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WRWTFWW Records is blissful to announce the expanded reissue of one of the most fascinating Japanese ambient/environmental albums ever made, NOVA + 4 by Yutaka Hirose. The double LP includes the album known as Soundscape 2: Nova, sourced from its original masters, as well as 50 minutes of never-released-before recordings. It comes in a beautiful gatefold sleeve, packed with liner notes from the artist in English and Japanese. NOVA + 4 is also available on double digipack CD.

Initially released in 1986 as part of the Soundscape series* commissioned by Misawa Home Corporation for use in their prefabricated houses, Yutaka Hirose's NOVA has grown to become a mythical piece of the Japanese minimalist/ambient/environmental scene of the eighties. Initiated around the enchanting landscapes of the two first tracks recorded for the project, "Nova" and "Epilogue", Yutaka Hirose's magnum opus serenely blends vintage synth with nature sounds, exploring soothing palettes and organic backdrops. For "Slow Sky", Hirose explains he "went for a pointillism-like sound, and tried to express a scenery of awakening, where the portal of a heart is opening up", while on "Humming The Sea", he "tried to compose a kind of music that expresses the daily, lazy life of child-like innocence in a summer vacation in some small town."

The bonus LP gathers four long unreleased pieces created around the same period of time for installations, described by Yutaka Hirose as "not music per se but rather sound sculptures", and including the haunting "Shadow Of A Water Droplet" which was recorded for an Ikebana exhibition.

All in all, NOVA + 4 is a transcendent experience of nature in the urban context, an oeuvre which, much like Midori Takada's Through The Looking Glass or Satoshi Ashikawa's Still Way, holds the power to appease the soul in turbulent times. As one inspired YouTube commenter once said when describing Yutaka Hirose's masterstroke: "I can't tell if the birds are singing inside or outside! Thank you!"

*The Soundscape series also includes Hiroshi Yoshimura's Surround album.

The Black Keys’ long-awaited ninth studio album, “Let’s Rock”, their first in five years, is a return to the straightforward rock of the singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney’s early days as a band. Auerbach says, “When we’re together we are The Black Keys, that’s where that real magic is, and always has been since we were sixteen.” The album includes the hit single ‘Lo/Hi’. The Black Keys’ touring begins in North America in September, with further international dates to be announced soon.



“Let’s Rock” was written, tracked live, and produced by Auerbach and Carney at Easy Eye Sound studio in Nashville and features backing vocals from Leisa Hans and Ashley Wilcoxson. “The record is like a homage to electric guitar,” says Carney. “We took a simple approach and trimmed all the fat like we used to.”



The “Let’s Rock” Tour will hit cities including Chicago, Nashville, New York, Los Angeles, and Austin. Special guests Modest Mouse will provide support on all dates, and Shannon & The Clams, Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, *repeat repeat, and Jessy Wilson will each open select shows on the tour. The band also headlines 2019’s Life Is Beautiful festival in Las Vegas on September 21.



Rolling Stone named ‘Lo/Hi’ a “Song You Need to Know” and said, ‘the Keys have officially returned, louder than ever’ and the New York Times calls the song ‘the kind of garage-boogie stomp that the band never left behind.’ In the words of the NME, ‘It’s the soundtrack to the type of party that doesn’t exist anymore, but one you still wish you were cool enough to get the invite to.’



Formed in Akron, Ohio in 2001, The Black Keys have released eight studio albums: their debut The Big Come Up (2002), followed by Thickfreakness (2003) and Rubber Factory (2004), along with their releases on Nonesuch Records, Magic Potion (2006), Attack & Release (2008), Brothers (2010), El Camino (2011), and, most recently, Turn Blue (2014). The band has won six Grammy Awards and headlined festivals including Coachella, Lollapalooza, and Governors Ball.



Since their last album together, both Auerbach and Carney have been creative forces behind a number of wide-ranging artists:



Dan Auerbach formed the Easy Eye Sound record label, named after his Nashville studio, in 2017, with the release of his second solo album, Waiting on a Song. Since its launch, Easy Eye Sound has become home to a wide range of artists including Yola, Shannon & The Clams, Dee White, Shannon Shaw, Sonny Smith, Robert Finley, and The Gibson Brothers; it also has released the posthumous album by Leo Bud Welch as well as previously unreleased material by Link Wray.



Patrick Carney has produced and recorded new music with artists such as Calvin Johnson, Michelle Branch, Damns of the West, Tobias Jesso, Jr., Jessy Wilson, Tennis, *repeat repeat, Wild Belle, Sad Planets, Turbo Fruits, and more. He also created the theme music for the Netflix TV show BoJack Horseman with his late uncle, Ralph Carney.

Leipzig’s Dj Balduin has been a staff favourite for some time as we are avid fans of his GLYK imprint, and in particular his debut EP “Vvigmara”. Dj Balduin proclaims to enjoy producing music that creates “states of hypnosis with an occasional, gentle “hands-up-face-slap” every now and then” which perfectly sums up “Lost Cat” - his first release for KOMPAKT.

“E.W.B.A” came to Dj Balduin while having a shower, so chances are high we have this summer’s rain dance anthem on our hands as it has all the right elements - a classic rave synth meets an infectious open snare to break through the beat.

The kick drum thud of “Sheee” seems to be all too menacing at first, but surprisingly learns how to open itself into a gorgeously seductive uplifting house tune.

This story ends with the perfect set closer; “Lost Cat And An Untied Shoe” brings that beat back with soaring synths and a playful natural bass line that adds just the slightest edge of funk to carry the crowd home at the end of the night.
Leipzigs DJ Balduin und besonders seine Debüt-EP „Vvigmara“ trendet, seitdem wir sein GLYK-Label kennen, unter den Mitarbeitern von Kompakt. Laut eigenen Angaben genieße es DJ Balduin, Musik zu produzieren, die seine Zuhörer in den „Zustand der Hypnose versetzt und gleichzeitig mit gelegentlichen zarten Schlägen ins Gesicht wachhält“, was auf „Lost Cat“ – sein erstes Release auf Kompakt – auch geschieht.

„E.W.B.A“ kam DJ Balduin unter der Dusche, die Chancen stehen also hoch, dass wir hier eine Hymne für diejenigen Raves haben, die unter kräftigen Sommergewittern stattfinden werden – die richtigen Zutaten sind alle da: klassische Rave-Hooks, ansteckende Snaredrums, die hervorbrechen aus dem Bass.

Der Schlag der Bassdrum von „Sheee“ scheint zunächst bedrohlich, lernt aber überraschender Weise sich selbst zu wandeln hin zu einem prachtvoll verführerischen House-Stück. Die Geschichte endet mit dem aller besten letzten Stück: „Lost Cat And An Untied Show“ bringt den Beat zurück zusammen mit aufsteigenden Synths und einer verspielten, natürlichen Bassline, die einen Funken Funk hinzufügt, um die Dancer nach Hause zu begleiten in der Nacht.

Georgian artist Sophia Saze releases her debut two-part album 'Self' on Francis Harris' Kingdoms imprint, with part one dropping on cassette this June. "The record embodies my story of duality within the context of identity, insomuch as the idea that every person has a deeper layer we don't show on the surface."
Born in Tbilisi, Sophia Saze is the daughter of political refugees who's spent her life living in numerous different countries before eventually finding home in Brooklyn. Finding it difficult to find her own identity due to living a nomadic lifestyle, the classically trained musician became entangled with electronic music before becoming a key player within New York's nightlife scene and launching her Dusk & Haze imprint in 2017.
A reflection of her struggles throughout life, 'Self' is very much a memoir of the many different places she's lived during her journey, including Georgia, Russia, USA, France and Canada. Contrasting to her recent productions, which are geared more towards the dancefloor, her debut longplayer is downtempo and features a medley of musical influences - mixed in two parts and released as a concept album on cassette. Maintaining a sonically raw feel throughout, 'Self' draws the analogy of analog to modern day digital culture whilst also taking a stance against perfection, whether integrating the distance crackle of her machines or intentional off-beat piano notes in minor. Part One was conceived, for the most part, during a sleepless yet inspired 48-hour studio session. Processed field recordings accompany samples from her childhood, such as soviet cartoons and intimate VHS recordings of her family. The result is a well-seasoned and personal story portrayed in fourteen tracks mixed together.
"I feel the element of patience is somewhat of a lost commodity in our generation, particularly for albums. We're consumed by track to track interpretations and constantly searching for the next instant stimulation. With this record, I wanted to reiterate the idea that if you don't have the willingness to sit through the whole thing, then you're not stepping into it with the right mindset to begin with."
Every artist who collaborated on the record is handpicked, such as vocalist Ricardo Rivera. The final production was also mixed by Francis Harris himself. All of their involvement means they share a fragment of the concept.

The mysterious Teisco LP is perhaps the most bizarre artefact to emerge from the phenomenal world of Italian Library music. Originally scored for a 1978 RAI television documentary, the album titled Tuscan Castle and Country Seat conforms to nothing you know or understand about library music. Studying composition under maestro A.R Luciani, the young Teisco composed innovative home studio recordings that parallel the outsider technique of French soundtrack composer Francois De Roubaix. With little resemblance to the standard cues usually found on library music LPs, this is stoned underground psychedelic music of the most eccentric kind. Imagine lyrical Moog oscillations drifting loosely over baroque and hallucinogenic atmospheres, or alternatively, think the DIY guitar jamming of the Velvet Underground and Dream Syndicate mixed with the electronics of some lesser-known Krautrock band. Wherever this recording sits among the dusty shelves of forgotten stock music, it is highly personal, deeply rewarding and without a doubt the most mind-blowing library record you will hear this year. This record is soon to be an outsider classic.

