quête:no way back magazine

WRWTFWW Records is proud to present THE GENTLE PEOPLE - Soundtracks for Living (Expanded Edition), ?the ultimate Lounge/Chill Out classic from 1997, reborn! Available as a limited edition white vinyl 3LP in heavyweight 3-panel gatefold sleeve.

When The Gentle People first glided into the mid-90s on clouds of strings, sugar and sine waves, they sounded like visitors from another, more glamorous planet. Signed to Richard D. James and Grant Wilson-Claridge's cult label Rephlex, this multinational "E-Z-Core" lounge unit took the aesthetics of 50s/60s easy listening and exotica and gently smuggled them into 1990s club culture.

Soundtracks for Living was their defining statement: an album that "takes the lounge scene and runs away with it entirely… blissful and heavenly," as one contemporary review put it. Imagine KLF's Chill Out or Space growing up on French 60/70s pop, bossa nova, soundtracks, vocal harmony groups, library music and easy listening then slipping out for a late-night date with dub, ambient techno and bubble-bath pop. That's Soundtracks for Living: a record that can score cocktail hour, 4am taxi rides, and daydreams in headphones with the same effortless grace.

The Gentle People - Dougee Dimensional, Laurie LeMans, Valentine Carnelian and Honeymink - began in early-90s Brixton, throwing dress-up theme parties before taking their audio-visual universe into the studio. For them, music was "a way of life": soothing to the ear, rich in pop hooks, and pitched somewhere between the playfully idiotic and the hyper-intelligent. Their debut on Rephlex was the single "Journey", later blessed with a shimmering Aphex Twin remix that pushed their sugar-coated sound even further into outer space.

This Expanded Edition of Soundtracks for Living finally gives this glambient lounge-pop milestone the treatment it has always deserved. Spread lovingly across 3LP, it features new mastering from the original sources, allowing every harp glissando, string swell and analog squiggle to float in high-fidelity widescreen. The core album is complemented by a bonus 12" of unreleased and rare material, offering a deeper dive into the Gentle world: alternate takes, lost interludes, and secret soundtrack cues for lives not yet lived.

Crucially, "Journey" appears here in its original version, Gentle Instrumental and the cult Aphex Twin remix, reuniting band and labelmate in one place and underlining the quietly radical nature of the project: this was lounge music that could sit next to braindance, acid and IDM and still steal the scene.

Pressed on limited edition white vinyl, Soundtrack for Living (Expanded Edition) invites long-time fans and new listeners alike to step back into The Gentle People's universe - a place of fondue parties, bubble chairs, star-lit elevators and endlessly rewinding sunsets, where "the pathway to the stars" is never quite out of reach.

In an era that often reduces the 90s to big-room bangers and grunge guitars, Soundtracks for Living remains a quietly subversive reminder that the decade was also about imagination, camp, softness and utopian possibility. As later writers have noted, The Gentle People weren't just a curiosity on a weird label; they became unlikely icons of a whole loungecore moment, gracing TV, compilations and magazine spreads, and proving that tenderness could be as futuristic as any drum machine.
In conjunction with this release, WRWTFWW has also unearthed The Gentle People's Peel Sessions, a 4-track EP from their 1997 BBC on-air performance, available on vinyl for the first time ever !

Black Truffle is thrilled to announce Dalbergia Retusa, an extensive double LP selection of the solo guitar music of Hans Reichel, compiled by Oren Ambarchi. Last heard on Black Truffle as one quarter of the joyously anarchic Bergisch-Brandenburgisches Quartett, Hans Reichel (1949-2011) is one of the great figures of experimental guitar music. Though perhaps lesser known than peers like Derek Bailey, Fred Frith and Keith Rowe, Reichel’s rethinking of the instrument was in some ways the most radical of all. Early on, he dispensed with existing guitars to build a series of his own that explored the use of additional strings and fretboards, moveable pickups, extra bridges, special capos, and other innovations documented in the extensive booklet accompanying this release.

Reichel was a long-term resident of Wuppertal, the small Western Germany city that became an unlikely centre of European free jazz in the late 1960s, also home to Peter Brötzmann and Peter Kowald. His solo debut Wichlinghauser Blues was an early entry into the FMP discography and began a relationship with the label that stretched into the 1990s; all the solo performances heard here were first released on FMP. As Reichel says in the charming archival interview with Markus Müller included here, he was ‘always a cuckoo’s egg at FMP’, a label that began as an outlet for roaring European free jazz. What strikes the listener right from the opening selection on Dalbergia Retusa—‘Return of the Knödler show’, from 1987’s The Dawn of Dachsman—is the extraordinary beauty of Reichel’s music, at once alien in the shimmering sonorities and unconventional pitch relationships made possible by his invented instruments, and deeply lyrical, even romantic in its harmonic content. Growing up in West Germany in the 1960s, Reichel’s formative influences were mainly British and American rock bands, a background that shines through in many of the pieces included here: ‘An old friend passes by’ is haunted by the ghost of Hendrix’s rhythm guitar, and the wild closer ‘Heimkehr der Holzböcke’, taken from a rare 1975 7” and the only piece to use overdubbing, layers errant hammer-on and slide tones over a Canned Heat boogie chug.

Reichel was an important source for the development of Oren Ambarchi’s own extended approach to the electric guitar. Appropriately enough, his selection opens with the very first piece by Reichel he ever heard, on a flexidisc included with a 1989 issue of Guitar Player magazine. Though Reichel collaborated with others extensively in many settings and also performed on violin and his other major contribution to instrument invention, the daxophone, his music for solo guitar remains at the core of his oeuvre. Focusing exclusively on solo pieces recorded between 1973 and 1988, the 23 pieces on Dalbergia Retusa showcase the range and consistency of Reichel’s work, allowing the listener to see how his performances developed hand-in-hand with his instrumental inventions. On a piece from his very first LP, played on an 11-string instrument (partly strung with piano strings and using a schnapps glass a slide), we hear his intensive exploration of fret-hammering to create zither-like, chiming tone, which Reichel would hone further in later years with a double fretboard guitar specifically designed to be hammered rather than fretted and picked. On a piece from 1979’s Death of the Rare Bird Ymir, Reichel uses two steel-string acoustic guitars at once, with beautiful results: ‘some even say too beautiful’, he jokes in the interview included here. Many of the pieces from the 1980s make use of varieties of the ‘pick behind the bridge guitar’, instruments of uncanny harmonic richness primarily designed to be played on the ‘wrong’ side of the bridge. At times the unexpected behaviour of attacks, resonance, and decay can almost seem electronic, conjuring up the technology-assisted work of Henry Kaiser or even Fennesz, but realised solely through Reichel’s unorthodox techniques on his invented instruments. Extensively illustrated with photos and Reichel’s own plans and drawings of his instruments, Dalbergia Retusa is an essential introduction to the unique world of Hans Reichel. Rarely has music been at once so strange and so beautiful.

