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The Eagles will take the stage once again this Sunday 22nd August at Madison Square Garden to resume their acclaimed “Hotel California” 2021 Tour. In celebration of the band being back on the road, Rhino will release LIVE AT THE FORUM ’76, featuring 10 songs recorded in the autumn of 1976, just prior to the release of Hotel California. LIVE AT THE FORUM ’76 will be available on 12th November as a 2LP set on 180-gram vinyl. The tracks will be making their vinyl debut, as they were previously only available on CD and digitally as part of 2017’s “40th Anniversary Edition” of Hotel California. The live music takes up three LP sides while the final one features an exclusive etching of the artwork.



LIVE AT THE FORUM ’76 was recorded during the band’s three-night run at the Los Angeles Forum in October 1976. The show took place as the group was putting the finishing touches on Hotel California, which would be released that December. The concert recording captures some of the very first live performances of “Hotel California” and “New Kid In Town.” During the show, the band also play hits from earlier albums with “Take It Easy” from the band’s 1972 self-titled debut; “Already Gone” from 1974’s On the Border; and the #1 title track from 1975’s One of These Nights. The concert also includes a raucous performance of “Funk #49,” a song originally recorded by Walsh’s James Gang.



The Forum concert presents a snapshot of the band right before Hotel California became a critical and commercial phenomenon. After its release, the album went on to become x6 platinum in the UK with the title track becoming one of the UK’s most loved classic rock anthems.

"Life, Love And Faith" - Allen Toussaint (p, g, hca, arr); Alvin Thomas (ts); Francis Rousselle (tp); Clyde Kerr (tp, frh); George Plummer, Vincent Toussaint (g); Walter Payton (b); Joe Lambert, Joseph Modeliste (dr); a.o. & The Meters

Allen Toussaint had it all around him – the voices and spirits of black music, rhythm ’n’ blues, funk and soul. He was born in New Orleans and grew up there, the birthplace of jazz. As from 1960, he worked as a record producer and an A&R man at Minit Records, an independent label, which was closely associated with the transformation of the New Orleans Sound. His compositions for fellow musicians landed them in the charts, he frequently participated by performing with them on the piano, and so became a connoisseur and master of all possible sounds.

"Life, Love And Faith" marks his launch into his solo career, and quite rightly so. In the songs, Toussaint amalgamates all he had mastered with a rocking R&B, funky rhythms and expressive soul to create his highly personal sound.

Although it is a soul album through and through, one has the feeling that one is listening to an album from Reprise’s stable of singers/songwriters – including such artists as Randy Newman, Bonnie Raitt, Little Feat and Joni Mitchell – rather than what usually came out of New Orleans in the early Seventies. And also because "Life, Love And Faith" captures an eccentric genius who pursues his own idiosyncratic vision. It is a structured, multi-layered album, which does not show Toussaint in his purest form, but it is his only album that shows just how widely ranged and profound his many talents were.

This Speakers Corner LP was remastered using pure analogue components only, from the master tapes through to the cutting head.

All royalties and mechanical rights have been paid.

Recording: 1972 at Jazz City Studios, New Orleans, by Cosimo Matassa and Skip Godwin

Production: Allen Toussaint

UMAN’s Chaleur Humaine, the debut album from the French duo of musicians and siblings Danielle and Didier Jean, resurfaces for the first time since its original release in 1992. While history, both private and public, is scattered with creative relationships between siblings that simply “did not work,” UMAN’s story is uniquely different and defined by this bond, and a shared journey impressing footprints along an adventurous musical terrain.

Home to Cuca Records and hundreds of Nashville-fantasizing pluckers and singers, Wisconsin’s Driftless region was a hotbed of country music in the 1960s. Influenced by old-timey ethnic songs, Bakersfield outlaws, countrypolitan rainbows, and the lonesome twang of every rural route roadhouse, these 17 Driftless Dreamers washed up at Jim Kirchstein’s Sauk City record plant with little more than $100 and a longing. Collected here are the fruits of Cuca’s documentary approach to record making, capturing the voices and stories of a culture and glacier in abatement.

Radiation Deluxe Series present a reissue of The Shangri-Las's 65!, originally released in 1965. The queens of Queens, The Shangri-Las formed in 1963 in Cambria Heights. Made up of two sets of sisters from Andrew Jackson High School, the Shangri-Las hooked up with producer George "Shadow" Morton in 1964 and signed to Lieber & Stoller's legendary Red Bird Records label. Featuring song writing credits from the Brill Building's dynamic duo of Jeff Berry and Ellie Greenwich, as well as future Band member Levon Helm, Ike Turner, and more, this is the group's second LP, and is pure NYC girl-group perfection. An absolutely essential for any fan of 1960s American pop music. 180 gram vinyl.

A Paean to Wilson is still arguably Vini Reilly and the Durutti Column's most important and consistent piece of work since the demise of the original and seminal Factory Records in the early 1990's. On this release we have the ‘F4 Heaven Sent’ tracks released on vinyl for the first time. They first appeared in 2005 via Wilson's project F4, as being the fourth version of Factory Records. Originally it was download-only release, Heaven Sent (It Was Called Digital, It Was Heaven Sent). A six track CD of personal dedications by Vini ironically the last piece is titled Anthony. Originally this was commissioned for the MIF (Manchester International Festival) where it was premiered in July 2009. Vin had already composed pieces for Tony to listen to whilst he was ill in hospital and it was from here that the project developed. This release belatedly coincides with the new Paul Morley Biography ‘Manchester with Love: The Life and Opinions of Tony ...’Ever critical of Vini's voice, but ever a fierce champion of his talent, the late Tony Wilson would surely appreciate this instrumental tribute by The Durutti Column. ‘Near the beginning of the final night of the Durutti Column's 70-minute international festival tribute to Tony Wilson, A Paean to Wilson, guitarist Vini Reilly announced that he wouldn't be singing: "So you won't have to put up with my awful voice and schoolboy lyrics." If Wilson was with us, he would have chuckled. The Granada presenter-turned-Factory Records boss spent years urging his first signing to stop singing, and concentrate on the virtuosity that led Red Hot Chili Pepper John Frusciante to call Reilly "the greatest guitarist in the world". Two years after his death, Wilson got his way, one of many lovely touches in a very personal, emotional and often warmly funny musical tribute. Wilson signed Joy Division and Happy Mondays, yet never gave up on this cult band he adored, working with them even after his legendary label went bankrupt. A complex man, Wilson was an academic thinker who revelled in Steve Coogan's affectionate, Alan Partridge-style send-up of him. And this tribute was no different. At one point, Reilly known for melancholy launched into something resembling an Irish jig. "Tony loved to laugh," he explained. "He loved absurdities." After the humour came exquisitely mournful music. With Reilly and drummer Bruce Mitchell augmented by bass, keyboard, violin, electric piano, drum machine and trumpet, the band's beautiful pieces reflected Wilson's love of rock and classical. Reilly's plangent guitar work showed grief's emotional spectrum, from sadness to overdriven anger. As in life, Wilson had the last word, his recorded voice expounding thoughts on socialism with an eerie echo. Silence followed as Manchester pondered the loss of one of its truly larger-than-life characters. Then everybody cheered.' Dave Simpson The Guardian 20/7/09

This album is a critical meditation on variations of Orientalism practiced by Arabs themselves, as well as those who were born and raised within the diaspora. It originally began as a documentation of extended drum techniques, but eventually morphed into a project of more ambitious scope. Having an open timeframe, Julius Masri gave himself reasons to include all the instruments he obsessively picked up and learned over the years. The work accumulated intentions and guiding principles, and it became rather autobiographical in nature. Some of the tracks either refer to or were recorded in the actual physical spaces he grew up near, in Tripoli, Lebanon during the 1980s. The "Arabic Room" of the title refers to the sitting room in his family‘s house that was decked out in hyper orientalist exoticism, mashing together furniture, fixtures, paintings from all over the Arabic speaking world. The sitting room, or salon, is common in Lebanese homes made specifically to host and entertain guests. Rimsky-Korsakov's Sheherazade and other western made Orientalist cultural artifacts not only had ubiquitous presence in the house, but also found their way onto tv shows and commercials. After moving to the US, his parents recreated this room in their home. Additionally, his father's generation was one that saw their country transform from a post-agrarian trading society after WWII to a center of banking and finance within the span of a few decades. The sense of some lost Eden like innocence of the interwar years permeated much of the media that was available to him growing up there. This album is neither ironic nor some judgmental pronouncement. Call it critical nostalgia. For Masri, there isn't much difference between this form of exotic fantasy creation, and his own adolescence steeped in comic books and listening to bands like Voivod. They both seem to him part of what's known in German as Fernweh, "a nostalgia for a place one's never been". All instruments are performed by Masri himself, (drums, Egyptian rababa, Azeri kamancheh, circuit bent electronics, keyboards, hammered dulcimer, and vocals). Genre-hopping is foundational to the album’s ethos; jazz, metal, experimental, electro-chaabi, and sound collage all appear within the framework of Arabic music, creating the sense of adventurous possibilities best associated with well curated mixtapes. Julius Masri is a Philadelphia based multi-instrumentalist and performer/composer, originally born in Tripoli, Lebanon. The Arabic Room is his debut solo-album. Currently he is working and playing with members of the Sun Ra Arkestra. The album will be released on vinyl only in an edition of 300 copies.

