DJ Boys Get Hurt gets his inspiration from the melancholic feelings the end of summer inevitably brings about, a personal and evocative sensibility in tune with the land of the rising sun's delicate culture. Yuki expertly crafts bouncy disco-house music with sprinklings of electronica, indie, ambient, hip-hop and R&B. Here he adds a mix with a loose and joyful feel that fits the sentiments of what Wild and Free represent perfectly.

Twenty-eight Years Ago, Pissed-off Twelve-year-olds Around The Universe Discovered A New Planet, A Black Planet. Public Enemy's Aggressive, Benihana Beats And Incendiary Lyrics Instilled Fear Among Parents And Teachers Everywhere, Even In The Border Town Of Laredo, Texas, Home Of The Future Founders Of The Latin-funk-soul-breaks Super Group, Brownout. The Band's Sixth Full-length Album (out May 25th) Fear Of A Brown Planet Is A Musical Manifesto Inspired By Public Enemy's Music And Revolutionary Spirit.

Chuck D., The Bomb Squad, Flava Flav And The Rest Of The P.e. Posse Couldn't Possibly Have Expected That Their Golden-era Hip Hop Albums Would Sow The Seeds For Countless Public Enemy Sleeper Cells, One That Would Emerge Nearly Three Decades Later In Austin, Texas. Greg Gonzalez (bass) Remembers A Kid Back In Junior High Hipped Him To The Fact That Public Enemy's bring The Noise' Is Built On James Brown Samples, While A Teenaged Beto Martinez (guitar) Alternated Between Metal And Hip-hop In His Walk-man, And Adrian Quesada (guitar/keys) Remembers Falling In Love With Public Enemy's Sound At An Early Age. when I Got Into Hip Hop, I Was Looking For This Aggressive Outlet . . . And I Didn't Even Understand What They Were Pissed Off About, Because I Was Twelve And Lived In Laredo . . . But I Loved It And I Felt Angry Along With Them.'

Joseph Abajian (fat Beats' Owner) Must Have Sensed The Deep Hip-hop Well Lying Beneath The Versatile Band's Latin-funk Veneer. i Thought Their Sound Would Work Covering Public Enemy Songs,' Abajian Says, And, it Was Good To Know They Were P.e. Fans . . . We Came Up With A Track Listing And They Went To Work.' Despite The Band's Eagerness To Work On New Original Material (an Album Of Original Songs Is Slated For Next Year), They Couldn't Pass Up The Opportunity To Pay Homage To This Iconic And Influential Posse.

Translating Sample-based Music To A Live Band Turned Out To Be More Of A Challenge Than They Anticipated. Adrian Tried To Get Inside The Bomb Squad's (public Enemy's Producers/beat-making Team) Head In Order To Find The Inspiration To Reinterpret P.e.'s Songs: imagine The Bomb Squad Going Back In Time And Getting The J.b.s (james Brown's Funky Backing Band) In The Studio And Setting Up A Couple Analog Synths And Then Playing Those Songs.' While Some Songs Closely Follow The Original Musical Blueprint, Others Use The Source Breakbeats As Jumping-off Points Later Sweetened By Trombonist Mark speedy' Gonzales' Horn Arrangements, Synth Wizardry Courtesy Of Friend-of-the-band Peter Stopschinski, And Dj Trackstar's Turntable Scratches. But Don't Listen Expecting To Hear Paint-by-numbers Recreations Of Classic Public Enemy Jams. our Approach Is Never In The Tribute Sense,' Adrian Explains. we've Always Taken It And Made It Our Own, Whether It's The Brown Sabbath Thing Or This Public Enemy Thing.' Coming Off Numerous Tours As Brown Sabbath And Even A Stint Backing The Late Legend Prince, Brownout Is Arguably The Tightest And Funkiest Band On The Road Today And They're Psyched To Bring This Revolutionary Music To The People. For A Band Without An Overt Political Agenda, They Collectively Couldn't Resist The Opportunity To Play This Music Live, Especially Now. if There's Any Way That We Can Use The Already Political And Protest Nature (of P.e.'s Music), We Would Like To Try,' Beto Says. the Album's Title, Fear Of Brown Planet Is Definitely A Relevant Idea Today And We're Not Afraid To Put It Out There, Because We Want To Speak Out.' By Reinterpreting These Hip Hop Classics In Their Unique Style And Channeling The Spirit Of Public Enemy That First Echoed Around The World And Captured Their Imaginations All Those Years Ago, Brownout Is Doing Exactly That.

African Scream Contest 2

A great compilation can open the gate to another world. Who knew that some of the most exciting Afro-funk records of all time were actually made in the small West African country of Benin Once Analog Africa released the first African Scream Contest in 2008, the proof was there for all to hear, gut-busting yelps, lethally well- drilled horn sections and irresistibly insistent rhythms added up to a record that took you into its own space with the same electrifying sureness as any favourite blues or soul or funk or punk sampler you might care to mention.

Ten years on, intrepid crate-digger Samy Ben Redjeb unveils a new treasure- trove of Vodoun-inspired Afrobeat heavy funk crossover greatness. Right from the laceratingly raw guitar fanfare which kicks o Les Sympathics' pile-driving opener, it's clear that African Scream Contest II is going to be every bit as joyous a voyage of discovery as its predecessor. And just as you're trying to get o the canvas after this one-punch knock out, an irresistible Afro-ska romp with a more than subliminal echo of the Batman theme puts you right back there. Ignace De Souza and the Melody Aces' Asaw Fofor" would've been a killer instrumental but once you've factored in the improbably-rich-to-the-point-of-being-Nat-King-Cole-influenced lead vocal, it's a total revelation.

The screaming does not stop there, in fact it's only just beginning. But the

strange thing about African Scream Contest II's celebration of unfettered Beninese creativity is that it would not have been possible without the assistance of a musician who had been trained by the Russian secret services to "search and destroy" enemies of the country's (then) Marxist-Leninist president Mathieu Kerekou.

Already familiar to fans of the first African Scream Contest as a mainstay of ruthlessly disciplined military band Les Volcans de la Capitale, Lokonon André vanished in a cloud of dust at Ben Redjeb's behest with a list of names and some petrol money, only to return a few days later having miraculously tracked down every single name he'd been given. The source of this Afrobeat bounty-hunter's impressive people-finding skills - his training with the KGB - highlights the tension between encroaching authoritarian politics and fearless expressions of personal creative freedom which is the back-story of so much great African music of the 60s and 70s. Happily, in this instance, Lokonon was tracking the artists down to oer them licensing deals, rather than to arrest them.

Where some purveyors of vintage African sounds seem to be strip-mining the

continent's musical heritage with no less rapacious intent than the mining companies and colonial authorities who previously extracted its mineral wealth, Samy Ben Redjeb's determination to track this amazing music to its human sources pays huge karmic dividends.

Like every other Analog Africa release, African Scream Contest II is illuminated by meticulously researched text and eortlessly fashion-forward photography supplied by the artists themselves. Looming large - alongside Lokonon André - in the cast of biopic-worthy characters to emerge from this seductive tropical miasma is visionary space-nerd Bernard Dohounso, who laid the foundations for Benin's vinyl predominance by importing and assembling the turntables that would play the products of his Bond villain-acronymed pressing plant SATEL, a factory that would revolutionise the music industry in the whole region.

The scene documented here couldn't have been born anywhere else but in the Benin Republic , and the prime reason for that is Vodoun. It's one of the world's most complex religions, involving the worship of some 250 divinities, where each divinity has its own specific set of rhythms, and the bands introduced on the African Scream Contest series and other compilations from that country were no less diverse than that army of dierent Gods. At once restless pioneers and masters of the art of modernising their own folklore, the mystic sound of Vodoun was their prime source of inspiration.

One especially irascible Vodoun-adept was Antoine Dougbe, who styled himself The devil's prime minister' while turning ancestral rhythms into satanically alluring modern beats. As Orchestre Poly-Rythmo songwriter Pynasco has observed sagely, Evil is not elsewhere, evil extends into the house'. And African Scream Contest II is a gloriously cinematic road-trip through an undiscovered realm of music lore whose familiarity is every bit as thrilling as its otherness.

Written by Ben Thomson, March 2018

"It was the most beautiful summer of my life."

Memories — places, vacancies, allusions — are fundamental characters in Mary Lattimore's evocative craft. Inside her music, wordless narratives, indenite travelogues, and braided events skew into something enchantingly new. The Los Angeles-based harpist recorded her breakout 2016 album, At The Dam, during stops along a road trip across America, letting the serene landscapes of Joshua Tree and Marfa, Texas color her compositions. In 2017, she presented Collected Pieces, a tape compiling sounds from her past life in Philadelphia: odes to the east coast, burning motels, and beach town convenience stores. In 2018, from a restorative station — a redwood barn, nestled in the hills above San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge — emanates Hundreds of Days, her second full-length LP with Ghostly International. The record sojourns between silences and speech, between microcosmic daily scenes and macrocosmic universal understandings, between being alien in promising new places and feeling torn from old native havens. It's an expansive new chapter in Lattimore's story, and an expression of mystied gratitude. A study in how ordinary components helix together to create an extraordinary world.

Awarded a residency at the Headlands Center for the Arts, Lattimore spent two summer months living with 15 fellow artists — writers, playwrights, musicians, poets, painters, activists, curators — in a cluster of old Victorian military buildings on the Northern Pacic Coast. Days offered solitude, Lattimore set up in a spacious barn, able to arrange her instruments at will. Nights welcomed new perspectives. "Hanging out with a lot of accomplished artists with poetic ways of looking at the world was really inspiring. My heart was in a bit of a tangle after leaving Philadelphia. I was holding onto things instead of moving forward. My time there was a nostalgia detox, a way to press reset in a healthy way. Also breathing in the freshest air in America, straight off of the ocean, felt good."

Throughout the shifting locales there is one consistent companion Lattimore engages: a 47-string Lyon and Healy harp. The instrument wires directly into her psyche. Pitchfork's Marc Masters posits, "she can practically talk through it at this point, she's created a language." The space and stillness of the Headlands afforded Lattimore freedom to her expand her vocabulary, to stretch out and experiment with layers of keyboard, guitar, theremin, and grand piano. Lattimore's voice sweeps beneath the plucks and washes of opener It Feels Like Floating,' enraptured by the winding current, and reappearing in the second minute of the immense "Never Saw Him Again." The track elevates towards a shimmering apex of static and percussion before organ drone yields to signature halcyon utters. As with much of Lattimore's work, the track titles are telling, "Baltic Birch" is a somber windswept march that sways gracefully out of step, a remembrance of a recent trip to Latvia where she was struck by the abandoned resort towns along the Baltic Sea. Hello From The Edge of The Earth' is an earnest reection of Lattimore's love of the natural world, recognizing the thresholds of varying terrains.

The album's fth track borrows its name from Lattimore's favorite line in Denis Johnson's short story Emergency' from Jesus' Son. A character, lost in a blizzard, reassesses a disjointed universe, a clash between curtains of snow and angels descending out of a brilliant blue summer: it isn't an apocalypse, it is a drive-in movie, with stars hovering above the lot, off the screen, in the throes of the Midwestern storm. This mix-up is disorienting and existentially tragic, Lattimore's darkly strummed piece is a melancholic parallel, mimicking Johnson's elegant suture attaching two remarkably discontinuous spaces.

Micro-revelations, not quite as bright as torn skies but nonetheless enlightening, were everyday occurrences during Lattimore's residency. Living small days with small tasks — feeling little dramas within the arcadian universe of a national park — rendered her the sense that disjointed spaces can be interconnected no matter the enormity that divides them. It's in this elastic scale of perception that something as simultaneously simple and intricate as Hundreds of Days can ourish.

