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Death/Thrash Metal classic reMastered! A strong Master album re-issued.
Since the dawn of human intellectualism, self-aware individuals have sought solitude. Paul Speckmann of Master finds his own solidarity in
expressing apathy towards society. Lets acknowledge the introspective impact of Master’s 1998 release “Faith is in Season.”
Crusty bass lines and tom-centric drumming push “Faith is in Season” forward with a reliable tempo, coupled with intermittent guitar leads and Speckmann’s defiant screeches define Master’s new production - consistent and comprehendible Death Metal. This is further polished with thoughtful song intros that highlight each individual member’s musicianship. This foundation supports the guitar melodies and lyrical concepts.

Compositionally, each instrument in Master is worth its own weight in gold while also not overshadowing each other. This is a self-evident
testament to Speckmann’s exemplary leadership because the band line-up on “Faith is in Season” was relatively brief.

Similar to 1990’s contemporaries like Vader or Obituary, Master solidified their craft with “Faith is in Season” and has since strayed minimally.

Album features legendary AC/DC frontman BON SCOTT on lead vocals.His work with FRATERNITY put Scott on the radar of George Young, AC/DC co-producer and older brother of Angus and Malcolm, eventually leading to Scott replacing then frontman Dave Evans in 1974

For the first time since its initial release in 1972, the sophomore album by Australian psych band FRATERNITY is released again on vinyl, fully sanctioned by the surviving band members and their management since the album’s original release in 1972

Collection includes the original 10-track album plus a bonus second disc featuring three rare maxi-single tracks and two obscure live tracks making their debut vinyl appearance, all newly remastered.

Deluxe package includes gatefold jacket packed with original press clippings and previously unpublished period band photos plus extensive liner notes by original band co-manager Victor Marshall.

Markus Popp is endlessly curious and his music as Oval is delightfully inventive. Since pioneering albums in the 90s systemisch and 94diskont., Oval has continually excavated new spaces in electronic music, leaving an indelible mark on the landscape. New album Romantiq finds Popp delivering his most light and delicate tones to date. Like the plucking of harp strings, Popp"s organic and playful approach to sound is warm and bright. Oval continually, confounds with his ability to conjure such lithe, evocative sonics from software. Romantiq evolved from an audio-visual collaboration with digital artist Robert Seidel for the grand opening of the German Romantic Museum, where a huge outdoor projection covered the museum building. Popp sought a more expansive definition of the romantic, conjuring flickering images that glitch, evolve and collapse in on one another - opulent neo-chamber music lit by the paradoxically heartwarming screen glow of social media flirtations. Popp crafted dozens of short vignettes that each sought to evoke a specific mood or emotion. Processed period instruments trace luxuriant spaces that shift from low-lit chambers to glistening palatial grandeur, glitching through past, present and future. Swelling atmospheres emerge like perfume, rich scents flooding the senses before evaporating on the breeze. Romantiq"s musical oxytocin is made from ancient instruments processed and edited by a modern electronic master with the utmost deftness and delicacy.

Markus Popp is endlessly curious and his music as Oval is delightfully inventive. Since pioneering albums in the 90s systemisch and 94diskont., Oval has continually excavated new spaces in electronic music, leaving an indelible mark on the landscape. New album Romantiq finds Popp delivering his most light and delicate tones to date. Like the plucking of harp strings, Popp"s organic and playful approach to sound is warm and bright. Oval continually, confounds with his ability to conjure such lithe, evocative sonics from software. Romantiq evolved from an audio-visual collaboration with digital artist Robert Seidel for the grand opening of the German Romantic Museum, where a huge outdoor projection covered the museum building. Popp sought a more expansive definition of the romantic, conjuring flickering images that glitch, evolve and collapse in on one another - opulent neo-chamber music lit by the paradoxically heartwarming screen glow of social media flirtations. Popp crafted dozens of short vignettes that each sought to evoke a specific mood or emotion. Processed period instruments trace luxuriant spaces that shift from low-lit chambers to glistening palatial grandeur, glitching through past, present and future. Swelling atmospheres emerge like perfume, rich scents flooding the senses before evaporating on the breeze. Romantiq"s musical oxytocin is made from ancient instruments processed and edited by a modern electronic master with the utmost deftness and delicacy.

Hot on the heels of dropping a double LP's worth of downtempo shenanigans for Fresh 86, Coco Bryce serves up another full length album, this time for his own Myor imprint.

Computer Love sees the bpm's being turned up a notch again, mainly operating within the 160 realm, whilst taking the occasional side street into UKG and breakbeat house.

Although the jungle and D&B vibes are still clearly present on tunes such as House Music and the previously released singles Night Safari and Trust Issues, Coco opts for slightly more off-kilter and genre-defying drum programming on the album's title track and the pleasantly subdued Eye New.

All in all the rhythmic, and stylistic, diversity on display here makes for an album equally suited for dancefloors and home listening alike.

The Croatian production powerhouse and disco boogie impresario steps up to International Feel, and takes a left turn into deep space with a new six track LP Pulsar Diaries.

Ilija’s discography stretches back to 2003, and over those 20 years he’s packed it full with albums, versions, remixes and singles. His releases are often perfectly-penned love letters to ‘80s boogie, electro and disco, and like postcards from an old flame, they’ve landed in an array of record label catalogs, from Bear Funk, Rong, and Electric Minds, to Is It Balearic? as well as his own Red Music and Imogen Recordings. He’s long-been an active voice on the underground club scene, and if you’ve been out dancing in Zagreb, Berlin or even Tisno beach, chances are you’ve gotten down to one of his beautifully blended sets of cosmic-tinged electro funk and disco dubs.

On Pulsar Diaries, Ilija delivers a panoramic collection of spaced-out synths and drum machine grooves, dedicated to the planet and our place in the universe. The A side opens up with the blissful, weightless pads of the title track, before it breaks out into filtered stabs over a minimal b-boy bounce. Delphic Expanse ebbs and flows like a lunar eclipse, sounding like a futuristic version of Key-Matic’s Breaking In Space, all uprock rhythms and syrupy synth horns as it spins off beyond the asteroid belt. Side A closes out with Blackburn Tales, a suspenseful and spacious electro rhythm packed with strings and 303 squelch, which you might call anti-gravity acid, if you were so inclined.

Side B picks up the tempo with Fourth Amendment, perfect for the space station discotheque with its sweeping bass filters and ice-cold synth melodies hovering in orbit. Farewell Theme takes an introspective moment, slowing the pace to a cosmic 90 bpm and inviting a certain cinematic feel to proceedings. This feeling applies not just to the vivid landscapes we travel through, but also wider thoughts about humankind: as we pause for a breath and look around, we find ourselves in Ilija’s space, considering human motivations, like the pursuit of happiness, or the eternal struggle with the self.

Every journey begins with a goodbye, and so the last track of the album feels like the arrival at a new destination: Ursa Major is ablaze with cascading drum fills, bubble-wrapped bass riffs and bright synth chords that sparkle like city lights underneath a re-orbiting satellite.

With Pulsar Diaries, Ilija Rudman has created a rare artifact: an album that straddles several worlds at once. Part soundtrack to space travel, part meditation on the human condition, part deep-burning dancefloor dynamo - whether in the club surrounded by friends or at home by yourself, this is a record that expands the mind and lets the imagination soar.