LTD. COLORED VINYL

Somewhere Between: Mutant Pop, Electronic Minimalism & Shadow Sounds of Japan 1980–1988 hovers vibe–wise between two distinct poles within Light In The Attic’s acclaimed Japan Archival Series—Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980–1990 and Pacific Breeze: Japanese City Pop, AOR & Boogie 1976–1986. All three albums showcase recordings produced during Japan’s soaring bubble economy of the 1980s, an era in which aesthetic visions and consumerism merged. Music echoed the nation’s prosperity and with financial abundance came the luxury to dream.

Sonically, Somewhere Between mines the midpoint between Kankyō Ongaku’s sparkling atmospherics and Pacific Breeze’s metropolitan boogie. The compilation encompasses ambient pop, underground electronics, liminal minimalism and shadow sounds—all descriptors emphasizing the hazy nature of the nebula. Out–of–focus rhythms wear ethereal accoutrements, ballads are shrouded in static, and angular drums snake skyward on transcendent tones. From the Avant–minimalism of Mkwaju Ensemble and Yoshio Ojima, to the leftfield techno-pop of Mishio Ogawa and Noriko Miyamoto (featuring members of YMO), and highlights from the groundbreaking Osaka underground label Vanity Records, these are blurry constellations defying collective categorization.

These tracks also exist in a space of transition when the major label grip on the Japanese recording market began to give way to the escalation of independents. Thanks to the idyllic economic climate and innovations in domestically–manufactured music gear, creators on the edges were empowered to focus on satisfying their artistic visions in the open headspace of home studios. While labels like Warner Music and Nippon Columbia explored new sounds through traditional channels, it was possible for Vanity, Balcony and other indie labels, not to mention self–released artists like Ojima and Naoki Asai, to publish their work via affordable media such as cassettes, 7" vinyl, and flexi–discs.

Expertly curated by Yosuke Kitazawa and Mark “Frosty” McNeill (dublab), Somewhere Between is a collection of music, much of it released for the first time outside Japan, that is bound more by energetic vibration than shared history, genre or scene. They are the sounds of transition and searching—a celebration of the freedom found in floating.

Note: The track “Days Man” by Yoshio Ojima is only available on the LP and Cassette versions.

Leng Records has long admired Andrew Meecham’s work as the Emperor Machine. Last year, Meecham made his first appearance on the label via a fine remix of Harks & Mudd favourite ‘Susta’. 12 months on, Meecham returns to Leng with his first Emperor Machine outing of 2021, a typically eccentric, heavily electronic dancefloor outing featuring the seductive vocals of rising star Séverine Mouletin. Meecham is one of British dance music’s most experienced and lauded producers, with a packed history stretching right back to the acid house era. He first rose to fame as part of Bizarre Inc and Chicken Lips (both alongside long-term studio partner Dean Meredith), but over the last two decades has devoted far more time to solo work as The Emperor Machine. In the process, he’s developed a sparse, hypnotic, heavily electronic trademark sound that combines analogue and modular synthesizer sounds with nods to post-punk disco, new wave, trippy proto-house and the mind-altering experiments of the Radiophonic Workshop.



‘Dance Par Amour’, his first solo single on Leng, is typical of his now familiar personal sonic style, with echoing, alien-sounding synthesizer motifs (some reminiscent of those that marked out Chicken Lips’ club classic ‘He Not In’), with bubbly sequenced bass, unfussy machine drums, rubbery slap-bass riffs and flashes of post-punk disco guitars.



Sparse but weighty and pleasingly trippy, the EP-leading ‘Extended Vocal Mix’ is classic Emperor Machine: a near ten-minute workout in which Mouletin’s tender but confident vocals rise above Meecham’s stylish and note perfect backing track, which sits somewhere between early ‘80s ‘no wave’ New York disco, lo-fi European synth-pop and the trippy late night dancefloor dubs that were once a feature of American boogie and proto-house records. Meecham further explores his love of these sparse, effects-laden “synth-dubs” on the accompanying ‘Erotique Dub’, a thrillingly heavy, heads-down affair awash with echoing vocal snippets, hypnotic drums and synthesizer flourishes that attractively echo across the sound space. Like the best DJ-focused dubs of the early 1980s, the remix is propelled forwards by a strong bassline, around which other elements – guitar, bass guitar, sparkling synth sounds and mind-mangling electronics – appear, make their mark and then drift off into the ether. With key passages of Mouletin’s vocal appearing periodically to encourage people to dance, it’s the kind of delightfully wayward revision that will keep people dancing well into the early hours.

* Limited edition transparent vinyl repress of the very first Formation Records release from 1991 – DJ SS – The Pyscho EP. This EP kicks off a series of retrospective releases as the label celebrates it’s 30th Anniversary this year.

* Bringing it back to where it all began in 1991, this 6 track EP is a melting pot of all the genre, styles and cultures that collided to give birth to the Rave scene.
* Newly remastered from the original DATS this seminal EP has never sounded so good!
* DJ SS is a powerhouse in British Breakbeat music, having been one of the originators of the Rave scene, and his legendary imprint Formation Records is still going strong to this day releasing cutting edge Drum & Bass and giving a platform to new and established artists alike.

King Tubby's Hometown Hi-Fi was one the great Sound Systems in Jamaica. It also proved a fantastic outlet for the Dub Plate Specials cut at Tubby's studio, providing exclusive cuts to be played out and to intice the dance's audience. The tracks at the time were mainly cut over producer Bunny 'Striker' Lee rhythms, that Bunny stored at Tubby's studio which was in fact his home, 18 Drumilly Avenue,Kingston, Jamaica.The versions were given exclusive plays at Tubby's sound
before some finding their way on to vinyl, as the b-side version cut to it's a-side vocal, proving so popular that the records were often brought for its version side over its vocal counterpart. King Tubby and Producer Bunny 'Striker' Lee are intertwined in the birth of Dub Music, after discovering a mistake that made a 'serious joke' (more of which later...) they went on to release the first pressings of this new musical genre namely 'Dub Music'. Tubby's vast knowledge of electronics and Bunny's vast catalogue of rhythms would lay the foundations of what today is taken as a standard... the Remix / Version cuts to an existing vocal tune. Osbourne 'King Tubby' Ruddock was born in Kingston, Jamaica on 28th January 1941 and grew up n the High Holborn Street area of downtown Kingston. He studied electronics at Kingston's

Source: Declaration of Rights / Johnny Clarke

Source: Top Ranking / Johnny Clarke

Source: The Stal-O-Watt / Cornell Campbell

Source: Power Of Love / Ronnie Davis

Source: African People / Johnny Clarke

Source: Pumps And Pride / Leroy Smart

Source: Girl I Love You / Johnny Clarke

Source: King Of The Arena / Johnny Clarke

Source: Stealing Stealing / Johnny Clarke

Source: Satta Dread Wayne Jarrett

Source: Crazy Baldhead / Johnny Clarke

Source: Dread A Dread / Johnny Clarke

Source: No Love / Leroy Smart

Club / DJ Support
Jay Cunning, Ray Keith, Nookie, El Hornet, Billy Bunter, the Fat Controller, Liquid, Hyper On Experience, Glowkid, Slipmatt, Dj Jedi, Dj Luna-C, Dj Brisk, Jimni Cricket, Bustin, Sc@r, Doughboy, Saiyan, Dave Skywalker, Ponder and many others