All of the music featured here on this new Soul Jazz Records collection was created by Brazilian
artists in the USA in the 1970s.
In the early 1970s North American jazz musicians were eager to work with upcoming Brazilian
musicians. Miles Davis invited Airto Moreira to join his new ‘electric’ band, Dom Um Romao (part of
Sérgio Mendes’ legen
dary Brazil ‘66 in the 1960s) joined the fusion group Weather Report, Flora
Purim and Airto both became a part of Chick Corea’s new project Light As A Feather, Wayne Shorter
collaborated with Milton Nascimento, George Duke recorded Brazilian Love Affair, and so on.
With all the attention placed on them from these important jazz artists, North America became the
new musical playground for a large number of these Brazilian artists – Airto Moreira, Flora Purim,
Sérgio Mendes, Luiz Bonfá, Eumir Deodato, João Donato and many others.
Most of these musicians had already experienced success through the earlier popularity of bossa
nova in the 1960s, either at home in Brazil or in the USA. But by the end of the 1960s many
Brazilian artists had left their own country, as the military dictatorship became progressively more
authoritarian and repressive. In the USA, through their critically acclaimed work for Miles Davis,
Weather Report, Lightj As A Feather etc., all of these artists were now given reign to explore new
musical terrains away from the restrictions of both a musical genre and a state censor back in Brazil.
This collection brings together some of these finest works and comes complete with extensive notes
that explains the path these musicians took from Brazil to the USA and shows the political and
musical links between Brazil and the USA that created the conditions for this unique fusion of these
two distinct cultures, North American Jazz and Brazilian music, that occurred in the 1970s.
The album comes as a deluxe gatefold double vinyl LP, complete with download code, full sleeve
notes, exclusive photography, double inner sleeves.

Aggelos Baltas is a veteran of the global electronic music scene, responsible for a handful of celebrated EBM 12”s as Dream Weapons, and a particularly heady and open-ended brand of krautrock as Fantastikoi Hxoi. His newest project, Anatolian Weapons, was conceived as a way to bring together these two seemingly mismatched concepts, with the polyrhythmic percussion and wailing tones of Greek folk music serving as their unlikely bonding agent. His output garners praise particularly around the Golden Pudel scene, such as Vladimir Ivkovic, and Phuong Dan. Lena Willikens, from the same circle, included Baltas’ track “Disillusioned” on her Dekmantel Selectors compilation in 2018.

But where much of what Baltas has released as Anatolian Weapons is instantly recognizable as dance music, To The Mother Of Gods—Baltas’ debut album for Beats In Space—is something else entirely. Created in tandem with Greek folk musician Seirios Savvaidis, it is a work of simultaneous collaboration and subtraction whose meticulous construction becomes more apparent with every listen. An album-length exploration of what happens when the principles of dance music are applied to pre-digital musical modalities. It is a record of psychedelic folk music that has more in common with Kikagaku Moyo, Minami Deutsch, and the Habibi Funk label than it does with anything else Baltas has produced under any alias. It’s difficult to imagine this music in any kind of club setting.

And yet, it’s very much the work of a DJ. Baltas initially heard Savvaidis’ music through a friend, and was absolutely amazed. “It was his very esoteric, pagan [music and] beautiful lyrics that grabbed me,” he writes. Seirios is a composer and performer of traditional Greek folk music with a growing discography of regional psych-rock gems. Baltas reached out to collaborate and the seeds of To The Mother Of Gods were sown.

Savvidis contributed stems of ten songs, which Baltas deconstructs and rearranges with appreciation of the ancestry of their lineage and of the deceptively ancient eerie, droning qualities inherent in the style. Occasionally augmenting Savvaidis’ recordings with his own, Baltas treats these elements as if raw materials for an architectural process.

To The Mother Of Gods showcases Baltas’ arrangement skills. He treats Savvaidis’ songs as landscapes, filling them with slanted, droning light and setting the singer’s vocals in dead center. His years behind the decks have given him an intuitive understanding of dynamics—drums crest and recede like tides, snippets of bassline repeat and swirl. He knows how to entrance, and when to push the music from the head to the body. Opener “Taratchi Katarratchi” (“Stormy Cataract”) is sung as a spell to ward off the fear of death, but Baltas’ orchestration demonstrates that dancing is an equally effective way of dispelling the darkness. The beat he assembles from Savvaidis’ playing recalls the late-night ecstasies of Primal Scream circa Screamadelica.

To The Mother Of Gods is a reminder that folk music and dance music are both powered by their audience as much as the musicians themselves. Savvaidis’ lyrics echo pagan Greek themes, touching on what Baltas calls “the magic of nature.” At times, as on “Kalesma” (“Invitation”), this can feel incantatory. Savvaidis chisels his vocal melodies into hard, clipped syllables, their cadence recalling Gregorian chant, and yet Baltas cloaks these details in washes of distortion. “Ston Stavraito” (“In Stavraithos”) is delivered with a lamentive tenderness that Baltas swells into a prideful stomp, immersing Savvaidis in marching drums and distant vocals that form a resilient protest-song. To The Mother Of Gods is a testament to the ongoing and innate truth that music can take us beyond ourselves. That repetition and drone can shepherd us to a liminal space beyond thought and rationality, where the wall between perception and reality does not exist. Call it spirit, if you want, and watch as it courses its way through modern-day dance music, mid-century psych, and the ancient sounds of the anatol.

Anatolian Weapons’ To The Mother Of Gods will be available from Beats In Space on June 14, 2019 in limited vinyl and unlimited digital forms.

Artist Highlights
• Aggelos Baltas is an Athenian music producer creating and Djing under the monikers of Anatolian Weapons, Fantastikoi Hxoi, and Dream Weapons.
• The Anatolian Weapons moniker is an outlet for Baltas to explore global music—from African to Anatolian and Middle Eastern, while also incorporating sounds from his home country of Greece.

Low Distance is Deaf Center´s third full-length studio album and perhaps the most focused effort by the Norwegian duo to date. After their last record Owl Splinters (2011) was quite an eclectic endeavor, Erik K Skodvin & Otto A Totland draw their sound back into something more quiet and minimal.

The record starts with a piece of sweeping analougue electronics. It´s a spacious, yet dynamic opener that leads directly into the static tones and piano motivs of Entity Voice, which balances a new sense of abstractation with the classic Deaf Center sound. It´s warm and close while sounding like it´s set in the outer horizon. Overall Low Distance feels both alien and familiar with its atonal synths, close pianos and drowned out noises.

After meeting in studio for the first time since 2011, the recordings came out of a 3 day session in 2017. It was then mixed at both EMS Stockholm and at Erik´s home studio over a longer period to create a blend of deeply layered as well as stripped down pieces. Both Erik & Otto have been active individually since their last meeting as Deaf Center: Otto released 2 solo piano albums, while Erik has furthered his descent into musical abstractation both under his own name and as Svarte Greiner. It´s long overdue to hear them connect their personalities into something new. Low Distance is a welcome return replete with beauty, mystery and uncertainty.

Ready for an adventure running parallel to their lives in common units, the quartet boarded a starship
to set off on an astral expedition. The mission began perfectly, according to plan. From the very first
measures, the travellers were released from the Earth's gravity. Very quickly, their home planet
appeared tiny and distant, before disappearing completely. Comets and novae lit the way through the
fathomless depths of interstellar space. Their preliminary, in-depth studies of seventies jazz-funk
were a great source of inspiration. Very early on, they knew that this sonic esthetic would allow them
to travel even farther, navigating only with organic instruments and no digital backing or
enhancements.
Commander Virgile Raffaëlli's bass lines guided their journey, offering a calm, yet vibrant foundation
for the smoother phases and turning up the power to bring them through turbulence and meteor
showers safe and sound. Like a compass, the bass indicated the direction and traced a groove that
the loyal, valued crew could follow as their travels continued. Mathieu Edouard's drums solidly
locked down the rhythm to avoid any sudden jolts, working in tandem with Erwan Loeffel's jetpropelled percussion. On the keyboards, Florian Pellissier drew harmonies and riffs from the
synthesizers and electric pianos to oil the machinery and lighten the load when the ensemble needed
to rise a few feet. The crew's almost telepathic cohesion was key to their success, allowing them to
express interior emotions with just a few notes.
Here is the last transmission we received:
"We have landed on an unknown planet and are depressurizing the airlock with help from subtle
horns and ethereal choruses so we can discover the new horizon. It definitely meets our
expectations! The desert before us holds the promise of new life. The warm yet fresh air is easy to
breathe. A vague psychedelic scent floats through the atmosphere, as if ready to spring from the first
flower to bloom. Dreamlike, mysterious, enigmatic yet familiar, we will call it Aldorande."

Hailing from the heartland of British techno, Sheffield’s John Shima is one of the leading lights of UK electronics. His beautifully crafted sounds have graced a host of imprints including Distant Worlds, Exalt Records and, of course, FireScope. It is to the latter that Shima returns with his long awaiting debut album, The Lonely Machine.