“From Birmingham and centred around the extraordinary songwriting talent of James and Patrick Roberts – initially as The Sea Urchins and since 1993 as Delta – they’ve only just got round to releasing their debut album, Slippin’ Out. It is a work of some beauty”. 9/10 NME ALBUM OF THE MONTH, 2000

“It’s classicist for sure, shot through with the influence of The Beatles, Byrds and Buffalo Springfield. In James’ downright beautiful closing ballad ‘I Want You’ one can also discern the school of ambitious English balladry that peaked in about 1968: The Casuals, Love Affair, Barry Ryan. The impression of accomplished old-schoolery is only furthered by the dizzying string arrangements penned by Louis Clark Jnr, son and namesake of the one-time orchestral chief of Electric Light Orchestra” – Mojo lead review, 2000


Having ended the 90s with the spirited ‘Laughing Mostly’ compilation of singles and demos (Guardian Album Of The Week) Delta finally released their debut studio album of twelve songs in the summer of 2000 on the Dishy Recordings label. Accepting that this might be their sole studio album the band threw everything at these recordings allowing it to exist in its own sphere, unbothered by their contemporary generation and disregarding the idea of even releasing a single.

Recorded at DEP International there was a notable difference to the scruffier, looser charm of their 1990s recordings, a tighter focus developed by having the experienced Lenny Franchi mixing the LP with them. Lenny had been working with a number of Island artists including My Bloody Valentine and Tricky so knew his way around a desk. There was also the question of budget (a few months passed between recording and mixing whilst funds were raised) so every day counted. Ultimately though you can hear the joy in the recordings, even amongst the melancholy and angst. As James recently recalled in an interview in Shindig! Magazine: “It was such a big deal for us. It’s one of my fondest memories doing that record. Everyone was happy. If there’s anything that I’d stand by, I think it would be that”

Louis Clark Jr joined the band towards the end of the ‘90s and brought a classically-trained element to the recordings particularly with his string arrangements. For ‘Cuckoo’, ‘I Want You’ and the prophetic ‘We Come Back’ Louis brought in eight players from the Birmingham Conservatoire; the baroque style is partly why the record often receives comparisons to Love’s ‘Forever Changes’.

On release ‘Slippin’ Out’ was a big favourite with writers at the NME, Mojo and The Guardian again and before long the band were signed to Mercury/Universal for their second studio album ‘Hard Light’, a far more expensive and expansive love affair. It was a temporary palatial home where things quietly fell apart again, but that’s another chapter.

“If long-term memory is nothing more than selective editing and only pop’s most weighty visceral works are built to last then it’s quite possible that in 50 years the Britpop era will be best recollected for the two bands it ostracised. Earlier this year we met Shack and thought their story of mercurial brilliance indicated the biggest music biz oversight of the 90s. We were wrong because we hadn’t met Delta yet. This is richer and more engrossing than anything by Shack” 

“Everything flows – nothing remains, there is only an eternal becoming and changing” is a well-known formulation of the river theory of the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, also known as panta rhei (ancient Greek: πάντα ῥεῖ, “everything flows”). This teaching states that everything in the universe is subject to constant change and that nothing stays the same forever. The metaphor of the river illustrates this: You can't step into the same river twice because both the river and you are constantly changing. The water is constantly flowing, but the river stays in one place. Thus, reality is constantly changing, even if sometimes perceived as constant.”

„Same Same but Different.“ Always different – always the same. Chill-Out DJ Heraklit

For the 26th time, the most consistent of all ambient compilations, in a constant flux of static change, is released on Kompakt. Joining good friends from the early days and reliable confidants are some new additions to the non-hierarchical charts of contemplative rapture culture.

Leading the way is Micå, a Japanese electronic musician whose finely chiseled, graceful musical style has made it onto the new collection with two pieces. Also making his debut is Richard Ojijo, a seasoned sound engineer known, among other things, for his long-standing collaboration with the artist Marcel Odenbach and the Cologne-based label Magazine. Oskø aka Max Hytrek, a multi-talented newcomer to Kompakt and the music scene, debuts with his rapturously ecstatic piece "Ar Vag." He's followed by Sebastian Mullaert, appearing for the second time—this time teamed up with Sebastian Lilja aka Hush Forever. After his surprise return last year after a 20 year hiatus, we are delighted that Tetsuo Sakae aka Pass Into Silence is back again this year with one of his distinctive sound gems. As are Dirk Leyers (Closer Musik) and Mikkel Metal. 18 tracks are featured on this CD. "Erlösung" (Redemption) is the title of Segensklang's closing track. A kind of ambient bolero into infinity. Or at least until next year...

And what would Pop Ambient be without the iconic, artistic cover design of Veronika Unland, who once again, in her unmistakable way, says through the digital flower: The eye always listens...

While some guys will tell you now it’s all computers, at Turbo we know in our hearts that everything in life can be understood as a funhouse mirror. Sascha Funke’s massive 2017 hit “MZ” is one of the most iconic house records ever released on our label, and thus deserving of the ultimate honour: a remix pack reflecting each of the manifold facets of a modern dancefloor classic from the most prestigious and respected angles imaginable.

As studious Turbo watchers have no doubt clocked*, we have paid access to the halls of European power, where you get to make backroom deals with Emmanuel Macron and British Seinfeld as Opus’ “Live is Life” blares over a gigantic bluetooth speaker. And, yeah, you’ll probably run into the most celebrated European producers of our time. Pional, Axel Boman, Mano Le Tough, and Roman Flügel — these are the kinds of names you only see once you’ve reached the highest levels of success, be it in dance music production or purchasing the hottest tickets in town on your favorite mobile device. We called each on these titans to anoint “MZ” into the modern pantheon of club anthems, and you can bet your last eurobond that they delivered. But we also wanted some new blood, so we turned to rising Lithuanian superstar DJ JM. JM is now a deep part of the Turbo family, and he’s made the theoretical space between bad-boy cousin and beloved nephew fully his own with what we hope Rolling Stone Magazine will call “a distinctively modern edge."

