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Superb first album from Sifres
Acid double twelve crazy masterpiece !

Avalanche Party is a garage-punk rock and roll band from the bleak yet beautiful North Yorkshire Moors After releasing their critically acclaimed debut album '24 Carat Diamond Trephine' in 2019 (BBC 6Music, BBC Radio 1, Radio X, KEXP, NME Top 100, PRS Momentum Fund Award), the band toured heavily until they weren't allowed anymore in 2020. After picking up with they left off, hitting the road with mentors ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, they found their way to the hallowed Rancho De La Luna studio in California's Joshua Tree in 2022 to record their follow up album, engineered and produced by Dave Catching (QOTSA, Iggy Pop, Arctic Monkeys). DER TRAUM UBER ALLES is now ready to be unleashed onto the world.

The capstone of Miles Davis’ electric period, Agharta reigns as a funk-rock fireball — a blazing comet streaked energy and elan, a fearless organism feasting on adventure and freedom, a seven-headed Godzilla stomping its way through Osaka, Japan. Recorded on February 1, 1975 at Osaka Festival Hall at the first of a two-show stand, the double album offers an endless abundance of surprises and shifts — as well as a road-proven ensemble whose chemistry and abilities equal that of any of Davis’ celebrated bands. If the true measure of jazz is the capacity to adapt to the moment and challenge perception, Agharta is consummate.

Sourced from the original master tapes, housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, and pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing in California, Mobile Fidelity’s numbered-edition 180g 33RPM 2LP set of this epic live release presents it in audiophile sound on a domestic pressing for the first time. Offering greater degrees of separation, detail, and richness than the compressed CD editions and more clarity, openness, and presence than older vinyl copies, this version of the 1975 release helps bring the concert stage to your home. Just make sure your turntable and speakers are up to the challenge of Davis and Co.’s explosive performances — and producing the decibels they demand.

Teeming with vibrant colors, tones, and pace, Mobile Fidelity’s reissue captures the hear-it-to-believe-it flow, sweep, and moodiness of the music. Though the group honors looseness and freedom with religious verve, the specificity and scale rendered by this remaster allows you to detect methods behind the alleged madness that are often otherwise harder to discern. This insight extends to the understated changes in volume, harmonics, and phrasings. In many ways, you can listen as Davis himself did that early February evening as he helped coordinate the overall direction and decided on whether to blow his wah-wah-wired trumpet or take a turn on the organ.

Tellingly, Agharta would likely never have been made if not for Davis’ ventures overseas and, specifically, to the Land of the Rising Sun. Having for years faced a backlash on his native soil for his choices to experiment and blow past all known borders, Davis was welcomed with open arms in Japan. The concert documented on Agharta — as well as the day’s later show, captured on the equally exciting Pangea — stemmed from a sold-out three-week tour that would ultimately mark Davis’ final public appearances for years, as he soon settled into semi-retirement and nursed the wounds connected to an unprecedented stretch of restless and relentless output.

For all the band-fueled merit of Agharta — and there’s plenty, given the cast of saxophonist Sonny Fortune, bassist Michael Henderson, drummer Al Foster, percussionist James Mtume, and guitarists Reggie Lucas and Pete Cosey seemingly blasts off to outer space and travels distant galaxies by the time this minimally edited record runs its course — Davis’ own playing often remains overlooked. As critics Richard Cook and Brian Morton observed, it is “often fantastically subtle, creating surges and ebbs in a harmonically static line, allowing him to build huge melismatic variations on a single note.” He attacks like a man on a mission, out to prove naysayers wrong and bent on trailblazing another new path forward. Convention and skeptics be damned.

Noisy and furious, dark and discordant, abstract and off-balance, radical and intense, abrasive and atmospheric, strangely beautiful and hypnotically eccentric: Agharta evades simple description, and refuses to be pinned down in any established category — rock, jazz, punk, ambient, prog, avante-garde, or otherwise. Shot through with trench-deep grooves, screaming riffs, scalding solos, and free-improv leads, its cosmic thrust comes on as the equivalent of an animated pointillist painting comprised of millions of textured dots, dashes, and dabs that hold your attention so raptly you want to revisit the ideas again and again.