John Shima is a master melody weaver, with this first LP attesting to his deftness of touch. Celestial chords and star gazing synthwork permeate this ten track odyssey. The musical heritage of Shima’s hometown, the elegance, majesty and subtlety of British electronics, is invoked from the needle drop. A range of influences come to the fore in this 2LP. Skirting around the edges of astral ambience and tonal texture are nods to industrial history, the rasp and resonance of rhythms in “Empires”, with the inspiration of Detroit surfacing in the future funk of “Phase Distortion” and “Linear.” Dreamscapes are painted in delicate hues, the fragile movements of “Accepting”, with brooding works adopting thicker basslines and ruffled notes as with “Distrust.” Nevertheless, it is the incandescent brightness of Lonely Machine that truly shines. Radiant pieces of elating electronics, complex and joyful compositions that chime with unbridled hope and open-hearted optimism.

Performing throughout the 1980s as Art Carnage to the gloomy hipsters of Portland, Attilio Panissidi III decided he needed a vacation. The result of his creative escape became Art Takes A Holiday, an album of fabricated FM synthscapes and MIDI environments that embrace elements of smooth jazz, new age, and pop.

Attilio had been playing in bands since he was thirteen, and had opened live shows for countless acts, from The Shangri-Las to Bruce Hornsby. The experience of producing, performing, as well as years spent writing for local music magazine The Downtowner, earned Attilio a gig to score a commercial film for a home security systems company. The opportunity allowed him to explore softer elements in his writing, and he created a suite of songs much deeper than the commission warranted. These instrumentals caught the attention of Marlon McClain (Gap Band, Shock), who invited Attilio to produce and release the music on his fledgling Nu-Vision label. Thus Art Takes A Holiday found its commercial release on cassette and CD in 1989. Although originally intended as soundtrack music, the album retains its own momentum, narrative and evocative imagery that betrays Attilio's years of crafting songs. Attilio found a perfect ambience on this mythic retreat, somewhere between William Aura's summer cottage on Half Moon Bay and DJ Alfredo's Balearic island getaway.

Picture Vinyl "A balance between things that you know people will like and things that you think people will like" is what John Peel had to say on his BBC homepage about Apparat's music programming concept. Apparat then appeared at the Peel Session in May of 2004 substituting like with die for in JP's statement. Indeed, it's sad but true: John Peel passed away a few months later to a heart attack while vacationing in Peru. Apparat could only find a more fitting farewell mood with the rerecording of his session: a sonic dedication to the huge mentor John Peel from Shitkatapult and their people.

Apparat is known as a fluctuating mood-maker by way of his computer companion. In this case he leaves his garb behind. Apparat swings the composer's stick with emotion to give yearning its segway by conducting pieces of lonely melancholic beauty with godly discretion. New strings are thanks to the violin and cello of Kathrin Pfänder and Lisa Stepf aka Complexácord, whose soul-drenched expression lets your mind sway.

The trio harmonizes with dream-like perfection. It reminds one once again of the experimental modus operandi combining classical instruments with electronic music. Singer Raz Ohara and clarinet/sax player Hormel Eastwood find their chosen virtuous and emotional space on this promising cloud. What remains are warm dark drops of elegiac pop the pour down the back of your heart.

This Apparat John Peel Session was remastered by Bo Kondren at Calyx Studios in February 2019 incl. the digital bonus track - Komponent as Telefon Tel Aviv Remix.
The physical appears as picture disc featuring the wonderful original design by Hanna Zeckau & Carsten Aermes on vinyl.
The original release from 2005 (Strike 153) also contained more Remixes by Bus, Rechenzentrum and Apparat himself.

The Jazz Diaries is proud to announce NYC’s favorite underground papi Toribio will be releasing his sophomore EP June 14th 2019. Hot of-the-heels of his Gator Boots 12” for Soul Clap, which received hands in the air support from Seth Troxler, Adam Port, and Soul Clap, Toribio makes you feel at home in the club with his expressive new EP - Capicua!

Growing up playing Dominican percussion instruments from an early age, and being a staple DJ in the NYC circuit for the last 7+ years playing with a who’s who of DJs (Danny Krivit, Rick Wilhite, Louie Vega etc), Toribio expands the palette of what dance music is, fusing his Dominican roots, afro-cuban latin riddims and 90s hip-hop to create a cultural melting pot that signals a change in the guard for NYC House Music.

As Toribio rightly puts…
“Capicua!” is an expression Dominicans yell as they slam the last domino of a certain hand with belligerent righteousness. It means you win on both sides of the table no matter which way you look at it. Top to bottom. This my musical way of saying in a Dominican style... I won on both sides with this record.

This is certainly true of EP opener ‘Get Up’, which hits you on the upside with a nasty dose of p-funk over a bed of live and programmed house riddims. The record showcases Toribio’s penchant for the funky, yet rhythmically inquisitive. It is this trademark sound that permeates the record and continues its way through the acid tinged ‘Make Your Mark’, where long time friend and collaborator Byron the Aquarius steps in on remix duties - providing a lush reprise from the frenetic afro-cuban percussion found in the original mix.

Last but not least, Toribio rounds of the EP with a sensual, take your girl home cover of ‘Household’ by Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs. The tune showcases the broad depth of Toribio’s musical portrait, prominently featuring his voice and guitar, further giving credence to the musicality and diasporic nature of the new Nu York, and further cementing Toribio’s place in it for years to come.

Claiming Montreal as his new home town, Brussels-born Senz Beats has been building an impressive body of work with underground veterans from both coasts of the US (Dave Dub, Megabusive, Lex Boogie From the Bronx..) and beyond. Cappo, Nottingham's very own veteran MC, needs no introduction having already made waves at home and abroad with his impeccable string of solo albums as well as his work with the Nottingham super group VVV.
Here, Senz Beats and Cappo join forces to present a stark reminder of where humanity is headed if we continue to place our values in capitalist ideals. The raw, driving energy of the beat offers the perfect backdrop for Cappo to deliver his warning to those caught up in the materialistic rat-race: the tidal wave is close approaching.
4 experts in their field offer up remixes of this epic track. Boot Records very own Jazz-T (Jehst, Lee Scott, J-Zone...), ex-Def Jux engineer and artist Uncommon Nasa (Vast Aire, Aesop Rock, Mr. Lif...), Lex Boogie From The Bronx (Marq Spekt, Rass Kass, Vordul Mega...), and R.E.D.A. (Insight, Main Flow, M. Sayyid...) each give this track their own distinctive flavour to devastating effect.
Lastly, on the bonus track Fool's Gold, J Lawson echos Cappo's Tidal Wave warnings concerning lusting after riches at the expense of everything else, also produced by Senz Beats. One of the few remaining songs from over 2 years of collaboration roughly 10 years ago, this song has stood the test of time and is ready and eager to be presented to the world.

[a] 1. Tidal Wave [clip]




[f] 6. Tidal Wave (Instrumental) [clip]

fter Liquid Liquid disbanded in 1985 I continued to record electronic music at my home studio inEdison,New Jerseybut I decided to mix the songs for "Concepts" at another studio so I could have another set of ears to help with the mixes. I was lucky when I looked in the local music ads that I to find Gabriel Farm Studios inPrinceton,New Jerseyowned and operated by Andy Gomory. Andy was a true talent, a keyboardist and arranger, we hit it off immediately. After he recorded my mixes we would record songs together. Andy played drum machines and keyboards while I played percussion, keyboards, & guitar and we both sang. When Andy and I parted ways in the late 1980's I decided to add both drums and percussion as well as overdubs from guest musicians many of which are included on this album. The albums timeframe ends in the year 2004. The later recordings have a jazz feel to it yet still had dance music elements mixed in. The title track "Primitive Substance" really sets the tone as you hear the great playing of Michael Gribbrook on Frugel horn/Trumpet and Gerry Carboy on bass. Also, my favorite song on the recording "Forgiveness" has David Axelrod (not the famous one) playing beautiful melodic bass guitar thru out.

Special thanks to Euan Fryer of "Athensof the North" for releasing this album. As I listened to the songs I decided to use for this recording it brought back memories of the hours spent adding the extra sounds and instruments to the point where I wanted to listen to them again and again to see what I missed hearing . Keep a close ear this might happen to you after hearing "Primitive Substance".

Thanks for listening!

Dennis Young/April 2019

oothing cut-ups and analogue collages for dreamers in the summer breeze.

Originally released in 2003 (on CD only), conceived by Sora aka Takeshi Kurosawa. Re.sort is a miracle of Japanese electronica. Widely unknown but very necessary. Fragments and textures playfully flirt with each other, bossa nova and jazz records float in the air, an old phonograph sits by the sea. Leftfield that feels like a home away, where joyful nothings are everything. Sweet minimalism and micro melodies.

Sora means sky. Let's drift.

Vanishing Twin is songwriter, singer and multi-instrumentalist Cathy Lucas, drummer Valentina Magaletti, bassist Susumu Mukai, synth/guitar player Phil MFU and visual artist/film maker Elliott Arndt on flute and percussion; and on this album they have made their first artistic statement for the ages.