The Kniteforce Complete Collection Volume 1 does exactly what it says on the box, giving you the first 20 Kniteforce Vinyl releases, fully remastered, in both Wav and MP3 format. This set of original old skool tracks made in the early 1990s is a package unmissbale to anyone into the original old skool sound, and it features some of the early work from legendary artists such as Dj Force & The Evolution, Luna-C, Cru-l-t, Future Primitive, The Trip, Alk-e-d and more…

Built around the successes of his soundtracks and songs for the movies of Christophe Honoré, Alex Beaupain’s profile in the ‘chanson française’ landscape is quite unique. Beaupain alternates between soundtracks, songs he writes for others (mainly great French actresses) and his own solo albums.
In march 2021, Beaupain paid tribute to the late Serge Gainsbourg for the 30th anniversary of his passing during a special live on air event where he covered in full, with the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, Gainsbourg’s penultimate shocking album from 1984 : Love On The Beat.
This experience led him directly in the studio with Saint DX as producer, the French American duet Faux Real singing backing vocals and a full string section to re-record this cult album with a 2021 twist. He had also dreamed of covering that particular album that had so much impact on him, musically and lyrically, when he first discovered it. The 80s funky sound of the record, produced by Billy Rush, was a new start for Gainsbourg and at the time, the lyrics schocked everyone but achieved to avoid any censorship.
“I was 10 when Love On The Beat was released in 1984. Covering the full album was an idea I always kept somewhere in my mind as I was fully aware of the long lasting impact this particular record had on all the teenagers at the time. This collection of songs is far from being the most covered or talked about works form Gainsbourg, but I’ve always had the feeling they were ‘mine’. That everything started there for me and that, one day or the other, I would have to come back to it.” (Alex Beaupain)

Slowdive’s 5 EP was released in 1993 and contains 4 songs, 3 of which are instrumental. Neil Halstead had a blast experimenting with electronic beats. The instrumental tracks on this EP are all accompanied by a solid beat.

Slowdive once again succeed beautifully in producing tones that leave you numb as to how you should feel. There is an unmistakably euphoric edge to it, something heavenly, something convincing, something that takes you to places where everything is more beautiful, more colorful.

5 EP captures a brief moment of Slowdive’s journey - not quite like anything they did before it and not quite like anything after it, though it does have elements of both Souvlaki and Pygmalion in there.

“In Mind”, “Good Day Sunshine”, “Missing You” & “Country Rain” are trippy, dreamy, spaced, melancholic and cinematic... Overall an essential part of the history of one of the most influential acts of the late 20th century.

This rare and sought-after EP is now finally available as a limited edition of 4000 individually numbered copies on pink & purple marbled vinyl. The jacket has a special deluxe “alubrush” finish. The package includes an insert with the Slowdive catalogue.

Known for his soothing trumpet work in German jazz group Fazer, Matthias Lindermayr is back on Squama with an all-new trio and his third album 'Triptych'.
With Philipp Schiepek on acoustic guitar and Simon Popp on percussion, the Munich-based musician created a forward-thinking record between jazz and contemporary classical, conceptually bold and utterly beautiful.
'Triptych' is a thrillingly quiet record. While the album's predecessor 'Newborn' (2018) featured a quintet, the rather unusual trio line-up on 'Triptych' gave Matthias more room to share the nuances of his playing.
His compositions, most written especially for this group, are of a noble simplicity allowing the musicians to focus more on interaction and sound.

BILLUPS (aka Eddie Owens) was born in Connecticut in 1933 and is an accomplished R&B musician and all-round performer. He is known and indeed revered on the UK rare soul scene for his 1973 Northern/Crossover anthem “Shake Off That Dream”. The song was originally released on the local label ‘Helpp’ and then Nationally via John Richbourg’s production company J. R. Enterprises on the ‘Seventy Seven’ imprint. Both versions are identical. Later, circa 1977, Billups re-released a funkier take of the song on ‘Solid Gold’ attributed to Shorty Billups (Eddie’s brother) and on ‘Gar-Pax’ attributed to Eddie Billups & The C.C.’s. The original release, featured here, is regarded as the definitive version.

HIGHLIGHTS: For the first time a sample of the essential work of Mesías Maiguashca, covering a period that goes from 1967 to 1989. This release includes historical pieces of electronic music, such as "El mundo en que vivimos" (1967) or "Ayayayayay"(1971), which are early references for electronic music in Latin America. DESCRIPTION: Mesías Maiguashca is a relevant figure on the map of contemporary avant-garde composers. Born in Ecuador but currently based in Germany, he has been a composer who, since the 60s, would constantly expand his possibilities in fields such as electronic music (where he stands out as a pioneer), mixed works, expanded interdisciplinary pieces and the creation of unconventional instruments, where the encounter between his country of origin's popular folkloric tradition and the new European music has produced a universe of tension, as fascinating as it is startling. Mesías Maiguashca: Música para cinta magnética (+) instrumentos (1967-1989) presents for the first time a sample of the essential work of Maiguashca, covering a period that goes from 1967 to 1989. This is the first of a new collection, a new series of albums that seeks to document the extensive recorded work of Maiguashca, with pieces that date from the mid-60s to the present. This first release is a good introduction to understand the various aesthetic options developed by the artist throughout his career. It includes his historical pieces of electronic music, such as "El mundo en que vivimos" (1967) or "Ayayayayay"(1971), which are early references for electronic music in Latin America, and also mixed pieces, such as "Intensidad y altura" (1979) for six percussionists and magnetic tape, "The wings of perception" (1989) for a string quartet and tape, and "Nemos Orgel" (1989) for organ and magnetic tape. As the critic Fabiano Kueva has pointed out: "During six decades of musical creation, Maiguashca has outlined diverse aesthetic axes, raising questions about the aural experience and generating a sound flow, a permanent oscillation between Latin America and Europe. Therefore, the blend of Western and non-Western concepts, techniques and timbres, the literary references or the historical approach are perceived as a complex gesture that reveals the tensions, the memories, the place of the artist." Mesías Maiguashca studied at the Quito Conservatory, the Eastman School of Music (Rochester, N.Y.), the Di Tella Institute (Buenos Aires) and the Musikhochschule Köln (Cologne). He has made recordings at the WDR music studio (Cologne), Center Européen pour la Recherche Musicale (Metz), the IRCAM (Paris), the Acroe (Grenoble) and the ZKM (Karlsruhe). In 1988, together with Roland Breitenfeld, he founded the K.O.Studio Freiburg, a private initiative for the cultivation of experimental music. He has been living in Freiburg since 1996. Mesías Maiguashca: Música para cinta magnética (+) instrumentos (1967-1989) is released as a double vinyl LP, in a limited edition of 300 copies, including photos and detailed information on the pieces. Liner notes by Mesías Maiguashca and Fabiano Kueva. Mastering: Alberto Cendra at Garden Lab Audio. Desing by Martín Escalante. Project carried out thanks to the Ibermúsicas fund.