Always steps ahead of everyone else, Davis knew what he was doing even when Agharta debuted in Japan before later hitting U.S. markets. Though “Maiysha” and “Theme from Jack Johnson” are identified in the track listing, the record contains a number of uncredited references to other Davis works, including a nod to “So What.” This decision to bypass labels only adds to the art of the reveal — the rare black magic in which Agharta expertly deals.

The song titles on Van Halen's aptly titled Fair Warning don't lie. The likes of "Unchained," "Mean Street," "Push Comes to Shove," "One Foot Out the Door," and more indicate the mood the band channels on its double-platinum 1981 record — the nastiest, darkest, and fiercest album of the group's storied career. For the fourth time in four years, Van Halen throws down the gauntlet to all challengers and emerges victorious.


Sourced from the original analog tapes, pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl at Fidelity Record Pressing, and strictly limited to 5,000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity's UltraDisc One-Step 180g 45RPM 2LP set plays with unfettered clarity, dynamics, and immediacy. Benefitting from superb groove definition, an ultra-low noise floor, and dead-quiet surfaces, this vinyl edition captures what went down in the studio with tremendous realism and involving presence.

Taking a more controlled approach in the studio and still completing everything in less than two weeks, Van Halen and producer Ted Templeman relied on studio amplifiers to direct the sound. Further diverging from the live-on-the-floor approach of its earlier albums, the ensemble also employed overdubs to great effect. The result: Dense, stacked architecture that underlines the hard-hitting tenor of the songs — and which comes alive like never before on this reference edition that looks as good as it sounds.

The premium packaging and gorgeous presentation befit the reissue's select status. Housed in a deluxe slipcase, it features special foil-stamped jackets and faithful-to-the-original graphics that illuminate the splendor of the recording. Aurally and visually, it is made for listeners who want to immerse themselves in everything involved with the album, including the iconic cover art adopted from William Kurelek's haunting painting, "The Maze."

Isolated frames from Kurelek's childhood-inspired work — including a man bashing his head into a brick wall, a guy pinning down an adversary as he delivers bare-fist blows to his face and others watch with apparent glee, a boy tied down on a conveyer belt and being sent through the equivalent of a meat saw — adorn the front and back covers. The sunnier visual disposition of Van Halen's prior efforts gives way to something sinister and tortured, traits reflective of the music within. The band members, too, are visually depicted not in glamorous shots but in a serious black-and-white portrait in which the quartet is clad in black leather jackets.

Tough, aggressive, stark: Fair Warning comes on like a series of bare-knuckled punches to the solar plexus and boasts lyrical narratives to match. Though not a concept record, the concise album revolves around themes of roughing it on the streets and struggling to survive amid dim prospects. Singer David Lee Roth reportedly penned many of the initial lyrics after traveling to Haiti and observing extreme poverty. The characters and situations populating Fair Warning reflect hardscrabble existence, last-chance desperation, and underlying danger.

Witness the crazies, poor folks, and hunters of “Mean Street”; the former prom queen turned pornographic actress on “Dirty Movies”; the menace and vice of “Sinners Swing!”; the streetwise hustle of “Unchained”; the isolation and alienation of “Push Comes to Shove”; the desire for escape on “One Foot Out the Door”: A carefree California beach party Fair Warning is not.

Having said he felt angry and frustrated during the sessions, guitarist Eddie Van Halen uses the forceful arrangements as a playground for his seemingly unlimited arsenal. Supported by a crack rhythm section and a hyped-up Roth, he performs with an almost impossible combination of punk-like intensity, technical finesse, lyrical fluidity, and unbridled emotion. The virtuoso was increasingly butting heads with Templeton and seeking a freedom in the studio he believed denied him.

No wonder he plays like a bat out of hell. Listen to the rapid-fire manner in which he slaps the high and low E strings on the 12th fret of his instrument on “Mean Street,” instilling the tune with funk flair and metal-spiked sharpness. For the pouty strut of “Dirty Movies,” Eddie Van Halen contributes slide guitar magic made possible after he sawed off the lower portion of a Gibson SG so he could reach further down the fretboard.