- Second solo album for Ghostly, past releases on Thrill Jockey
- Recently toured w/ Sharon Van Etten, Jarvis Cocker, Kurt Vile, Steve Gunn, Julia Holter, Iceage
- Mary Lattimore has been featured on Pitchfork, NPR, The Wire Magazine, and more

Berlin based Jens Dohle is a man of many talents. An accomplished composer and arranger for theatre productions across Europe, classically trained multi instrumentalist, explosive live drummer for YE:SOLAR, Munk, Hot Coins, Sado Opera. Longtime collaborator with Danilo Plessow aka MCDE and Noema from African Shakedown fame. Remixer for Jazzanova and 4 Hero. There's not enough room here to list his amazing work.

2018 ushers forth a new identity to his already enviable C.V with his first EP as James Dole (a jokingly anglicised version of his birth name). The 3 tracks here all showcase his ability to create a strong mood and use great splashes of melody and rhythm but without ever losing the groove. Written during a period of 'introspection' in deepest, darkest Berlin, each one tells a different story.

Ex is a moody monster of a track. It builds and builds into a pounding nightime symphony with a kind of epic-ness which hints at many years spent mining the highs and lows of music, love and life. Big room yet with a gut wrenching soul beneath the slightly flamboyant majesty. Made in East Berlin and well road tested in the cities debauched nightclubs.

Fantasia shows off Mr Doles jazz and broken beat background with rolling, funky drums sashaying with hip hoppy live jazz keys. Then those signature euphoric yet melancholic synths appear halfway through the track to create an emotionally halcyon mood. WIBES.

The EP closes with Grande. Super melodic yet cinematic with amazing synth work and a sophisticated arrangement showcasing James's well trained musicianship and artistry. An opus of melody and longing built for Italian arthouse films about unrequited love.


DJ Support from - Midland, Honey Soundsystem, Sandrino, Jimpster, Ame, DVS1, Shadow Child, Joe Goddard, Red Rack'em, Futureboogie, Soft Rocks, Domenic Cappello, Downtown Party Network, Danny Russell

Great return of the classic and pioneer band of the French Funk scene! After a long absence, Malka Family reformed, burned some scenes and composed a new album without changing anything to its magic formula. Recomposed with almost all original
musicians, they come back today with a new album, Le Retour du Kif. At the heart of a still popular and multicultural Marais area in Paris, young musicians gather to jam. This is where Malka Family is formed. Their first self-produced album, Malka On
The Beach, was released in 1991, and gigs were immediately chaining up all over France and Europe, famous for their eccentric costumed performance and after-parties. In 1992,
Warner France signs them for a second album Tous des Oufs, a real P-Funk space opera with guests such as Sidney, Dee Nasty, Marco Prince (FFF), or Juan Rozoff... They will then traveled France, Switzerland, Italy, Holland, Denmark, Namibia, Japan ...
And in 1994, the band becomes independent again and records an EP for Big Cheese Records, titled Fricassee de Funk. After a final tour for the third album, Fotoukonkass (BMG) recorded with Renaud Létang , the band finally broke up. At a time when Daft Punk is using funk artists to support their performance, when Bruno Mars & Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk" continues to make the crowds dance, it's time for the original funkateers families to come back and teach a lesson to new generations. After the
band reformed and started touring again since 2015, they quickly decided to record a new album and to leave on the roads again...

Bergen is the next, and natural step in the expanding career of Dutch producer Tom Trago. The acclaimed producer behind Voyage Direct will release his fourth LP, with the label and crew he's built a close relationship with over the past ten years - Dekmantel. With a new studio and approach to music, Bergen is Trago sounding at his very finest, returning to his roots with a focussed, and dedicated production ethos.
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'If you change your environment, your music will also change with you,' Trago reflects on the new album. A staple in the Amsterdam club scene, Tom Trago has been a familiar face at the Dekmantel events for over ten years. 'I was even playing Dekmantel parties, before they were even called Dekmantel,' he states. Tom Trago's collaboration with Dekmantel has allowed him the space to grow and finish his most accomplished, and honest album to date. Bergen is an LP that connects his legacy, family, and commitment to dance music in one resplendent package.


Having relocated from Amsterdam, Tom Trago set up his new studio in the coastal town of Bergen, located in the northern Netherlands. Recorded in his family house, with the sea at one side, and the countryside to the other, the resultant record is a craftful piece of art, full of space, and the classic machine-driven, house music aesthetic that has come to represent Trago's sound. Bergen was made with the aim of re-creating a global-music sound, along with the music that has influenced him throughout his life, with a new approach influenced by Trago's immediate natural environment. 'I would take long walks in-between tracks,' explains Tom about the music making process, "and the creative ideas would happen in the forest."

The spacey-passively-paced LP intro 'Bergen' was the first to be picked up by Dekmantel's Casper Tielrooij, who upon hearing the track stated - 'now we are talking album business'. Yet it was the electro- orientated 'Zeeweg' that became the template for the rest of the record. 'The LP was built around this track,' Trago states. The b-boy electro vibe, with its melodramatic synth melody was influenced by the road that leads to his scenic retreat - with slow, steady curves, and a gentle, upward trajectory, Zeeweg and its album namesake, twist and turn in fluid synchronicity. 'The Creation of Lalibela' plays on this world music vibe, with ethereal and fun key patterns, influenced by the work of Mulatu Astatke. 'Always be with you' is one of the LP's standout tracks, epitomising the new album's country settings, and featuring his girlfriend on vocals; it swings at a steady, up-beat pace, rich with harmony, colour and melody. Elsewhere on the album, Trago sticks to his dance floor roots, 'Faith Belongs to Us' is moulded in a Chicago-to- Amsterdam house style, while album closer 'Working Machines' plays with resonance and atmospherics, creating a moody, pulsing yet stylish rhythm.

Having been raised in a musically-driven, and open-spirited household in which the producer grew up learning the piano, it didn't take long for Tom Trago to be indoctrinated into the new school of Amsterdam producers. Studying at a private jazz school while still a teenager, Trago would eventually come to cross paths with the hip-hop loving Dutch duo Rednose Distrikt, who left a permanent imprint on his approach to music. 'They showed me a world of music making using the MPC,' Trago says. 15 years later, the Dutch producer still sticks to this template. Looking to recreate this production approach that influenced him from the very beginning, Trago stripped down his studio to a simple setup with just a few, key 'weapons of choice'. Removing the computer from the setup, the MPC 2000 XL once again became the heart of the music making process. Bergen's analogue tools lend to its organic sound, one honed and crafted by its natural surroundings, and matured approach by one of the Netherland's most accomplished producers.

Forest Bathing, or Shinrin-yoku, is a term that means taking in the
forest atmosphere.' It was developed in Japan during the 1980s and has become a cornerstone of preventive health care and healing in Japanese medicine.
Taking in the forest atmosphere' became the inspiration for A
Hawk and A Hacksaw's newest album. Their forest bath of choice is the Valle De Oro National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico. This new album features ten original compositions by Heather Trost and Jeremy Barnes. The opening track Alexandria' features Barnes on the Persian Santur, an ancient hammer struck dulcimer, and Trost's string and woodwind melodies. The composition evokes the long trader's route between what is now Bulgaria and the wealthy cities of Istanbul and Alexandria.
The band has always had a bird's eye view of this part the world—
looking for the connections between places and even eras: a belief in the power of music to reach across borders and unite.
The band is based on the idea of collecting music and inspiration
through travel. They are not of a place, but their music evokes places along a route. This is not urban music. It's rural: songs of the woods and roads where there are no sidewalks or street lamps to light your way.
While the bulk of the music heard on this record is played by Barnes and Trost, they do have some incredible guest performances, namely the clarinet virtouso Cüneyt Sepetçi, from Istanbul, Hungarian cimbalom master Unger Balász, and closer to home, Chicago trumpeter Sam Johnson, Deerhoof's John Dieterich and Noah Martinez, of the band Lone Piñon.

- Printed Inner Sleeve and Heavy Weight Outer

The now legendary ' Abbey Road' version of 'the Isness' was the originally conceived version before last minute wholesale changes resulted in new tracks , different mixes and/or edits appearing in a wholly different order for the commercial release of 'the Isness '  in 2002 . The 'Abbey Rd 'version had been initially promo'd to ecstatic reviews, receiving an unprecedented 6/5 stars from Mixmag 'it's like a beam of white light from heaven'. 
This is the first time the Abbey Road version has been officially and commercially available .The band themselves ' the Amorphous Androgynous ' ( a psychedelic supergroup conceptualized and produced by the Future Sound Of London ) are said to have always regretted the last minute changes to the album ,the creation of which took five years from 1996-2001 post production of the FSOL album ' DEAD CITIES' and marks an important chapter in the production duos history and 5 year disappearance where rumours of madness and disbandment were rife among fans of the band only for them to finally appear with this radical new vision and what is now considered something of a psychedelic masterpiece which along with subsequent albums ' Alice In Ultraland ' ( on Harvest Records ) and their 'A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble  ( Exploding In Your Mind )' Dj series ( which chronicle and redefine the history of psychedelia from the 60s to the present ) did much to activate a third wave of global psychedelic sonic revolution .
The Isness is a vast samplerdelic sonic galaxy where a huge range of instruments ( from sitars and numerous eastern instruments to flutes, banjos and conventional rock n roll instrumentation)  and countless musicians are employed ,collaged and twisted using the studio as instrument ( much in the tradition and lineage of the Beatles and other 60s exponents) to form a startling new vision of cosmic space music and to redefine the possibilities of what ' the song ' could be in the new millennia with its by turn : cosmic , wildly surreal , absurdist lyrics on epic songs such as ' the Galaxial Pharmaceutical ' ' the Mello Hippo Disco Show ' ' Divinity ' and many others ! 

The cornerstone track from Chloe´'s new album, an adventurously dark landscape dotted by Montreal rock band Suuns' singer Ben Shemie's vocals, Recall deserved this long-awaited quartet of astounding remixes, which serve as extensions of her latest full-length Endless Revisions' second single, released last October on Lumie`re Noire, the label founded by Chloe´.Moire´, Matthew Dear's latest signing to his Ghostly International label (which released the London artist's debut album in early 2017), retained a smattering of Ben's syllables, setting them to a captivating retro- futuristic remix that straddles two worlds, along the milestones of a restrained beat in a mesmerizingly ethereal and ghostly road trip that could last forever.German Crosstown Rebels signee Jonathan Kaspar's version is a more banging techno version, rounding out the EP's wide array of moods and genres. Over a formidably progressive build-up, the mood remains dark thanks to Ben's stretched-out vocals, and Recall's original universe is made more dynamic with a sped-up tempo, added percussions, and a concluding harmonisation finale that brings it all into the light. Douglas Greed, previously remixed Chloe´'s Driven (released on BPitch Control back in 2015,) similarly chops up the vocals, but takes them down a different road, reassembling the original's elements to create a different track, resulting in a fascinating free-form re-reading, an adroit upcycling, a long detour through the German producer's favoured poetic techno backroads - possibly inspired by the surroundings of Jena, Greed (a.k.a. Mario Wilms') hometown, and homebase of the Freude Am Tanzen label, the serious stable of geniuses directed by the incomparable Robag Wruhme.In a more motoric register, Autarkic's re-imagines Recall via a different narrative lens, re-populating and grounding it all at once. The Israeli Red Axes accomplice, who released an excellent debut album (I Love You Go Away) on Disco Halal last April, has a knack for propelling fanatics of rock urgency straight to the dancefloor. A gang of machines amplifies Shemie's voice, highlighting its minutiae of suffering and pleasure, leading the listener into dawn.