First-ever reissue of the 1988 album. Gatefold LP includes new and restored artwork and a chapbook, featuring forty-eight pages of lyrics, essays, photographs, and Gordon's extraordinary drawings for each song. The Choctaw, Assiniboine, and Texan poet, journalist, visual artist, American Indian Movement activist, and musician Roxy Gordon (First Coyote Boy) (1945-2000) was above all a storyteller, known primarily as a writer of inimitable style and unvarnished candor, whose wide-ranging work encompassed poetry, short fiction, essays, memoirs, journalism, and criticism. Over the course of his career he recorded six albums, wrote six books, and published hundreds of shorter texts in outlets ranging from Rolling Stone and The Village Voice to the Coleman Chronicle and Democrat-Voice, in addition to founding and operating, with his wife Judy Gordon, Wowapi Press and the underground country music journal Picking Up the Tempo. Along the way he cultivated close friendships with fellow Texan songwriters such as Lubbockites Terry Allen, Butch Hancock, and Tommy X. Hancock, as well as Ray Wylie Hubbard, Billy Joe Shaver, and, most famously, Townes Van Zandt, whom he called his brother. Although his work covered a vast array of topics exploring strata personal, local, global, and cosmic alike, Gordon's primary subject as a writer, musician, and visual artist was always American Indian culture, specifically the ways it collided and coexisted with European American culture in the South and West-and within the context of his own life and braided identity. The ten songs on Crazy Horse Never Died, his first officially released and distributed album, were recorded in Dallas in 1988. "Songs" is perhaps an imprecise taxonomy for what Roxy captured on this and his other albums, all of which remain out of print or were released in instantly obscure limited editions of homebrew cassettes and CD-R's. (Paradise of Bachelors plans to reissue remastered, expanded editions of his catalog; Crazy Horse is the first.) He only occasionally attempted to sing, and his musical recordings are primarily corollaries of, and vehicles for, his poems. His sharp West Texan drawl, tinged by formative years of reservation living in Montana and unmistakable once you hear it-high, lonesome, flat, and cold-blooded as a bare rusty blade-instead patiently unfurls in skewed sheets of anecdotal verse and discursive narrative rants. Although Gordon's music at times incorporated powwow style drumming, fiddling, or unaccompanied ballad singing, the majority of it hews to an idiosyncratic spoken word style, accompanied by atmospheric, sometimes synth-damaged country-rock that skirts ambient textures and postpunk deconstructions. His songs are essentially recitations over backing tracks of finger picked guitars, rubbery washtub bass, and buzzing, oscillating keyboards. On the stark yellow and red jacket of Crazy Horse, which he designed himself, Gordon describes these recordings as innately ambivalent in terms of form, content, and identity: These are poems and/or songs about the American West, white and Indian. My life has been Indian and/or white. Maybe there's not a lot of difference-maybe. I guess that's mostly according to which white person or which Indian you're talking about. That's probably what this album's about. Crazy Horse Never Died comprises songs that span the personal and political arcs of his writing practice and the poles of his native and white ancestries.

Gatefold Green Vinyl Double LP with design by Dian Vandermeulen, the popular Canadian visual artist
(limited edition cassette version will be released by Not Not Fun).

Between December 2018 and 2019, Stefana Fratila embarked on a series of research trips across North America (including to NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA Goddard Space Centre), meeting with astronomers and scientists in order to address a complex question: “If each planet in our solar system were a different room, what would each room sound like?”

Her ongoing creative research culminated in Sononaut, eight open-source VST plug-ins created for digital audio workstations (DAWs) that emulate the atmospheric conditions of the planets in our solar system (made in collaboration with artist and coder Jen Kutler, using calculations by NASA astronomer and planetary scientist Dr. Conor Nixon).

Her forthcoming album I want to leave this Earth behind is the sonic extension of her creative research.

In her own words: “The album is conceptual, in that it centres on outer space exploration and my understanding of 'Crip futurity'. My vision is for the album to engage listeners in an exercise of imagining the sounds of interplanetary atmospheres– conditions which are inherently unlivable, unbreathable, converting all human body-minds into disabled-bodied-ness. Since I identify as Crip, or disabled, this idea deeply resonates with me. I am the first artist (a disabled producer/musician, no less) to have worked with NASA researchers on a sonic imagining of the solar system’s atmospheres that incorporates real scientific data. If we are all 'disabled' in (or by) outer space, my music is concerned with propelling all listeners into space, leaving Earth behind them, through my music.”

The solar system’s planetary bodies are inherently prohibitive even in regards to Earth’s most ‘able-bodied’ subjects. Her project seizes upon a form of radical agency and science-fictive ambition, placing all human subjects within new worlds, into the interplanetary bodies of our solar system, through her own sonic imaginings.

The album will be released by Toronto-based label Halocline Trance (Casey MQ, myst milano, ACT!).

During a 2019 residency at CMMAS (Centro Mexicano para la Música y las Artes Sonoras) in Morelia, Mexico, Fratila began writing the album on an octophonic sound system (8 planets = 8 speakers).

Afterwards, from her home studio in Toronto, she recorded additional synthesizer parts, finalized arrangements, and incorporated Sononaut (her 8 solar system VST plug-ins) into the album’s production. The album was recorded, written, and produced by Fratila. She worked with mixing engineer Jeremy Greenspan (Jessy Lanza, Caribou, Junior Boys), as well as mixing engineer Lisa Conway and mastering engineer Sage Kim.

Underlining each track is a five-minute soundscape representing the weather on that planet, based on Fratila’s research at NASA. The weather patterns are interwoven with layers of synths and time-stretched samples.

There are very few disabled femme electronic artists gaining exposure in Canada today.

Anarcho Punk was the one sub-genre of Punk that emerged in isolation from the rock & roll establishment. During its pioneering days of the early 1980s it thrived in opposition to the music industry, existing as a fiercely underground alternative to the bands, labels and venues of the commercialised mainstream Punk scene. It continues to do so. Anarcho Punk represented one of the last truly underground and autonomous music movements ever witnessed and remains a movement that has never sold out and has never gone away.

The major differentiation between the Anarcho Punk acts and the more traditional Punk outfits was that for the former, albeit often more due to musical limitation than intent, the message was more important than the music. Standard song structures were often dispersed with in favour of a relentless lyrical polemic accompanied by a similarly uncompromising aural assault. As the scene grew, so did the diversity of records that emerged under the Anarcho Punk umbrella: from D & V (drums & vocals) to the proto-EBM synth-pop of Belfast’s one-man Hit Parade and the Dadaist Beefheart hybrid of The Cravats. In later days the two biggest acts of the scene, Flux of Pink Indians and Crass themselves, both released LPs which had more in common with improv Jazz than hardcore punk.

The resounding victory of Anarcho Punk is that it is now a the unifying soundtrack to a culture of resistance that spans Scotland to Indonesia and remains without compromise. It is still as removed from mainstream music and oppositional to conventional culture as it was over forty years ago and shows no sign of changing. Quite the opposite: the more popular Anarcho Punk becomes the less it has to engage with the music establishment and the more control it can enjoy. In 2023, that message remains as uncompromising as ever.