Related intensity, urgency, and daredevil momentum punctuate the surging “Sinner’s Swing!” A heavily flanged, delicately melodic introduction frames the attitudinal “Hear About It Later,” among the most creative arrangements of Van Halen’s career. And do riffs come any bigger or magnetic than those on the high-wire kick of “Unchained”? As for the out-of-left-field “Sunday in the Park,” an instrumental composed on an Electro-Harmonix micro-synthesizer: Who but Eddie Van Halen to supply creep factor in such an ingenious way?

Despite selling fewer quantities than Van Halen’s prior efforts, Fair Warning remains for many diehards the record that epitomizes all of the band’s immense strengths —Roth’s manic energy and tongue-wagging humor, Alex Van Halen’s rhythmic heartbeat-in-your-chest bombast, and Michael Anthony’s lucid bass lines included. Arriving when the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and new-wave movements were taking flight, it signaled a shot across the bow from a band determined to stay a step ahead and provide proof nobody could touch what it delivered.

More than four decades later, Fair Warning still sounds that alarm.

The notion of home isn’t precise, even a dictionary will offer multiple definitions. A home can be a place where you live, a place where you belong, where you originate from or a place where you’re given care; it can be a physical space, a land, a people or even a person. The concept isn’t completely universal, but everyone possesses a unique idea of what home means to them. On her fifth album, Ziúr considers not just what home symbolizes from her perspective, but the word’s resonance to the diverse community that surrounds her, and how their stories have impacted her over the years. Indeed, it’s the first time she’s felt it necessary to examine her own nationality. In the past, she’s deliberately avoided labelling herself as German, feeling disconnected from her country’s politics, culture and even the German language itself. In 2025, the idea of Germanness is in flux and progressives are under attack from all sides. The country’s politics aren’t only being turned inward by the growing throng of far-right voices, but by scared moderates, opportunists and those blinded by comfort, willing to ignore hatred to maintain their privilege. Stepping up to provide a different narrative, Ziúr scours her soul, writing and singing in German for the first time and proposing growth and evolution, not fear and regression. “I never considered being part of Germany,” she explains. “But I am.”

A solemn mood permeates the album’s opening track ‘Brown is the Color’, and Ziúr sings in measured, slow-motion breaths over noisy synth oscillations and doomed piano flourishes. Already, it’s a significant departure from her last run of releases, veering away from the frenetic, satirical chaos of 2023’s Hakuna Kulala-released ‘Eyeroll’ or its fantastical, dubby predecessor ‘Antifate’. Ziúr pulls on real world insights here, tracing her oldest, dearest musical inspirations to present her origins to anybody who might be listening. “Cold world is holding up,” she laments with a metallic crunch. “To let go of your heart, let me go.” And her voice emerges from the shadows completely on ‘Tame’; unprocessed, Ziúr sounds naked and vulnerable on ‘Tame’, curving her precise words around broken, lopsided rhythms and jangling new wave guitars. It’s pop music in its own way, inverted and reconstructed to fit snugly into her well-established sonic landscape. On ‘No Yawn’, brittle, downsampled hi-hats and industrial scrapes ping-pong around distorted riffs, provided by James Ó Ceallaigh aka WIFE; “You fail to sugarcoat your half-ass attempt,” she deadpans, “to build your promised wonderland on quicksand.” Even the beatless ‘All Odds No Chants’, a collaboration with Elvin Brandhi and Sara Persico, reveals another room in Ziúr’s autobiographical suite, mirroring György Ligeti’s enduringly influential choral works with its gnarled, dissonant vocal harmonies.

"Guerra Total Na Boca Do Lixo" is CAVEIRAS' new album, to be released on February 13, 2026. The album will include 12 brand new tracks, displaying the usual mix of punk aggression, batucada rhythms, industrial / noise bravado and bass music.