BBE Music celebrates the centenary of recorded Ghana Highlife music with a double album reissue of two rare 80s LPs recorded by the late Atakora Manu, AFRO HIGHLIFE and OMINTIMINIM. Born in Toase, Ghana, a proud Asante, Atakoras musical talent made itself clear from an early age. But it wasn’t until his late teens that he put that talent to use as a performer, first founding the legendary Princess Trio from 1961 till 1963 with drummer Togas and multi-instrumentalist Elder Osei Bonsu. After a spell from 1963 till 1966 as guitarist with the United Ghana Farmers’ Council Drama Troupe, Manu teamed up with Moses Kweku Oppong to form the legendary Kakaiku No. 2 Band, producing a string of national hit singles over the following three or four years. There followed a three year break from music until fate struck: Atakora found a job in 1973 as Recording Studio Attendant- and later recording engineer- at Ambassador Recording Studios in Kumasi, at that time the country’s largest independent label. On seeing his musical talents behind the studio desk, it wasn’t long before the boss suggested to Manu that he get back to making music himself, an opportunity that he was quick to take up- as will be more than apparent from the hardcore, rootsy Highlife and palmwine selections reissued here. As well as long-time associates Togas and Elder Bonsei, local Kumasi legends CK Mensah, Amoako Agyeman, Agyei Kyeremanteng (of the famous Keyeremanteng All Stars) , and Atta Fofie lent a hand from time to time, along with a handful of other seasoned Ambassador studio session players. THE MUSIC A unique selling point here is the mix of vintage, rootsy ‘palmwine’ blues-style guitar Highlife with quirky keyboard electronics, a sound well-established today but revolutionary in the comparatively conservative world of 70s and 80s Highlife. This comes across beautifully in Dada and Cape Coast Cousin, the latter toasting off guitar licks with bubbling wah wah organ. We find a similar juxtaposition in Asante Kotoko, a shout-out to Kumasi’s champion soccer team, which also features some sweet ‘village’ drumming, and in Meka A Ensa..

Teeside singer/songwriter returns with his 4th album feauturing lead single ‘Emily’. James will tour the UK/Ireland in March 2022, with dates including a special show at London’s prestigious Royal Albert Hall. A North American tour follows in April/May. James has sold over 30 million records worldwide and has to date released three hugely successful albums 'James Arthur' (UK No.2), 'Back From The Edge' (UK No.1) and 'YOU' (UK No.2), alongside nine solo UK Top 40 singles. This new album features 14 stunning songs across a standard single CD and double black vinyl LP. TV promo includes BBC Breakfast, Sky News, James Martin Saturday Morning and more. TV ad campaign. Online/social media activity. Ads, features, interviews and reviews across all press. Radio support with playlists, interviews, sessions and ads. Poster campaign and database mailout.

Fela Kuti (1938-1997) was a Nigerian musician,
producer, arranger, political radical and outlaw, and the
originator of Afrobeat. A titanic musical and sociopolitical
voice, Fela’s legacy spans decades and genres,
touching on jazz, pop, funk, hip-hop, rock and beyond.
 After graduating from Trinity College of Music (now
Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance) in
London, Fela returned to Nigeria with his band Koola
Lobitos. Fusing the sounds of Jazz and Funk with the
traditional African music he had been raised on, his star
status began to flourish.
 EMI, his label at the time, saw the true power of his
musical creation, what we now know as Afrobeat, and
brought Fela and his band back to London. The result
was ‘London Scene’. While recording, Fela began his
friendship with Ginger Baker, who plays uncredited on
the track ‘Egbe Mi O’.
 ‘London Scene’ is the beginning of what would become
Fela’s signature Afrobeat style and serves as a great
introduction to Fela’s music. Recorded and remastered
at none other than Abbey Road Studio.
 This 50th Anniversary edition of the classic Fela album
comes on red, blue and white splatter vinyl, with a gold
foil obi strip that will be the hallmark of all of the Fela
50th Anniversary reissues.
 Liner notes by the legendary Chris May.
 Fela recently came in second place, behind Tina Turner,
for the fan vote for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
nominations and received great press coverage in NY
Times, Rolling Stone, MOJO, Record Collector and
more.

HIGHLIGHTS: Objetos Musicais is a collection of 13 sound pieces created by artists from South America and Switzerland, who work in an intermediate zone among the craft of luthiers, visual arts and experimental music. Their works evoke the visionary ideas of Walter Smetak, a Swiss composer who lived in Salvador, Bahia (Brazil) Smetakian spirit tunes in with a new community of contemporary artists, who relate to the work of the so-called "experimental luthiers": artists who build their own instruments, lead them towards radical extended versions or take the exploration towards the building of resonant machines. DESCRIPTION: Objetos Musicais is a collection of 13 sound pieces created by artists from South America and Switzerland, who work in an intermediate zone among the craft of luthiers, visual arts and experimental music. Their works evoke the visionary ideas of Walter Smetak, a Swiss composer who lived in Salvador, Bahia (Brazil). Smetak was a pioneer of musical experimentation in that country and developed, in the 60s and 70s, a musical poetics that was captured in two seminal albums, Smetak (1974) and Interregno (1980), both of which, after being out of print for a long time, have been reissued today, hence the motivation for this tribute. On those two albums, Smetak combined Afro-Brazilian ritual traditions, theosophy, microtonality studies, collective improvisation and the use of unconventional musical instruments, which he called Plasticas Sonoras. Smetak came to build around 150 acoustic instruments, many of which are true sound sculptures of great visual impact. This latter aspect is the most directly evoked one on this album-and it so happens that the Smetakian spirit tunes in with a new community of contemporary artists, who relate to the work of the so-called "experimental luthiers", artists who build their own instruments (Marco Scarassatti, Phillipp Laeng, Maria Anália), lead them towards radical extended versions (Ruben Dhers, Claudio Merlet), develop hybrid projects involving instruments and sound sculpture (Javier Bustos, Alvaro Icaza and Verónica Luyo, Juan Pablo Egúsquiza, Edgardo Rudnitzky) or take the exploration towards the building of resonant machines (Nicole L'Huillier, O Grivo, Zimoun, Cod.Act), without these categories being mutually exclusive, but rather tending to mix, thereby opening up new sonic possibilities. This new community of artists has begun to create a whole new field of research and, in a way, a new discipline, understandable within the context of this new paradigm opened by the maker culture, which has pushed creators and developers from all over the world to conceive alternative-anti-hegemonic and DIY-forms of production. Therefore, this collection allows the artists to evoke Walter Smetak but also to connect his work to this new scene-to which it precedes-a link for this new art that makes its way at some point among the work of experimental luthiers, sound art, experimental music and the DIY ethics. Curated by Luis Alvarado and Chico Dub. Art by René Sánchez. Limited edition of 300 copies on vinyl. This project is part of the experimental music and sound art platform Incidencias Sonoras: COINCIDENCIA, by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.

High-quality reissue of holy grail 70s Brasil Funk LP, a real Killer record which sounds like nothing else with an incredible combination of tracks mixing Brazilian popular music (MPB), regional Folk, Soul and Funk!

Di Melo's debut album was originally released in 1975 and it's a fusion of genuinely Brazilian rhythms with Funk, Soul and the right amount of psychedelia. Di Melo is one of the main Brazilian Soul Music artists, seen by many as talented and musically creative as his peers Jorge Ben and Tim Maia. Di Melo went missing in action from 1976 to 1997, the year his song "A Vida em Seus Mtodos Diz Calma" was on the collection "Blue Brazil" from Blue Note record label. The word on the streets was that he was dead until 2011, when the documentary called "Di Melo, o Imorrvel" (Di Melo, the immortal) was released. In this 2021 edition the album contains the original 1975 insert with lyrics plus photos from personal family archives and for the first time the full credits with all the name of every single musician who tookpart,among them, Hermeto Pascoal.

This double album is a new collaboration between long-time Umor Rex artists Andreas Gerth (one half of Driftmachine) and Carl Oesterhelt (11 Pieces for Synthesizer). Both developed their shared musical cosmos during their time with the now defunct Tied +Tickled Trio. Oesterhelt is also known for his solo compositions for orchestras and for collaborations with Johannes Enders and Hans-Joachim Irmler of Faust.

As futurism seems inherent to electronic music, the backward-looking view is alien to its nature – consequently, a dialectical struggle between these principles is rarely expressed with the means of electronics. Especially today, its essence as a medium of progress stands in opposition to a sceptical position. By reconnecting us with history, The Aporias of Futurism seeks to define a critical location, that stands in opposition to the postmodern concept of interpretation, deconstruction and reformulation and the belief in progress that goes with it.

The working method for the album Andreas and Carl followed was the usual musique-concrète-technique – cut/assemble/edit/process pre-recorded sounds – but instead of deconstructing the concrete noises into an abstract sound entity, they followed a different path: the organic interweaving of orchestral structures with the electronically processed noise layers into a composition in the sense of classical modernism at the beginning of the 20th century.