The second of Alma Negra's 12 Rhythms Series is dedicated to the Maloya sound from La Réunion, a tiny island where a
melting pot of cultures is reflected strongly in its music. Maloya's roots go back to the time of slavery, its quick tempo and raw
energy making it not only a popular dance music but also a powerful protest through movement.
On their Maloya EP, the Basel collective pay tribute to the hypnotic rhythms that were feared both by the Catholic Church and the French government for the musical form's subversive part in the rebellion against colonialism.
The release revolves around two contrasting Alma Negra re-workings of Lindigo's Tany Be. The first takes a classic call &
response structure in 12/8 and 6/8 rhythms, adding a driving bass line and guitar licks. A solid 909-kick locks things in step,
along with a sax flourish and FM synths. Their re-imagining of African and Tamil influences for modern dancers is a triumphant
manifestation of the music's origins.
With the main reworking focusing on a rolling dance floor groove, the Dub Mix concentrates on trance-inducing aspect of
Maloya. Using a modular set up to pick apart layers of percussion, it is a dense and heady trip into the spirit world.
The B side focuses on Christine Salem, one of today's stars of the Maloya scene. Without wanting to squeeze the soul from her
deep tones, Kabaré is slowed down a notch, with drums added sparingly. This sensitive treatment gives the track just enough
weight and tension to punch in on todays dance floors without losing the intent of the original.
The source material for this EP has been road tested from the very beginning of Alma Negra's journey. The collective have gone
to great lengths to ensure the original creators are on board with their treatment of their music and are honoured to be given the
chance to distil their own ethos into a record that is bubbling with today's dance floor drive. Their reverent treatment aims to
preserve the power and beauty of the source material, to bring uncovered gems to a new audience.

Gitkin sold guitars. To be precise, he re-branded, sold and traded knock-off Gibsons. A lone, travelling salesman, he toted his counterfeit wares to guitar stores and music emporiums. His trade took him to most corners of the USA, passing through big, smoggy cities and nowheresville small towns. His nights were spent at not-so-salubrious motels. It was at those nocturnal stop-offs that he'd often cross paths with newcomers to the States. His fellow travellers were mostly immigrants, newly-arrived, from places like Ethiopia, Mexico, Indonesia.

Or at least, that's the story as Brian J Gitkin has been able to piece it together. This album, '5 Star Motel', is by a different Gitkin, an ode to the one described above. Or to put it another way, this is the younger Gitkin's homage to his elder relative: the elusive, guitar salesman uncle he never met. A steady drip of anecdotes have construed an image of his relation's itinerant, huckster lifestyle. Finding a cassette of his recordings, it spoke of the effect of those encounters: lo-fi and scratchy, the music leaped seamlessly, in difficult to discern ways, between different far-flung styles.

On '5 Star Motel', that younger Gitkin (henceforth referred to simply as Gitkin) has sought to expand the philosophy he encountered on that tape. The guitar is common thread, the raft to navigate a sun-dappled stream of ideas. It's an embrace of cultures where folkloric stringed instruments still rule, or where they've led to a more recent embrace of the electric guitar. He traces the loose, meandering paths which join them together.

It's about America, the world outside its borders, and the inscrutable, inevitable dialogue that exists between them. Take 'Cancion Del Rey', where the sound of Peruvian chicha - steady-moving, alluring, and lyrical - winds its way through Gitkin's fuzz-filtered licks, and the rhythm underpinning it. Or 'Yama', where Middle Eastern influences echo out of grooving, cyclical riffs. Touching on the distinctive tones of Tuareg music and the Sahara, too, 'Grand Street Feast' charts a sand-dusted, melodic misadventure.

Alien Ensemble's trombone man Mathias Goetz caused quite a splash when he released his eponymous debut LP under his Le Millipede moniker back in 2015: The multi-instrumentalist's initial offering was clearly something else, impossible to grasp, a musical vessel beyond genre, beyond style or era, seemingly beyond space and time even, a vessel that carried an almost cosmic kind of song-craft - music with no fixed stamp of origin, though it did somehow feel like an Alien Transistor release. Followed by remix album Mirror Mirror, which comprised reworks by 1115, Protein, LeRoy, Olaf Opal, and Saroos, to name a few, it's now time for album #2: The Sun Has No Money.Let's face it: There's nothing as majestic as the sun. At least not in our world. If it runs out of juice one day, it's game over: The End. Light's out. For everyone. At that point, it wouldn't even matter if you're rich or poor. We're all equal under the sun. Same level. And yeah, this might not be major news, but then again... we're talking about the sun. The sun! Guess it's about time to acknowledge its power and superiority, right In fact, you can feel it on your bicycle: pedaling at night, when it's on duty in other hemispheres, and you're working hard at the dynamo, sweating, you can actually feel how powerful it is. In the end you get off the bike all recharged, a tune on your lips - and somehow feeling like a miniature version of the sun yourself. And whenever you feel like that, that's exactly the right moment to grab a melodica and get to work.Following an initial warm-up round sans electricity, this new album soon begins to glow: Mathias Goetz aka Le Millipede doesn't need pedals, he boosts circulation by single-handedly* playing tons and tons of different instruments - it actually feels like thousands, easily. And thus begins a show that has countless levels to it: There are various sonic illusions... and yet Le Millipede doesn't hide anything: He's also willing to show the inner workings, the actual recording process and everything else. In short: he goes meta. Makes songs about making songs. That's right: why not use all these beautiful means to address the issue of money It's not the sun that casts shadows, all it does is recharge, fuel: growth & thriving, that's the sun's area of responsibility. And yet there came a man whose plan was simple: steal the fruit from your garden, only to sell it right back to you, for money. We can hear the sea gulls crying in the distance, as somebody is throwing breadcrumbs up into the wind that carries their voices...It's not the sun that casts shadows - all it does is radiate light. And yet there came a time when someone blocked those rays of light. Now if you're some kind of Diogenes, you'll simply say, Move at least a little out of the sun.' But if you're a teacher, you'll maybe light up your pipe and use that to lighten up. What matters is that the percussion parts, in this case, resemble some serious musique concréte. The sun doesn't know shadows - all it knows, is itself. And yet somebody entered the picture and built an entire city. A city full of streets, so that houses can cast shadows into these avenues. Plus, there's music in the streets, music originally written inside the walls of said houses.One of those streets is known as the Tin Pan Alley: a place that got its name from a music writer who compared the sound of so many pianos to the banging of tin pans. That sound: that's one side of the road that is this album. Some of these melodies appear to be shadows of earlier tunes, dating back to, say, 1898 or even before that, melodies that were first registered in the Tin Pan Alley publishers' offices back in 1912 or 1917. We actually get to see this Alley at that point in time. We see the ropes, the workings. How things come together, the actual act of creation. Suddenly, we can hear the shadows!
Okay, so one side of this street is America. The US of A. The opposite side: Russia. And smack dab in the middle: Europe. A pothole in the center. All the back-and-forth that occurs between these two poles ultimately depends on the movement of the sun. Night and day, taking turns, commuting in and out of sight. We get to meet Prokofiew's and Scriabin's ghost, among other spirits, reframed and published by Le Millipede's own imaginary label imprint on the historic Tin Pan Alley. Indeed there are moments on this album when Le Millipede seems to be playing Scriabin's clavier a` lumie`res (tastiera per luce), when his performance seems to be based on synesthesia, a wild cross-pollination of colors and sounds. In case you didn't know this: In the States, Prokofiew goes by the name Brian Wilson, and Scriabin's also known as Sun Ra - yet another guy who's usually broke, but gets to spend a lot of time out in the sun. Together, these assorted protagonists ask the people of the Antilles for Mutabor dance-tokens and send postcards to Moondog in Germany, right back into the darkness. On the postcards you can see people dancing the Biguine...Firing foreign fossil fuels from all pipes (Brennelementsteuer!), Le Millipede controls the very center of this hustle and bustle: going as far as to employ some southern Chopped & Screwed styles, he's 100% current and zeitgeisty! Houston, we've got a problem: there's some kind of myriapod, centi- or millipede on the loose! Well, give me another sip of lean, sizzurp, dirty Sprite, and on goes the journey in the Pullman coach. Let's follow the sun! Keep on moving, keep things motorik! Here comes the Trans-Eureka-Express. Cherish the backpacking days! A piercing rhapsody of sound (bohrende Rhapsodie), we'll remember them fondly! And thus things move on, the sun, the days, the earth: rise, set, action, round and round... onwards eternally. The sun: the biggest loop known to mankind. As if it was some kind of sonic Rube Goldberg contraption, time seems to be stretching out while listening to that hmmm. After all: time is a lot (a lot!) more than just money. And yeah, the sun is the real big shot on (or rather: above) Planet Earth. Le Millipede's live line-up also includes Markus & Micha Acher (The Notwist etc.), Nico Sierig (Joasihno), and Manuela Rzytki (G. Rag & die Landlergschwister, Kamerakino etc.).
*sole exception: Evi Keglmaier (Zwirbeldirn, Hochzeitskapelle) plays the viola. Words/sun worship: Pico Be

The Grateful Dead forged its legend on the road, traveling countless miles between 1965 and 1995 to perform a world record 2,318 shows for millions of devoted fans. The band's refusal to ever play a song the same way twice has endeared generations of fans, many of whom prefer certain live versions of songs over their studio counterparts, and garnered the popular phrase among Dead Heads: There is nothing like a Grateful Dead concert.'

The live albums the band released during its 30-year career are the primary source for the collection, including tracks like Bertha' from Grateful Dead (Skull & Roses) (1971), Fire On The Mountain' from Dead Set (1981), and The Music Never Stopped' from One From the Vault (1991). A testament to its ongoing popularity, the revered double-album Europe '72 (1972), is represented by no less than five tracks, including Sugar Magnolia,' Jack Straw' and a searing rendition of Morning Dew.'

Other performances on the set were selected from the growing number of live releases that have emerged since the death of founding member Jerry Garcia in 1995. Some of those recordings include Touch Of Grey' from Truckin' Up To Buffalo (2005), a 1990 version of Eyes Of The World' with saxophonist Branford Marsalis featured on Wake Up To Find Out (2014), and Estimated Prophet,' which debuted earlier this year as part of Cornell 5/8/77, a recording of the Grateful Dead's mythic show at Cornell University in 1977, thought by many to be the band's greatest live performance.

Made for die-hard Dead Heads and new fans alike, The Best Of The Grateful Dead Live Vol. 1 1969-1977 will be available as a on 180-gram vinyl as a 2-LP set, covering the first half of the album, on March 23rd. The music will be available through digital and streaming services as well.

Mogwai return with their 9th studio album which was recorded with renowned producer Dave Fridmann (Mercury Rev, The Flaming Lip's, Mogwai's Come On Die Young and ROCK ACTION) at his Tarbox Road Studios in New York State.

Every Country's Sun named after a friends lack of knowledge in how the universe works, takes two decades of Mogwai's signature, contrasting sounds and distills it, beautifully, into 56 concise minutes of gracious elegance, hymnal trance-rock, and transcendental euphoria. It will definitely appeal to fans of the band and will gain many new ones along the way.

Boxset includes: White vinyl double LP, 12" black vinyl (containing 6 tracks of album demos), CD, plus a set of Tarbox Road photographic prints - Includes download card redeemable from the label.

The Second Single of Prins Thomas brand new - 5th Album - gets unveiled with a Remixes and Bonus Beats by our dear friends - The Pilotwings ! Tracklist: PTM003A_Prins Thomas - Lunga Strada (The Pilotwings _Bubble-Zouk_ Remix) PTM003B_Prins Thomas - Lunga Strada (The Pilotwings Bonus Beats) Thomas on 'Lunga Strada' : The track that took me the longest to complete hence the 'long road". Personal favourites The Pilotwings from Lyon sent over 2 ridiculously good and fun remixes

Drummer/producer Teppo Mäkynen (of Teddy's West Coasters, The Stance Brothers, The Five Corners Quintet) presents his new major work during the fall of 2017. 3TM is a trio formation including Mäkynen, tenor sax man Jussi Kannaste and bassist Antti Lötjönen. Mäkynen, manning the drum seat in the combo, is using samples and sounds here to break off from the standard aural image of the jazz trio. What we have instead, is a new world of sound rooted somewhere in between acoustic jazz and abstract electronic music, blurring the lines of genre and time.