*Clocking is a cool way of noticing things. Try it sometime!

»White Noise« is a cooperation project between raster-media and the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics. Artistic sound projects generated in the context of the scientific research institute will appear at irregular intervals. The themes and questions of empirical aesthetics research are taken up, questioned or challenged in very different ways. »White Noise« is conceived as an audio archive of the MPIEA artists in residence which records the artistic works on vinyl and documents the respective concepts and working methods in text form.

Victioria Keddie’s »Pshal P’shaw« (white noise #002) is a multimedia exploration delving into phonetic expression’s auditory and rhythmic nuances of phonetic expressions through an amalgamation of text, sound, video, data, and customized learning software. Drawing inspiration from the painter and architectural theorist Hermann Finsterlin who made speculative architectural renderings, the project originated during a residency at the Max Planck Institute of Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt in 2023.

The project’s engagement with the sonic landscape of the eight diphthongs in US English, documented through recorded sessions at EEG labs with participants of diverse international backgrounds, is not just a technical analyses. The applied script for the recording session, infused with a contemporary Western US dialect, ventures beyond, exploring the primal essence of phonetic expression and its impact on the oral landscape of mouth, throat, and tongue.

This work focuses on the spoken aspect of language: the art of oration, conversation, and mimicry. It reflects the beauty of our perpetual change, speaking directly to our humanity and the raw, tender moments of existence. It embraces the awkward, beautiful and vulnerable essence of our shared human experience.

Victoria Keddie is a multidisciplinary artist delving into sound, video, installation, and performance. Her work uncovers hidden narratives within ordinary artifacts and spaces, emphasizing their role in shaping our collective story. The examination of acoustic phenomena and language is a recurring theme in her artistic work. Keddie’s current projects navigate the acoustic complexity of language and dialects.

For over a decade, Keddie was co-director of E.S.P. TV, exploring the televisual medium for performance and sound. Keddie has performed and exhibited internationally. Recent fellowships include the NYSCA/NYFA for Music/Sound (2022), the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics (2023), and the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Sound Art and Experimental Music Fellowship (2024).

»White Noise«, 40 p. magazine English/German, vinyl LP, cardboard box

This July the esteemed scribe, proper DJ, and discreetly deft twiddler Bill Brewster, drops the latest instalment in his ‘After Dark’ series, for Late Night Tales.

A throbbing, louche and leisurely affair, groove is very much at the heart of this freestyle selection, a vibe which Bill de- scribes as “a basement, a red light and a sound system. Or, as the Beastie’s once rapped, slow and low, that is the tempo”.

There’s Hawaiian drum machine bossa balearica from Island Band, percussive afro post punk from Czech jazz singer Jana Koubkova, and breathy-bubbling-dubwise-slap-bass-soul from Debbe& The Code.

There’s also sultry deep house mood music from Lanowa, infectious bouncy jazz funk breaks from Canada High, and Nail’s life affirming re-edit of singer songwriter Gilbert O Sullivan’s electro pop gem ‘So What’.

Bill’s own studio skills are present and correct too, featuring an undulating bassy version of country troubadour Jeb Loy Nichols, reworked along Alex Tepper under their Hotel Motel moniker, and a chugged-up squelchy disco take on Khruang- bin, this time paired with Raj Gupta, as Mang Dynasty.

Chock full of exclusives, tracks are either completely brand new, or available digitally for the first time, whilst others are wallet-rinsing rarities if purchased elsewhere. Whichever way you slice it though, every tune is a highlight, working equally well as standalone nuggets, or within Bill’s fluidly cohesive mix.

Whether he’s taking the roof off a club with his unique selec- tion of deep and tough house music, enchanting a backroom with a genre-bending set of disco, Balearic, rock and hip hop or playing chillout music in a bay in Croatia, Bill Brewster is the man for all occasions.

In a former life, Bill was a punk rocker, a chef and also the co-editor of football magazine When Saturday Comes but has been a record nerd all of his life. He began DJing in the 1980s, but came into his own in the early 1990s, particularly during a two-year stint in New York running DMC’s office, where nights at the Sound Factory and hanging out with Danny Tenaglia gave him the musical grounding you can still hear in his music today.

Bill was also one of the founding residents at Fabric in London, a position he held for five years. There are few still playing regularly today that have his dedication, eclecticism and encyclopedic knowledge of music.

His parallel life is as a writer, and with his long-term part- ner-in-crime Frank Broughton, they have written four books together, including the acclaimed ‘Last Night A DJ Saved My Life’ (latest edition published last July), ‘How To DJ (Prop- erly)’ and ‘The Record Players’.

He has been working in the industry’s fringes for over 40 years including the running of various labels from Twisted UK and Forensic in the ’90s to Disco Sucks and Anorak in the noughties.

He is one of NTS radio’s new residents for 2023 and his ‘Low Life Loves You’ show is available on the first Tuesday of every month.

In the spring of 1977, Millie Jackson was in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, laying down tracks for what became “Feelin’ Bitchy” with co-producer Brad Shapiro. Released in August 1977, the album reached #4 and #34 in America’s Billboard’s R&B and Hot 100, going gold with over 500,000 copies sold. Jackson’s cover of ‘If You’re Not Back In Love By Monday’ – already a hit for Merle Haggard in March 1977 – also reached #5 R&B and #43 in the Hot 100 in August. Although the album did not chart in the UK, “Feelin’ Bitchy” sold strongly to a dedicated fanbase who had voted her the #1 female singer in the Blues & Soul magazine annual poll. Jackson also performed much of the material on her sold-out UK dates in early 1978.

“Feelin’ Bitchy” was not only a commercial success, cementing Jackson’s no-nonsense reputation, but is now considered an all-time classic. Her rap on Benny Latimore’s ‘All The Way Lover’ stretched the original out like chewing gum to 10 minutes. “’Back In Love By Monday’ is a great song an’ that,” she told Black Echoes, “but it didn’t sell the album. ‘All The Way Lover’ sold the album.” Indeed it did, but other tracks like ‘A Little Taste Of Outside Love’ ‘Lovin’ Your Good Thing Away’, ‘Cheatin’ Is’ and ‘Feelin’ Like A Woman’ show that while Jackson’s tongue – front and centre on the LP cover – was always ready to hand out a lashing, it also helped her sing beautifully.