Carl started with sketches recorded via a broken CD player, processed through a ring modulator, which sounded like old electronic music from the 1950s. To interact with these fragments Andreas recorded and processed a plethora of everyday noises, atmospheres, tonal fragments from the modular, industrial and shortwave radio noise, percussion in the form of door slamming, falling metal sheets, ball tracks, and so on. So, while they still played within the futuristic discipline, the reference to the past is actually unmistakable. One can hear it in the tonality of the contrasting orchestral passages, in the sound character of the processed samples and the sonic electronic layers. But it is precisely here, where a narrative tension develops. Theses and antitheses, extreme (unresolved) opposites, contrasts… essentially inner contradictions, or expressed in another word aporias… … but there is another factor at play here, something that plays a subordinate, almost ostracized role in the post-modern context: beauty (albeit the beauty of ruins) – beauty, the only refuge of the pessimist.

In the course of the process, a wide range of motifs and ideas emerged from the fog of memory. Free associations of concepts, books and authors from a wide period of time, such as Milton's Paradise Lost, William Blake, Robert Graves, ancient Rome, as well as Borges and Juan Rulfo. This flood of images is also incorporated on the album cover as a "free interpretation" of cultural objects and their relations in time.

The overarching motif of a sceptical rejection of the idea of Futurism is illustrated by a quote from Emile M. Cioran, the writer who most closely embodies the common spirit of the work presented here.

"But here comes the strangest thing: the Futurist idolizes becoming only until he has enforced that order for which he fought; then the ideal conclusion of time becomes apparent to him, the ‘always’ of utopia, which concludes and crowns the historical process. The conception of the Golden Age of Paradise par excellence, thus grips believers and unbelievers alike. But between the original paradise of the religions and the eschatological of the utopia there is the whole distance that separates a nostalgia from a hope, a repentance from a delusion, an achieved from an unrealized completion."

All music composed by Andreas Gerth and Carl Oesterhelt between Berlin and Munich, Germany in 2021. Produced and mixed by Andreas Gerth in Berlin. Mastered by John Tejada in Sherman Oaks, USA. Artwork by Daniel Castrejón in Mexico City.

Hungry for some modern melodic death metal with ridiculously catchy pop influences? Well, your dinner has just been served. This steaming nine-course setting is called "Origin" and it is honoringly brought into the table by the renowned Finnish heavy metal band Omnium Gatherum. Omnium Gatherum – OG for close friends – has been offering remarkable pieces of melodic death metal for already twenty-five shining years. While storming through these ferocious decades, Omnium Gatherum has convinced worldwide legions of heavy metal lovers by releasing unstoppable musical onslaughts and touring relentlessly all over the world. "Any sort of popularity hasn't come overnight for OG, and rising to that "next level" has sometimes taken a considerably long time, but one thing has been set in stone: progress has been inevitable. In other words: a lot of great things have happened along the way but the journey hasn't been the easiest one", says longtime singer Jukka Pelkonen. ... And recent times are no exception. Contrary to what you might think, we are not talking about a global scourge that gripped the entire world about a year and a half ago. "Although most of the things around "Origin" have been really good – we have never had so much time to compose and sharpen the material for instance –, there have been some serious roadblocks as well. This, of course, has not come as a big surprise as OG was not born under the happiest stars", laughs guitarist extraordinaire and the band founder Markus Vanhala. "Above all, our dear fans should know that since the previous studio effort "The Burning Cold" (2018), half of the band's line-up has changed. I would say quite surprisingly as we haven't really had any major problems, at least to my knowledge." "This internal turmoil lifted dark clouds into the band's vast sky and everything was falling apart... well, for a few hours at least. After that, as many times before, we decided to turn these difficulties into something better!" Before the arrival of "Origin", Omnium Gatherum's colourful discography features eight studio albums, but the newcomer does not pale in comparison. The truth is, in fact, quite the opposite... By the stylish, majestic and melodic splendor of "Origin", it really feels like the band's original style called AORDM – adult oriented death metal – has reached its peak. Well, so far... "Over the years, OG's material has been deliberately moving further away from the anxiety of the windy Northern shores and traditional melodeath's gloomy despair. These days our music is a powerful mixture of older deadly roots and newer AOR-vibes that you get while listening to Survivor and driving a Corvette along the sunny shores of Miami of us, we will not forget the original enthusiasm for playing heavy metal... And therefore we will never give up!"

"Mirrors & Smoke" is the first single by GÍO from the album of the same name, which will be released in September.
The Artist behind GÍO is the Cologne musician Johannes Stankowski. Stylistically you can classify GÍO between Yacht-Rock and Italopop. Some people prefer to call it yacht-pop, because the rock influences of bands like the Eagles or the Doobie Brothers can also be found in GÍO.
the Doobie Brothers have long since faded from GÍO's music. GÍO prefers to make music in the spheres in which even a pop star like Harry Styles moves. Pop with the really big gestures. Soft rock and blue-eyed soul with a slight disco and funk touch.
A world in which indie was mainly found in the 5-euro grab boxes of record stores, GÍO finds himself detached from contemporary trends to escape back into a world where the promises of pop were always lager than life. Not a place of dystopia, but a place to fly away. Highly hedonistic and escapistic. Mirrors & Smoke is exactly such a song. A declaration of love to pop. You can choose to listen to Fleetwood Mac or Lucio Battisti afterwards.

Aarhus (DK) based MØL blend swirling guitars and hissing vocals with the dreamy ambience of shoegaze to form a unique blend of soundscapes and crushing passages. Inspired by bands like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Drop Nineteens, Lantlôs and Alcest, MØL released their self-titled debut EP back in 2014. A year later, the band had perfected their sound on their second EP "II", produced by Jacob Bredahl and released in 2015. Both EPs were very well received and drove them on to do some empathic live shows, which were praised by press and helped establishing a dedicated audience. In 2018, MØL made an international breakthrough signing with Holy Roar Records (UK) who released their debut album “JORD” to critical acclaim. Recorded at Grapehouse Studios and mixed and mastered by Chris Kreutzfeldt, “JORD” gained massive media acclaim turning MØL into one of the most talked about Danish metal newcomers in recent years. The album was also released as an instrumental version and in 2019, the band re-released their two first EPs, remastered for CD and vinyl. On November 5th, 2021, MØL now return with their second studio album, “DIORAMA”, the group’s first for Nuclear Blast Records. Recorded and mixed by Tue Madsen (Gojira, Meshuggah, Heaven Shall Burn), the band has successfully developed its captivating, aggressive sound even further. Brace yourself for a ferocious yet melodic blackgaze monument! Praise for ‘JORD’: “It’s epic and stirring stuff. Absolutely crushing” - Daniel P. Carter , BBC Radio1 Rock Show “JORD is one of the exhilarating blackgaze albums to drop in a long time” - Metal Hammer “JORD has received unanimous praise and has immediately seen them heralded as one of the greatest examples of the blackgaze movement” - The Independent UK “By far one of the genre’s most accomplished records” - KillYourStereo

Lists and nomations for “JORD” Metal Hammer - #12 on “The 50 Best Albums of 2018” Loudwire - #19 on “The 30 Best Metal Albums of 2018 Kerrang! - #17 on “The 50 Albums that Shook 2018” Kerrang! - Music video for Bruma on “The 12 Best Music Videos of 2018” The 405 - #20 on Top 50 Albums of 2018 Distorted Sound Magazine - #2 on “Top 20 Albums of the Year” WhatCulture - “10 Best New Heavy Metal of 2018” GAFFA Awards 2019 – Nominated for “Best Metal Album of the Year”

"The Tragically Hip announce they will be releasing a special version of their sophomore album, Road Apples 30th Anniversary Deluxe, on Friday, October 15. The album is available in comprehensive physical deluxe CD and Vinyl and Pure Audio blu-ray audio box set editions.
Created to mark the 30th anniversary of the band’s second studio album which became their first record to hit #1, the Road Apples 30th Anniversary Deluxe editions were carefully crafted with input from each living member of the band. The outcome is a deep dive behind the scenes of what made this album one of the most beloved in The Tragically Hip’s vast catalogue. With all tracks completely remastered in 2021 by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound in Nashville, for the first time, fans will hear music from the band with all the grit, vibrancy, and passion of their original recordings, second only to being in the recording studio with them. The physical box set editions, (CD and Vinyl), of the release will contain special Dolby Atmos, 7.1, 5.1 and binaural mixes by Richard Chycki of Road Apples and 5 cuts from Saskadelphia, ensuring fans have a one-of-a-kind listening experience. Fans and collectors will also appreciate the brand-new artwork for each of the packages within the physical box sets.
The expansive deluxe editions of the release are jam packed with rare and more previously unreleased and never heard before pieces of music chronicling The Tragically Hip’s Road Apples era, including:
• Road Apples, the original album re-mastered in 2021 by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound in Nashville.
• Saskadelphia, as released earlier this year.
• Live At The Roxy Los Angeles, May 3rd 1991, originally recorded for a Westwood One radio show, often bootlegged and sought after by fans for many years. It has been re-mastered and expanded and includes the rare “Killer Whale Tank” version of New Orleans Is Sinking. This legendary Roxy show is now a double vinyl album. This album is available exclusively in physical product.
• Hoof-Hearted, an album of previously unreleased demos, outtakes, and alternate versions."