This is a double vinyl retrospective compilation of some of the most radical music ever made, a musical force that changed lives. Covering the years 1979 - 86 and including classic tracks from Crass, Poison Girls, Flux Of Pink Indians, The Mob, Zounds, Annie Anxiety, The Ex, ATV plus 10 more, all newly remastered by iconic Punk mastering engineer Daniel Husayn. It has been lovingly compiled by JD Twitch and Anarcho legend Chris Low and was ten years in the making. There are also a couple of previously unreleased mixes included. It comes as a high quality double vinyl pressing, and has a full colour sleeve with back and front images designed by the legendary Gee Vaucher. It also comes with a 6 page fold out poster on one side with detailed sleeve notes, recollections and essays on the other side.

The compilation is a fundraiser for Faslane Peace Camp. Not so far from Glasgow Faslane Naval Base is home to Britain's abhorrent Trident nuclear missiles. The camp has been there, protesting since 1982 and is still active to this day. We hope in our lifetime we will see those missiles leave Scottish soil. We have so much respect for those who have dedicated their lives to protesting these weapons and it seemed an obvious choice that the proceeds from this release should go to help them, and the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

Grammy-nominated Malian singer, songwriter, guitarist and actress Fatoumata Diawara’s highly anticipated new album London Ko, which sees Diawara combining forces with collaborator Damon Albarn (Gorillaz, Blur) who co-produces a number of tracks on the album and is featured performing on the first track “Nsera”.

2023 marks the big comeback of Fatoumata Diawara.

After LAMOMALI (the afro-pop project of -M- awarded a Victoire de la Musique (French Grammy equivalent) and a double platinum album), her solo album FENFO (nominated for the Grammy Awards and the Victoires de la Musique) and successful international collaborations (Gorillaz, Disclosure…), one of Africa's greatest voices presents LONDON KO. Distinguished guests (-M-, Angie Stone, Roberto Fonseca, Yemi Alade, Ghanaian rapper M.anifest) and 6 tracks co-produced with Damon Albarn: a perfect combination between synthetic sounds and traditional Malian rhythms; a dive into an eclectic and an absolut avant-garde universe. Bamako versus London, London Ko, a story to follow and share!

Grammy-nominated Malian singer, songwriter, guitarist and actress Fatoumata Diawara’s highly anticipated new album London Ko, which sees Diawara combining forces with collaborator Damon Albarn (Gorillaz, Blur) who co-produces a number of tracks on the album and is featured performing on the first track “Nsera”.

2023 marks the big comeback of Fatoumata Diawara.

After LAMOMALI (the afro-pop project of -M- awarded a Victoire de la Musique (French Grammy equivalent) and a double platinum album), her solo album FENFO (nominated for the Grammy Awards and the Victoires de la Musique) and successful international collaborations (Gorillaz, Disclosure…), one of Africa's greatest voices presents LONDON KO. Distinguished guests (-M-, Angie Stone, Roberto Fonseca, Yemi Alade, Ghanaian rapper M.anifest) and 6 tracks co-produced with Damon Albarn: a perfect combination between synthetic sounds and traditional Malian rhythms; a dive into an eclectic and an absolut avant-garde universe. Bamako versus London, London Ko, a story to follow and share!

Die zweifach mit dem GRAMMY® Award ausgezeichnete Sängerin und Songwriterin Lauren Daigle kündigt ihr kommendes selbstbetiteltes Album " Lauren Daigle" an, das am 12. Mai 2023 erscheinen wird.

Die erste Single aus dem upcoming Album "Thank God I Do" markiert den Beginn eines neuen kreativen Kapitels für die aus Louisiana stammende, mehrfach mit Platin ausgezeichnete Künstlerin, die erst letzten Monat bekannt gab, dass sie bei Atlantic Records in Zusammenarbeit mit ihrem langjährigen Label Centricity Music unterschrieben hat.
"Lauren Daigle" umfasst zwanzig gefühlvolle und erbauliche Songs, die in zwei Teilen veröffentlicht werden.
Die ersten zehn Songs erscheinen am 12. Mai, die anderen zehn später in diesem Jahr.
"Das ist mein wertvollstes Projekt", teilt Daigle mit, "es hat lustige Momente, feierliche Momente, extrovertierte Momente und introvertierte Momente. Und ich bin einfach begeistert davon, mein Songwriting auf dieser Platte weiter zu bringen als alles, was ich bisher gemacht habe."

Mit über einer Milliarde Streams und jahrelangen, ausverkauften US- und internationalen Tourneen festigt Lauren Daigle ihren Status als modernes Stimmgewaltmonster mit einer globalen, ständig wachsenden Fangemeinde.

Since the release of the Sentimental Fool, Lee Fields has been touring relentlessly, playing to capacity crowds all across the US & EY with the drive and determination of an artist a fraction of his age. The fruits of which have culmi-nated in his song "Forever" being featured in 2023's top rated Super Bowl commercial, further solidifying Lee as the king of soul. In keeping with the momentum it is our pleasure to announce the release of his brand new single "Waiting on the Sidelines". Written by Thomas 'TNT' Brenneck (MSB, Charles Bradley, Diamond West Records) this beat-ballad grooves low and slow, giving Lee ample room to unleash a heart-breakingly soulful display of vocal acrobatics - an absolute must-have for fans of the Penrose sound. On the flip you'll find "You Can Count On Me", an in demand, upbeat moover previously only available on a limited edition 12" EP. Now bow to the king!

Having emerged as a luminary of the Los Angeles Beat Scene, MatthewDavid immersed himself for several years in the rich, neglected, and all-too-often-derided archive of New Age sound/culture, stewarding a kind of New New Age sensibility into being. Mycelium Music constitutes a synthesis of these aesthetics, an alchemical marriage of sorts, in which the digital and the organic, the earthen and the aethereal, the bloom and the rot all collide and coexist. How might the Mycelium sing? Where other sound artists might be tempted to capture the phenomena, reaching for a field recorder, MatthewDavid responds with a succinct, impressionistic, and diaristic suite of “songs” (although, as with the mycelium itself, one cannot easily distinguish where one song/organism ends and another begins). Leaving Records founder Matthewdavid announces his new album Mycelium Music, his first proper full-length since 2018. The first single to be taken from the album 'Liquidity', was created as a direct response to ambient pioneer Laraaji encouraging Matthewdavid to innovate zither music. Beautifully textural, Mycelium Music constitutes an alchemical marriage in which the digital and the organic, the earthen and the aethereal, the bloom and the rot all collide and coexist. The record is a product of serious contemplation on the meaning, the problems, and the promises of interdependence.

New Parisian label, Disques Messager, presents its first release and not the least. As its name suggests, the label has a simple leitmotiv: to place itself among the best messengers for rarities and sought-after gems of the international rare groove. A mission which begins rather well, with the official reissue of these two stirring titles by Brazilian singer and composer Cristina Camargo.

Native of Rio De Janeiro, Cristina Camargo had quite a short career, releasing only 2 albums in 1980 and 1981, but still enough to collaborate with some of the best composers, musicians and producers at that time. Her first self-titled album was therefore produced by Robson Jorge & Lincoln Oliveti and recorded with some of the finest musicians.