Ace are delighted to reissue “Feelin’ Bitchy’ on vinyl and Millie Jackson spoke to Ian Shirley about the recording of the album. This interview runs on an inner sleeve along with classic photographs of Jackson from this period.

4/5 Mojo review: ‘Sparse, hypnotic big-room techno that builds from the bass drum up

Double LP is released on 140gm black vinyl in a transparent gloss foil sleeve, artwork and design by Ian Anderson for Designers Republic. Circuitry Electronic launches with a release that stands as a statement of intent - an artist with few true peers within English electronic music, with an album that jumps out of the speakers and slaps you around the chops. G-Man is Gez Varley - one half of Sheffield pioneers LFO, and thirty years into his solo career, with his first vinyl album release since Avanti on Force Inc way back in 2002. Speaking to DJ magazine in 2014 Gez recalled his early days working with Mark Bell as LFO: “We were influenced by groups like 808 State. Unique 3, Nightmares On Wax and also stuff like Kraftwerk, Detroit techno and early electro. So when we first hooked up and made tunes together we just wanted to rock the dancefloor at our local club The Warehouse”.

Their eponymous track ‘LFO’ – a classic of the bleep and bass techno movement – was one of the first releases on the Warp label, gate- crashing the UK’s Top 20 whilst annoying Simon Mayo along the way. Having worked with the likes of Richie Hawtin, Karl Bartos, Laurent Garnier, Art of Noise, Radiohead, YMO and Alan Wilder, in addition to the LFO output, you'd expect Gez to know his way around a techno dancefloor rhythm and drum pattern, and this is an inventive funk-filled journey that never veers too far into experimental territory yet avoids the cliches and generic tropes that too often lose the listener when techno manifests in album form.

Calvin Love is a Canadian singer-songwriter, composer, and producer from Edmonton, Alberta, now based between Edmonton and Los Angeles. With a sound that blends noir-tinged folk‑pop, crooning rock ’n’ roll, and cinematic storytelling, Love has become a distinctive voice in the international indie landscape. His music has drawn comparisons to Roy Orbison, Leonard Cohen, and Bryan Ferry, with Aquarium Drunkard describing his work as “a crestfallen soundtrack of near‑escape… like Chris Isaak trapped in a David Lynch film.”
Since his debut New Radar (2012), Love has released a run of acclaimed records including Super Future (Arts & Crafts, 2015), Highway Dancer (2018), Night Songs (2020), and Lavender (2021). Along the way, he has collaborated with renowned producers and artists such as Gus Seyffert (Beck, Roger Waters, Black Keys) and the late Richard Swift (The Shins, Damien Jurado), while earning coverage from outlets including SPIN, The Fader, Interview Magazine, and Stereogum.
A seasoned live performer, Love has toured extensively across North America, Europe, and Asia, appearing at festivals such as SXSW, Pop Montréal, Strawberry Festival (China), Endless Daze (South Africa), and Sled Island. He has shared stages with Morrissey, Mac DeMarco, Courtney Barnett, Jonathan Wilson, The Divine Fits, and Jim James, performing in iconic venues like Carnegie Hall, The Troubadour, and Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
In early February 2026, Love releases his seventh studio album, Throw My Shadow To The Sun — a bold, visceral statement that captures him at a new creative peak. Self‑produced and recorded by Reverend Baron at The Ladder Factory in East Los Angeles, the album channels raw, unfiltered energy into a late‑night rock ’n’ roll atmosphere built on moody grooves, gritty textures, and Love’s unmistakable croon.
The sessions brought together a formidable live band: Josh Da Costa (Drugdealer) on drums, Brent Randall (Vanity Mirror) on bass, Davey Chegwidden (De La Soul, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Too Short) on percussion, Jeremy Brian Gill (Curtis Harding) on tenor saxophone and flutes, Daniel E. Garcia (Reverend Baron) on lead guitars, and multi‑instrumentalist Laena Myers (White Fence, Orville Peck, El Mariachi Bronx) on violin.
From the hypnotic sway of “Underneath It All,” to the reverb‑drenched sax of “Forever Feels,” to the heavy sludge‑rock crush of “Setting Sun,” Throw My Shadow To The Sun draws from the lyrical storytelling of Dire Straits, the laid‑back blues of JJ Cale, and the timeless melodic drama of Roy Orbison. The result is a cohesive, lived‑in record that transforms fleeting moments and late‑night impressions into something enduring and cinematic.

“From Birmingham and centred around the extraordinary songwriting talent of James and Patrick Roberts – initially as The Sea Urchins and since 1993 as Delta – they’ve only just got round to releasing their debut album, Slippin’ Out. It is a work of some beauty”. 9/10 NME ALBUM OF THE MONTH, 2000

“It’s classicist for sure, shot through with the influence of The Beatles, Byrds and Buffalo Springfield. In James’ downright beautiful closing ballad ‘I Want You’ one can also discern the school of ambitious English balladry that peaked in about 1968: The Casuals, Love Affair, Barry Ryan. The impression of accomplished old-schoolery is only furthered by the dizzying string arrangements penned by Louis Clark Jnr, son and namesake of the one-time orchestral chief of Electric Light Orchestra” – Mojo lead review, 2000


Having ended the 90s with the spirited ‘Laughing Mostly’ compilation of singles and demos (Guardian Album Of The Week) Delta finally released their debut studio album of twelve songs in the summer of 2000 on the Dishy Recordings label. Accepting that this might be their sole studio album the band threw everything at these recordings allowing it to exist in its own sphere, unbothered by their contemporary generation and disregarding the idea of even releasing a single.