What's the connection between one of the rarest and most in-demand gargae rock records of the 1960s and Christina Aguilera, and why is it coming to Acid Jazz?
For many years and many a bootleg the snarling imperious Stones or Yardbirds influenced groove of The Illusions 'City Of People' has been sought after and coveted by garage rock collectors. The Illusions released one single, on the tiny Michelle label and today any copies that appear easily sell for North of £1000.

So far, so typically Garage. However there is a backstory to the release that explains why the record never sold at the time of release. The record was produced by Bobby Marin, a Nuyorican, who at the time was stationed in Michigan on his National Service, and who would later go on to record some of the biggest names in Latin Music, first for the cult Speed label and then for United Artists and various of his own labels. In the early 2000s his 'I'll Be A Happy Man' was sampled by Christina Aguilera on her smash hit 'Ain't No Other Man'.
At the end of 2020 Bobby found the master tape of The Illusions single - including the Byrdsian B-side. This legal reissue a fresh mastering from those tapes, bringing out the intensity of the recording, and we have released it on a look-a-like Michelle label.

Legally blind from birth, Brazilian keyboard player, composer and bandleader Manfredo Fest learnt to read music in braille and began studying classical music at a young age. By 17 he had fallen in love with jazz (particularly the music of fellow blind pianist George Shearing) before becoming swept up in Rio's emergent bossa nova movement in the sixties. Moving to the States in 1967 where he would go on to work with fellow countryman Sergio Mendes, Fest recorded and self-released Brazilian Dorian Dream in 1976, enlisting Thomas Kini (bass), Alejo Poveda (drums, percussion) and Roberta Davis (vocals).

Like a turbo-powered, intergalactic elevator ride, Brazilian Dorian Dream builds on the principle of the modal diatonic scales of the Dorian mode, with influences of Brazilian rhythms, North American jazz and funk, and music of the European baroque and romantic era. The coming together of these intergenerational and intercontinental styles coupled with Fest's visionary use of the Fender Rhodes, Clavinet, Arp and Moog synthesizers (plus a whole load of effects units), makes for an album light years ahead of its time.

The miraculous wordless vocals of American jazz singer Roberta Davis are nailed so tightly alongside Manfredo's keys and mind-bending synths that it sounds almost alien. On the album's liner notes, Fest preaches Davis' ability highlighting how hard it is to sing such precise intervals so accurately. One of the tracks on which the vocals shine brightest is space funk stepper "Jungle Cat", which features hard funky drums, freaky synth lines and expert Rhodes comping. The track builds up and up before releasing into the unmistakable scat melody in the chorus.

A few years after releasing Brazilian Dorian Dream, Fest recorded and released his Manifestations album in 1979, featuring 'Jungle Kitten'': a new dancefloor focused variation on "Jungle Cat". At around 140 BPM 'Jungle Kitten' was possibly deemed too fast for statside dance floors, which explains why it never got a US 12" release. But the track became something of an underground hit at jazz dance clubs and all-dayers across the UK in the 80s and as a result it has probably become Fest's most well known track since.

Nyami Nyami Records are pleased to announce the first ever reissue 100% analog from the original
master tapes of the classic Zimbabwean album Soweto from 1986, with the same tracklist and original
artwork, produced at the peak of jit’s popularity in the mid-1980s. While staying within the chimurenga music
framework pioneered by Thomas Mapfumo and Jonah Sithole, Robson Banda and the New Black Eagles
produced a crisp, precise and exciting sound, emphasising the upbeat dance music favoured on the
dancefloors of independent Zimbabwe’s nightspots and beerhalls. Mbira-based guitar licks bring a nostalgic
feeling to these dance-floor gems championed at the time by legendary English DJ John Peel.

Stix Records, a sub-label of Favorite Recordings, proudly presents Push Push, the new album by acclaimed producer
Taggy Matcher aka Bruno "Patchworks" Hovart (Voilaaa, Mr President, The Dynamics, Uptown Funk Empire,
Metropolitan Jazz Affair, Da Break, …). After the success of his previous LP Singasong, Taggy Matcher returns with 8
tracks exploring his wide range of Reggae & Dub influences, each time magnified by a fine crew of vocal guests as LMK,
Birdy Nixon, Alexandra Charry, Hawa, John Milk & Elodie Rama. With a great sense of authenticity, they all bring their own
touch to Taggy Matcher's compositions and covers. Always faithful to its inspirations, brilliantly produced, Push Push is
your new invitation to follow the Lion to Zion.
The album starts with "Push Push", a title already released last year as a vinyl single 7", in collaboration with rising
singer LMK, who you may know from her successful previous reworks on Taggy's last album ("No Love Allowed", "My
Man"). Sharing the same love for the early 80's Digital Rub A Rub productions, lyrics are about street harassment of
women… with a pinch of humor!
On "Little Things", Taggy invites old mate Birdy Nixon for a cover of an early rocksteady classic by Hemsley Morris.
With the vintage bounce we love combined with modern sounds and productions, the song is all about tenderness and
simplicity.
"Volvere Mañana", the song has this very cumbia hip move with the participation of gifted singer Alexandra Charry
from Cali in Colombia, where they both composed the song. Then, Taggy invited Boris Pokora to play the "gaita" local flute
to give the song its proper Colombian Caribbean coast flavor.
The album continues with "Two Dimes" featuring longtime collaborator Hawa (from Mr President to Mr Day and other
numerous projects). This shaky disco reggae rockers is all about getting ready for the party… but with two dimes only!
"Q Fashion" is a song full of wittiness and self-mockery wrote during the first Covid-19 lockdown. Parisian Soul singer
John Milk was stuck in Paris while Bruno was in Lyon. On this minimalistic digital reggae tune, they give the ingredients to
perfect your next quarantine outfit.
Discoish reggae tune "Get Enough" featuring Birdy Nixon has a simple and successful recipe: just mix a big dose of
Lovers with the same amount of Rockers and you've got this 100% soulful song.
On "Suit and Tie", Taggy and John Milk go Pop with this version of Justin Timberlake, that fits perfectly with John's
tender and mellow style.
Finally, Elodie Rama with Taggy Matcher pay tribute to Erykah Badu and her legacy to the Soul music scene at the end
of the nineties. The mood is jazzy, mellow and warm, with a tiny Lee Scratch Perry early 70's vaporous vibes.

Trad Vibe Records proudly presents a first-time reissue of Caribou, a side-project of Cortex, originally released in 1977. A great and rare double-sider jazz-funk 7inch, now available as a reissue.

French avantgarde Jazz-Funk pioneers Cortex released three milestone albums during the seventies including the iconic Troupeau Bleu. Their music has been sampled by Hip Hop artists such as MF Doom, Wiz Khalifa, Lupe Fiasco and Rick Ross and as a consequence is still very much alive today.

On 19th August at 2PM BST, Ed Sheeran will announce his brand new album ‘=’ alongside an album pre-order. 14 tracks in length, the album will be released on 29th October 2021.