“Moral Tem Hora” comes from this same LP and is a perfect example of the unique alchemy that emerged when the Disco and Boogie invaded the Brazilian music scene. A quite hard to find Boogie killer, composed by famous brothers, Marcos and Paulo Sérgio Valle.

On B side comes “Minas Do Rei Salomão”, a more chilled-out title extracted from Cristina’s 2nd album, Santa Maravilha. With its funky slapped bass, airy keyboards and the sweet vocals of Cristina, the song seems made to sip a nice cocktail at Ipanema.

Tracklisting comprises: Recently unearthed unreleased track from 1982 (Baby Close The Window) and new unreleased Latin version of Pop Muzik alongside classic 12” version of the worldwide 1979 number one. Final track M Factor (UK 7”) is available for first time since its appearance on the original British version of Pop Muzik 45.

Following on from Part 2 (released exclusively for Record Store Day 2021) ‘I Do Like To Be B-Side The A-Side Volume 3’ includes 12 Madness B-Sides across hit singles from Wonderful’s ‘Lovestruck’, ‘Johnny The Horse’ and ‘Drip Fed Fred’ to The Dangermen Sessions’ ‘Shame & Scandal’, including covers of Kilburn And The High Road’s ‘The Roadette Song’ and Horace Andy’s ‘Skylarking’. Released on 180g heavyweight Black Vinyl, the LP features brand new artwork designed by Paul Agar in association with the band.

Back on vinyl for the first time in since its original 1976 pressing, 2nd Resurrection by Stairsteps will be reissued on gold vinyl for RSD on Dark Horse Records, the label founded by George Harrison. Originally discovered by Curtis Mayfield, the band was previously known as The Five Stairsteps - famous for their hit song “O-o-h Child,” which saw new life recently after appearing in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Stairsteps were introduced to George Harrison by Billy Preston, who produced and played keyboards on 2nd Resurrection. The album also features contributions by Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil, known for their innovative synthesizer work with Stevie Wonder.

50th anniversary of the groundbreaking and influential compilation of the first generation of psychedelic artists curated by Lenny Kaye. This box set includes the original 2-LP set, the planned but unreleased Vol. 2, and a single LP of songs that were considered for the original set, but didn't make the final cut. Like the original, this set is curated by Lenny Kaye and with the full involvement of Jac Holzman - the original pioneers of Nuggets. Lenny is also writing new complete notes.

Alison Goldfrapp has set a towering bar for British synth-pop in the 21st century and she’s only just getting started. The magnetic London-born singer, songwriter and producer’s seven albums with Goldfrapp were fuelled by an unfailing modernity and a sixth sense for sounds that were more timeless than any trend. With the release of her debut solo album The Love Invention—an electrifying dance-pop suite—her multi-faceted musicianship reaches a new peak.

The Love Invention marks Alison’s reawakening as a dancefloor priestess, in an intoxicating showcase of the disco and house influences that have always been at the heart of her musical DNA. “So Hard So Hot” bottles the ephemeral joy of a dancefloor with its anthemic house beat, disco handclaps, and an exquisitely alluring vocal from Alison. The sense of uninhibited liberation courses through album highlights like “In Electric Blue,” a yearning synth-pop confection with a chorus as blissful as love’s first butterflies. On “Never Stop,” she is flooded with the rush of an all-encompassing love over a buoyant, rubberised beat; the sublime synth-pop of “Fever” is an ode to the intoxicating majesty of the dancefloor, with a chorus that explodes as if setting off a glitter cannon.

About the album TEKHENU: Holistic, soundscape storyteller The Allegorist takes inspiration from the ancient world for her fifth studio album, set for release on her label Awaken Chronicles.

A sonic fable titled TEKHENU, it continues the trajectory that the Berlin-based electronic producer and sound-designer has been following since the beginning – conceptualising narrative-heavy LPs centered around mythical lands. Her new works depict a lost protagonist and her spiritual, inward search across ten enrapturing chapters.

The title of the LP is a nod to the towering monoliths by the ancient Egyptians. Known to most by their Greek-given name “obelisk”, they stand tall around the world and it’s their global dispersion that inspired The Allegorist for the title of the album, seeing it as an allegory of a common bond, a point of connection. The Tale of TEKHENU, for the seekers Written by The Allegorist TEKHENU For the seekers

Introducing ‘Duality’, the new double album from Andrew Bayer. Two musical threads weave through the collected works of Andrew Bayer. One thread gave us the downtempo masterclass of 2013’s ‘If It Were You We’d Never Leave’ and the brilliant 'In My Last Life' LP. The other thread produced arena-sized anthems like 2014’s ‘Once Lydian’, his epic 'Super Human' with Asbjørn and the club remix project 'In My Next Life'. From the introspective to the explosive, these records are our community’s shared soundtrack: we’ve all got a favourite Andrew Bayer record. But they have come in so many forms and styles. It leaves us asking the question, who exactly is Andrew Bayer? It’s a question he’s asked himself. “Since day one, I have always struggled with how to present myself. I love making these experimental home listening albums of electronica and indie sounds, but I also love DJing and making trance bangers. On my last album I had to remix the album in full after it was released to make the worlds fit. This time around I wanted to capture all the breadth, depth and tension within that duality under one single project” - Andrew Bayer ‘Duality’ brings these two creative threads together under one album for the first time since his debut album 'It's Artificial'. Crafted over three years, Bayer is joined by an eclectic cast of collaborators old and new. ‘Duality’ pt. 1 explores Bayer’s passion for downtempo and indie-pop, while ‘Duality’ pt. 2 takes on his forward-thinking trance and progressive sond. Both are tied by Bayer's unique vision, a shared sensibility and same group of collaborators. Today, you can hear a sample from each side: ‘Equal’ (with Asbjørn), and ‘Midnight’ (with Alison May). ‘Duality’ is the true follow up to my first album ‘It’s Artificial’. It is by far my most raw and honest work, and I can’t wait to celebrate the album around the world with you all on tour” - Andrew Bayer

Essential UK experimental composer Richard Skelton returns to Phantom Limb for new album selenodesy, interweaving his newfound love of electronics and synthesis with mastery of gritty organic texture.

Skelton’s music has always been rooted in landscape, in the loam and grit of the earth: from his 2009 Pennine Moors-inspired modern classic Landings to his more recent Moraine Sequence of geological excavations, his work has been bound inexorably with the stark and untended wilderness of northern landscapes. With this new album, however, Skelton shifts his gaze skyward — in part the result of a move in 2017 to the countryside near the Kielder Observatory, and to a so-called ‘dark sky’ region of the UK. In this remote landscape, light pollution is minimal, allowing the austere majesty of the night sky to be seen with greater clarity.