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CAVEIRAS deal in obsessive rhythms and low frequencies, infusing punk with Afro-Brazilian vibes. Their spiritual birth can be traced back to a visit to Favela Rocinha: while watching two young boys improvise a batucada with a bucket and a bin, band members became obsessed with the possibility of an occult alliance between Rio de Janeiro and Einstürzende Neubauten’s Berlin. Back home, Caveiras made a blood oath, vowing to channel the dark side of samba. Armed with an electric bass, scrap percussions and a machine-gunning sampler, they began to butcher Brazilian standards with a wild and iconoclastic attitude. Claves and rhythms of the Brazilian tradition are heavily treated through electro-acoustic techniques, dub-oriented bass lines strip melody down to the bone, while screams cross the line separating punk’s rants from Quimbanda’s curses.

James Brown wants to know one thing before he and his band begin Sex Machine. “Can I get into the thing, really?,” he asks. His cohorts enthusiastically respond in the affirmative. And for the next hour and change, Mr. Dynamite gets into it and more, turning in a sweat-soaked, feet-moving, hip-swiveling, emotion-purging, in-the-red, drop-everything-you’re-doing-and-dance performance for the ages. Ranked by Rolling Stone among the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, the sweeping 1970 effort towers as a testament to Brown’s inimitable legacy as well as the peak powers of his voice, vibrancy, and bands.

Sourced from the original master tapes, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, and housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, Mobile Fidelity’s numbered-edition 180g 33RPM 2LP set presents Sex Machine in audiophile sound for the first time. It explodes with the energy the lightning-strike music demands. Dynamic, immediate, present, airy: Everything from the brassiness and fluidity of the horns to the snap and decay of the snare to the swell and carry of the organ comes across in full-range perspective.

Then there’s Brown’s superhuman singing, which here emerges with a purity, naturalism, and transparency that ensure you feel everything. Screeching, shouting, pleading, moaning, preaching, stinging, commanding, testifying, crooning, humming: The Godfather of Soul contributes one of the finest vocal performances known to man. This definitive 55th anniversary reissue of Brown’s monster funk statement further exhibits a combination of clarity, solidity, separation, and imaging that helps bring to light what he and his crack ensembles committed to tape. Both in the studio and on the stage.

Just how lifelike does this reissue sound? Senior Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab engineer Krieg Wunderlich, who handled the remaster, notes: “There were some artifacts that sounded a bit like mistracking. But they turned out to be breath blasts on the vocal microphone. That is part of history. JB was workin' hard, and breathin' hard. And there was an edit the timing of that was truly strange. Again, a part of history.”

Originally marketed as a live album, Sex Machine contains six songs recorded in the studio and later overdubbed with canned crowd noise and reverberation. Save for “Low Down Popcorn,” the tracks on the latter half stem from a phenomenal performance captured in October 1969 at Bell Auditorium in Brown’s adopted hometown of Augusta, GA. The special relationship between the singer, the audience, and the location is palpable.

As the 1960s gave way to a new decade, Brown experienced immense success and dealt with unexpected change. Soul Brother Number One soon expanded his idea for an official live album captured in Augusta when the ensemble that backed him on that date morphed into the original version of the world-famous J.B.’s just months after the show. The virtuosic abilities, sticky chemistry, and rhythm-forward nature of the J.B.’s prompted him to book a one-off session in Cincinnati, OH, on a late July night.

Anchored by brothers William “Bootsy” Collins and Phelps “Catfish” Collins, the group — as well as two different drummers — laid down a nearly 11-minute rendition of “Get Up I Feel Like Being Like a Sex Machine” and a thrilling medley of “Bewildered,” “I Got the Feeling,” and “Give It Up or Turnit a Loose.” A pair of then-recent studio singles cut in separate locations in 1969, “Brother Rapp” and “Low Down Popcorn,” each featuring his prior group, took care of the second LP worth of material that complements the originally planned live set.

Complicated? Somewhat. Unusual? Definitely. But just as he elevated the expectations for all present and future R&B artists, Brown not only makes it all work. He makes it positively electrifying.