Ed Sheeran is an era-defining artist. Through his fusion of thought-provoking songwriting, universal pop and multi-genre influence, his rich tapestry is not only perfectly suited to his audience but it’s something that transcends generations.

Since surfacing on the UK circuit in 2010 with his ‘No.5 Collaborations Project’ – an eight-track EP featuring his favourite grime artists of the time – the Suffolk-raised recording artist has resonated with fans across the world through his peerless songcraft and versatility. And now, with four UK No.1 albums to his name – ‘+’ (2011), ‘x’ (2014), ‘÷’ (2017) and ‘No.6 Collaborations Project’ (2019) – he has sold over 55 million albums and 160 million singles across the world.

Most notably, Ed’s 2017 blockbuster release, ‘÷’ (Divide), saw Ed reign supreme as one of the most in-demand pop stars on the planet – a feat he has continued to sustain ever since. Crowned as the fastest-selling album, ever, by a male artist in the UK, the chart-shattering album housed a swarm of singles including ‘Castle on the Hill’, ‘Perfect’ and ‘Shape of You’, with the latter becoming Spotify’s most-streamed song of the last decade.

But it’s not just his recorded music that’s seen the former Glastonbury headliner become one of the sought-after artists of the 21st century either. Possessing a mystical ability to turn 90,000 capacity venues into the pub back-rooms that he first started playing in, Ed made history in 2015 after becoming the first-ever artist to play Wembley Stadium solo - without a band and with just his guitar and loop pedal - over three, consecutive sold out nights. Move forward to the summer of 2019 and Ed would re-enter history books after the completion of his mammoth two-year Divide tour, which would officially become the most-attended tour of all time after it culminated with special homecoming shows in Ipswich, Suffolk.

Ed Sheeran - who was awarded an MBE for his services to music and charity in 2017 - is the proud recipient of 1 x IFPI Award (best-selling global artist of 2017); 4 x Grammys; 4 x Ivor Novello’s; 6 x BRIT Awards (including two consecutive wins for ‘Global Success’ in 2018 and 2019); 7 x Billboard Awards + more.

At the end of 2019, Sheeran was presented with the Official Chart Company’s first-ever ‘No.1 Artist of the Decade’ award following a host of accomplishments in his native UK including the most No.1’s across the UK’s Official Singles and Albums chart from the years 2010-2019.

Carwyn Ellis from Cardiff/Wales is a singer, songwriter, composer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He fronts Colorama, formed the Welsh folk group Bendith and hosts a regular themed radio show on Soho Radio. In 2019, Ellis embarked on the first project under his own name, Carwyn Ellis & Rio 18. Sung in Welsh and recorded mainly in Rio de Janeiro, the album, "Joia!" was nominated for the Welsh Music Prize and followed by "Mas" in early 2020. The new album "Yn Rio" is a collection of new songs recorded in Cardiff together with The BBC National Orchestra Of Wales.

In 2017 Carwyn Ellis joined the touring line-up of The Pretenders. For Ellis, a record collector and fan of Brazilian music, the opportunity to tour South America would present opportunities he couldn't have possibly imagined when he accepted Chrissie Hynde's invitation. "The first place we went to was Rio and by the time I met Chrissie for breakfast the day after our gig, I already had a bag of albums I'd just bought. I'm sitting with her and she says, 'You should meet my mates, and do something in Welsh with them! Nobody's done a Welsh language album with Brazilian musicians?"

In 2018, when Alexandre Kassin, a leading light in that Brazilian scene announced a show in London, Hynde suggested that they see it. "I met him afterwards," Ellis recalls, "and we hit it off straight away." Within weeks, Ellis was on a plane to Rio with songs that would form the basis of the first album. This creative purple patch extended into another album released early in 2021 with Carwyn working once again with Kassin plus long-time friend Shawn Lee. The songs on "Mas" drew on the environmental threats that face both Wales and South America, spidering out around the central theme of water ("rains, no rain, droughts, rising seas and flooded valleys for corporate gain. We're screwed without it and screwed if there's too much").

With "Mas" recorded but weeks away from release, Ellis received a call from Gareth Iwan Jones, head producer of BBC Radio Cymru, offering a third album to be performed in March 2021. Ellis started to reflect upon the life-changing events triggered by his South American adventures. The Welsh word 'hiraeth' which describes the longing that Welsh people feel when they're far from home, was something that he was now beginning to feel for Rio de Janeiro: "'Yn Rio' is based around a day in Rio," he explains. "The events of 2020 influenced the record inasmuch as I wanted it to be a complete antidote to what was going on. If you couldn't go on holiday in real life, you could at least put this record on."

The first single "Olá!", incorporating Jorge Ben's spirit in the chorus and rhythmic breakdown, manages to sound languorous and euphoric. "Cariad, Cariad" was a Portuguese folk poem brought to Ellis' attention by Sonya from Quarteto em Cy and arranged by Christiaan Oyens. "Tristwch 20" is a nod to "Foot and Mouth 68" by Gorkys Zygotic Mynci from "The Blue Trees", 'one of the most beautiful albums of all time', while "Ynys Aur" is named after a 1929 book by Welsh missionary J. Luther Thomas written on returning from his travels to Papua New Guinea. With Kassin unable to participate, Ellis thanks him by translating his "A Paisagem Morta" to create "Y Bywyd Llonyd". For Carwyn Ellis "Yn Rio" is an extraordinary memorial to extraordinary times."There are some days so idyllic you just want tobe able to jump back into them at the touch of a button. That's what I was searching for when I was writing these songs."

• Within a year of her ground-breaking Double-Album “Bad Girls”, Donna Summer left Casablanca Records
to become the first Artist signed to the new Geffen Records label.
• The third album released for the label was 1984’s “CATS WITHOUT CLAWS”, which was produced by
Michael Omartian, who followed-up his production duties on “She Works Hard For The Money” by giving
the album a mid-80s dance/pop themed sound. The album includes the singles ‘Supernatural Love’, ‘There
Goes My Baby’ and ‘Eyes’.
• “CATS WITHOUT CLAWS” reached the Top 30 in several countries across Europe, also becoming a Top 40
album in the USA and Japan.
• Michael Omartian’s production credits include albums with Michael Bolton, Peter Cetera, Christopher
Cross, Amy Grant, Whitney Houston, The Jacksons, and Rod Stewart. Alongside Quincy Jones, he coproduced USA For Africa’s 1985 No. 1 hit, "We Are the World".
• Donna won a Grammy Award for Best Inspirational Performance for the album’s final track, ‘Forgive Me’.
• This special edition revisits the original album on 180g Pink Colour vinyl.

With sunshine, blue skies and good times on the horizon, Toolroom is ready to usher in the summer in a huge way with the brand new summer hit from Siege – ‘Reach Out’. Making his return to the label, Siege is back with a record that promises to steal the spotlight and your all-time favourite tune. Big favourite of Carl Cox, Alan Fitzpatrick and Adam Beyer, Siege has firmly planted his foot in the scene having released a selection of quality records already this year like, ‘Give It Up’ with Mark Knight, a collab with Eli Brown and a killer remix of Green Velvet and Technasia’s hit ‘Suga’.

Flawlessly proving just why he is one of the most exciting artists and producers out there in Dance Music right now, Siege flexes his talents on ‘Reach Out’. One of his best releases yet, Siege has reworked classic George Duke’s classic 1983 hit ‘Reach Out’ into the feel-good dance track of the summer. The track itself is pure ecstasy, from the sublime vocals and chorus melodies to the solid instrumentation of the record itself. Siege manages to retain every single drop of the feel-good magic that resonated throughout the original, reinvigorating the sound for the clubs of 2021.

The single also features a killer remix from Michael Gray and Dr Packer who bring their signature style and sound to the record, emphasising the Disco elements to a whole new level and an exclusive VIP edit from Siege himself. This is a euphoria laced Disco House record through and through, ‘Reach Out’ is a sure fire summer hit, classic in the making who has brought the infectiously catchy classic record back to life in a completely fresh and new way.