The resulting album, selenodesy, reveals a new, reverberant spaciousness to Skelton’s use of electronics. It marries the twin worlds of his previous Phantom Limb release - 2020’s These Charms May Be Sung Over A Wound, and its abandoned-factory threnody - with the landscape-revering arcana of his earlier work, which saw him bury instruments in the soil to return months later to recover and record with them, newly imbued with the land they occupied. selenodesy was prefigured by a period of insomnia and the relief found

in stargazing, during which Skelton tried to transcribe his hypnagogic visions: “much of this music came to me in the early hours, in that nowhere state between dreaming and waking. I’d look out the window and the night sky would be swirling with stars. Mars or Venus would be hovering in the corner of the room. I’d lie there and watch the Aurora Borealis dance across the ceiling.”

In selenodesy, we find the lingering, distorted sine waves of album opener “Albedo” that thrum and fizz with an icy, foreboding moonlight, rays of subtle movement that illuminate and darken alternately. Next follows lead single “The Plot of Lunar Phases”, whose passive shrieks echo about a cold, yawning space, reaching an ecstatic crescendo of hissing sonics and swirling celestial drone. Its dynamic range acts like the light of a lunar passage, from utmost darkness to radiant luminosity. Elsewhere, the pulsing, precessional bass of “Faint Ray Systems” gradually opens to reveal mournful, elegiac synthesis that reaches high into the night sky with an unearthly beauty. It is as if, during those long months of lockdown in the Scottish countryside, Skelton tapped into a series of sidereal electromagnetic transmissions, and transposed them into musical form.

Since relocating to Brazil some years back, Needs Music co-founder Lars Bartkuhn has returned to his long-held love of musical improvisation. Although it’s a product of his jazz roots and classical training, the German producer has constantly found new ways to apply it to his work in the sphere of electronic music.

‘Dystopia’, his first solo album for almost nine years, was born out of two interlinked ideas: a desire to create improvised music without the aid of computer sequencers or an electronic drum set, and a deeply held love of storytelling through sound. Bartkuhn set to work improvising with modular synthesizers, acoustic instruments and hand percussion, later adding light-touch overdubs to a handful of pieces. When he listened back to the recordings, an aural narrative emerged, and you’ll hear it if you listen to the album from start to finish, as is intended.

As you’d expect from a musician and composer of Bartkuhn’s undoubted ability, ‘Dystopia’ is a stunning album – an undulating, expansive ambient journey packed with emotional resonance. While Bartkuhn naturally sees it as a logical progression of his previous ambient-leaning work with Kabuki as The First Minute of a New Day (and particularly their self-titled 2020 album Séance Centre), ‘Dystopia’ also features subtle nods to many of his long-held musical loves, including John Hassell’s ‘fourth world’ recordings, the impossible-to-pigeonhole 1970s catalogue of deep jazz imprint ECM, and the far-sighted American minimalism of Terry Riley and Steve Reich.

The album’s emotional depth is evident early on, with the slow-burn title track – all bubbling electronics, billowing chords, clarinet-style notes and gently strummed guitars offering the most melancholic and bittersweet of openings. The becalmed ‘A Drop Of Water In The Ocean’ follows, with discordant aural textures and hand percussion mimicking the rolling ocean, before ‘Largo (Calm Before The Storm)’ hints at unsettling times ahead.

‘Water and Warm Air’, the only track on the album whose starting point was not Bartkuhn’s cherished modular set-up, bleeps and bubbles across the sound space, adding a starry and otherworldly slant to proceedings, while ‘Disembodied Journey (Parts 1, 2 and 3)’ is a sublime, slowly unfurling journey in three movements – all Tangerine Dream style synthesizer motifs, Pat Metheny-esque guitars and jazz-fusion instrumentation.

So the album continues, with the poignant warmth and looped motifs of ‘Still Existing’ and the sparse, dubbed-out minimalism of ‘Do You Know How To Get Out?’ – a kind of 21st century jazz-fusionist’s take on sparse electronic hypnotism – giving wat to closing cut ‘Into The Waves’, a gentle combination of undulating electronic arpeggios and echoing instrumentation that offers a hopeful and undeniably picturesque conclusion.

Fittingly, the album cover features a painting by the late Dutch artist Franz Deckwitz (1934-94), whose images of alien landscapes were used by Phillips on a series of music concrete compilations. The image featured on the cover of ‘Dystopia’, depicting a deep blue ocean and shoreline, was painted by Deckwitz in Amsterdam in the late 1970s and inspired by a trip to the island of Ponza, Italy.

Matt Anniss

LA-based event series and DIY music collective New Palm began back in 2017 and in the six years since has turned plenty of heads. It is now a core part of that local underground scene and so here it makes the natural next step of starting its own label. The imprint kicks off with a fresh EP by resident and label co-boss Charles Edward. He shows off his love for dubbed-out rollers with music that captures the essence of the New Palm parties - heady pads, smooth grooves and classy moods. Here's looking forward to many more.

hand-numbered 12" limited to 300 copies

The trio Amiira of Klaus Gesing, Björn Meyer and Samuel Rohrer has returned after a layoff of six years since their debut LP. It would be unwise to expect for them to pick up exactly where they left off, given all the turbulent change that the world has encountered since this time, and indeed the new Album Curious Objects reflects a clear expansion of the players’ abilities. The fundamentals that guided the
debut album – spatiality, refined coolness, the non-verbal “narrative” quality - are still very much present, but are this time reinforced with an even more pronounced feeling of communicating across wide
physical and conceptual spaces. Altogether, Curious Objects is a potent antidote for spiritual and musical fatigue; especially
recommended for those who have already left behind the limitations posed by genres. It is more than the sum of its parts, and its crossing of numerous different boundaries never feels like the goal in and of
itself: instead, all this activity feels like a tool for unlocking and decoding even more supposedly irreconcilable qualities and ideas.

Following from the 7-inch release of her enduring classic “Say That You Love Me,” soulful songstress AK teams up with Most Excellent Unlimited once again for a new already highly acclaimed single “Beautiful You”, appearing on vinyl in the compact format for the first time. AK, the veteran singer songwriter gives her fans a message of empowerment and affirmation, lyrically uplifting with a groove to match, presented here with GRAMMY® award-winning remixer Hex Hector’s dancefloor-tailored remix alongside the original’s gleaming pop arrangement. For this single release, the first from her upcoming new full-length album, maestro Danny Krivit has contributed his own edit of Hector’s rework, an edit that follows his reliable method of boiling down arrangements to their perfect essence and is exclusive to this single. Completing the package is a full color sleeve, complimented by a translucent pink vinyl within.

Today sees Belgian-Caribbean provocateur Charlotte Adigéry and her long-term musical partner, Bolis Pupul announce their debut album Topical Dancer, due for release on March 4 2022 via Soulwax’s iconic label DEEWEE.
Cultural appropriation. Misogyny and racism. Social media vanity. Post-colonialism and political correctness. These are not talking points that you’d ordinarily hear on the dancefloor but Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul are ripping up the rulebook with their debut album Topical Dancer. The Ghent-based duo, who broke out with their 2019 Zandoli EP, are rare storytellers in electronic music: they take the temperature of the time and funnel them into their playful synth concoctions – never didactic and always with a knowing wink.

Their debut studio record – which cements them as a duo under both their names for the first time and is co-written and co-produced by Soulwax – is both a triumph of kaleidoscopic electro-pop and “a snapshot of how we think about pop culture in the 2020s.” It captures Charlotte and Bolis’s essence as musical collaborators and the conversations they’ve had over the past two years on tour, as well as their perspectives as Belgians with an immigrant background, Charlotte with Guadeloupean and French-Martinique ancestry and Bolis being of Chinese descent.