The 180g heavyweight 2LP version of the album comes with gatefold sleeve, digital download and 12" source book featuring photography by Teppo Mäkynen. These images serve as the visual roadmap into the world of 3TM, at times abstract and spacious, at times intense and swinging.

'Utopia' is the ninth studio album from the iconic artist Björk, out November 24th via One Little Indian Records. The album's artwork was created in collaboration of M/M, Jesse Kanda and James Merry and reflects the records sonic direction, optimism, lightness, utopia.
Of the album she explained to Dazed this Summer that, Maybe that's why it became a utopian theme - if we're gonna survive not only my personal drama but also the sort of situation the world is in today, we've got to come up with a new plan, If we don't have the dream, we're just not gonna change. Especially now, this kind of dream is an emergency.'
Björk wrote, produced and recorded the album between Reykjavik and New York, working closely with Arca and writing for, conducting and recruiting a thirteen piece flute orchestra which will be on the road with her next year.

Tr One return with 4 very different tracks recorded in one take at their studio in the Irish southeast. 'A Month Has Passed' uses a dubbed out aesthetic merging influences from UK bass and Detroit using shimmering melodic progression. 'The Boutique Of Never Ending Dreams' works towards a synth laden dreamlike peak. 'The Printer' duly merges playful Chicago drums with an organic chord structure to create a head nodding funk. Finishing the EP is 'Road To The Sea', a pensive sway of dubby sonics masked in a fog of reverb.

Tr One are an established name in the Irish electronic music community and are known for their energetic and engaging performances as DJs. They have received critical acclaim for the raw soulful productions from their studio in hometown Carlow, Ireland. They have gained respect for their ability to deftly move between the lines of genres with a strong sense of adventure and connection with Detroit/Chicago/Dublin machine soul. From this they have released music on Lunar Disko, Apartment and Fine Art recordings, with the strains of the US Midwest never far from sonic influence. They have worked in a range of styles from old movie soundtrack disco with New Jackson to punishing techno sharing wax space with the Phantom Planet Outlaws.

Written, performed and produced by Thomas Moen Hermansen @M57 Studios Asker Jan-Sept 2016

Published by Smalltown Supermusic/Sony ATV Scandinavia

Mastered by Schnittstelle , Photos by Ragnhild Fors, Design by Metric Design

After the slightly more conceptual "Principe del Norte"album, "5" takes two steps forward and one step back
collecting a batch of tracks that was recorded right after it's preceder and in tandem with the recent "Square One"album with Bjørn Torske.
A "freedom"album of sorts, beyond the slightly misleading album opener "Here comes the band" there's a variety in these tracks tracing inspiration from 35 years (unhealthy)obsession with all things "good music" played enthusiastically.
"5" also marks the launch of my new label "Prins Thomas Musikk".

A run through the tracks with a couple of hints to titles and inspiration:

"Here comes the band"
A planned album of a fake band consisiting of me only was ditched. This is their only entry...
Very loosely inspired by "Bandwagonesque"era Teenage Fanclub

"Villajoyosa"
Melodic ideas hummed into a handheld recorded and specific notes about instrumentation scribbled down while on holiday in Villajoyosa in Spain turned into this little ditty when back in slightly colder Norway.

"Bronchi Beat"
Made in bed during a rough patch of bronchitis. Heavily influenced by prescription cough medicine.
Orbe from Madrid made a dizzy techno version which comes out soon enough...

""
I find great inspiration in working on new ideas while travelling the skies. Partly inspired by a detour into the soundtrack of my early teens (Paul Hardcastle, Warp 9, Maze, Mtume...)this particular one was started on a bumpy flight home from Athens and later finished in my tiny M57 Studio(R.I.P.)

"Æ"
Another bronchitis-ridden idea. Slow and low is the tempo. Beat originally inspired by Brian Briggs "AEO", melodies beamed in from Wally Badarou.
"Æ"is the norwegian pronounciation of the A in Acid refering to the 303 screeches going through the "song"

"Ø"
By the title you might think I'm running out of ideas. Not sure what happened here and why...

"Lunga Strada"
The track that took me the longest to complete hence the "long road".
Personal favourites The Pilotwings from Lyon sent over 2 ridiculously good and fun remixes which will
be released on a separate 10"

"London til Lisboa"
Another idea made on a plane when I should have tried to catch some sleep.
Direction steered by Plaid and Pat Metheny. Thank you for the inspiration

"Å"
Initially the final track AND then: scrapped idea for the alphabet soup of "Principe del Norte".
Later evolved into what we have here. Comes with a really nice remix by Pional on a separate 12"

"Venter på Torske"
The final recorded addition to the album. Made while waiting for Bjørn Torske to reply on a text message...

"Aske Hermansen"
In all seriousness, this is probably as soppy as it gets with me.
Tears into my computer keyboard, made on the road missing my wife and kids.

One side of Ragga Tek pure blaster and one side of Ragga Jungle essential newskool ! And this for all 3 new releases from JIGOSRE !

Tom Ware is a Grammy nominated engineer, producer and musician from Omaha Nebraska. Throughout the 70s and 80s Tom was the drummer for many bands, including Norman & The Rockwells, Toy boat Toy boat Toy boat, and Hit N Run. Because of his love for electronics, mechanics, and machines of any kind, he was always the only one who truly knew how pa systems worked. Tom got an entry level job at a Rainbow Studios and would work at the recording studio during the day, play evening gigs till 2 in the morning, then go back to the studio and work on new ideas all night. During these teeth cutting sessions, Tom worked by himself, following his instincts and creating sounds he loved to listen to.

His reckless abandon approach and thrill to learn was a high octane fuel that resulted in his first solo self-titled album. The album's 10 songs were recorded and mixed between August & December of 1983 and self-released in early 1984. The album would be re-released in 1985 by independent Krautrock/Kosmische Musik label Sky Records in Germany and re-titled 'The Fourth Circle'. Some of the instruments used on the LP were a Sequential Circuits Prophet 5, & Pro One, Simmons SDSV electronic drums, Roland TR-606 drum machine, & Hammond B3 organ. While recording this album Tom was influenced by new wave sounds of Yellow Magic Orchestra, the Berlin and Düsseldorf schools of pulsing synth music and the celestial realms of Jean Michel Jarre. All songs have been mastered and lacquer cut by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. Each LP is housed in a replica cover with computer graphics by Lars Erickson and photos by Ken Mayer and includes a postcard with liner notes by Tom Ware.

Limited white label of The Magic Ray's new single (formerly known as Electronicat) produced by Cosmo Vitelli. 12 release includes stellar remixes by Khidja (Hivern Discs, Malka Tuti, Emotional Response) & Simple Symmetry (Disco Halal). Dischi Autunno is a label run by Jennifer Cardini & Noura Labbani.

The Doors had one of the most extraordinary debut years in music history in 1967, releasing a string of hit singles and two platinum albums, beginning in January with the band's self-titled debut, followed by Strange Days in September. The latter peaked at #3 on the Billboard album chart and featured classics like Love Me Two Times,' When The Music's Over,' and the title track Strange Days.'

STRANGE DAYS (50TH ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION) was produced by the album's original engineer Bruce Botnick. It includes the original stereo mix of the album on CD for the first time in a decade, with sound that's been remastered for the first time in 30 years. The second disc features the album's original mono mix, which has been remastered for this set and is making its CD debut. Accompanying the set are liner notes by music journalist David Fricke, as well as a selection of rare and previously unseen photographs.

Having a larger budget for Strange Days allowed the band to spend more time experimenting in the studio. They used an eight-track recorder for the first time, which resulted in some memorable overdubs like Krieger's double-tracked guitar on When The Music's Over.' Surprisingly, the trippy keyboard sound heard on the album's title track is actually one of the earliest appearances of a Moog synthesizer in a rock song.

Strange Days mixed new songs written on the road with some written before the band's 1967 debut. In fact, the band performed Strange Days' during its 1966 residency at the London Fog in L.A., while My Eyes Have Seen You' dates back to 1965. Another early track is Moonlight Drive,' which was one of the very first songs that the band practiced together, and where the band heard Krieger's haunting bottleneck guitar playing for the first time. It's also the song Morrison sang to Manzarek at Venice Beach in 1965 when the two former UCLA film students reconnected and decided to start the Doors.

Collected Works 1996-2017' champions an oft overlooked aesthetic in contemporary techno, opting for radiant bliss over darkness and placing the listener in enveloping soundscapes, admirable for their sheer detail and arrangement whilst never losing sight of the dancefloor.The realisation of this project follows a 3 year period of co-writing, programming and engineering on the new UNKLE album 'The Road' part 1, which is now released. Since 1996, an accomplished career as a producer, and sound engineer has granted him releases on labels including Tresor, Delsin, Void, Archive, Rush Hour and Ferox, as well as a monthly residency at Tresor in Berlin

Matthew Puffett, the artist most commonly known as Future Beat Alliance, presents a retrospective of selected works under his most lauded moniker. The name - taken from an Afrika Bambaataa sleeve - may have been a nod to the early-80s hip hop that was his first musical love while growing up in Oxford, but the music bore the unmistakable influence of the Detroit techno that had become his obsession. 'Collected Works 1996-2017' maps an illustrious discography over two decades and will be released on the artist's own imprint - FBA Recordings. Preceding the compilation, a brand new track entitled 'Chemical Cloud' will also be released. The realisation of this project follows a 3 year period of co-writing, programming and engineering on the new UNKLE album -The Road' part 1, which is now released.

What A decade deep into its ongoing investigations, documenting and pushing the sonic frisson and fusion between science and technology, SCI+TEC remain at the very forefront of electronic music. Its feet firmly on the dancefloor, its spirit deep inside the machines, its sights set on the future: Dubfire's label has continuously forged its own deep furrow and has been doing so from day one. With breakthrough Dubfire releases such as 'Roadkill' and 'I Feel Speed' SCI+TEC has managed to create a whole new framework for 21st century techno. All the while SCI+TEC has consistently championed and encouraged new and unsung talent from around the world, amplifying legions of rising names; Davide Squillace, Paul Ritch, SHADED, Simi, Delete, Harvard Bass, Joop Junior and countless more include SCI+TEC releases in their rich histories. This precision balance of stark sonic signature, technical ideology and nurturing new ideas and talent has led to SCI+TEC's perpetual momentum into every house and techno DJ's playlists and sets for the last 10 years. Be it the label's penchant for deep, undulating subby grooves or its passion for warehouse-razing thunder-powered techno, the SCI+TEC sound covers every corner of the floor and every chapter of the night; as proved by the label's many world tours. And proved once again by this fittingly stacked anniversary album. 10 tracks to celebrate 10 years from 10 of the label's most exciting artists, every track brings home the SCI+TEC message: The breath-taking atmospheres of Alex Mine's album scene-setter

John Carpenter is a legend. As the director and composer behind dozens of classic movies, Carpenter has established a reputation as one of the greatest filmmakers in the history of modern cinema, as well as one of its most influential musicians. The minimal, synthesizer-driven themes to films like Halloween, Escape From New York, and Assault on Precinct 13 are as indelible as their images, and their timelessness was evident as Carpenter performed them live in a string of internationally sold-out concert dates in 2016. Anthology: Movie Themes 1974-1998 collects 13 classic themes from Carpenter's illustrious career together on one volume for the first time. Each theme has been newly recorded with the same collaborators that Carpenter worked with on his hit Lost Themes studio albums: his son, Cody Carpenter, and godson, Daniel Davies.

Anthology is a near-comprehensive survey of John Carpenter's greatest themes, from his very first movie, the no-budget sci-fi film Dark Star, to 1998's supernatural Western, Vampires. Those sit alongside the driving, Led Zeppelin-influenced Assault on Precinct 13 theme, Halloween's iconic 5/4 piano riff, and the eerie synth work of The Fog. Carpenter and his band also cover Ennio Morricone's bleak, minimalist theme for The Thing.