Some of its great power comes from liberation. The album was produced by Lucas in a number of non-standard, non-studio settings. 'KRK (At Home In Strange Places)' summons up the spirit of Sun Ra's Lanquidity and Broadcast And The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio was simply recorded on an iPhone during a live set which crackled with psychic connectivity on the Croatian island of Krk.
The magical Morricone-esque lounge of 'You Are Not an Island', the blissed-out Jean-Claude Vannier style arrangement of 'Invisible World' and burbling sci fi funk ode to a 1972 cult French animation, 'Plane`te Sauvage', were all recorded in nighttime sessions in an abandoned mill in Sudbury. The only two outsiders to work on the recording were '6th member' and engineer Syd Kemp and trusted friend Malcolm Catto, band leader of the spiritual jazz/future funk outfit The Heliocentrics, who mixed seven of the tracks (with Lucas taking care of the other three).

Vanishing Twin formed in 2015 - their first LP, Choose Your Own Adventure, which came out on Soundway in 2016; followed by the darker, more abstract, mostly instrumental Dream By Numbers EP in 2017. The band explored their more experimental tendencies on the Magic And Machines tape released by Blank Editions in 2018, an improvised session recorded in the dead of night, offering a glimpse into their practice of deep listening, near band telepathy, and ritually improvised sound making. These sessions formed the basis of The Age Of Immunology.

In her varied career that would combine art gallery installations, major film soundtrackings and commissions for Atari, Suzanne Ciani’s earliest experiments remain some of her most challenging, beguiling and timeless... Flowers Of Evil ticks all the above boxes and flicks switches that would power-up a new uncharted universe of her own musical modernité. Finders Keepers present the first-ever release of these vital archive recordings.

As a genuine vanguard of electronic music composition at the forefront of the modular synthesiser revolution in the late 1960s, Suzanne Ciani’s forward-thinking approach to new music would rarely look to the past for inspiration, which makes this unheard composition from 1969 a rare exception to the collective futurist vision of Ciani and synthesiser designer Don Buchla. In choosing to adapt the controversial prose of French poet Charles Baudelaire, Suzanne would join the ranks of ongoing generations of pioneering musicians like Olivier Messiaen, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Serge Gainsbourg, Etron Fou Leloublan, Celtic Frost and Marc Almond (not forgetting Star Trek’s William Shatner!), all equally inspired by the 19th century writer’s works of “modernité” (modernity), a self-coined term dedicated to capturing the fleeting, ephemeral experience of life in an urban metropolis, best exemplified in his symbolic, erotic and macabre ode to Parisian industrialisation, Les Fleurs du mal (Flowers Of Evil).

In her varied career that would combine art gallery installations, major film soundtrackings and commissions for Atari, Suzanne Ciani’s earliest experiments remain some of her most challenging, beguiling and timeless... Flowers Of Evil ticks all the above boxes and flicks switches that would power-up a new uncharted universe of her own musical modernité. For the many enthusiasts that have already drawn the parallels between Baudelaire’s writings and experimental/electronic music (a relationship rivalled only by the likes of J. G. Ballard and Aldous
Huxley) some might instantly recognise an unconscious sistership between this recording and another 1969 electronic adaptation of Flowers Of Evil by celebrated female electronic composer Ruth White. An interesting distinction of White’s excellent version of Flowers Of Evil (released via Limelight records, home to the likes of Fifty Foot Hose and Paul Bley) is that its dark tone generation and vocal manipulation was created with a Moog synthesiser, the commercially triumphant
rival to Suzanne and Don’s Buchla Systems (Buchla and Moog’s historic, simultaneous, neck-and-neck synth developments are well documented.) The fact that Ciani’s version was never intended for commercial release (not unlike her 1975 Buchla concerts, which could easily have taken Morton Subotnick’s Bull by the horns!) is also poetically reflective of the nature of Ciani and Buchla’s alternative perspective. The choice to present this extract from Flowers Of Evil in its intended French language further distances Ciani’s faithful reaction from some of its better-known variations. Having attempted to voice the poem herself, the multilingual Italian-American composer’s French accent did not meet her own standards, resulting in the request for a fellow unnamed French student who lived on campus at Mills College in Oakland to accurately verbalise the section of Baudelaire’s collection entitled Élévation.

Low Distance is Deaf Center´s third full-length studio album and perhaps the most focused effort by the Norwegian duo to date. After their last record Owl Splinters (2011) was quite an eclectic endeavor, Erik K Skodvin & Otto A Totland draw their sound back into something more quiet and minimal.

The record starts with a piece of sweeping analougue electronics. It´s a spacious, yet dynamic opener that leads directly into the static tones and piano motivs of Entity Voice, which balances a new sense of abstractation with the classic Deaf Center sound. It´s warm and close while sounding like it´s set in the outer horizon. Overall Low Distance feels both alien and familiar with its atonal synths, close pianos and drowned out noises.

After meeting in studio for the first time since 2011, the recordings came out of a 3 day session in 2017. It was then mixed at both EMS Stockholm and at Erik´s home studio over a longer period to create a blend of deeply layered as well as stripped down pieces. Both Erik & Otto have been active individually since their last meeting as Deaf Center: Otto released 2 solo piano albums, while Erik has furthered his descent into musical abstractation both under his own name and as Svarte Greiner. It´s long overdue to hear them connect their personalities into something new. Low Distance is a welcome return replete with beauty, mystery and uncertainty.

- One 140 gram RED Vinyl Disc in plain white paper inner sleeve

- 4/color Single-pocket jacket - shared with 093624903444

- 4/c over 4/c Lyric Insert - shared with 093624903444

- 2/c (PMS 186 + Black) 2.0' x 4.0' FYE Exclusive Marketing Sticker

- 1/c (Black) UPC sticker and affix directly on jacket over existing barcode.

Global superstar Michael Bublé is scheduled to release(pronounced love) as his first studio album in two years on November 16th following a two year break from public life to spend time with his family.

The Canadian singer-songwriter returned to the studio with a new perspective on life and a renewed commitment to honouring the music he has always loved.

I didn't anticipate returning to recording or performing and I was fine with that. My entire world view has changed completely these last few years. I wanted to spend all my time with my wife and kids. That was my focus. During that time, I also learned how much love and humanity is out in the world from the prayers and good wishes we received. But slowly, along with understanding what my priorities in life are, I began to feel a new commitment to express the emotions and lessons I've embraced. Whether I am the narrator, the observer, the main character, the dreamer, the broken hearted guy at a bar or having the night of a lifetime, I have stories to tell on this record. It's all there in the songs. I have had so many blessings in life and one of them is that I hold the torch to keep these songs alive for generations to come. I take the responsibility very seriously. My end game for the new record was to create a series of short cinematic stories for each song I chose and have it stand on its own. I'm so proud of what we accomplished,' commented Bublé.

Bublé co-produced his new album and brings new love to several rich classics from the American Songbook. The album opens with the idealistic and dreamy 'When I Fall In Love.' It also includes a haunting take on another Rogers & Hart standard, 'My Funny Valentine.' Other standouts are an ebullient 'When You're Smiling,' a swinging 'Such A Night' as well as Bublé's hand-picked favorites including 'Unforgettable,' 'Help Me Make It Through The Night,' and 'I Only Have Eyes For You.' Two standout tracks are Charlie Puth's swinging 'Love You Anymore' and an achingly poignant 'La Vie En Rose' -a Bublé duet featuring singer Cecile McLorin Salvant. A touching Bublépenned original 'Forever Now' demonstrates his songwriting skills, which were previously shown in such Bubléwritten hits like 'Home,' 'Haven't Met You Yet' and 'Everything.' The album closes with a show-stopping version of 'Where or When.'

was produced by David Foster, longtime collaborator Jochem van der Saag and Michael Bublé. The trio brought Bublé's visions to life with luscious arrangements surrounding his rich vocals. Michael Bublé has sold over 60 million records worldwide, performed hundreds of sold-out shows around the globe, and won four Grammys and multiple Juno Awards during the course of his extraordinary career.

Mount Liberation Unlimited are Tom and Niklas, two Swedes from space who have spent the last 5 years

carving out a particularly vivid niche in contemporary electronic music. Their previous work has seen them

connect with an impressive list of global dance powerhouses: New York's Beats In Space, Melbourne's

Superconscious and Munich's Permanent Vacation have all released 12'' heat from the duo, while their

hometown buddies at Studio Barnhus provided an outlet for what has been perhaps their biggest and boldest

release yet, 2017's double smash single Double Dance Lover. Their live shows are fervent, fast-paced and very

multi-instrumental affairs, performed non-stop at an increasingly prestigious list of clubs and festivals, serving

as prime examples of the MLU boys' core obsession: the interaction of human rhythm and electronic pulse.

They have their own great little radio show on Gilles Peterson's Worldwide FM! Australia loves them! They

got their artist friend Tom-Hadar Elde to sculpt their heads for their debut album cover!

That self-titled debut, to be released May 31 on Studio Barnhus, has been in progress since the very formation

of the MLU project in 2014. It contains some of their earliest work and of course their very latest – all perfected

at the Neve desk of legendary Gothenburg studio Svenska Grammofonstudion, in cahoots with mix engineer

Christoffer Berg (Depeche Mode, Robyn, Fever Ray).

The result is a sonically fascinating, endlessly generous and straight up FUN record that takes the listener on a

joyride through bittersweet stoner disco, frenzied scando-kraut jams and some of the sweetest dance pop to

come out of Sweden this side of Super Trouper.

The record is preceded by a limited 10'' release of album track Climb Me Up, complete with an exclusive club

mix of the song.