Recorded at DEP International there was a notable difference to the scruffier, looser charm of their 1990s recordings, a tighter focus developed by having the experienced Lenny Franchi mixing the LP with them. Lenny had been working with a number of Island artists including My Bloody Valentine and Tricky so knew his way around a desk. There was also the question of budget (a few months passed between recording and mixing whilst funds were raised) so every day counted. Ultimately though you can hear the joy in the recordings, even amongst the melancholy and angst. As James recently recalled in an interview in Shindig! Magazine: “It was such a big deal for us. It’s one of my fondest memories doing that record. Everyone was happy. If there’s anything that I’d stand by, I think it would be that”

Louis Clark Jr joined the band towards the end of the ‘90s and brought a classically-trained element to the recordings particularly with his string arrangements. For ‘Cuckoo’, ‘I Want You’ and the prophetic ‘We Come Back’ Louis brought in eight players from the Birmingham Conservatoire; the baroque style is partly why the record often receives comparisons to Love’s ‘Forever Changes’.

On release ‘Slippin’ Out’ was a big favourite with writers at the NME, Mojo and The Guardian again and before long the band were signed to Mercury/Universal for their second studio album ‘Hard Light’, a far more expensive and expansive love affair. It was a temporary palatial home where things quietly fell apart again, but that’s another chapter.

“If long-term memory is nothing more than selective editing and only pop’s most weighty visceral works are built to last then it’s quite possible that in 50 years the Britpop era will be best recollected for the two bands it ostracised. Earlier this year we met Shack and thought their story of mercurial brilliance indicated the biggest music biz oversight of the 90s. We were wrong because we hadn’t met Delta yet. This is richer and more engrossing than anything by Shack” 

2026 Repress


Another Thought was the first collection of Arthur Russell’s music to be released after his death in 1992. Released in 1993 on Point Music it marked the beginning of nearly 30 years of work to let the world hear the enormous archive of unreleased recordings Arthur left behind. Be With revisits this first compilation for a new gatefold double vinyl version and a triple-fold digipak CD reissue.

Both versions of Be With’s 2021 reissue of Another Thought have been mastered by Simon Francis and the vinyl cut by Pete Norman. The original artwork has been restored and tweaked at Be With HQ for the gatefold sleeve and the triple-fold digipak, with the essential help of Janette Beckman. Each version comes with an insert reproducing the liner notes and lyrics from the original CD release.

Together with Calling Out Of Context, Soul Jazz’s World of Arthur Russell, and much of the ongoing work of Audika, Another Thought is absolutely essential for even the most casual Arthur Russell collection. In fact we’d argue it’s essential for any fan of non-obvious pop music. This is the only place where you can hear some of Arthur’s most recognisable tunes and it’s an album that absolutely deserves to be kept in press.


We’ll assume that by now you’re all at least a little familiar with the story of Arthur Russell, the farm boy from Iowa who moved to 1970s New York. Arthur Russell the genuine musical genius who died just 40 years old, leaving behind a wealth of music that dwarfed the few 12"s and LPs that were released during his short life.

Although Arthur had been working on an album for Rough Trade during his last years, with the label no-longer operating it was Point Music (Philip Glass and Michael Riesman’s label set up together with Philips) who stepped in to help Arthur’s partner Tom Lee start working out exactly what Arthur had left behind.

Tom suggested that Arthur’s friend Mikel Rouse was the right person to make the first catalogue. Working in Tom and Arthur’s apartment he had only two weeks to go through what turned out to be around 800 tapes.

As Tom explained “at the end of each day he would generally wait for me to come home and I would, to the best of my knowledge, name and identify pieces in question from that day’s work. As he worked Mikel compiled about a dozen cassettes that he thought would present the most finished sounding songs for Don/Point to use. As Don listened he would then suggest and ask me and thus we collaborated on the choices.”

Don is Don Christensen, Another Thought’s producer. With a final selection of songs from recordings made between 1982 and 1990, including sessions with some of Arthur’s regular collaborators Peter Zummo, Steven Hall, Mustafa Ahmed, Elodie Lauten, Julius Eastman, Jennifer Warnes and Joyce Bowden, it was then Don’s job to turn these into a finished album.

Another Thought is a little different from the compilations of Arthur’s music that came out since. In our conversations with Steve Knutson (who founded Audika Records and who manages Arthur’s estate together with Tom), he explained that “more than any project released by Arthur during his lifetime or posthumously by Audika, ‘Another Thought’ is the most worked over. The material was significantly edited and rearranged from the original source tapes”.

If the aim was to release a comprehensive exploration of every facet of Arthur’s music, from the most avant-garde of his avant-garde compositions through to the most disco-not-disco of his disco-not-disco tunes then the project was a spectacular failure. But as a coherent album of non-obvious pop music Another Thought is wonderful.

Starting with the sparse voice-and-cello of the title track, A Little Lost adds some guitar along with the sneaking suspicion that we’re listening to something nowhere near as simple as it first sounds. By the time we get to This Is How We Walk On The Moon - it could be the moment you notice the congas, or the percussion that’s been building behind them, or maybe it’s that blast of trumpet and trombone - we realise we’ve gone from splashing around to being completely submerged in the musical world of Arthur Russell.

From here the album heads off on its journey around the sounds of the left-field contemporary classical music of the time, re-directed towards pop ears, with minor detours through the swirling woozy disco of the half-remembered night before on In The Light Of The Miracle and My Tiger, My Timing. Whether it’s just Arthur, his cello and some bleeps on Just A Blip, or whether he has some vocal help as he does on the bounding Keeping Up, this is difficult music made so, so easy. And through it all is Arthur’s voice and cello. Sometimes drowned in distortion and sometimes clear as a bell, but always there somewhere.

A Sudden Chill finally returns us to the calmer waters we started in and this last track closes the album with a melancholy that’s not surprising given how soon after Arthur’s death the album was put together.

Whilst Another Thought holds together with the consistency of a proper album, there’s still no getting away from the fact that this was put together from audio recorded in different ways, in different places, with different people at different times. Those with keen ears will hear traces of tape hiss, the occasional blown-out note and some digital fuzz, all fingerprints of those original recordings as well as of the 1990s digital equipment that was used to piece Another Thought together.

Add to this Arthur’s obvious pleasure in making music from the sort of sounds that can make microphones, speakers and ears uncomfortable, it’s no surprise that Another Thought isn’t glossy and pristine. Don Christensen’s productions have been careful to not scrub up those original recordings so much that they lose their original vibe, understandable given that Arthur wasn’t around as a guide. We’ve applied a similarly light touch with the mastering for these Be With versions, just working to make sure they sound like they should on both the vinyl and the CD.