We also get vital new recordings of the themes to '80s classics and fan favorites Big Trouble in Little China, Escape From New York, Christine, and They Live, along with the romantic Starman, which earned Jeff Bridges his first Oscar nomination as a lead actor. The collection is rounded out by the menacing, heavy themes to Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness, the latter a Metallica-inspired riff originally played for the film by Kinks guitarist Dave Davies, and now played by his son Daniel.

In the weeks following Anthology's October 20 release, Carpenter will return to the road, playing both classic movie themes and material from his two Lost Themes albums. The performances will once again affirm the power of the Horror Master's brilliant work as a composer and musician, and undoubtedly send audiences rushing home to their DVD libraries to dive yet again into the most rewarding filmography in genre cinema.

Deluxe color vinyl editions come with 7" including the themes to Village of the Damned and Body Bags
Collects the classic themes of John Carpenter on one volume for the first time
Lost Themes is the best-selling album in Sacred Bones history

Eric Copeland (Black Dice) returns to DFA with a brand-new set of hyper and hectic leftfield club music. 'Goofballs' places its emphasis on playful melodies, ear worm hooks and vocals mixed with trademark machine funk rhythms that hit hard and land off balance. Any other way would be too obvious for an artist like Eric.

Eric explained the creation of this new album via email from his home on an island in lovely Balearic Palma Spain: i made it here in Palma at my studio, this is the first full record i've made entirely here since moving. some of this material was road tested September 2016 on tour supporting Animal Collective. This album was the result of real isolation here, countless hours, focused only on this. The whole recording & writing was a fast process. I focused most on the bass groove. I had a very minimal gear setup: 90's drum machine, cheap bass machine and a sampler. But most important was a homemade 'drum brain' that Barry's London custom made for me. Barry was in the Van Pelt Soldiers of Fortune & Oneida. That piece of gear was a big part of this record and informed the direction it took the most.'

Eric Copeland is a founding member of Black Dice as well as a prolific solo artist. Besides DFA, he has released albums on L.I.E.S., Post Present Medium and Paw Tracks.

With a new single just released ("Roadside"), accompanied by a groovy video, and a "Greatest Hits" album in the pipeline, it is time to look at Torpedo Boyz from a new perspective.

After more than 10 years in the business, four acclaimed albums in the discography ("Headache Music", "Cum On Feel The Boyz", "Return Of The Ausländers" and "Don't Cry") a collection of "Greatest Hits" will be released in October 2017 featuring all time classics and never out of fashion tunes like "Gimme A Bassline", "Ich Bin Ausländer (Leider Zum Glück)" or "The Disco Song".

Right in time for this release Légère Recordings asked Boca 45, their favourite 7inch DJ and remix expert, to deliver his versions of the Torpedo Boyz favourites "Any Trash, Professor Abacus" and "Are You Talking To Me". The Boca 45 remixes will now be released on two different 45s, including the original versions on the flipside.

- Apollo are proud to welcome Sieren, AKA Matthias Frick back to the fold with his new Ascension EP.
- Features collaboration with fellow Apollo artist Synkro
A software engineer at Ableton by day, Sieren's love for UK influenced bass music and field recording and experimental soundscaping resulted in his Apollo debut 'Static Polymorphism' a masterly EP of spaced out street-rave soul.
Now returning with the five track Ascension EP, Frick has tightened and toughened up his sound somewhat (see the caustic bass glower of 'Slinger'), augmenting his starry eyed wonder with a firmer percussive underpinning and more driving tempos. However still present are his preternatural grasp of emotion and atmosphere that marked him out as one to watch - perfectly underscored by the heartbreaking beauty of the title track.
Fellow Apollo cohort Synkro AKA Joe McBride was instrumental in the curation of Sieren's debut Static Polymorphism EP on Apollo, hand picking the tracks, as well as road testing them in his DJ sets. This time McBride goes one further, collaborating with Frick on the track 'Lost You' to memorable effect - the beautiful pads and ghostly piano are a perfect synergy of their complimentary skill sets. This is richly textured and intricately programmed post-bass music that is sure to satisfy fans of Burial, dBridge, Akkord with its soulful sincerity and warmth.

Eight releases in, Leonidas & Hobbes have honed a mutual love of soundtracks, disco, jazz, house, techno, acid, psychedelic, African and dub sounds.
Web Of Intrigue is one part tribute to lost 70s soundtracks, when music was created on the finest analogue hardware, featuring full bands, session players and lush orchestrations, one part tribute to 70s disco gods Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards (Chic) and one part mid-tempo but nonetheless cosmic house. The three parts fuse to form an instrumental track sounding as fresh as a whole meadow of daisies in 2017 and one that's been going down extremely well with international DJs who have road-tested the material.
Heavy Weather flips the script for a deeper workout in a 3/4 time signature - more of a cosmic waltz. Taking its main cue from 70s jazz fusion heroes Weather Report and The Doors' Ray Manzarek, it incorporates rich African percussion, spaced-out flourishes exhibiting the duo's love for the dubs of Lee Perry, King Tubby et al, and a good old fashioned arpeggio of an acid line - definitely a more esoteric number, all told.
The 'Dawn' and 'Acid Rain' mixes push different buttons for the heads, as suits the mood. It all adds up to a very Balearic confection, fitting snugly in with the burgeoning revival for this somewhat ineffable sound - a trend that seems to be getting stronger/bigger every year, popping up every time the sun gets his hat on and we all remember how to party like the lucky residents of that infamous White Isle....
MORE INFO
London/Edinburgh analogue electronic duo Leonidas & Hobbes released debut EP "Machines, Tapes & Electronic Setups" via the Hobbes Music label back in May 2013, picking up plaudits and support from the likes of Resident Advisor, Mixmag, Erol Alkan, Ashley Beedle, Alan Braxe, Shadow Child, Jimpster, Nick Warren, M.A.N.D.Y., Leftside Wobble, Mr G, Auntie Flo, Sasha, John Digweed and many more... The duo were consequently commissioned to remix the Pet Shop Boys.
Second EP "Mo' Machines" came out on the label in April 2014 and received equally high praise, with i-D Magazine inviting the duo to record a DJ mix which has to date chalked up a whole lot of love on Soundcloud.
Leonidas has released two other collaborative EPs with London-based Japanese DJ/producer Kay Suzuki via his Round In Motion imprint, equally winning fans worldwide, with a track now forthcoming on new label YAM Records' You And Music Volume 1 EP plus much more in the pipeline for 2017. Leonidas also has his own lovetoparty label, releasing edits of much-loved disco tunes on limited edition 12" vinyl format and free download. Previously, Leonidas made a name for throwing word-of-mouth parties around east London on his audiophile 'lovetoparty' sound system (providing some of the inspiration for much-admired late-night watering hole Brilliant Corners).
Equally, Hobbes ran the widely acclaimed Trouble nights for ten years in Edinburgh/Scotland, working with the great and the good from across the soul/jazz/dance spectrum since '02, and championed up-and-coming live talent via his Limbo 'gig-in-a-club' nights at The Voodoo Rooms for nine years since '07. Hobbes has toured his DJing style to the various corners of the dancing planet, including gigs in the Far East, much of Europe and across the UK. The Hobbes Music label has otherwise featured artists as diverse as Auntie Flo, JD Twitch (Optimo), Neil Landstrumm, Craig Smith (6th Borough Project), Ali Renault, iO Sounds, Joe Howe, Debukas, Fudge Fingas, Marco Bernardi, Dimitri Veimar, Mick Wills and Nightwave, with further support from Ben UFO, Justin Robertson, Motor City Drum Ensemble, KiNK, The Revenge, T.E.E.D, Kiki, Groove Armada, Maceo Plex, OOFT!, Domenic Capello (Sub Club), XDB, Ben Mono, Masa Sutela, Bawrut/Scuola Furano, Numbers, John Heckle and many more...

While frontiers currently seem to be (re)claimed and shutting down, we, at Série Limitée, prefer going against the consensus. We proudly launch the 10th release opening up doors to four new artists, Deep88, Sofotalk, Kisk and The Happy Man. From Italy to Spain, our little musical caravan travels and wanders on paths and tracks made out of raw house beat leaves, fusion jazz trunks and deep groove fields, to bring to you this new VA, our 10th, faithful to our long time recipe: 400 exclusive press. Deep88 is officially in charge of welcoming you inside and of setting the tone. He will take you in with his track Wave House'. Further up our musical trail, we'll start hearing the hints of the next step, our next stop: More Than A Memory', by Sofatalk. On the road again, and we head to the B-side of things. We stay in close connection with Italy with Clean Up & Down' from Kisk. There is no good party without a great closure, and it's all even better with The Happy Man, closing the journey with Pizza Hug'.

* 15 brand new and exclusive cuts from some of their favourite producers, alongside another 13 tracks that have been the soundtrack to your clubbing experience their nights. If you have been to any of their nights in the last few months then you may well have heard these being road tested.

* Highlights include the Spectrasoul remix of LSB's 'Rollings Sideways' and the sublime Vanguard Project rework of BCee's 'Lost & Found'.
* Support from High Contrast, LTJ Bukem, Fabio, London Elektricity, Rockwell, Etherwood, Technimatic and a whole load more...

This is a journey into sound. A series of journeys across the globe, in-fact. This time with Don Leisure from Darkhouse Family. Let us tell you a story. Firstly, we first need to answer a question. Who is Shaboo

It began in Africa. Nasser Barwani was the son of Shabudin. At the age of 15, Nasser (Don's Uncle) left Kenya and hitch-hiked his way to London. Nasser entered the movie business, occasionally finding himself in front of the camera, acting in Bollywood films. It was then that Nasser changed his surname to adopt a screen name - Shaboo.

According to Don, "Shaboo was the most colourful character in my family. I have fond memories of him playing tabla at family parties. When I was about 17, I was on a journey with my Uncle. Whilst Shaboo drove me around, he was playing the steering wheel as if it were a tabla. It was then I nervously asked "do you think, one day, I'd be able to make music too...". Shaboo was so furious he nearly crashed the car, slamming his hand hard against the wheel. He screamed "OF COURSE YOU WILL!! IT IS IN YOUR BLOOOOOD!!!"...

A week later, inspired by the creative energy of my Uncle, I acquired some music software, and began an all new journey. A journey through the beats..."

Long family car journeys were a constant in Don Leisure's life growing up. "We'd take frequent trips from Wales to London to visit family in the late 80s / early 90s. There I'd mainline into my cousin's record collections, and make full use of the signal radiance to the M4, searching the airwaves for pirate radio stations. However, I wasn't the only one to make use of this. Every trip, my parents would routinely tune their dial into Sunrise Radio - the only Asian radio station around back then.

The soundtrack of these road trips were somewhat unique. Whilst I tried to learn the lyrics to 90s hip hop songs taped off my cousins, my Mum would constantly interrupt, interspersing my boom bap with bonkers Indian radio ads. And here we have the premise of this album. An attempt to recreate this sonic mix, with sounds pulled in from dusty crates and breaks dug from all over the globe."

25 instrumental Hip Hop tracks, linked together in a truly unique style and fashion, this is much more than a beat tape. This is a journey into sound. For real.

Dedicated to Nasser 'Shaboo' Bharwani.

Shoc Corridor was the London post-punk quartet of Paul O'Carroll (Voice, Synth), Andy Garnham (Synth, Drum), Chris Davis (Guitar, Bass, E-Bow) and Nogi Prass (Synth) named after the Sam Fuller film from 1963. Chris met Nogi shortly after moving to London in 1979 - they started playing music together, fell madly in love, and decided to form a band. They recruited Andy, who had previously played in a band with Stephen Luscombe of Blancmange, and lyricist and vocalist Paul. Their influences were wide reaching: Kraftwerk, Neu, Cabaret Voltaire, Brian Eno, PIL, and Joy Division.