“Get Up I Feel Like Being Like a Sex Machine” is alone deserving of a dissertation on the art of funk music, seeing it moves up and down akin to an oil derrick, witnesses Brown unleashing a trademark series of grunts, squeaks, and “good god” asides, and glides to a hypnotic groove that won’t quit. Or look to the syncopated rhythms of “Brother Rapp (Part I and Part II),” one of multiple pieces here that signify the point where Brown began viewing every instrument as a percussive tool. Brown closes the three-song medley with his new band with a skedaddling “Give It Up or Turnit a Loose,” which provides jolts on the order of sticking your finger into a socket.

Not that the actual live material falls short in any way. Setting an insistent tempo for the vitality that follows, “I Don’t Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing” positions Brown as a role model, leader, and self-sufficient entrepreneur. All simmer and boil, the short and sweet “Licking Stick” dares you to keep pace. The floating, almost comforting “Spinning Wheel” spotlights the instrumental prowess of Maceo Parker and company, and functions as a seamless segue into the tender, horn-saluted “If I Ruled the World.”

And Brown and his mates still aren’t done. Just try to resist the one-two closing punch of “I Can’t Stand Myself (When You Touch Me)” and “Mother Popcorn.” Mercy.

Ain’t it funky? Sure ‘nuff.

Kontakt Records presents KNT-47 “Chromatic Noise”, a deep exploration of dub techno and dub-infused house from Canadian producer Matt Thibideau. Across three extended cuts, Thibideau sculpts spacious, analogue-leaning grooves where every element has room to breathe. Subtle saturation, soft tape hiss and finely tuned low-end weight create that unmistakable sense of depth, while shimmering chords and carefully placed delays drift in and out of the stereo field. The result is music that feels both hypnotic and alive, built for long blends, late sessions and sound systems that reward detail. “Chromatic Noise” sits comfortably in the Kontakt Records tradition: timeless dub aesthetics, modern production values and a focus on atmosphere over obvious peaks. It’s the kind of 12" that works just as well as a DJ tool as it does for attentive home listening – patient, understated and endlessly playable. Tiny shifts in texture, filter movement and echo tails keep the tension moving forward without ever breaking the spell.

Kontakt Records presents KNT-47 “Chromatic Noise”, a deep exploration of dub techno and dub-infused house from Canadian producer Matt Thibideau. Across three extended cuts, Thibideau sculpts spacious, analogue-leaning grooves where every element has room to breathe. Subtle saturation, soft tape hiss and finely tuned low-end weight create that unmistakable sense of depth, while shimmering chords and carefully placed delays drift in and out of the stereo field. The result is music that feels both hypnotic and alive, built for long blends, late sessions and sound systems that reward detail. “Chromatic Noise” sits comfortably in the Kontakt Records tradition: timeless dub aesthetics, modern production values and a focus on atmosphere over obvious peaks. It’s the kind of 12" that works just as well as a DJ tool as it does for attentive home listening – patient, understated and endlessly playable. Tiny shifts in texture, filter movement and echo tails keep the tension moving forward without ever breaking the spell.

This is the first new Andy Boay album since 2013’s In The Light. I recorded it in January 2024 to a Yamaha MT8X 8-track cassette recorder in my room at the New York Center for Creativity & Dance in the East Village of Manhattan.

I mixed it in June 2024 with Joe Santarpia and Roberto Pagano at the Idiot Room in San Francisco. The three songs on Side A (“HBM,” “If I Ever Come Off,” and “You’re In The Air Now”) were initially arranged over several live performances using a multi-track looper. When I then sat down to track them to my tape machine, I meticulously sang and played out all repeating parts, layering and ping-pong-bouncing each doubled take to another tape-track. In this way I hoped to maintain the hypnotic quality of the looped parts while keeping them organic, singular, and fleeting. Side B is a triptych of more carefully arranged pop songs: a tremolo & mod-delay elegy to youth called “Careless,” bookended by two variations on the same theme — the stark, mellotron prayer of “One & One” and the lonesome after-hours funk of “I Want More”. The line “You took that walk for the two of us” has a dual meaning. In 2011, my friend Spencer Gilley took a long walk through Montreal while listening to demos I’d recorded.