Despite the Discogs rumours, Another Thought was never originally released as an LP. So when it came to the sleeve for this Be With vinyl version we took the original CD artwork as a starting point to come up with something that looks like it could have been in the record racks back in 1993.

We have to thank Janette Beckman for helping us reproduce her iconic photograph of Arthur in his newspaper boat hat. One of many photographs she took of Arthur, Janette shot this in her New York studio back in 1986 for a short article in the January ’87 issue of The Face Magazine. Those with eagle-eyes will notice we’ve used an ever-so-slightly different shot from the one that appeared in The Face and then again on the original cover of Another Thought. The original has long since been lost so we’ve worked with what is left in Janette’s archives. And we also have to thank Tom Lee for giving us permission to reproduce his liner notes from the original CD booklet, together with Arthur’s lyrics.

'In 2023, sound artist and composer Weston Olencki toured across the American South. Beginning in their hometown in South Carolina, they snaked a circuitous path from the mountains of West Virginia to the banks of the Mississippi River. As the miles accumulated, so did the initial seeds of new work.
'Instruments and artifacts they acquired hitched a ride in the backseat, while songs and sounds filled their portable recorder: water in its various states, the familiar insectoid buzz of those summer nights, trains cutting through the landscape, the traditional music that lived alongside the communities that kept it. Olencki took it all in, and over time, found ways that these experiences coalesced into a bramble-like perspective of time, where past, present, and future intersect in ways both barbed and beautiful.
'Broadsides, Olencki’s newest solo full-length is the multilayered result of this journey. The album follows their landmark release Old Time Music from 2022, which presented radical interpretations of traditional tunes from Appalachia and throughout the South alongside original compositions that drew significantly on archival recordings. On Broadsides, Olencki rejects delineations between the unmoored avant-garde and the rootedness of one’s cultural heritage, revealing their porous and intertwined nature. “My mother was a quilter. Her mother before that,” they write in the album’s liner notes. “Quilting, like music, is a practice of embedding knowledge and remembrance into the very core of the thing you are making. It’s not just about the materials, but how they’re reassembled, recontextualized, stitched, woven to form new patterns - the minutiae of craft holding significance to those looking to find it. Stories woven from stories, never told the same way twice.”
'Like all great road trips, Broadsides unfolds slowly and continuously, with moments of dramatic reverie punctuating the endless melt of highway in the rearview. We’re immediately confronted by the uncanniness of revisiting old haunts, as Southern storms break through the initial churn of the freight locomotives of Alabama. Olencki’s interpretation of the bluegrass standard “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” captures the euphoria of melancholy in motion. The permutational plucks of banjo are bounced around the frame by a computer, its pitches determined within algorithmic sequences and transcriptions of classic three-finger licks. The tonalities of old-time are smeared and stretched until all that’s audible is the insistence that Heaven might be real.
'In the album’s second half, “Omie Wise,” a murder ballad made famous by Doc Watson, follows an interlude recorded on the river in North Carolina in which the titular character’s body was laid. Ghostly echoes of a dozen other renditions float through the substrata as Tongue Depressor’s Henry Birdsey accompanies them on the pedal steel guitar. The album’s central composition, “all my father’s clocks,” is a profound meditation on entropy and impermanence. The sound of their father’s extensive clock collection ticks away as Olencki pulls a bow across the length of an autoharp sourced from a rural strip mall. The instrument was left as detuned as it was found, the resonance of its deep bass drone and clanging high-end the result of years of neglect and the warping effects of Southern humidity.
'Historically, broadsides were an early form of broadcasting, an often- musicalized telling of current news pasted in the public square. The name was later taken up by Sis Cunningham and Gordon Friesen in the 1960s, whose Broadside magazine published songs and social commentary when American folk music resurfaced as an urgent way of communicating the multifaceted politics of its time.
'Olencki borrows the phrase to recall both this old form of songmaking and that later prominent reexamination of traditional music’s role in modern life, but also to draw attention to the fragmented and machine- mediated way heritage is diffused in this very different, but no less pivotal, moment.
'As a sanitized past is used as justification for current violence and domination, we can turn to these artifacts to better understand the history of ourselves, but only if they are consciously pushed to evolve. Broadsides represents one personal, striking vision of what far-flung futurisms could be respun from = these high, lonesome sounds: a reflection of the unbridled joy and deep sorrow inherent to living together through time, and a desire to push further into the untold and unknown.'

First Word Records are proud to bring you 'Penny Ballads', a 5-track EP from Royce Wood Junior. Royce Wood Junior is a Grammy & Mercury Award-nominated musician, songwriter and record producer from London, currently based in Brighton. As a multi-instrumentalist, he's collaborated with a litany of brilliant artists over the years, such as Jamie Woon, Nao, Disclosure, Jessie Ware, Olivia Dean, Joy Crookes, Jamie Lidell and Jordan Rakei, additionally to touring with the likes of the legendary Thomas Dolby. He's released two acclaimed solo albums to date ('The Ashen Tang' in 2015, and 'No Two Blue Ticks' in 2021). 'Penny Ballads' demonstrates RWJ's varied talents, with a collection of alternative soul compositions, each one as unique as the next. It includes the first two singles, the Poplife-Prince era flavoured 'Go Get Your Money', and the double-time future funk adrenaline shot, 'Clean Up', along with three previously-unreleased tracks. 'Beretta' is low-slung soul funk, beginning with quirky squelchy synths, before the soulful lead vocal of feature artist Lucey Way breezes in to melt everyone's hearts. 'Things' sweeps in next, an infectiously soulful midtempo heavy soul bop, with an instant earwork of a hook, like a modern-day Steely Dan / Doobie Brothers, complete with a head-nodding string section to end the track. The collection concludes on a more melancholy downtempo tip with 'Rolling'; an almost-folktronic anthem, with a key refrain that wouldn't be out of place on a 70's Stevie piece. RWJ (aka Jim Wood) says of this project… "Back in the 17 and 1800's Troubadours and minstrels would go from Tavern to Tavern selling Penny Ballads, single sheets of music and lyrics written quickly and frivolously to make a quick buck.. It strikes me that we're in a similar phase in the way we value music in 2025. An old Penny Ballad was cheap and dog-eared, ink-smudged, sung aloud by firelight, Now songs live in the digital ether, dissolved in the air, a ghostly breath paid in micro cents. The new era of Penny Balladry is here, and weird. This EP is a snapshot of my writing over a two year period. Focussed on minimal recording styles, one mic on the drums, generally first or second takes on parts and vocals, I wanted the music to feel like small moments with lyrics that talk about the weird nuances of being alive as a latter stage human on the cusp of the Ai revolution. Culturally so evolved, but physiologically still just a bunch of mammals walking about with primitive fears and needs. Just trying to reconcile it all moment to moment…" Previous support for Royce's music has included Radio 1's Future Sounds, BBC 6 Music's New Music Fix, Annie Mac, Clara Amfo, Jo Whiley (BBC Radio 2), Mary Anne Hobbs, Jamz Supernova, Tom Robinson, Huw Stephens (BBC 6 Music), Zane Lowe and MistaJam. There have been sessions previously for the likes of Red Bull and press from Huck, Line of Best Fit, Clash, Aesthetica & DIY magazine. Entirely self-written and self-produced, this EP gives a solid taste of RWJ's talents. A deeply funky diverse set of music from an immensely talented individual. 'Penny Ballads' is due to be released on vinyl & digital, 24th October 2025. The vinyl version also includes an exclusive additional mix of the first single 'Go Get Your Money'. TRACKLIST: 01: Clean Up (EP Mix) 02: Go Get Your Money 03: Beretta (feat. Lucey Way) 04: Things 05: Rolling 06: Go Get Your Money (B-Sharp Mix) Deconstructed Mixes