The group recorded a 4-song demo during 1981 in a tiny flat Chris shared with Nogi in Notting Hill. As their collection of instruments grew they set up studio a few blocks away in Andy's flat at 20 All Saints Road. There they re-recorded Sargasso Sea' along with On Reflexion' on a TEAC reel-to-reel 4-track machine. In the summer of '82, the band was booked into Decibel Studios in Stoke Newington for two and a half days with Mark Easton of Shout Records, where they reworked the two songs. The group usually worked through studio experimentation rather than constructing their songs in a conventional way. Their equipment list included a Korg MS-20, Wasp, Pro-One, Roland TR-808, WEM Copicat, guitars, bass, e-bow and an assortment of effects pedals. On Reflexion' began as a Blancmange backing track, since Stephen Luscombe would sometimes use Andy's 4-track, Korg MS-20 and drum machine. Chris has memories of Paul disappearing from time to time to the neighboring graveyard for inspiration, where they had to procure him from to lay down vocals. Their debut 3-song 12' single, A Blind Sign', was released in October 1982 on Shout Records. For this re-issue we've included the original skeletal Sargasso Sea' 4-track demo from 1981. Evocative and dreamy, the music escorts you on a tour of icy landscapes, with Paul's rich vocals guiding the way.

All songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. Each EP comes in an exact replica of the original jacket, designed by Chris Davis with artwork by Paul and Jerry Neal. Each copy includes an 8x11' 2-sided insert with liner notes, lyrics and photos designed by Eloise Leigh.

Astray is the Sublabel of Away, Berlin.

Berlin's party series and the eponymous vinyl label celebrate the launch of its sublabel ASTRAY with the 'Road Force EP' by Discrete Circuit. While AWAY with previous contributions from Joe Claussell, Mr. Ties, and Move D leans more to the housier side of things, ASTRAY will take a different path by taking some darker, techno-centered steps. Following the idea only to release productions by both label founders, Discrete Circuit and H4L, as well as unique collaborations which either of them will form with outside artists, ASTRAY's second EP will premiere the joint studio work of Discrete Circuit and DJ/producer Blind Observatory. EP INFO After releasing on labels such as DVS1's Mistress Recordings, Mark Broom's label Beard Manand Darko Esser's Wolfskuil Records, Discrete Circuit's new EP provides four progressivetracks mirroring his interest in a steadily growing techno narrative as well as mind manipulating onomatopoeia. On the A-side he's evolving his floor-aimed capabilities in two different ways: Starting with subtly quoting the infamous Motor City, the title track's on-edge techno design quickly accumulates into some kind of hounding; not knowing if you're the hunted or the hunter. 'Stress Resultant' increases the pace, whereby the restless vibe is contrasted by melodic synth patterns embodying a sort of playful corrective. The flip side introduces Discrete Circuit's experimental facet: 'Controlled Error' exhibits the dialogue between harmony and chaos in which shrieking, yet claustrophobic shades play hide-and-seek ultimately unfolding a gloomy funk, while the EP's last 'Circuitry' is completely carried by shape-shifting, pulsing soundscapes.

Hans Zimmer's score for Ridley Scott's Roman masterpiece, complete with Wagner-like anthems of war and accompanied by music evocative of Holst, was nominated for an Academy Award and won a Golden Globe for Best Original Score. Lisa Gerrard's haunting voice adds a timeless and atmospheric quality to the simple but stirring melody Zimmer uses throughout. Zimmer's score was voted Number Four in the 2016 Classic FM Movie Hall of Fame. Part of four new to vinyl reissues. This has original artwork with printed inner sleeves. Gladiator is presented in a gatefold sleeve. All releases are 180g heavyweight vinyl, and include download codes. The lacquers were cut at Abbey Road, home to many legendary soundtrack recordings and pressed at Record Industry.

Irish label Fatty Fatty spreads its wings with their 'International Disco Mafia' EP.
Extending from Dublin out to Drogheda and Galway and onward overseas, the EP provides something peak-time for all tastes.

The lead off track sees label top dog Pablo going off on a solo tip, delivering an end of nighter take on an eternal UK street Soul classic. Chopping together many different mixes to create an epic whole, this one has been road-tested thoroughly, and always brings the house down.

While Pablo was fiddling around endlessly with that one, usual production partner Shoey slithered off with newcomer Kellser to produce a dreamy, stretched out take on a late 70's staple , another guaranteed winner, and possibly the most bliss inducing song ever to run at 130BPM

The international part of the EP comes from Italian edit king Belabouche, who delivers a lovely take on 'Willie and The Hand Jive'.
Last but not least, Galway boy Island Time makes his bow with a straight up, brassy slice of soulful Disco aimed straight at the dancefloor...

After spending a year on the road, experimenting with new sounds and production methods, Abstract Division returns to their home imprint with the release of the 'Activated EP.' Fashioned true to their well known unique balanced style, this three track EP presents its listener with a powerful blend of deep tools and peak-time grooves. A real must-have for every selector, these tracks will cary any dance-floor deep in to the night, and far beyond.

Following his acclaimed collaboration on Strut with The Heliocentrics, the Father of Ethio jazz presents his brand new studio album, 'Mulatu Steps Ahead' for 2010! The album explores new directions in fusions of Western jazz with Ethiopian modes, moving forward the pioneering sound Mulatu developed during the '60s and '70s, showcased on the recent Strut compilation 'New York * Addis * London'.

For the new album, tracks were recorded with members of Either/Orchestra in Boston, with contributions by traditional Ethiopian musicians in Addis, members of The Heliocentrics and some of the UK's leading jazz and African players during the final sessions in London in November 2009.

Each track on the album tells its own story. The reflective, opener, Radcliffe, was composed specifically for the Radcliffe Institute during Mulatu's time lecturing at Harvard in Boston - the original score is now framed on the wall there. The Way To Nice was written and arranged on the tour bus during Mulatu's recent French dates - "with this track, you are travelling on a long journey, talking and thinking" explains Mulatu. "It was inspired by the many beautiful places on the coast road around Nice." Assosa adapts traditional music from the Assosa tribes in North-Western Ethiopia and Mulatu's Mood re-works a Mulatu jazz fusion composition from the early '90s into a new swinging Afro highlife arrangement. "I wanted to use West African styles within this version and try new ways of using the beautiful sound of the kora." Boogaloo and I Faram Gami I Faram reprise Mulatu classics with new, fuller scores and bonus digital track Derashe highlights the traditional diminishing scales of the Derashe people of Southern Ethiopia, a musical technique that would later feature in the classical compositions of Debussy and the jazz of Charlie Parker. "Many debate how this music developed but the Derashe have played these scales for centuries. It is an untold story."

In this space between chaos and conformity disorderly moments welcome new phases into existence, leading to the awakening of an elevated version of the self. Between highs and lows, Transitions of Life remain; the concept behind Synthek's first solo full length sound narrative on his Natch Records imprint. Unfolding across a vexing two-year transformation phase, Synthek's crossings along rough roads are the tribulations to reveal this intimate personal journey of reve- lation through emotional downshift, spiritual upheaval and cerebral quandary. In this dominion, Synthek shapes the eleven track escapade along a sophisticated array of synths and warm analog drums, while contrasting the build and decline of atmosphere through deep bass soundscapes.
Pivotal turning points execute the programming of the album's three part sound design; beginning from darkness and repression, evolving to a more colourful aerial majesty of lucid dream state, morphing into the developed nature of life lessons learned; Transitions of Life making its incarnation into the discovery of the self and re-entry into reality.

*Transitions of Life is a 2x12' release made available through Natch Elements, intro- spective extension to the Natch Records imprint. Visual embodiment of the project artfully presented with photographic time capsule by Salar Kheradpejouh of Berlin, Germany with graphic work curated by Jacopo Saveritano, co-founder of Natch Records.

Balance Recording introduces another underground imprint 'Balance Traxx' Inspired by time spent in Italy , this new series called (word of Mouth) also 'Parola di bocca'. This 4 tracker feature something old and something new. A new imprint project with Chez Damier and Ben Vedren new
joint venture H2H called 'Road Trip' a house grove with a limited mix by Hugo LX. The project also features Chicago producer Garrett David (Courtesy of Balance ) with this
underground track that's been played at the Panorama Bar over the last year, We also bring you the classic by Chuggles 'Thank You' produced by Ralph Lawson and Chez Damier with remix by
UK's Classic underground producers Xpress2, the last track is a remix of French Connection 'Speechless' with remix by Italian producer Nicholas. The project was created as a DJ Tool project.

Parasole's music fits the bill for cutting-edge electronic music. Infrared Vision is a display of his love for polyrhythmic drum patterns, post-club sketches, twisted dance floor gems and classy, big room-ready tunes.
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Few words of the artist:

''When I started to conceptualize my album I had a few end goals'', explains Parasole. ''I wanted to string my own style through Infrared Vision, so it would be familiar to the people who like my music. In tandem, I strived to produce a fresh voice sonically and experimented with a few new production techniques. I also grabbed ideas outside of techno and house, because I didn't want to be influenced by anything new. I was listening to a lot of jazz, hip-hop, Nine Inch Nails and Prince for example.''

Parasole took his time to write, produce and record Infrared Vision, dividing the process into three steps. ''First I wrote the album in words, pinning down ideas and track concepts on a notepad. Subsequently I transferred my ideas to my gear. Due to a heavy tour schedule I sometimes brought gear with me on the road, to continue my sketch process on the hardware. I then recorded it at home and at Phil Moffa's studio in New York. When the music was fully finished the album morphed to its final version. Phil Moffa laid down the final mixdown at Butcha Sound Studios, while Marco Spaventi handled the mastering.''

Translated from Spanish as 'The Shade', Chip Wickham's debut album La Sombra drops after a 25-year career touring, recording and experimenting across three decades of jazz, funk, soul, hip-hop, Latin and electronica. La Sombra is a monumental record for Chip as it symbolises the moment he stepped out into the light as a director of his creations with freedom to explore his roots, express and tell his version of jazz and pay testament to his heroes Roland Kirk, Yuseef Lateef & Harold McNair.

Now living in Dubai after an intense and productive six years in Madrid, it was Manchester where Chip studied in the late '80s and became enmeshed in the chaotic and thrilling music scenes emanating from one of the world's most culturally prominent cities of the time. Recording and generally 'keeping things real' with Manchester's hip-hop collective Grand Central Records, Rae & Christian, The Pharcyde, Fingathing, Nightmares on Wax, Graham Massey (808 State), Chip was in a city that was undergoing a music revolution with the Haçienda as its temple. Yet it was the headlights of the M62 motorway and not the strobe lights that were lighting Chip's path during his student years ('88-'92). The lure of the jazz and funk clubs of Leeds, where The New Mastersounds were breaking out and building the blocks that would lead them to UK funk royalty status, proved too strong.

In the 1990s Chip continued to refine his craft in the rainy city and the gigs booked were growing in stature. It wasn't long before he was on the road with Roy Ayers and Badly Drawn Boy. Around that time Chip met up with trumpeter Matthew Halsall that was the beginning of a friendship that lasts to this day. Chip was a recording artist on Matthew Halsall's breakout album Sending My Love and continues to work with him, with live dates confirmed in spring 2017. This close connection with Halsall gave rise to other collaborations, such as with Nat Birchall and Go Go Penguin's Rob Turner.

Three decades after his late night excursions to Leeds, Chip found himself recording with Eddie Roberts from The New Mastersounds in Madrid, as part of their new band, The Fire Eaters, which he'd formed soon after he moved to sunny Spain in 2007 - the same year he released the Fried Samba album under his moniker Malena, his electronic Latin band that became a hit at the turn of the century for Freestyle Records. During his time in Spain he connected with the local scene and brought together many of his musicians colleagues from the UK to Spain and it was for a local and well established label, Lovemonk, that he released two 45s blending raw funk and Latin. These new roads and musical leanings led to an invitation to play for the prestigious Craig Charles Fantasy Funk Band. Based on a poll from Craig Charles' top rated BBC6 radio show, Chip was chosen to play alongside the cream of the UK funk & soul scene: James Taylor (JTQ), Snowboy, The Haggis Horns (Mark Ronson), John Turrell (Smooth & Turrell), and Mick Talbot (The Style Council).