Beyond the album’s thematic heft, Topical Dancer reflects Charlotte and Bolis’s idiosyncratic sound: it’s thoughtful but it bangs. Their take on familiar genres is always off-kilter; songs sound undone or a little wonky; but these are nocturnal heaters to make the club throb. “We like to fuck things up a bit,” laughs Bolis. “We cringe when we feel like we're making something that already exists, so we're always looking for things to combine to make it sound not like a pop song, not like an R&B song, not a techno song. We’re always putting different worlds together. Charlotte and I get bored when things get too predictable.”

Topical Dancer is fizzing with ideas – there’s certainly no filler among its 13 tracks. But above all, perhaps, it has a restlessness, a desire not to be boxed in and to escape others’ narrow perceptions of who they are. It’s summarised by the refrain of their new single, ‘Blenda’: “Don’t sound like what I look like / Don’t look like what I sound like.” “One thing that always comes up,” says Bolis, “is that people perceive me as the producer, and Charlotte as just a singer. Or that being a Black artist means you should be making ‘urban’ music. Those kinds of boxes don’t feel good to us.”

‘Blenda’ in particular references how “I am a product of colonialism,” says Charlotte, “and I feel guilty for taking up space in a white country.” The song was inspired in part by Reni Eddo-Lodge’s book Why I’m Not Longer Talking To White People About Race. “It talks about the colonial past and post-colonial present in the UK,” Charlotte continues, “but that isn’t merely a British or American problem, Belgium is part of that as well.” She says that her home country is likewise “oblivious to a big part of its history” which “results in general ignorance and a lack of understanding and empathy towards Belgian inhabitants of immigrant descent.”

On Topical Dancer, it’s less about finger pointing or being dogmatic about all the things they speak about. It’s about emancipation through humour. “I don’t want to feel this heaviness on me,” says Charlotte. “These aren’t my crosses to bear. Topical Dancer is my way of freeing myself of these issues. And of having fun.”

London based label Natural Selection present their 4th release in the form of a 4-track physical and digital Techno EP courtesy of Rommek, entitled "Devil's Playground EP". Cut by Simon at The Exchange Vinyl and mastered by Dadub Studios, Berlin.

Based in London, Rommek has seen his music released by the heaviest of renowned labels such as MORD, ARTS & James Ruskin's Blueprint Records. Rommek returns to Natural Selection after releasing with the label via their widely acclaimed VA compilation fundraiser "In Aid Of Ukraine" in 2022, with his track "All Blood Is Red", which has gained support by some of the most respected DJ's worldwide.

Since his debut release in 2014, Rommek has creatively expanded his own sound and has firmly established himself within the global techno and experimental scene. His extensive interest in sound design is crafted within the dense atmospheres, heavy broken drums and dynamic tones found within his productions. After various releases that grounded him within the Blueprint family, Rommek then completed his most established work to date, the 'Set In Stone Trilogy' in 2018. The three part release compromises of 12 tracks, original and remixes from key members of the Blueprint team; James Ruskin, O/V/R (James Ruskin & Regis), Broken English Club and Makaton.

After releasing over 15 solo EP's, Rommek has gained a wide range of noteworthy support, from being played on BBC Radio 1, to features and reviews in Mixmag, The Wire and The Quietus magazines. In 2018 he was featured within the top 100 globally charted artists on Resident Advisor. From this, it is clear that Rommek is driven to continue expanding his capabilities and keep excelling forward. After forming a close connection to Natural Selection in recent years, he has now cemented himself as one of the main front-line artists and residents within the London based imprint.

Natural Selection are well known for bridging the heavier spectrum of Techno, Electro, IDM, Acid, etc. with new, experimental style and form. One can always expect cutting-edge, hard-hitting, underground electronics from Natural Selection, with extreme diversity in sound.

During the summer youth program of 1970 and '71 at St Paul's Catholic church a young Tunnie Smith was singled out by Father George Artist for his outstanding singing abilities. He was soon introduced to Joe Delpit and Reginal Brown to sing along with their show and dance band "The 13Th Amendments. It didn't take long before Tunnie was a full member of the band and became a featured singer performing throughout Louisiana. After a year and a half of performing at nightclubs, military bases and universities Tunnie landed a record deal with Rick Hall's Fame/UA record label. His first single from 1973 was a wonderful mid-tempo number entitled "Finders Aren't Always Keepers" flipped with "Do That To Me"It gained National distribution and had some good success. Tunnie left Fame records and was introduced to Stax record executives Al Bell and John Smith. After signing with Stax, Tunnie met legendary writer and performer David Porter where they recorded an album which was scheduled for release around 73/74.Unfortunately Staxs association with CBS came to a halt and the project got shelved. From those session arose the wonderful "U And Me Together", leading on from the well produced "Finders Keepers" cut the song builds up with an epic 1:30 string and drum arrangement that really sets the picture for Tunnie to arrive with vocals way above his young age would suggest. A story of a boy and girl determined to make it and be the great combination that their love affair deserves. We can’t believe a gem like this has been waiting to come out and should have catapulted Tunnie to the next level or artist rosters. Alas, Tunnie went home and carried on performing around the Louisiana area with his new band Sweet Music Orchestra Fast forward to 1983 Tunnie whilst recording some vocals at River City Recording met Chicago producer and arranger George "Paco" Patterson. George was musical director and had worked with The Isley Brothers Wilson Pickett and many other well known artists. During this period Tunnie along with George formed a great partnership and along with some top session musicians record some incredibly lush, well produced and atmospheric songs The A Side "Join Together " is from the same session as "Dancing On Da Clouds" and could have easily be picked for his first single on Pass The Baton records. It oozes the same heavy production with opening piano cords and layered scatting then bosh, in comes the drums and Vox taking you on a mesmerising space like 2 step extravaganza. So, there you have it, once again two amazing slices of soul on one single from Tunnie Smith. Let’s hope this artist finally reaches his potential from that young man who started recording in 1973.

It’s back to the heart of disco with the next release — our sixtieth! — in Most Excellent Unlimited’s long-running series of collaborations with master editor Danny Krivit, this installment on long-play 12-inch vinyl.

Our A-side features the work of Euro-disco maestro Alec Constandinos, whose symphonic suites and long form arrangements for stars like Cerrone and Don Ray made him an essential ingredient on many a glittering dancefloor in the late ’70s. Love & Kisses was one of his earliest disco projects, and one of his most popular. Their song (the “band” was a studio fabrication of Constandinos) “I Found Love” stretches across the entire side of an LP in its original form, but for discerning disc jockeys who leaned towards the funkier side of the spectrum, the percussion and bass breakdown is where it’s at. And if you are a long-time follower of Mr. K, it will come as no surprise that it is here that he focuses his metaphoric razor on the iconic breakdown, and we are left with a tough, driving track that will suit throwback sets as well as slot nicely into modern uptempo programming. As an added bonus, stick around to the very end when Krivit lets the song’s memorable acapella sample (“And I suppose you thought it was all over??”) finish it out.