Listen! Lord Jabu synthesises 64-bit dream-ware with solid-state trap in his crystalline 3-track release, ‘Yagoda’. In ‘Folklore’, colourful cubist polygons dance beneath festival-drunk Hyrule twilight. ‘Threehead’ goes grim, watching purple-skinned ogres bang distorted djembes in the lost woods. ‘Yagoda’ burrows deep, plucking the melodic soul of an abandoned young hero with no way home. Electrifying the murky, the lost and the lonely, Lord Jabu’s debut on Albion Collective opens the dancefloor up to a full-scale adventure.

Numero's "Planisphere", für diejenigen innerhalb der 30-40 Grad Zone, wird Ihnen ein ziemlich erkennbares Diagramm liefern, um sowohl Deep-Sky-Objekte als auch tellurische emotionale Impulse zu entdecken. Statisch gefüllte Signale, die tief aus dem Inneren der Wände des Laurel Canyon kommen und von Clustern der beginnenden Technologie des späten Jahrhunderts abprallen, werden durch die verdrehten Kaninchenohren eines Chevy Astro Van gezogen. Der zweideutige Klang von Hippies frisch aus dem Hinterland schaukelt Trommelmaschinen durch herzzerreißende Aspirationen, als ob die Musikabteilung des Whole Earth Catalog zum Leben erwachte. Diese 9 Nomaden, die aus dem Astronomieunterricht mit einem Arm voller Brain and Sky Label-Releases hervorgehen, kritzeln Plein Air Narrationen über eine Landschaft, die der Sonne den Rücken kehrt. Genießen Sie den Nachhall unseres himmlischen Heims.

> Individuelle gestanzte 2-farbiges Cover im Spanplatten Look
> Klar bedruckte Hülle mit radialem Kalenderzifferblatt
> Picture Disc LP mit Sternenkarte der Sterne, die am Nachthimmel in der 30¢ª-40¢ª Zone sichtbar sind

Celebrating its 25th anniversary, Far Out Recordings proudly presents two albums of previously unheard Azymuth demo recordings from 1973-75

Since their debut album release in 1975, Azymuth have risen to rank alongside the world’s greatest jazz, funk and fusion artists. As young men in Rio de Janeiro, they stood out for both their exceptional talent as musicians, and their wild rock ‘n’ roll antics in the predominantly middle-class worlds of bossa nova and jazz. Their signature ‘Samba Doido’ (crazy samba) sound ruptured the tried and tested musical structures of the day, resulting in what can only be described as an electric, psychedelic, samba jazz-funk hybrid.

Before they became Azymuth, José Roberto Bertrami (keyboards), Ivan ‘Mamão’ Conti (drums), Alex Malheiros (bass) and Ariovaldo Contesini (percussion) played backing band to just about every major artist in Brazil. Bertrami was also contracted as an arranger and songwriter at some the biggest labels of the era: Polydor, Philips, Som Livre, and EMI being just a few. Azymuth’s name can be found on record sleeves by the likes of Jorge Ben, Elis Regina, Marcos Valle, Ana Mazzotti and countless others. But at the dawn of the seventies, fascinated by developments in improvisational music - from jazz in the US, to progressive rock in the UK and of course samba, bossa and tropicália on home turf - the energetic young group were inspired and ready to move forward. Any spare moment in which they weren’t in sessions and writing music for other artists, they would be carving out their own sound.

These previously unheard recordings took place between 1973-75 at Bertrami’s home studio in the Laranjeiras district of Rio de Janeiro. At the time of recording, there was nothing in Brazil, less the world that sounded anything like them, so perhaps it’s unsurprising that when Bertrami presented his demos to the record companies he had been working for, he was turned away, and told in effect that the music was ‘wrong’.

One of the demos ‘Manhã’ would be picked up by Som Livre and Azymuth released their seminal debut album in 1975. Throughout the late seventies and eighties, the group released a series of now classic albums for Milestone Records, before taking an indefinite hiatus to pursue their individual careers.

When English producers Joe Davis and Roc Hunter arrived in Brazil in 1994 to record the first Azymuth album in over a decade, Bertrami dug out the demos which had sat virtually untouched for over twenty years. Joe recalls how he was “blown away by the freedom and intensity of the music, as well as the genius of the ideas musically.” Beginning a long and fruitful relationship, ‘Prefacio’ would be the first track Azymuth recorded for Far Out Recordings and was released on the Carnival album (1996).
Along with ‘Manhã’ and ‘Prefacio’, only a handful of these demos were ever professionally recorded and released, making this the first opportunity to hear many of these early Azymuth compositions in their raw, original form.

On every track the frenetic energy in the studio is palpable, giving the recordings a beautifully personal feel and a sense of the phenomenally creative vision Bertrami, Malheiros and Conti were realising at the time. Fifty years on, Azymuth’s earliest recorded music retains an ineffable, futuristic quality, standing amongst their most captivating and moving work.

Credits:

Keyboards: José Roberto Bertrami (Mini Moog Series One, Arp Omni, Arp 2600, Arp Solina Strings, Fender Rhodes 88, Hammond B3 with box speaker, Clavinet with Wah Wah)
Drums: Ivan ‘Mamão’ Conti
Bass: Alex Malheiros
Percussion: Ariovaldo Contesini
Produced by Azymuth and Jose Roberto Bertrami
Recorded at José Roberto Bertrami’s home studio in Laranjeiras, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil between 1973–1975.
Issue and project co-ordinator: Joe Davis
Tape transfers by Roc Hunter (thanks to Simon Hitner)
Mastered by Daniel Maunick at the Sugar Shack, Lanark, Scotland
Mastered by Frank at Carvery Cuts
All tracks published by Far Out Music Publishing/Westbury Music LTD

Celebrating its 25th anniversary, Far Out Recordings proudly presents two albums of previously unheard Azymuth demo recordings from 1973-75

Since their debut album release in 1975, Azymuth have risen to rank alongside the world’s greatest jazz, funk and fusion artists. As young men in Rio de Janeiro, they stood out for both their exceptional talent as musicians, and their wild rock ‘n’ roll antics in the predominantly middle-class worlds of bossa nova and jazz. Their signature ‘Samba Doido’ (crazy samba) sound ruptured the tried and tested musical structures of the day, resulting in what can only be described as an electric, psychedelic, samba jazz-funk hybrid.

Before they became Azymuth, José Roberto Bertrami (keyboards), Ivan ‘Mamão’ Conti (drums), Alex Malheiros (bass) and Ariovaldo Contesini (percussion) played backing band to just about every major artist in Brazil. Bertrami was also contracted as an arranger and songwriter at some the biggest labels of the era: Polydor, Philips, Som Livre, and EMI being just a few. Azymuth’s name can be found on record sleeves by the likes of Jorge Ben, Elis Regina, Marcos Valle, Ana Mazzotti and countless others. But at the dawn of the seventies, fascinated by developments in improvisational music - from jazz in the US, to progressive rock in the UK and of course samba, bossa and tropicália on home turf - the energetic young group were inspired and ready to move forward. Any spare moment in which they weren’t in sessions and writing music for other artists, they would be carving out their own sound.

These previously unheard recordings took place between 1973-75 at Bertrami’s home studio in the Laranjeiras district of Rio de Janeiro. At the time of recording, there was nothing in Brazil, less the world that sounded anything like them, so perhaps it’s unsurprising that when Bertrami presented his demos to the record companies he had been working for, he was turned away, and told in effect that the music was ‘wrong’.

One of the demos ‘Manhã’ would be picked up by Som Livre and Azymuth released their seminal debut album in 1975. Throughout the late seventies and eighties, the group released a series of now classic albums for Milestone Records, before taking an indefinite hiatus to pursue their individual careers.

When English producers Joe Davis and Roc Hunter arrived in Brazil in 1994 to record the first Azymuth album in over a decade, Bertrami dug out the demos which had sat virtually untouched for over twenty years. Joe recalls how he was “blown away by the freedom and intensity of the music, as well as the genius of the ideas musically.” Beginning a long and fruitful relationship, ‘Prefacio’ would be the first track Azymuth recorded for Far Out Recordings and was released on the Carnival album (1996).
Along with ‘Manhã’ and ‘Prefacio’, only a handful of these demos were ever professionally recorded and released, making this the first opportunity to hear many of these early Azymuth compositions in their raw, original form.

On every track the frenetic energy in the studio is palpable, giving the recordings a beautifully personal feel and a sense of the phenomenally creative vision Bertrami, Malheiros and Conti were realising at the time. Fifty years on, Azymuth’s earliest recorded music retains an ineffable, futuristic quality, standing amongst their most captivating and moving work.

Credits:

Keyboards: José Roberto Bertrami (Mini Moog Series One, Arp Omni, Arp 2600, Arp Solina Strings, Fender Rhodes 88, Hammond B3 with box speaker, Clavinet with Wah Wah)
Drums: Ivan ‘Mamão’ Conti
Bass: Alex Malheiros
Percussion: Ariovaldo Contesini
Produced by Azymuth and Jose Roberto Bertrami
Recorded at José Roberto Bertrami’s home studio in Laranjeiras, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil between 1973–1975.
Issue and project co-ordinator: Joe Davis
Tape transfers by Roc Hunter (thanks to Simon Hitner)
Mastered by Daniel Maunick at the Sugar Shack, Lanark, Scotland
Mastered by Frank at Carvery Cuts
All tracks published by Far Out Music Publishing/Westbury Music LTD

Following on from big recent releases from Neue Grafik & Oliver Night, CoOp Presents Sivey, with an all-new double-header of heat, 'Nobody Else' and 'Somebody Samebody'.