La Sombra takes an altogether more rooted direction than Chip's recent collaborative work, with the jazz of the late '60s and early '70s a dominating influence to the recordings. Comprising of seven tracks recorded in Madrid with musicians assembled by Chip from Madrid's jazz scene, it combines contemplative explorations akin to Yusef Lateef's early work on tracks like 'La Sombra' and 'Pushed Too Far'. There's a fiery cover of Camarón de la Isla's classic 'La Leyenda Del Tiempo' and tracks like 'Sling Shot' and 'Red Planet' are locked in a groove harking back to Freddie Hubbard's Blue Note era and Luv N Haight's Nathan Davis.

When Jerry Lee Lewis walks on-stage, he provokes uproar just by standing still... And from the moment he hits the keyboard, hands raking and floating around the mic stand, hair flying, he leaves no one in any doubt about who gives the greatest live show on earth.



One of the few serious contenders to Elvis Presley's title of the King of Rock 'n' Roll, Lewis made his finest recordings during his early years with Sun Records. Whilst there he recorded prolifically, encompassing the diverse musical styles, including: country, gospel, blues, hillbilly and R&B, genres which he had grown up listening to.



This new LP highlights the cream of Lewis' peerless recordings made for Sun Records, when he was at his creative peak and includes: 'Great Balls Of Fire', 'Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On', and 'Wild One (Real Wild Child)'.



The Sun Rockabilly Legends Series is produced by Sun Entertainment Corporation president John A. Singleton and Charly Records founder Jean-Luc Young.



'The Killer' changed the face of both Rock 'n' Roll and Country Music.' - Clive Anderson

The Tiger is back - finally on full length again! The second studio album for Tiger & Woods not only marks a desired return to a specific format, but is also a huge leap forward in their area of expertise: their brand of fun and functional dance music gets broadened by influences from electronica, italo disco and up-tempo house, while keeping a groove that is distinctly linked to what some people refer to as boogie. After travelling the world from left to right and from top to bottom with a live-set to boot and skilful DJ sets that resemble that genre melting approach, "On The Green Again" is the result of spending valuable studio time at the "Tiger's Lair" - a carefully-built new work place that plays its own part in the creative process of one of the most prolific production teams of our days, while simultaneously starting T&W Records for all sorts of adventures that are linked to Tiger & Woods, but not narrowed to a specific sound. See "Unleashed Tapes Vol. 1" for further reference. A double A-sided 12-inch that owes as much to disco as an influence as it pays homage to the funkier and brighter sides of house and techno. Honing a craft that is rooted in edit culture as an ethos, but has since long left that bumpy road dependable on samples and their clearance, T&W make "On The Green Again" work as the second album that defies the difficulty usually attached to such ventures. 10 brand-new tracks (and three previously released bonus tracks on the CD version) make up the course between peak-time prime cuts similar to "RockMeLoveMe" or "Come And Get My Lovin" and an almost heart-aching track like "Endless Affair". Mixed with bits and pieces in-between and neatly placed between a classic intro and outro segment, those tracks are testament

Remember how badly we wanted to join them and be part of those sea-faring adventures: Jack London’s The Sea-Wolf, classic TV shows based on his novel The Road, on Radu Toduran’s novels... back then, a couple decades ago, the titles of these shows alone were enough to trigger some strong gusts in our hearts, salty squalls perfect for imaginary downwind journeys we dreamed of with billowing sails. We wanted to cruise alongside albatrosses, seagulls, and fellow sailors. Floating high above a three-masted vessel, we watched our own adventures unfold far below, an imagined movie scene complete with a whole crew that worked the rigging, and all the rest. Cutting waves. Amidst the storm and stress of sounds hitting our eardrums far out in the ocean. Combined with the sounds of rotors, of tropics crossed, of marimbas and cabin wood pounded, of strange music spotted in the distance. And even though it was merely for an hour or two that we were rescued by that seal-hunting ship “Ghost,” as Jack London had it, plus, even worse, often found ourselves surrounded by villains: it was a great escape, for we’d successfully set sails – to new and exciting places.

Both around their own Weilheim shores and elsewhere, brothers Markus and Micha Acher have launched various musical vessels, bands and free-floating constellations over the past three decades – and yet: amid all these other speedboats and unlikely sonic barges, The Notwist has always remained the mother ship. This new album documents the latest live incarnation of this very band, which also features Andi Haberl, Max Punktezahl, Karl Ivar Refseth, and Cico Beck. Recorded on December 16, 2015 on the second of three consecutive, sold-out nights at UT Connewitz in Leipzig, Germany, "Superheroes, Ghost-Villains & Stuff" indeed feels like a first-hand live experience caught on triple vinyl. That’s why it’s the definitive album of The Notwist’s career.

Although there is one song that points to the early, “louder years” of The Notwist – “One Dark Love Poem” off the album Nook –, the rest of the night’s set sees the band perform all the major hits off Neon Golden, The Devil, You + Me, and Close To The Glass. However, these are different, organically enhanced versions, new interpretations and combinations that feel much more alive; thanks to Olaf Opal’s incredible mix, they sometimes even outshine the original studio recordings. Listening to "Superheroes, Ghost-Villains & Stuff" feels like watching these songs evolve and change, moving from one frame to the next, much like a baroque triptych.

What starts out like ‘wimmelbook’ imagery, the music soon folds and unfolds like a Moebius strip: Sans bottom or top, sans inside or outside, the inside becomes the outside and vice versa. It’s all about sonic interconnection, about music as entanglement, music as reconciliation. The rather majestic, cinematic (indie) pop and experimental, kraut- infused jazz, the spirit of the enlightenment and baroque playfulness, the traces of modernism and minimal music, dub leanings, hip-hop lessons, and even hints of house music: here is where they all come together, reconciled in a sound that’s both melancholy and romantic. And ultimately, the spirit of these songs is set free – and the band has released itself, is free at last.

As for the album title, it’s lifted from the song “Kong,” and encapsulates Markus Acher’s motto. Throughout the track, the water theme first appears as a dangerous threat: a force that’s strong enough to wash away an entire house; and yet the fluid state keeps transforming and eventually releases that sense of threat into something rather hopeful, a new musical beginning, a melodic departure that ultimately leads to euphoria and a renewed spirit of adventure. These are the strong gusts mentioned above, it’s the spirit of discovery, the urge to set sail together. The crew’s back at it, working the instruments, the rigging, with sails a- billow, launching the next voyage of discovery, assuming the East in the West and vice versa. And thus the adventure saga continues.

Pico Be (Das Weiße Pferd)

For the second vinyl release on DNA_rec, Emiel Zwart hit the road again with a brand new EP "Counterattack". The package includes 2 original cuts and remixes from Ritzi Lee & Remco Beekwilder. As a result they've managed to create a distinctive EP which has a variety of tracks that suits everybody's needs for every club moment. Counterattack opens up with constantly driven synths and sturdy basslines and Ritzi Lee made perfect use of these elements for his remix. Church is the more minimalistic approach compared to Counterattack but when that vocal gets in your head and combined with some hard hitting claps and hihats this track can be played at any time of the evening. And to top things off Remco Beekwilder has made a hard banging remix from this cut as you can expect from the talented producer.

Soul Jazz Records' new 'Studio One Dub Fire Special' brings together 18 heavyweight dub cuts, all recorded at 13 Brentford Road in the 1970s.
Featuring a stellar selection of dub cuts to classic and foundation songs recorded at Studio One with music from the legendary in-house bands - The Sound Dimension, New Establishment, Soul Defenders and Brentford All-Stars - featuring the likes of reggae's finest musicians - Jackie Mittoo, Leroy Sibbles, Cedric Brooks, Freddie McGregor and more.
These fresh dub sounds employed the mighty mixing desk skills of The Dub Specialist, aka Clement 'Sir Coxsone' Dodd, Sylvan Morris and Scientist to full effect. Studio One Dub Fire Special features our latest chapter of raw, stripped-down bass and drum sounds direct from Studio One, 'the University of Reggae'.

Released as CD with slipcase and heavyweight 2xLP vinyl (with free download code).

To celebrate Kontra-Musik Records hitting the ten-year mark, founder and label owner Ulf Eriksson has put together a collection of some of our finest releases. This has been a daunting task, for we are happy to announce that we could easily have made several very different compilations that we would have been equally contented with - there are so many superb tracks we had to leave out. This has, however, been a labour of love. Much like the label itself. Eclecticism has always been a lodestar for Ulf Eriksson, as we hope this collection gives testimony to. The label has always been moving freely between techno, house and more experimental sounds. Kontra-Musik intends to show different angels of perspective, not to convert you to a new Religion or Ideology. Being open to a broad variety of sounds and rhythms - judging them not solely by their functionality but rather by their personality - has been the Kontra-Musik way from day one. While it has been a crooked and sometimes exceedingly hard road to follow, we're hoping to carry on for several years to come. After 10 years, the label still feels meaningful and current to us - in short: it's still worth it. Kontra-Musik would like to thank everyone - from contributing artists to faithful friends of the label who have supported us all these years. None of this would have been possible without you.

Newly established Berlin-based vinyl-only label Dreiklang dive straight into the physical world with First Contact. The label's distinctive triangular concept is reflected in its name with Dreiklang pursuing a three-fold approach to electronic music. Each release presents three contrasting takes on the same source material, juxtaposing and unifying three particular electronic music sub-currents. For their first outing, Dreiklang call upon an international team of producers with OCH, Hydergine and Kelovolt dropping in for their respective shots of tech-house, dub techno, and dark drone techno. The tight three-tracker will see the light of day on a 500 limited edition run of 180gr high-quality wax with the beautiful hand-drawn designs of Berlin artist Nils Altland gracing each sleeve, transforming the covers into individual works of arts. First up on Dreiklang001 is Londoner OCH (Autoreply / Stuga Musik), who takes a simple keyboard line into menacing territory, steering the dancefloor towards the grittier ends of tech-house. A funky bassline leads the way as distant synths exhale in glossy metalic fashion and the road is adequately paved for the reinterpretations that follow. Second up, comes Hydergine. The Italian producer lives up to his brain enhancement drug name by dropping a smart dub-techno rework where mind-numbing kicks bring the listener on an atmospheric joyride through the deeper ends of narcosis. Kelovolt complete the triangle with an immersive remix where drone-heavy soundscapes take center stage for a delicately hypnotic finale. First Contact is out December 16th on Dreiklang.

Ruff Daft returns, and after a various artist EP for number 7, number 8 on the label goes back to the founder, with three new tracks from Cottam'Washed Out' kicks things off, at the cross roads between Mood Hut & Basic Channel where dub techno sensibilities meet dreamy chords for a delectable deep house track. 'Horns' harks back to Cottam's earliest releases, with an afro-ish horn loop teased out over four minutes until the full loop and bass kick in to devastating effect.A Ruff Draft' sees Cottam look back towards his techno roots, with a killer kick drum and raw acid lending an abrasive edge to a well rounded EP of varied styles.

Over the last sixteen years Moods & Grooves has amassed a staggeringly impressive label family that includes names like Theo Parrish, Mr G, Kyle Hall, Rick Wade, Andres & Kenny Dixon Jr. aka Moodymann. This May the legendary Detroit label returns with a seminal thirteen-track album from veteran DJ & producer Joe Le Bon entitled 'House Music Love Music'.

With this new LP Jarno Eerola aka Joe Le Bon demonstrates his inimitable production prowess, garnered from a musical career spanning more than twenty years and encompassing releases on labels such as International Deejay Gigolo Records, Pro-Tez, Plastik.FM and Blumenbeat. Alongside his own output the Berlin-based artist has written tracks and remixes for numerous producers, most notably composing DJ Hells chart- smashing remix of Tim Deluxe 'Transformations' which saw six continuous weeks at number one on Beatport.