It simply does not get much bigger than Donna Summer in the world of disco. Her song “Heaven Knows,” a duet with Brooklyn Dreams singer “Bean” Esposito, is one of the many gems in her catalog, and one that still evokes powerful reactions in heads, both old and new. Produced by the dream team of Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, the power and groove are propulsive and indisputable. Krivit begins with an extended "Mac Arthur Park" horn crescendo that teases the emotion before introducing a newly stripped down singalong verses and chorus of “Heaven Knows”. As the song progresses, a fabulous building effect until the end, a six-minute run through the clouds, enveloped in the ecstasy of that same horn crescendo. A sudden finale, fading into the ether, takes us out and leaves the listener (and DJ) with an open path of which musical road to take next, a master’s touch from an editor who excels at his craft.

At only 19 years old, Dar Es Salaam's DJ Travella represents a new wave of singeli producers who are driving Tanzania's breakneck dance sound into fresh, innovative spaces. Unaffiliated with any of the well-known studios like Sisso and Pamoja, Hamadi Hassani's music points singeli's fusion of taraab and techno towards the stars, locating a cyber-singeli style that's dense, kinetic and unashamedly sexy. Hassani started producing at 15, and a few years later his debut is a jagged set of hi-nrg dance music that pulls influence from across the globe, folding together elements of dembow, rave, R&B, and trap. But nothing's straightforward: opening track 'Crazy Beat Music Umeme 2' juxtaposes grinding 200bpm rhythmic intensity with urgent plucked strings, sounding like Timbaland conjuring a Thunderdome soundtrack for a Tanzanian street party. 'Crazy Beat Music Umeme 4' is even more barbed, with neon rave synths and hand-jammed percussion that's one part 808 Mafia and one part DJ Diaki. On 'London Bandcamp', Travella meshes hi-speed singeli backbeats with downtempo dembow kicks, squeezing out unexpected sleaze in the process, while on 'London Uwoteeee' there's an almost romantic sparkle, with ethereal vocals draped across woodblock cracks and whistles. But Travella sounds most nimble when giving the nod to Atlanta, and his merging of earworm synth hooks and neck-snapping East African rhythms on tracks like 'London Jomon Beat' will leave no doubt that the young producer is capable of bending singeli completely to his will.

Der in Paris geborene Singer-Songwriter, Performer und Produzent norwegischer Abstammung, der gerade bei Because Music unter Vertrag genommen wurde, hat den größten Teil seines erwachsenen Lebens im Ausland verbracht. Diese ständige Bewegung war ausschlaggebend dafür, dass Aime die englische Sprache als diejenige wählte, in der er sich als Künstler am ehrlichsten ausdrücken kann.

Der schillernde Post-Pop des Singer-Songwriters, Performers und Produzenten hat nach der Veröffentlichung seines Debütalbums ”Say Yes, Say No” internationale Anerkennung gefunden. Nun präsentiert Aime Simone sein neues Album ”Oh Glory” inklusive der bereits veröffentlichten Songs ”Baby Don’t Quit”, ”Not What You Wanted” und ”Answer The Night”.

Er beschloss, seinen Musikstil ”Post-Pop” zu nennen, da er sich aus einer so reichen Palette von Stilen bedient, dass das Konzept eines einzigen Musikgenres verschwindet. Die Harmonien und die Refrain-Struktur seiner Songs stammen aus dem klassischen Pop, mit Untertönen von Soul und Gospel sowie Einflüssen von Clubmusik.

Auf den 11 Tracks von ”Oh Glory” verschließt Aime nie die Augen vor den dunklen Phasen seines Lebens. Wie Caravaggio und seine Gemälde, deren Schönheit dieses Album inspiriert hat, nutzt
Aime Simone diese Kontraste, um eine vom Licht durchdrungene Dunkelheit zu beschreiben.

Robb Weir ist nie ein Mann, der das, was er hat, als selbstverständlich ansieht. Nachdem er die TYGERS OF PAN TANG seit ihrem ersten Album durch eine Reihe von Besetzungswechseln geführt hat, weiß er, dass die aktuellen Tygers wahrscheinlich die stärksten sind, seit sie an der Spitze der NWOBHM standen. Weir, der stets optimistisch war, gründete eine neue Version der Band, um sowohl das alte Material zu spielen als auch Songs zu schreiben, die diese "neuen" Tygers repräsentieren sollten. Das Rückgrat der Band - Craig Ellis am Schlagzeug und Jack Meille am Gesang - sind nun schon wesentlich länger zusammen als die ersten Tygers und wurden kürzlich durch Francesco Marras an der Gitarre und Huw Holding am Bass ergänzt.

Francesco kam über Solo- und Session-Arbeiten, die ihn zu einem gefragten Gitarristen gemacht haben, und Huw hat bereits mit
NWOBHM-Bands wie Blitzkrieg, Avenger und Holosade gearbeitet. Jetzt ist die Band bereit für die Veröffentlichung ihres neuen Albums "Bloodlines".

Das Album wurde komplett von den Musikern der aktuellen Besetzung aufgenommen und ist eine Tour de Force dessen, was die NWOBHM zu einer solch starken Kraft in der Musik machte. Die Songs, die alle aus eigener Feder stammen, zeigen erfolgreich, wie gut der Kern von Weir, Meille und Ellis mit den neuen Jungs harmoniert hat. Der neue dänische Produzent Tue Madsen (The Haunted, Moonspell, Sick Of It All) hat dem traditionellen Tygers-Sound eine zeitgemäße Note verliehen und sich sofort mit der Band angefreundet, da er genau erkannt hat, wonach sie gesucht hat.
Der melodische Gesang und die vorbildlichen Gitarrensoli sorgen dafür, dass die Songs mit den besten Songs aus ihrem Backkatalog mithalten können.

Robb Weir ist nie ein Mann, der das, was er hat, als selbstverständlich ansieht. Nachdem er die TYGERS OF PAN TANG seit ihrem ersten Album durch eine Reihe von Besetzungswechseln geführt hat, weiß er, dass die aktuellen Tygers wahrscheinlich die stärksten sind, seit sie an der Spitze der NWOBHM standen. Weir, der stets optimistisch war, gründete eine neue Version der Band, um sowohl das alte Material zu spielen als auch Songs zu schreiben, die diese "neuen" Tygers repräsentieren sollten. Das Rückgrat der Band - Craig Ellis am Schlagzeug und Jack Meille am Gesang - sind nun schon wesentlich länger zusammen als die ersten Tygers und wurden kürzlich durch Francesco Marras an der Gitarre und Huw Holding am Bass ergänzt.

Francesco kam über Solo- und Session-Arbeiten, die ihn zu einem gefragten Gitarristen gemacht haben, und Huw hat bereits mit
NWOBHM-Bands wie Blitzkrieg, Avenger und Holosade gearbeitet. Jetzt ist die Band bereit für die Veröffentlichung ihres neuen Albums "Bloodlines".