For those that don't know, Manchester-based Sivey became a player in the future beats scene a couple years back, releasing music with the LA-based collective Soulection, as a solo artist and via collaborations with Evil Needle, which came to fruition after a series of online beat battles, as well as releases and remixes with labels like Astral Black and Ninja Tune.

His last wave of output was greeted with enthusiasm by fans of soulful beats championed by artist collectives such as HW&W and Darker Than Wax, and saw Sivey subsequently spinning at events across the UK, and perform shows as far afield as Los Angeles and Tokyo.

Rooted in hip hop production, Sivey's largely instrumental tracks have brought together elements of millennial R&B, neo-soul, UK garage, jazz and 80s funk. In the few years since his previous releases, Sivey has continued to experiment with new ways of exploiting his diverse influences in his productions. As his listening habits became increasingly orientated around jazz and obscure 70s fusion records, his own productions began to reflect the shift.

The recent resurgence of the broken beat movement was something that also inspired him, admiring the balance between musicality and danceability of the genre. He made his first experiments with bruk in 2017 and found that it mixed perfectly with what he'd already been creating. Eager to share the results with the world, it made perfect sense for his first offerings of this ilk to find a home here with us at CoOp Presents.

These two tracks exemplify the ever-evolving progression of Sivey's sonics; the familiar deep keys and synth sounds of his previous productions are there, but nestled alongside more uptempo grooves, and the lush rhythmic complexity of bruk. Tied in with his love for jazz fusion, 'Somebody Samebody' sees Sivey reinterpret a late 70's track by Japanese guitarist, Kazumi Watanabe; this one also enlisting the help of Trian Kayhatu on keys. As well as the original tracks, prolific Selectors Assemble crew member Danvers adds in his own tasty heads-down version of 'Nobody Else', and label co-founder IG Culture (who recently received a Worldwide Award for 'lifetime achievement'!) provides a dope bruk-funk flip of 'Somebody Samebody' to close out the set.

Cochemea Gastelum is coming home to connect with his roots. After nearly 15 years of touring the world with Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings, the saxophonist offers a deeply personal album of jazz and indigenous-influenced rhythms. All My Relations¸ out February 22 on Daptone Records, is 10 tracks of mesmerizing and spiritually ascendant instrumentation. The first single 'All My Relations' is available now.

'All My Relations is a way for me to explore my roots through music. Some of it is a memory that is imagined from a time and place I've never been ('Sonora') or a musical impression of ritual ('Mitote'),' Cochemea says. 'I felt compelled to add the way I feel when I go to ceremony, when I feel connected with my ancestors, to the musical narrative.'

A California native with Yaqui and Mescalero Apache Indian ancestry, Cochemea grew up surrounded by music but without knowing much about his heritage. Both his parents were musicians, and they gave their son a heavy name meaning 'they were all killed asleep.' Cochemea has spent much of his diverse musical career - as a soloist, musical director, composer and ensemble player - exploring and iterating on roots music, and All My Relations is a capstone meditation on his own ancestry.

Originally conceived during Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings' final year of touring, Cochemea and Daptone's Gabe Roth cast a varied but familial set of New York musicians to bring All My Relations to life. A large portion of the album was created through improvisation and collective writing, where its 10 musicians created a melodic, percussive conversation. 'It was a beautiful experience - people would start playing and we'd work up these arrangements on the spot, then record it.'

'In a sense, this record is a prayer for unity, love and the recognition that we are all part of a web, and everything we do effects everything else,' Cochemea says. 'These days there's so many lines being drawn, I wanted to focus on what unites us.'

Cochemea has a long history of uniting multiple genres with his powerful polyrhythmic sensibilities. His roots in jazz, Latin, funk and rock led to multiple tours with funk-jazz organist Robert Walter's 20th Congress, and connected him with Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings for their 2005 Naturally tour. Cochemea also played tenor sax with The Budos Band and Antibalas, and Baritone sax on the Amy Winehouse sessions, before becoming a full-time Dap-King in 2009.

In between marathon tours, Cochemea recorded a critically acclaimed solo album of soul, funk, and afro-Latin jazz, The Electric Sound of Johnny Arrow, all while doing session work for the likes of Mark Ronson, Rick Rubin and Quincy Jones. He's performed alongside Archie Shepp, Beck, David Byrne, Public Enemy and The Roots. Cochemea was also a featured soloist in the award-winning Broadway play Fela!, which led to historic performances in Lagos, Nigeria.

Thomas Lea Clarke returns to the wider Optimo Music family with his third offering as MR TC for us and his first on Against Fascism Trax. This collection of five tracks (4 on the vinyl release + 1 digital exclusive) were recorded over the past couple of years in Clarke’s home studio and sees him diving deeper into the psychedelic dance explorations that you heard on ‘Soundtrack For Strangers’ and ‘Surf & Destroy’.

AF Trax’s message is very simple. The far right ultimately wish for the destruction of our way of life and indeed the lives of many of the people we love. The message is love. The message is solidarity. The message is No Pasaran – They shall not pass. It is a call to stand together, it is a call to stand up, it is a call to ACT. Individually we may be powerless, but together we are strong.

If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention!

Under the alias Ciel, Xi'an-born/Toronto-based producer, pianist, DJ, and Discwoman affiliate Cindy Li embodies the social conscience of progressive electronic music. She is at once a local and global artist, having flourished at the fringe of cutting-edge club culture since 2015, firmly rooted in her adopted city while reaching increasingly outward, her sets echoing from Berlin’s Berghain to Chicago’s Smartbar to Lisbon’s Lux Fragil. Back in Toronto, she co-runs the label Parallel Minds and event initiative Work In Progress, an extension of her radio show in both name and M.O. to improve female representation in the scene. She’s helped write safe space policies, hosted DJ workshops, and applied activist pressure on promoters through varying methods with a single-minded resolve. Those efforts have evoked responses, which Li has spent time reckoning with over the past two years. Now, manifesting as a self-guided reaction to her experiences as an artist and activist is Ciel’s Spectral Sound debut, Why Me?, a deeply personal and physical work.

Ciel’s stylistic pocket as a producer remains that of “soft-touch slammers,” but fans will note the material on Why Me? hits harder. “I wanted to write something that was heavy,” she says of the title track, the result of processing the noise leveled at her specifically after she amassed a database of female and nonbinary talents to highlight the lack of bookings amongst a subset of clubs in the community. “I was dealing with a lot... anger, despair, paranoia, feeling unjustly targeted.” She channeled these antiphons into her art. The cut’s namesake is sourced from the foregrounded sample, a snippet of dialogue from an old film about a man who believes he’s been abducted by aliens. Pulsing metallic drum patterns steer through the hypnotic passage; permeating beneath the beats are lush pads, washing the rattled urgency with unease.

Hardware-built tracks “Go Fish” and “Uri’s Song” came together over studio time with friend and occasional collaborator Colin Sims aka Wiretapping. Ciel brought her sampler to the sessions, with Sims contributing additional drums, which she’d arrange further at home, adding synth parts and basslines and effects, distilling it all down to its most potent core. The latter track — an effervescent minimal techno exercise both tender and tough — expresses Li’s reflections on today’s cyclical conditions for activism, dissension, and, ultimately, optimism. “These are harsher sounds but they also have elements that are really beautiful about them. I wanted to communicate that nothing is permanent, that there’s always hope for understanding and resolution.”

'Buntús Rince' translates from Irish as 'basic rhythms', and this new compilation explores how Irish musicians were influenced by strands of different genres of music from around the world, merging them to create their own unique sounds. The compilation features some of the most innovative and talented figures in the history of Irish music and includes rare Irish jazz, fusion and folk outliers from the 1970s and early 1980s from musicians relatively unknown outside of Ireland.

Often regarded as a musical backwater, the 1970s finally saw Ireland begin to make its mark on international music. The nature of this feat is all the more commendable, considering how isolated and conservative the country still was in the middle of the last century. The emergence of acts like Skid Row, Thin Lizzy and Van Morrison instilled in budding young Irish musicians the belief to dream big.

Unlike many other European countries, Ireland had not benefited from the cultural impact of immigration. Pioneering Irish musicians did not have access to the type of vibrant music scenes ubiquitous to most European cities at that time. With no talented players or even in some cases recordings of the music, they had to cultivate and invent their own small scenes.

A jazz scene had begun to blossom in Dublin in the late 1950s. Self-taught players like Noel Kelehan and Louis Stewart emerged as the Irish standard-bearers. Their level of musicianship saw them play with some of the world's most renowned artists. The 1960s would see the emergence of the 'beat' scene in Ireland, with groups like Granny's Intentions, Taste and Eire Apparent finally challenging the hegemony of Irish Showbands. Change was in the air.
The late 1960s also saw many Irish emigrants returning home, bringing with them inspiration from the new styles and sounds of London and further afield. The arrival in the late 1960s of pirate radio stations like Radio Caroline, new music magazines and the availability of music on vinyl meant that different genres were now becoming more accessible. The musical landscape of the country began to transform and evolve, influencing a new generation of musicians in the process.
The 1970s saw advancements in studio technology. 8-track studios began appearing in Dublin, offering more opportunities for groups to record singles and albums. Synthesizers and other instruments were also becoming easier to acquire as the younger generation turned to electric jazz and fusion music.
While the level of musicianship was high, the levels of opportunities in Ireland were still very limited. Many groups and solo musicians had to emigrate to try and succeed.
Thankfully for those who remained, this new emerging scene didn't go totally unnoticed and local labels began to take a chance on more obscure Irish groups. Labels like Mulligan and also producers like John D'Ardis and Terri Hooley championed and documented music from the Irish underground of the 1970s.