NPVR is the avant garde duo made up of the late Peter Rehberg and Nik Void. Editions Mego is proud to present their second and final release. No this is not some kind of Beatles synthetic AI that raises the dead reconstructed recordings but rather a new album made by the humans and their machines.

The initial meeting of Rehberg and Void was in London in 2016 and despite or due to their mutual awkwardness found solace and compatibility in the fact that they both had a similar electronic modular set up, along with matching cases to transport all. The idea to collaborate was an obvious and organic process as a means to connect their individual gear together and observe the outcome. The fruits of these initial experiments, recorded in London, resulted in the playful experimentation of their acclaimed 2017 release 33 33 (eMego 251).

Now in 2024 Editions Mego presents the logically titled follow up, 33 34. These sessions were recorded six months after the initial recordings at Peter’s home in Vienna. This was planned out as a mirror city release to the original London recordings. With Peter having access to his full studio set up this time around we encounter a rich audio landscape which organically folds together a variety of musical genres blurring any distinction between these forms so the resulting music hovers as a new cloud of sound. Any musical form, be it industrial, electro-acoustic, ambient, drone and techno all coexist and melt into the other as the ensuing result unveils a hypnotic swarm of divergent sounds (music). When active there were no lines or contexts with NPVR, either between sound or genre within these recordings or live where NPVR were at home playing at a techno club one night and an avant garde venue the next.

The initial session of these recordings was edited by Rehberg and sent to Void to further develop. Over time the final versions were agreed on and then shelved as other outside projects took over. The awkwardness had been surmounted and the two had become close friends. NPVR performed at a range of venues such as Tresor, Sutton House, Corsica, Blitz, Paris GRM #Focus2, LEV Festival and Rigas Skanumezs Festival. Following Rehberg’s untimely passing Void had difficulty listening back to the sessions but eventually thought it fit to complete and release this album, of which even the artwork (like 33 33, an image from Zurich photographer, Georg Gatsas) had been decided upon prior to Rehberg parting ways.

There is an unmistakable joy to these recordings. One encounters an enthralling exploration of their chosen machines which conveys the excitement of what can be randomly conjured when people speak through such devices. There is no grand statement or argument here, just the sheer thrill of creation and the recorded results of random encounters. The art of collaboration was always a mainstay of Rehberg’s practice from the advent of the MEGO adventure. Rehberg & Bauer was an initial collaboration with former business partner Ramon Bauer. Even at this stage one can hear a relaxed sense of delight in the sheer discovery of sound.

A mix made for the Wire magazine following the release of 33 33 hints at the freedom that comes with endless urge for exploration and discovery. Abstract tracks from Z'EV. Jérôme Noetinger and Jung An Tagen are included alongside British stalwarts The Fall and New Order. There were no lines between pop / academic / underground or mainstream in Rehberg’s world. All of it sat at the same table. It is just matter in the atmosphere, like the diverse exploration found in these recordings that comprise 33 34.

Towards the end of his life Rehberg was obsessing over the immense output of the German ambient musician Pete Namlook. An artist renowned for not only his sprawling catalogue of ambient masterpieces but one who often said his main inspiration was nature. This is apt with regards to the work of NPVR which also aligns with such thought as the intertwining of the two individual artists and their machines results in a natural symbiotic flow, as it happens, just like in the world around us.

Since first arriving on the scene in 2009 with blistering inversions of shoegaze, Montreal's No Joy has always found formidable ways to reinvent itself. Now solely composed of musician Jasamine White-Gluz, No Joy has evolved over four studio albums and five EPs, defying expectation and genre, and cementing itself as something rare: a band without a category. Clearly sympatico at the time of collaborating, Fire-Toolz and No Joy (Jasamine White-Gluz) had both resituated to secluded woodsy milieus prior to the "Bugland seshies", as I now name the historic pairing. Together, they created an aural equivalent of a late 1980 I-d magazine front and back cover, with a non-problematic National Geographic hiding within. Fire-Toolz sums it up: "The collaboration really felt limitless. I didn't have to adhere to a certain vision in a way that made me feel like I couldn't be Fire-Toolz. I could easily relate to this album because Jasamine and I liked a lot of the same music, and I was able to be creative in ways that were freeing as if I was making my own album. " Both spent days driving through on empty rural highways listening to the mixes, and it reflects in the final product. With an open ear, many "influence eggs" can be detected by the listener. Garbage Dream House is Zooropian without any of U2's ego baggage. Seven-minute closing track Jelly Meadow Bright even manages to meld Stooges' Fun House out of control saxophone with the chill buoyancy of a high-end spa. Touching on respected, familiar genres and sounds while attempting to advance one's own isn't easy but Bugland manages to. What genre is it anyway? Is it even shoegaze when it could live happily on a shelf next to Boards of Canada and Autechre? The right answer is `yes'. What a lovely shelf `twould be as well. A marble shelf, with cyberpunk elements. Bugland`s a testament to White-Gluz's evolution and her ability to channel a wide variety of tastes into something cohesive that can descend into fine-tuned chaos, then out of that chaos with ease.