“ When I started working on the piece in March of 2020, I had only decided to record it in the way I wanted to. The coronavirus was spreading globally, and the situation was gradually changing into something very serious. With no gigs scheduled and hardly seeing anyone, I felt as if my spirit was in a slightly deeper place than usual during the production. I sat down in front of my equipment as if I were dropping a fishing line into a quiet lake. I kept feeling that something new was lurking beneath the water surface. I was trying to catch that something that seemed to be just out of reach, that floated in and out of sight like a speck of smoke. “ ＿Referenced from: Afterword of 7FO「Ran - Bouten」

2021 brings a new album by Osaka electronic musician / producer 7FO. This work is a departure from the recent global ambient / new age approach, and the unique sound aesthetic created using only hardware equipment is a new frontier of 7FO or a return to his origin. "Ran - Bouten" is a new electronic music album with a poetic sensibility using machines.Discovered by overseas labels such as RVNG intl., Bokeh Versions, and Metron-and with the release that followed EM Records in his hometown Osaka, it's like his personal folk craft that was once quietly played at his own pace. Music has reached listeners around the world. In recent years, he has been touring from a famous performance with Tapes at the Belgian "Meakusma Festival 2019" to a Japan-Korea tour. "Ran - Bouten" was born as a result of facing the sound alone without being asked by anyone to cool down the heat when the steaming and intense experience had settled down. Inside the cool electronic sound like a water bath, you can feel the maker's heart sending hot blood.Peep into the condensed universe of a home-recorded miniature world that looks like an independent production of unknown age. He was alone in a dark room, making full use of KAWAI's 1990 digital and FM synthesizers , tracing the shape of nature and resonating the micro and macro sound worlds. The Rhythm and melody that continues to the Paradise Pure Land, which floats in a dreamy atmosphere, is the true value of 7FO even without his guitar play.Mastering by Makoto Oshiro, which supports everything from home listening to club sound systems. Hiroaki Hidaka designed the jacket to make the image of the sound appear cool and friendly everywhere.

Pilgrimage of the Soul is the 11th studio album in the 22-year career of Japanese experimental rock legends, MONO. Recorded and mixed - cautiously, anxiously, yet optimistically - during the height of the COVID- 19 pandemic in the summer of 2020, Pilgrimage of the Soul is aptly named as it not only represents the peaks and valleys where MONO are now as they enter their thirddecade, but also charts their long, steady journey to this time and place. Continuing the subtle but profound creative progression in the MONO canon that began with Nowhere Now Here (2019), Pilgrimage of the Soul is the most dynamic MONO album to date (and that's saying a lot). But where MONO's foundation was built on the well-established interplay of whisper quiet and devastatingly loud, Pilgrimage of the Soul crafts its magic with mesmerizing new electronic instrumentation and textures, and - perhaps most notably - faster tempos that are clearly influenced by disco and techno. It all galvanizes as the most unexpected MONO album to date - replete with surprises and as awash in splendor as anything this band has ever done. MONO began in Japan at the end of the 20th Century as a young band equally inspired by thepioneers of moody experimental rock (My Bloody Valentine, Mogwai) and iconic Classicalcomposers (Beethoven, Morricone) who came be fore them. They have evolved into one of the most inspiring and influential experimental rock bands in their own right. It is only fitting that their evolution has come at the glacial, methodical pace that their patient music demands. MONO is a band who puts serious value in nuance, and offers signi ficant rewards for the wait. "glacial, metallic, all-consuming post-rock" - Stereogum ,Stunning, eloquent, emotionally gut-busting" - Pop Matters "it's the kind of album that's best played start to finish (and best played loudly), and that can truly suck you in and transport you to another world if you do so." - Brooklyn Vegan

Diving into the archives of Alter Ego - the Italian experimental ensemble of Manuel Zurria, Paolo Ravaglia, Aldo Campagnari, Francesco Dillon, Oscar Pizzo, and Eugenio Vatta - Die Schachtel is thrilled to present Microwaves, a never before released body of recordings of works composed by Atli Ingólfsson, Giovanni Verrando, Yan Maresz, and Riccardo Nova, made with Pan Sonic (Mika Vainio and Ilpo Vaisanen) in 2005. Resting at the outer reaches of avant-garde chamber and electronic music, the LP’s blistering structures, tones, and textures - plowing forward with frenetic energy - remain radical and ahead of their time, more than 15 years after they were first laid to tape.

A modular chamber ensemble with a pointedly anti-academic approach to music, over the course of its activities - running roughly between 1990 and 2010 - Alter Ego developed a devoted following among some of the most forward thinking voices in experimental music, all the while collaborating widely with artists spanning a vast range of practices and disciplines, including Robin Rimbaud, Philip Jeck, Matmos, Gavin Bryars, Andrew Hooker, William Basinski, David Moss, Alvin Curran, Terry Riley, and near countless number of others.

Alter Ego’s diverse activities can be understood as interventions with the disposition toward formality within contemporary chamber music, often pairing themselves with artists working well beyond their own context as a means to develop highly original interpretations of a specific composer’s work. In 2004, this process led them to instigate a collaboration Pan Sonic, the Finnish duo of Mika Vainio and Ilpo Vaisanen, pioneers of a remarkably distinct form of rhythmic, experimental electronic music, and regarded by many as one of the most visionary and irreverent projects working in the field during the '90s and 2000s.

Initially conceived with Fausto Romitelli in 2004 before being sidelined by the composer’s untimely passing the following year, Microwaves acts, in part, a remembrance in sound, featuring four works by some of his closest friends, the composers Atli Ingólfsson, Giovanni Verrando, Yan Maresz, and Riccardo Nova. Each composition, Ingólfsson’s Snap, Verrando’s Harmonic Domains #3, Maresz’s Link, and Nova’s Thirteen13x8@Terror Generating Deity, have roots in a pallet of samples and fragments drawn by each composer from existing works by Pan Sonic. Upon completion, these compositions then entered into a collaborative process between Mika Vainio and Ilpo Vaisanen (Pan Sonic) and Alter Ego (Manuel Zurria, Paolo Ravaglia, Aldo Campagnari, Francesco Dillon, Oscar Pizzo, and Eugenio Vatta), and were performed collectively by both groups during an extensive tour that year.

Distinct and free-standing, while operating as a seamless whole, the four works encountered across the album’s two sides - built from the sounds of flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, electronics, and further treatments - present an engrossing intersection between electronic and acoustic sound that diverges from most standing conceptions of electroacoustic music. Each composer’s carefully rendered structures rise and fall within the startling, conversant interplay between the two groups, finding perfect balance - between the frenetic and restrained - in what can only be regarded as one of the most striking and singularly unique expressions of contemporary chamber music realized during the 2000s.

Vast in scope, visionary in concept and artistry, and sonically engrossing, Die Schachtel is thrilled to present these never before heard recordings from the archives of Alter Ego. Microwaves is available on black vinyl, in a limited edition of 350 copies.

In divided times, the power of music is undeniable. When that music is ferociously original and defiantly uplifting, the impact is even greater. Formed in Paris, December 2014, by Dublin-born singer/guitarist Gary Kelly and Parisian guitarist Steven Andre, MOLYBARON have swiftly become one of the most talked-about bands in the modern metal scene. With a sound that encompasses everything from state-of-the-art tech-grooves and anthemic metal to multi-layered atmospherics and giant, muscular hard rock riffs beyond, the band’s eccentric flair always sets them apart from the rest. From the infectious aggression and giant hooks of opener “Animals”, to the thunderous denouement of crushing closer “Ordinary Madness”, The Mutiny once again affirms MOLYBARON’s idiosyncratic identity and irresistible charms. As Metal Hammer UK put it: “Diverse and satisfying, The Mutiny is a banger!” The album was also declared Album of the Month in Rock Hard magazine. Kelly’s songwriting has hit new heights of ingenuity, and the ensemble performances of comrades Steven Andre (guitar), Sebastien de Saint-Angel (bass) and Camille Greneron (drums) are never less than precise, potent and bursting with personality. Right now, these fearless artisans are in a field of one, evoking the visionary fervour of bands like System Of A Down, Muse, Pain Of Salvation and Rush, while never sounding remotely like any of them. The Mutiny will be re-released by InsideOut Music/ Sony Music Entertainment and is available as 180g black Vinyl + 2page Insert, Ltd. CD Digipak and Digital Album.