He described the experience to me as magical, ecstatic, inspiring. His encouragement from that moment still echoes every time I sit down to write or record. Less than a year later, I met Florida musician Thomas Fekete. We formed a deep, brief friendship that lasted until his death in 2016. Thom entered my life during a chaotic time and helped me find direction and courage. He took me on a tour that shifted the course of my life. We bonded over surviving cancer as young men, Florida’s noise scene, and the strange lives we led as touring guitarists (he in Surfer Blood, me in Mac DeMarco’s band). Thom could always warmly anticipate all of my joy, humor, and curiosity—and all of my pain, anxiety, and fear. In this way, it felt like he was also taking that walk for the two of us—gently guiding me down a path he had already traveled. Andy Boay (Andy White) began playing and recording music as a teen in Orlando during the early 2000s, exploring noise, psych, and pop in bands and solo projects.

He has played in the duo Tonstartssbandht with his brother Edwin since 2007. He spent six years playing guitar in the touring band for Mac DeMarco. Andy Boay’s music taps the euphoric and the sorrowful, both onstage amongst friends and strangers, and tracking alone at his 8-track in the studio. These days he lives and works in the East Village neighborhood of New York City.

House of Harm are proud to announce the forthcoming release of their new album Playground, out December 1st, 2023. The new record builds and expands upon the three-piece’s enthralling shadow-pop sound, a mix of midnight atmospherics, 90s era jangle pop, and contagious synth drenched hooks that further elevate the transcendent vocals of lead singer Michael Rocheford. Rounded out by Cooper Leardi (guitar / synths) and Tyler Kershaw (guitar / synth), House of Harm have amassed an impressive following as something of a best kept secret among their growing fanbase, leading to sold out shows on both coasts by the power of word of mouth alone.

The band members have been drawn to music for as long as any of them can remember, and the drive to be around like-minded artists and make their own noise drew them all to Boston after high school. There they all quickly enmeshed themselves, playing in other bands before meeting each other. Ever since, House of Harm have been quietly making a name for themselves among music fans with darker pop persuasions via a steady stream of releases in single, ep and album form.

That attention to detail and workmanlike approach at the expense of chasing instant gratification seems to be paying dividends after years of steady effort. The journey of their new album Playground saw House of Harm stay true to that ethos. The band painstakingly narrowed the record down to an efficient 10 tracks that they felt made the most sense, both standing on their own as well as fitting into an LP that built a cohesive world for the listener to get lost in. The album’s name also reflects the experimentation and happy accidents that came about during the writing and recording process.

On “The Face of Grace” they set out to explore different dynamics by writing a song entirely without drums, but couldn’t help themselves from putting emphasis on the song’s 6/8 waltz time signature. “Two Kinds” is another first for House Of Harm in that it’s predominantly driven by acoustic guitar. That aforementioned vulnerability shows up in other areas of the songwriting process as well with “Two Kinds”, one of their most revealing songs to date from a lyrical standpoint, written from a place of reflection and weakness and tackling feelings uneasy to be put on display for public consumption.

Taken as a whole, the end result is an album representing a collection of the band’s most raw and expressive songs yet.

This is the ultimate mini-album that can proudly be called LIP CREAM! “9 SHOCKS TERROR” has remained timeless since its original release in 1986, embodying incomparable speed and a level of perfection that defines Japanese hardcore. Opening with ‘TERROR,’ which goes straight into reverse audio and needle skips, the song structure charges forward relentlessly, shaking off the catchy, humorous, and approachable vibe that had previously defined LIP CREAM. Naoki's noisy yet melodic guitar, Pill's wild drums, Minoru's heavy yet high-speed bass, and JhaJha's intense shouts that still allow the lyrics to be clearly heard—all these elements fuse together to create powerful tracks that have reached an unprecedented sound. Recorded at Shinjuku JAM Studio, ‘9 SHOCKS TERROR’ was composed primarily by Minoru and Naoki, with lyrics and artwork by JhaJha. JhaJha's hand-drawn jacket illustration was a parody of THE FUZZTONES' album “Cinderella”. Additionally, an English translation of the lyrics is included for this RELAPSE release, helping English-speaking listeners understand the unique world of LIP CREAM. Interestingly, the title “9 SHOCKS TERROR” was revised to “9 SHOCKING TERROR” on the 2007 CD reissue by ONI Label. This revision was made after illustrator PUSHEAD, who has a long-standing relationship with LIP CREAM, pointed out a grammar error. However, the original title has been restored out of respect for the original work for this RELAPSE reissue. Following the release of this album, LIP CREAM launched their self-managed national tour “BLOODY SUMMER TOUR,” and fans who bought the album rushed to the gig. Additionally, during a show at Doshisha University in Kansai in the autumn of the same year, torches were brought onto the stage and Jha Jha set them ablaze, causing absolute chaos (footage of this incident can be viewed in the video “LIP CREAM ONLY”).