First Word Records are proud to bring you 'Penny Ballads', a 5-track EP from Royce Wood Junior.

Royce Wood Junior is a Grammy & Mercury Award-nominated musician, songwriter and record producer from London, currently based in Brighton. As a multi-instrumentalist, he's collaborated with a litany of brilliant artists over the years, such as Jamie Woon, Nao, Disclosure, Jessie Ware, Olivia Dean, Joy Crookes, Jamie Lidell and Jordan Rakei, additionally to touring with the likes of the legendary Thomas Dolby. He's released two acclaimed solo albums to date ('The Ashen Tang' in 2015, and 'No Two Blue Ticks' in 2021).

'Penny Ballads' demonstrates RWJ's varied talents, with a collection of alternative soul compositions, each one as unique as the next. It includes the first two singles, the Poplife-Prince era flavoured 'Go Get Your Money', and the double-time future funk adrenaline shot, 'Clean Up', along with three previously-unreleased tracks. 'Beretta' is low-slung soul funk, beginning with quirky squelchy synths, before the soulful lead vocal of feature artist Lucey Way breezes in to melt everyone's hearts. 'Things' sweeps in next, an infectiously soulful midtempo heavy soul bop, with an instant earwork of a hook, like a modern-day Steely Dan / Doobie Brothers, complete with a head-nodding string section to end the track. The collection concludes on a more melancholy downtempo tip with 'Rolling'; an almost-folktronic anthem, with a key refrain that wouldn't be out of place on a 70's Stevie piece.

RWJ (aka Jim Wood) says of this project… "Back in the 17 and 1800's Troubadours and minstrels would go from Tavern to Tavern selling Penny Ballads, single sheets of music and lyrics written quickly and frivolously to make a quick buck.. It strikes me that we're in a similar phase in the way we value music in 2025. An old Penny Ballad was cheap and dog-eared, ink-smudged, sung aloud by firelight, Now songs live in the digital ether, dissolved in the air, a ghostly breath paid in micro cents. The new era of Penny Balladry is here, and weird.

This EP is a snapshot of my writing over a two year period. Focussed on minimal recording styles, one mic on the drums, generally first or second takes on parts and vocals, I wanted the music to feel like small moments with lyrics that talk about the weird nuances of being alive as a latter stage human on the cusp of the Ai revolution. Culturally so evolved, but physiologically still just a bunch of mammals walking about with primitive fears and needs. Just trying to reconcile it all moment to moment…"

Previous support for Royce's music has included Radio 1's Future Sounds, BBC 6 Music's New Music Fix, Annie Mac, Clara Amfo, Jo Whiley (BBC Radio 2), Mary Anne Hobbs, Jamz Supernova, Tom Robinson, Huw Stephens (BBC 6 Music), Zane Lowe and MistaJam. There have been sessions previously for the likes of Red Bull and press from Huck, Line of Best Fit, Clash, Aesthetica & DIY magazine.

Entirely self-written and self-produced, this EP gives a solid taste of RWJ's talents. A deeply funky diverse set of music from an immensely talented individual.

'Penny Ballads' is due to be released on vinyl & digital, 24th October 2025.

The vinyl version also includes an exclusive additional mix of the first single 'Go Get Your Money'.

MUCH LOVED LOW ALBUM BACK IN PRINT ON VINYL…NB NEW PRICE.NON -RETURNABLE.

The second Albini recorded and engineered Low album, Things We Lost in the Fire features such hits as Sunflower and Laser Beam.

#14 on Pitchfork 30 Best Dream Pop Albums.

#117 Pitchfork Top 200 Albums of the 2000s.

#93 The Guardian 100 Best Albums of the 21st Century list.

#36 NME Top 50 Darkest Ever Albums.

“Measuring out grief and resilience with a steady hand, these are the best songs of Low's quiet career.” Mojo 9/10

“Low's original stark minimalism has gradually given way to a broader sonic range, without sacrificing their strangely accessible otherness.” Wire

“Low have always sought to make music that can both swell the heart like a gospel tune and capture the amplified absence of a funeral parlour. It's difficult to imagine a more perfect expression of their vision than this.” NME

Tough Love brings to vinyl for the first time April Magazine's Sunday Music For An Overpass, a nine track collection originally issued on cassette in vanishingly small number by Paisley Shirt in 2021. The kind of mythical recording you might have once needed to know the band to own. Alas, no longer... Can the universe have two centres? Because if it's not Gothenburg it's San Francisco... It's impossible for me to think about what's going on in that particular part of the west coast right now without immediately being drawn to April Magazine, a comparatively loosely assembled three (sometimes four) piece centred around artist/musician Peter Hurley, who seem to simultaneously operate at both the heart and the margins of the current Bay Area underground. On the one hand they share members with many other bands, their guitarist/singer runs a gallery that functions as some kind of focal point/social space, and Cindy even have a song named after them. On the other hand, their music is resolutely lo-fi and invariably couched in a mysterious haze, the live footage available online seems to suggest that they sound slightly different each time they play, and there are reports they have dozens of songs (possibly albums?) that have not and may never be released, hidden inside their own private universe. On its initial release, Sunday Music For An Overpass was an early attempt to drag the group a little closer into the light, yet inevitably made them feel as endearingly enigmatic as ever. Typically, this vinyl reissue some four years later only goes part way in clearing that alluring fog. April Magazine channel the greats - Spacemen 3, The Pastels, early B&S, Mary Chain, Rainy Day/Opal/Mazzy et al - but submerge their obvious melodic capabilities within seemingly infinite spray can hiss, as if the songs are being pulled backwards through some vortex to the past. Half of these tracks are instrumentals, and it's in those moments that the band are perhaps at their most expressive, suggesting a very inviting melancholy that can't quite be figured out. Though the LP remasters the original recordings and is a little cleaner sounding as a result, no secret is being given away. The appeal is that the more you hear from them, the less you really know, and all the better for it. Maybe, then, it's that April Magazine are here to show there is no centre to the universe, that instead it's always just off to the side...