Jarno's polished production ability and aptitude for exploring diverse sounds and rhythms whilst maintaining a resolute warmth and depth to every cut is the most prevalent footnote across the course of the album. For 'Ghosts On Cassette' the Berlin-based producer works whirring space-like atmospherics over hypnotic beats and shuffling snares to dish up a smooth and captivating opener. 'For Yasuni' and 'The Road Is Under Repair' get worked over subtle synth patterns and crisp percussion to offer up some of the more emotive provisions on the album. This in contrast to the deep driving beats of 'House Music Love Music' and the more club-ready tracks like '82 Degrees' or 'Like Cotton Deep Orchestra' truly exemplifies the wide-ranging nature of the album.

All in all Joe Le Bon has structured a sublime body of work that can be enjoyed in the comfort of your own home or the middle of a dance floor, each and every track oozes depth and sits as a true testament to his abilities in the studio.

Producer CRISTIAN VOGEL, born in Chile and in raised in Bristol, England, represents an inner turmoil within the history of electronic music and techno. Like only a few other artists such as Aphex Twin, he personifies the second wave of techno during which authorship, previously pronounced dead, returned in full force. The former punk, who had completed studies in composition (20th century classical music in Sussex) conveyed a powerful force in his music, which now finds its place very naturally as electronic music; back then, it did more than just shake up the concepts of techno. Complex and intricate rhythms (Süddeutsche Zeitung) dig deep chasms in dark (listening) spaces.

In 1996, together with JAMIE LIDELL as SUPER_COLLIDER, he made a final attempt to breathe life into electronic music, which was still primarily seen as dance/rave/club music, and produced clustered break funk music that was so relevant to its time that many considered it more a music of the future: science fiction for the dance floor. Although the project was not a failure, it did not succeed even halfway in meeting the expectations of an artist who was rather perplexed by the lack of interest he perceived in others in music as art and research. Vogel believes that music has a will to unfold, like a jungle from the undergrowth of industrial cities where music is thought of as an attack and a defense.
Seemingly out of disappointment in the predictably declining hedonism of the scene, he moved to Barcelona and bound his explosive ideas to more accessible formats, founded labels, created networks (No Future, Sleep Debt) and, at the same time, revisited his early days by working more and more on formats such as music for ballet and similar concepts. He also sought freedom precisely in what was referred to as functional electronic music through conceptual and serious endeavors in the artistic sense.
Vogel went under for a time and lived in Vienna before arriving in Berlin nearly two years ago, where he made his first new and daring attempt to assimilate everything that electronic music represented to him on one album: 'The Inertials' on SHITKATAPULT. Shortly after that, his mystical, floating ambient work 'Eselsbrücke' was released, which already spoke the language of the new city.

He now presents a new album on SHITKATAPULT entitled 'POLYPHONIC BEINGS' - a true masterpiece in the inimitable Vogel style, as his fans will no doubt claim. 'POLYPHONIC BEINGS' begins, after two minutes of an irritating noise wave, with a surprisingly classic dub track and grows darker and more abstract from track to track, minute by minute. An eerie and unbelievable sound, with all as it should be: every reverb tail, every movement of the fader, every composed note takes the listener piece by piece into Vogel's own cosmos.
He foregoes interwoven elements for swaying towers of rhythm, powerful sound passages, spaces, roads, mirrors and pathways, leading to a stream of ideas that never wants to end. He aptly quotes Karl-Heinz Stockhausen in the liner notes: These are the "atomic layers of ourselves." And so it is. We are what we hear. This is the definitive CRISTIAN VOGEL.

*More classic UK roots gets revived from Partial Records, this time in the shape of a pair
of hot shots from the vaults of the Jah Works stable and roots daughter Donette Forte.
* `Homeward Bound' is taken from the now long-deleted Donette Forte LP from 1991 `Wilderness', and this welcome reissue comes backed with previously unreleased dub cut `Dub Train'
* Mixed and produced by Rej 'Jah Rej' Forte at Channel One UK studio.
* Donette is recently back on the road touring with her new band Urban Lions after an absence of 20 years

Boogie-down cosmic funk from late-seventies Nigeria — like full-throttle Roy Ayers, at his most brilliant.
Jimi Lee Adams packs his inner Hendrix off to Funky Town; the horns are the horniest; Mona runs it all down with an irresistible West African tilt.
Afro-jazz scorchers, both sides.

Breaking through with The Sunflowers in Nigeria's late-sixties soul explosion, Mona moved to the US after the group's equipment was destroyed in a car accident. There she was active in the new jazz scene, before returning home towards the end of the seventies, and forming The Sensationals with guitarist Jimi Lee Adams. An unsung pioneer, Mona was Nigeria's first female pop bandleader.

Fifth in the series: all remastered at Abbey Road, cut at D&M, pressed at Pallas; and presented with a 24" by 12" full-colour poster.

The world of roots reggae & dancehall has been fully awoken to the fantastic analogue sounds of Kalbata & Mixmonsters' music - and even Rob Da Bank, Robert Elms, & Toddla T and The Wire magazine have supported and enthusiastically raved about their brand new yet wonderfully old school music.

And now - in time for summer festivals and carnivals, the floor shaking, speaker rattling track Congo Beat The Drum featuring Major Mackerel gets the 12 inch single treatment. The pounding drums and the larynx busting vocal performance from the Jamaican veteran is an unstoppable, unforgettable and frankly mesmerising experience!

Released alongside the original (and an instrumental version of stand out album track Out Of Road) is an amazing remix by Kahn - the Bristol based producer, renowned dubstepper, remixer, member of the Sureskank Collective - who with this remix displays his mastery of blending all kinds of styles, and injects his remix with some of his favourite influences - including Middle Eastern music scales - which ensures his reworking of Congo Beat The Drum is fresh, original and inspiring.

This single will be one of the sound system hits of summer 2014!

This is the year of Peder Mannerfelt's rebirth. After seven years he's laid The Subliminal Kid to rest. With this new 12", the chains have been locked in and the road map has been obliterated. EP1 is focused like a laser etching out intricate patterns in massive, humming machines. Mannerfelt's ideas have been reduced to a razor's edge and he balances these freeform compositions like a master.
This EP could be seen as a prelude to Peder Mannerfelt's debut album under his own name that will be released by Digitalis Industries in February and at the same time is the first part in a ongoing series of self released records by Mannerfelt.
Opener "Hook (end)" crashes like waves from a metallic ocean bearing down on the shore. The bass craters beneath, digging its way to the listener's core. Each idea is stripped down and simplified to the point of near exhaustion, resulting in tracks that are relentless and infecting. "Psalms and Songs and Voices" is propelled forward by crushing kick drums and rhythmic bass pounding. Somehow, though, Mannerfelt works unsuspecting hooks in between the peaks. It's incredible. "With Psalms and Songs and Praises," the final track on this 12", everything is pushed to the limit. This is absolute maximalism; an overload of the senses that cannot be escaped. It's the opposite of everything else on the EP, combining everything into a single, massive escape.
This is the sound of machines humming. This is the sound of the factory floor in rebellion. And yet, this is only the beginning; the first chapter of a novel yet to come. This is the sound of Peder Mannerfelt finding his voice.

New label Back To The Balearics follow up the superb Maricopa EP with a stunner from Berlin based live music collective Spleen.
Part one in their musical odyssey 'Fusionary' consists of live jams and instrumentation over computer-based syncopation, their music has a strange yet organic flow to it, which is both hypnotic and rhythmic.
Think Kraut influenced, psychedelic dub funk with a touch of alt pop and you'll be on the right road, but still miles away.
Music is better than words...Spleen prove that.
LTD edition vinyl with beautiful printed sleeves.

Up and away / To your journey to the sun / Drink your rocket juice / Fly away (Hey, Shooter).
High up in the skies, amongst the clouds, Rocket Juice & The Moon was born. Literally. It happened back in 2008, when Damon Albarn, Flea and Tony Allen convened on the same Lagos flight, to play and exchange musical ideas in that city as part of the Africa Express collective. Relishing a shared enthusiasm for one another's work, and bonding immediately, there and then the triumvirate laid down the blueprint for Rocket Juice.
Still, more than a year passed before conditions were set for three weeks together at Albarn's West London studio, recording and refining two-dozen startlingly out and deeply funky instrumental grooves. The next stage was to invite onboard some extremely talented friends, with further sessions in Dallas, New York, Chicago and Paris... Erykah Badu, no less, queen of contemporary soul. Three companions from Africa Express: Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara, whose debut album has topped World Music charts since its release last Autumn; her multi-talented compatriot Cheick Tidiane Seck, whose prodigious keyboardism has lit up releases by artists ranging from Youssou N'Dour to Hank Jones; the young, Ghanaian rapper M.anifest, quizzically existential, switching seamlessly between Twi and English. And the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, long-time stalwarts in the Honest Jon's set-up — since one of the team discovered them busking near the shop in Portobello Road, on his lunchbreak — with a second album for the label due in May... Finally, the tracks were dispatched for mixing to Berlin, to be meticulously honed, polished and envenomed by Mark Ernestus, one half of the legendary Basic Channel and Rhythm & Sound partnerships.
The result is Rocket Juice & The Moon — out March 26, 2012, on Honest Jon's Records — a triumphant exploration and proliferation of kinetic Afro-funk rhythms: organic, exuberant, communal music-making, evidenced by the project's live debut on stage as part of the Honest Jon's Chop Up in late 2011, which hit London, Marseille, Dublin, and Cork to such great acclaim (witness the flurry of smart-phone film-clips uploaded in the days thereafter).
From the inaugural bars — that absurdly funky slice of instructional timekeeping, 1-2-3-4-5-6 — the liquid pulse of Fela Kuti's classic recordings drives the action through a suite of 18 shape-shifting compositions. The greatest drummer in the world has never sounded so good as he does here. His intricate cross-patterns jostle and lock with Flea's nimble, rumbling bass riffs. Joined by Seck on There and Extinguished — 'when you dispose of something burning, be sure it's out' — Albarn's keyboards spray synth fusillades up top, over, and under... splicing into the mess of wires running between the freaked Afro-disco of William Onyeabor and the space-jazz-moog of Sun Ra. The HBE brings extra intensity and drama to Leave-Taking — likewise Flea's trumpet to Rotary Connection — teasing out the haunting melody coiled in the mix.
Where the best of vintage Afrobeat sides sustained their concentrated energies over the course of sprawling, marathon jams, RJ & TM manages something altogether different: the group bottles the idiom into capsules of funk... and real songs. Beautifully buoyed by Erykah Badu's unmistakable vocals, Hey, Shooter brilliantly traverses metaphysical spaceways sans any semblance of noodling. Lolo and Follow-Fashion — featuring the open-hearted sensuality of Diawara's singing, M.anifest's quick, brawny science, and more brass blasts — play like its musical cousins or codas. Indeed, the album's shrewd sequencing creates the composite effect of tracks working both individually or within the context of an extended song-cycle.
The lovely ballad, Poison, is bittersweet and ruminative: 'If you're looking for love, beware the signs / They will paralyze you one by one / Poison, it will only break your heart.' Down-tempo and dubby, Check Out and Worries amplify the range of styles and moods. And by the time of Fatherless — a chugging Afro blues that evokes John Lee Hooker lost in Lagos, one gets the sneaking suspicion there's very little outside the reach of this collective's inventive musical grasp.
There is, in fact, a palpable openness pervading Rocket Juice & The Moon — the sense of a limber willingness to follow creative impulse — right down to how the group acquired its name. When Ogunajo Ademola — the Lagotian commissioned to do the album's cover artwork — dubbed his submission 'Rocket Juice & The Moon', it quickly morphed into the formal name of the project, like trying to hold onto mercury.
Surely, the stars above also approved.

the new contrast records (michael burkat, andreas kremer, usw...) !!!