Das Album wurde komplett von den Musikern der aktuellen Besetzung aufgenommen und ist eine Tour de Force dessen, was die NWOBHM zu einer solch starken Kraft in der Musik machte. Die Songs, die alle aus eigener Feder stammen, zeigen erfolgreich, wie gut der Kern von Weir, Meille und Ellis mit den neuen Jungs harmoniert hat. Der neue dänische Produzent Tue Madsen (The Haunted, Moonspell, Sick Of It All) hat dem traditionellen Tygers-Sound eine zeitgemäße Note verliehen und sich sofort mit der Band angefreundet, da er genau erkannt hat, wonach sie gesucht hat.
Der melodische Gesang und die vorbildlichen Gitarrensoli sorgen dafür, dass die Songs mit den besten Songs aus ihrem Backkatalog mithalten können.

Counting from one to ten is one of the first things we learn when we try to speak a new language. It's also a universal language we use in our beats. Numbers are the inspiration source of this album, and its roots are in the inherent rhythmical existence of numbers in music. There is a numerical theme in all the tracks. Every number matches with different grooves and rhythms, and it all comes together around a single "groove pallet".
- Granul

Ed Sheeran is set to release his new album ‘-‘ (Subtract) - the last in his decade-spanning mathematical album era - on 5 May 2023 through Asylum/Atlantic on vinyl, cassette and CD. An album that revisits Ed’s singer/songwriter roots, and one that was written against a backdrop of personal grief and hope, ‘-’ (Subtract) presents one of the biggest stars on the planet at his most vulnerable and honest.
In Ed’s own words - “I had been working on Subtract for a decade, trying to sculpt the perfect acoustic album, writing and recording hundreds of songs with a clear vision of what I thought it should be. Then at the start of 2022, a series of events changed my life, my mental health, and ultimately the way I viewed music and art.
Writing songs is my therapy. It helps me make sense of my feelings. I wrote without thought of what the songs would be, I just wrote whatever tumbled out. And in just over a week, I replaced a decade’s worth of work with my deepest darkest thoughts.

Within the space of a month, my pregnant wife got told she had a tumour, with no route to treatment until after the birth. My best friend Jamal, a brother to me, died suddenly and I found myself standing in court defending my integrity and career as a songwriter. I was spiralling through fear, depression and anxiety.
I felt like I was drowning, head below the surface, looking up but not being able to break through for air.

As an artist I didn’t feel like I could credibly put a body of work into the world that didn’t accurately represent where I am and how I need to express myself at this point in my life. This album is purely that. It’s opening the trapdoor into my soul. For the first time I’m not trying to craft an album people will like, I’m merely putting something out that’s honest and true to where I am in my adult life.

This is last February’s diary entry and my way of making sense of it. This is Subtract.”
Since he first learnt ‘Layla’ by Eric Clapton on guitar at the age of 12-years-old, Sheeran’s love of the singer/songwriter began. Growing up with the likes of Damian Rice, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan playing on repeat in his parents’ house – artists that his dad, John, introduced him to – ‘-‘was always on Ed’s horizon. Yet as the songs and writing process took on a whole new meaning and direction after a series of hard-hitting events impacted Ed’s world in 2022, one thing that remained untouched was his strong desire to make a record anchored in his love of singer/songwriter compositions. And now, as he gears-up for the release of his most soul-baring work to date, ‘-‘ serves as a timely reminder for why Sheeran remains one of the most gifted lyricists of his generation; an artist who breaks down his own experiences for fans to seek comfort and belonging.
‘-‘ is the result of Sheeran pushing the boundaries of his songcraft, as he delivers the most profound songwriting of his career. Teaming-up with Aaron Dessner (The National) on writing and production after the pair joined forces following an introduction from mutual friend Taylor Swift, Ed and Aaron began crafting the album in February last year. Writing over 30 songs during their month-long studio stint, the album’s fourteen tracks are seamlessly tied together by exquisite production from paired back, folk-leaning textures to bolder, full-band/orchestral arrangements.
Ed Sheeran burst onto the UK music scene in 2011 with his debut album ‘+’. Rapidly establishing himself as a history-making artist, he followed with ‘x’, ‘÷’, ‘No.6 Collaborations Project’ and ‘=’ - a catalogue that has seen Sheeran become one of the world’s biggest musical success stories of the 21st century.

Ed Sheeran is set to release his new album ‘-‘ (Subtract) - the last in his decade-spanning mathematical album era - on 5 May 2023 through Asylum/Atlantic on vinyl, cassette and CD. An album that revisits Ed’s singer/songwriter roots, and one that was written against a backdrop of personal grief and hope, ‘-’ (Subtract) presents one of the biggest stars on the planet at his most vulnerable and honest.
In Ed’s own words - “I had been working on Subtract for a decade, trying to sculpt the perfect acoustic album, writing and recording hundreds of songs with a clear vision of what I thought it should be. Then at the start of 2022, a series of events changed my life, my mental health, and ultimately the way I viewed music and art.
Writing songs is my therapy. It helps me make sense of my feelings. I wrote without thought of what the songs would be, I just wrote whatever tumbled out. And in just over a week, I replaced a decade’s worth of work with my deepest darkest thoughts.

Within the space of a month, my pregnant wife got told she had a tumour, with no route to treatment until after the birth. My best friend Jamal, a brother to me, died suddenly and I found myself standing in court defending my integrity and career as a songwriter. I was spiralling through fear, depression and anxiety.
I felt like I was drowning, head below the surface, looking up but not being able to break through for air.

As an artist I didn’t feel like I could credibly put a body of work into the world that didn’t accurately represent where I am and how I need to express myself at this point in my life. This album is purely that. It’s opening the trapdoor into my soul. For the first time I’m not trying to craft an album people will like, I’m merely putting something out that’s honest and true to where I am in my adult life.

This is last February’s diary entry and my way of making sense of it. This is Subtract.”
Since he first learnt ‘Layla’ by Eric Clapton on guitar at the age of 12-years-old, Sheeran’s love of the singer/songwriter began. Growing up with the likes of Damian Rice, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan playing on repeat in his parents’ house – artists that his dad, John, introduced him to – ‘-‘was always on Ed’s horizon. Yet as the songs and writing process took on a whole new meaning and direction after a series of hard-hitting events impacted Ed’s world in 2022, one thing that remained untouched was his strong desire to make a record anchored in his love of singer/songwriter compositions. And now, as he gears-up for the release of his most soul-baring work to date, ‘-‘ serves as a timely reminder for why Sheeran remains one of the most gifted lyricists of his generation; an artist who breaks down his own experiences for fans to seek comfort and belonging.
‘-‘ is the result of Sheeran pushing the boundaries of his songcraft, as he delivers the most profound songwriting of his career. Teaming-up with Aaron Dessner (The National) on writing and production after the pair joined forces following an introduction from mutual friend Taylor Swift, Ed and Aaron began crafting the album in February last year. Writing over 30 songs during their month-long studio stint, the album’s fourteen tracks are seamlessly tied together by exquisite production from paired back, folk-leaning textures to bolder, full-band/orchestral arrangements.
Ed Sheeran burst onto the UK music scene in 2011 with his debut album ‘+’. Rapidly establishing himself as a history-making artist, he followed with ‘x’, ‘÷’, ‘No.6 Collaborations Project’ and ‘=’ - a catalogue that has seen Sheeran become one of the world’s biggest musical success stories of the 21st century.