Their valuable work is a common thread which connects many of the tracks on this compilation. From the soaring flute playing of Brian Dunning, to the swinging piano of Noel Kelehan and the sonic force of Jolyon Jackson's synthesizers; 'Buntús Rince' lifts the lid on a vastly underappreciated period of Irish music history.
One for the collectors.

Sein letztes Werk "You're Dead" (2014) bescherte ihm eine Grammy-Nominierung, sein Brainfeeder-Label ist zu einem der innovativsten Klanglabors der Welt avanciert, er co-produzierte Kendrick Lamars mit fünf Grammies ausgezeichnetes Meisterwerk "To Pimp A Butterfly" (2015). Nun veröffentlicht Flying Lotus sein neues Album für Warp: "Flamagra" greift alle kreativen Quantensprünge und innovativen Elemente aus 12 Jahren FlyLo-Karriere auf und denkt sie weiter, größer, epischer und universeller: Hip-Hop, Funk, Soul, Jazz, Electro, IDM, die Ansätze der befreundeten Beatmaker aus L.A., Tribal-Elemente, Polyrhythmen. Aber selbst diese Liste reicht nicht aus, um "Flamagra" auch nur ansatzweise zu verorten, weil es immer wieder ausbricht aus diesem Koordinatensystem. Die Gästeliste liest sich wie ein Traum: Anderson .Paak, George Clinton, Little Dragon, Solange, Tierra Whack, Denzel Curry, Ishmael Butler (Shabazz Palaces), Toro Y Moi, sein musikalischer Stammesbruder Thundercat, ja selbst David Lynch ist zu hören. Der legendäre Regisseur steuert ein paar schaurige Worte bei, eine düstere Erzählpassage, mit der er uns eindringlich warnt: "Fire is coming". "Flamagra" ist die Essenz des letzten Jahrhunderts im Bereich der afroamerikanischen Musik, vollkommen neu und weitergedacht, kollektiv gefiltert und feingeschliffen. Auch wenn Flying Lotus ein Nachkomme seiner ehrwürdigen Großtante Alice Coltrane ist, die mit John verheiratet war (wobei auch Miles und Madlib, Dilla und DOOM als seine Vorfahren gelten dürfen), hat er inzwischen seinen eigenen Kult geschaffen: Eine Gefolgschaft, die alles Geniale aus der Vergangenheit absorbiert und in Bereiche überführt, die sich die genannten Vorfahren nicht mal im Traum hätten ausmalen können. Flying Lotus ist zurück. Fire is coming.

Repress available in early May.

Faitiche releases a new collaboration between the Japanese sound artist ASUNA and Jan Jelinek: the album Signals Bulletin brings together joint improvisations and compositions made over a period of three years in Berlin, Kyoto and Kanazawa. ASUNA’s meandering organ drones merge with Jelinek’s pulsating synthesizer and field recording loops to create dense superclusters that span broad harmonic arcs.

"Watching the Japanese sound artist ASUNA playing the organ, some people might be surprised. ASUNA is no virtuoso flying over the keyboard in a rage. Instead, with the calm gestures of an office worker, he cuts strips of adhesive tape to the correct length before sticking them onto the keys of his instrument. In this way, large clusters of keys are held down, creating a dense and sustained range of frequencies, while the sound artist continually prepares further sets of keys or removes tape again. I have rarely seen a more convincing performance concept, with such a power to fascinate.

I first met ASUNA when we both gave a concert at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, his home city. He performed the organ drones as described above and I immediately knew I wanted to collaborate with him. Six years and five meetings later, we completed Signals Bulletin. The album includes both joint improvisations and compositions, recorded in Berlin, Kanazawa and Kyoto.

Whether using prepared organ, Casio keyboards or mechanical plastic toys, ASUNA creates rich textures of sound that barely change over long stretches of time. It is a music without breaks. For a while, I was unsure how my loops made using modular synthesizers and live sampling fitted here – until I realized the role I had to take in this duet: I would provide the rhythmically pulsating foundation over which his dense continuums could unfold.

The result is harmonically drifting superclusters that put us into a meditation-like state. It can perhaps be compared to Automatic Writing – a mode of creative expression floating somewhere between concentration and distraction. Both the structure of our pieces and our approach to our instruments allow a similar “absence”: we let the machines play and repeat themselves – while we, in a mild form of trance, adopt the role of observers, intervening only occasionally.

It is no coincidence that ASUNA owns a collection of Doodle Art – drawings jotted down during conversations or while talking on the phone. It is said that works made like this point to the unconscious and reveal pet motifs – because a doodler always inadvertently returns to his or her favourite themes. The artwork for Signals Bulletin features pictures from the collection, in this case sheets of paper from the pads provided in stationery shops to test out pens. The special quality of such doodles is that the jumble of drawings is the work of a collective whose individual members do not know each other. Layer by layer is added, by someone different each time – until it becomes a dense cluster of lines and symbols ..."

Jan Jelinek, Berlin 2018

AKMÊ is now called RODMIN, nothing else is changing.
We’re delighted to present the first full artist-ep release of our resident. With good reason, of course, it could be asserted that this is a great, deep and timeless techno record, which never loses sight of the dancefloor but still is sophisticated enough to listen it outside the clubs.
The first track love has a good acid drive, which—because of it’s echo chamber—will feel more at home at larger floors. The second track of the A-side reflect is a rather introvert and very hypnotic one and according to really lives to its name.
Coins opens the B-side with a heavy peak time breaker, which gives and demands everything! With his riot version, ALEX.DO puts the pressure even higher.
Rave on, ravers!

From the artist:

"pootek" - Paul (Solpara) and I laid down the majority of this track one November night in Berlin. We lived in the same dorm in university nearly 10 years ago and bonded over weird electronic music. We hadn't seen each other in a while and had never made music together. We got so rowdy making this my neighbour who I had never seen before came up to complain we were being too loud.

"whendialupbecomeform" - I was thinking a lot about dial-up modems, especially after I heard a Lana Del Rey song that featured that sort of sound in the background, whether intentionally or not. I woke up in the middle of the night and laid down the main arrangement in a couple of hours. I later added some vocals, random sounds from freesound.org, and what might be described as "dreamy pads."

"dosheepdreamofandroidelectrics" - I don't think the song has much to do with Philip K. Dick. I wanted to make something that someone could introspectively zone out to, maybe under the influence of a plant, either at home or at the club.

Pontchartrain's second release on home label Lovedancing dives deep into his Detroit roots with two big house tunes that nod to his motor city influences.

1515 Broadway Revisited is a sparkling, chord-heavy track featuring local vocalist Larry Love, made for peak-time play.

Javonntte is up on remix duties with a dark groaning version for the true afterhours feel. On the flipside, 'Head Up' pays tribute to the late queen of soul with a classic house vibe that feels right at any time, but an ending that'll keep you saving it for just the right moment.

'The Loop' is the new LP by Los Angeles based polymath Shafiq Husayn, an epic project which saw its inception in 2012 through a series of studio sessions at Shafiq's home, including collaborations with the likes of Thundercat, Erykah Badu, Flying Lotus, Bilal and Anderson Paak. Amongst a close knit circle of friends and family the golden tones of The Loop were created, deeply rooted in ideas of song, story, history, guidance and spirituality. The album bumps, jumps and jangles through progressions in jazz, hip hop, soul and funk, following on from his debut album 'Shafiq En' A-Free-Ka' and adding further to his rich history of timeless, unique music. On The Loop past, present and future are brought together through a psychedelic concoction of time traveling drum machines, celestial string sections and trails of synthesizer vapour. Inflections of Sly Stone, Pharaoh Sanders and Earth Wind And Fire traverse with Marley Marl and Dilla-esqe drums making for an organic yet LA-trifying experience.

Shafiq has brought together an impressive array of LA's musical royalty, enlisting the likes of Thundercat, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Kamasi Washington, Chris 'Daddy' Dave, Eric Rico, Coultrain, Computer Jay, Jimetta Rose, Om'Mas Keith, Kelsey Gonzalez, I-Ced and more to provide the backbone to his recording sessions. Drawing in features from an international cast of performers and artists like Erykah Badu, Robert Glasper, Hiatus Kaiyote, Fatima and Karen Be amongst others. Now complete and finally ready for release in 2019 The Loop is truly something to behold. The records is accompanied by a series of paintings by acclaimed Japanese visual artist Tokio Aoyama, who worked in tandem with Shafiq to create a painting for each song on the record.

The new album by Juno Award and Polaris Music Prize-nominated Canadian soul star Tanika Charles.

Produced by a stable of some of Canada's finest musical minds including among the others Chin Injeti (DJ Khalil, Eminem, Drake, Aloe Blacc..), Record Kicks proudly presents "The Gumption" the awaited new album by Canadian soul star Tanika Charles that will hit the streets worldwide on May 10.

"What gave you the gumption?" Tanika Charles rhetorically asks during the introductory notes of her sophomore album appropriately titled The Gumption. While the apprehensive lover at the receiving end of that inquisition should feel slighted by the remark, it also alludes to the assuredness Tanika has gained since the release of her Juno Award and Polaris Music Prize-nominated debut Soul Run. The Gumption picks up where Soul Run left off, continuing her tradition of marrying classic soul with modern production styles. Across a dozen songs spanning 38 minutes, Tanika addresses moments of vulnerability, vindication, uncertain love, forbidden fruit and the state of the world today. "It's a little more mature. It's not feeling guilty about being up front, not being afraid to address situations that aren't comfortable for me. I'm comfortable in my skin now in a way I never was before. The overall theme is growth. I feel the music reflects that, and my words reflects that. Even the album cover tries to convey the feeling too. I'm not putting up with unnecessary nonsense anymore."

Predominately guitar-driven mid-tempo soul, with a handful of dance floor friendly tunes and some psychedelic leanings, The Gumption was indirectly influenced by the likes of Alabama Shakes, The Supremes, Khruangbin, D'Angelo, and Moses Sumney. It is sonically moody at times, but with consistent silver-lining arcs. "I've grown up and learned to deal with situations significantly better. We have a tendency to hold back our innermost feelings for fear of hurting others. Even when we're happy we worry about over-sharing, as if joy is a competition you don't want to gloat about."

The success of Soul Run propelled Tanika in front of new audiences far and wide, with extensive touring in North America and Europe. "I've been touring, experiencing new places and meeting new people. And in that time also worked on completing this album". While criss-crossing Canada with festival appearances on both the east and west coasts, Tanika also embarked upon four overseas tours for a combined 45 European shows within a one year period. This included performances at the prestigious Trans Musicales Festival in France, the Lärz, Germany Fusion Festival, Mostly Funk & Soul and Jazz Festival in UK, the Holy Groove Festival in Switzerland, and the Canarias Jazz Festival in Spain.

Alt-rock icon Josephine Wiggs is best known as bassist in The Breeders, rising to superstardom in the '90s and continuing to draw crowds and critical acclaim in the wake of their 2018 album All Nerve.
But over the years, Wiggs has released several of her own albums, all of which delightfully defy genre. Her new solo record, We Fall, is both a departure and a distillation of an enduring personal aesthetic: moody and spare but also melodic, at once contemporary and nostalgic.
Some influences are clear: We Fall is reminiscent of the experimentalism of Brian Eno's Another Green World and recalls the delicate, languid minimalism of Harold Budd. The album's classical inflections, sharpened by a dialog with electronic elements, evoke Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto. This is an album of juxtapositions: minimalist at moments, richly layered in others; ambient while also sharply focused; melancholy yet resolute.
There's something both dreamy and scientific about We Fall. Wiggs, an enthusiastic amateur mycologist, has an impressive collection of mushrooms she's photographed in her travels. We Fall could be the soundtrack to what can't be captured in a single photo—the growth and decay of miraculous creatures that a less astute and sensitive eye might overlook entirely.
Composed, performed and recorded by Wiggs, with drums and electronics by her longtime friend and collaborator Jon Mattock (Spacemen 3, Spirit , We Fall is a lyrical, bucolic album with an undercurrent of disquiet. Think of a wintertime walk in the woods as dusk falls too soon. True to the classic album form, the 10 almost entirely instrumental tracks on We Fall form a compelling whole: a crystalline meditation on paths not taken and words unspoken, an elegy for moments lost and last embraces.
JOSEPHINE WIGGS BIO
Josephine Wiggs grew up in an unconventional family north of London. Returning home from a summer holiday with a donkey riding in the back of the family's 1927 Rolls Royce was not considered at all bizarre. Wiggs studied cello as a child, segued from college in London to undertake a master's degree in Philosophy, and then, in a move few would have predicted, joined a rock band.
After making three albums with The Perfect Disaster (1987-1990), Wiggs left to join Kim Deal (Pixies), Tanya Donelly (Throwing Muses), and Britt Walford (Slint) in forming indie supergroup The Breeders, whose debut album Pod came out in 1990. Following a shift in line-up—with Kelley Deal on guitar and new drummer Jim Macpherson—The Breeders released Last Splash in 1993; with its hit single 'Cannonball' and 'Divine Hammer,' they became alternative rock superstars.
During the same period, Wiggs released two lower-key albums with Jon Mattock (Spacemen 3, Spiritualized): Nude Nudes (1992) under the name Honey Tongue, and Bon Bon Lifestyle (1996) using the moniker The Josephine Wiggs Experience. She also recorded and produced Klassics with a K (1996), the beloved and only album by the Kostars (Luscious Jackson's Jill Cunniff and Vivian Trimble). During a brief run of shows, Wiggs joined the band on drums, showing her range of musical ability.
In the late '90s Wiggs collaborated with Vivian Trimble as Dusty Trails, whose eponymous 2000 album is an homage to neo-noir soundtracks, spaghetti westerns, and Gallic pop. Time Out described it as 'one of the most subtly suggestive, understatedly elegant...things likely to have caressed your cochlea in years.'
Allusions in Dusty Trails to film music foreshadowed the next stage of Wiggs's career, writing scores for feature and documentary films—from Happy Accidents by Brad Anderson in 1999 to Appropriate Behaviour by Desiree Akhavan in 2014. Her new album We Fall began as a suite of short pieces for the documentary film Built on Narrow Land. Wiggs has also composed and recorded music to accompany live performance and short films by the acclaimed Brazilian choreographers chameckilerner.
In 2013, following the 20th anniversary of Last Splash, the classic lineup of The Breeders reunited for a world tour. Five years later in 2018 they released All Nerve, with Wiggs co-writing two songs and singing lead on the standout track 'Metagoth.' We Fall, Josephine Wiggs' third album of her own design and ninth album in a career spanning three decades, will be released on vinyl and available for download and streaming on April 12, 2019 by Sound of Sinners.

Presenting 'Fire Zone'. Album written, produced & mixed by Zane Reynolds and pressed on 180g vinyl, by Ekster. Coming out May 2019, including poster 57x57cm artwork by the artist. Mastered & cut by Helmut Erler at Dubplates & Mastering.

The music of Zane Reynolds AKA SFV Acid celebrates lysergic life in small town America. His are urban hallucinations. Conceived in 'business parks, strip malls', in 'blue collar luxury'. On a diet of 'diner burgers'. From the self-released, hand-painted cassettes of his high school years, he has moved to work commissioned by locals 100% Silk, Japan`s Big Love, and Dutch imprint, BAKK. His latest long-player, Fire Zone, will be issued by Belgian label, Ekster.

The album continues to reference Zane's Los Angeles home, and in this case the devastation that rages there every Summer. The concept however, reaching away from the horror and flames, to offer an escape.

There are moments, interludes, that hint at, and hide, something darker. Where drone twists from tape hiss. Bends. Out of shape. Where chords distort. Their degraded edges disintegrating. Charred perhaps But Ai welcomes you to 'San Fernando Valley', and a low-riding 808 booms. Less L.A. More Overtown, or Liberty City. Its racing booty bass calmed by wind chimes. The rapid Electro-Funk clip countered by modal synths. Its sunny disposition reflecting the SFV climate.

Playful rhymes, fragmented dialogue, and answer phone messages, rub up against Rave sirens. Roland`s silver box squeezes out a Sci-Fi Jazz. Through ping-ponging percussion. Through a drum and bass battery. Punched by keys that wanna be horns. Rewinds that create a bin-blowing vacuum. Shore-line samples washing the more head-nodding tempos. Euphoria rising while a perfect beat pops and locks. (text: Robert Harris)

Heist is first and foremost a label dedicated to quality house music with an eccentric angle. Promoting great music from the Netherlands comes as a close second. After presenting a lot of notable artists from our country, it’s great to showcase another young Dutch talent with our latest release: Perdu.
You might know him from his solo debut on Let’s Play House or the follow up on Optimo Music last year. Perdu’s music gets played by the big ones in the game like Hunee, Optimo and Palms Trax to name a few; and obviously, by us. We’re proud to introduce you to his “Skye EP”. His new release includes 3 varied originals and a rave anthem made by none other than our fun loving Ozzie friend DJ Boring.
The A side kicks off with “Jane’s World” and is the track that made us fall in love with this EP when we heard the demo. It’s a worldly tinged house monster, filled with harmonized drum rolls, a counting Frenchman and a funky arpeggio for good measure.
“Sacramento” takes a more introverted approach, leaning on a broken beat and atmospheric pads. The consistency of the kalimba with the vocal gives it a certain swing that got our ears longing for more.

The B-side starts with “Morbid”, a life-affirming electronic anthem, where Perdu shows his mastery of creating a proper build up. Over the whole course of the track, there’s a lead that slowly but surely opens its filter. There’s bells, harps, hand percussion and rides that all build up towards a lovely climax towards the end, while the track never feels like it’s forcing itself upon you.
Where the 3 originals are all, to some extent, quite introverted and modest, DJ Boring’s remix is anything but that. His version of “Jane’s World” is all about ravey leads, powerful percussion and huge breakdowns, which will do wonders at any festival or club closing set.
We hope to pleasantly surprise some of you, and as always, make a musical impact on your moment in the club, at home, or wherever it is you enjoy the music of our new Heist release.

Yours Sincerely,

Maarten & Lars.