Spanish Love Songs return with a new EP, a reflective collection created mid-process while writing their next full-length. Since forming in 2013, the band has grown from DIY roots into one of modern punk’s most vital voices with albums like Schmaltz, Brave Faces Everyone, and No Joy. Vocalist Dylan Slocum calls these songs “imperfect snapshots,” built in real time with friends and collaborators — including Kevin Devine, Illuminati Hotties, Dan Campbell, and Tigers Jaw. The vinyl release will pair the new EP with their previous No Joy – Sessions and Doom and Gloom Sessions, offering fans a comprehensive physical collection.

2026 Repress

Nasty, angry dance floor biznizz from those crazy Dutch guys! DJ Hype Stigma has been obliterating dance floors for me all summer! DJ Friction, you wont believe your ears, simple as that. Noisia finally unleashes one of the most furious, grimiest pieces of DnB that's graced raves across the globe for the most part of 2008. Those DJs lucky enough to have had a copy all say the same thing: "if you need to annihilate the dance draw for Stigma."

Kicking off with a lone plucked bassguitar you would be forgiven for thinking you would popped on the wrong record but then the Noisia production chirps in with a thick half-time break and ominous FX to signal the start of something big. Dropping out to a niggling technoid synth riff that worms its way out of the darkness, the kicks roll and the sickest of drops bigger than the housing slump sends you to another planet. The rising bass tone riff switching to the short stunted b-line edits is pure madness and makes sure this is a standout track in any set without fail.

Crank continues the ruckus but sees the trio bringing things down a little for a more subdued but no less devastating cut. It's a heads down roller harking back to the techy Virus sounds of yesteryear with a bass that will have the headz grinning from ear to ear.

DJ support from Hype, Friction, Andy C, Noisia, Sub Focus, Grooverider, Pendulum, Chase & Status and many more.

Comes in standard full colour Vision Recordings repress sleeve.

ASMR for Suicidal Thoughts' marks Varg2™ back in collaboration with Chatline, an enigmatic figure long in orbit of Northern Electronics. Recorded live to tape, the record resists comfort. Contained within are two harrowing demonstrations that drag on emptiness, anxiety, and abject pleasure. And though terse and severe, that very void becomes the vessel for its mottled meaning.

Unopen to exploration, 'ASMR for Suicidal Thoughts' locks the listener into its own saturated atmosphere. Stripped back and unchanging, and suffocatingly cold at the best of times, funereal melodies pepper cyclical noise so brittle it can barely repeat itself. Disturbingly intimate glints of memories are passed over out of reach, yet with the alarming immediacy of déjà vu. The sensation amounts to no more than this.

Recorded live to tape in Västra Skogen, Sweden 2023–2024
Mastered by Giuseppe Tillieci at EnissLab, Rome

In den 90ern hatte Jad Fair fünf Lieblingsbands und Songwriter: Daniel Johnston, The Pastels, Sonic Youth, Teenage Fanclub und Yo La Tengo. Das ist echt eine coole Liste, aber das Besondere daran ist, dass Fair im Laufe von etwa zwölf Jahren mit allen in irgendeiner Form Musik gemacht hat. Jad Fair ist seit einem halben Jahrhundert produktiv, lange bevor das Internet ein simultanes und scheinbar ewiges Archiv von allem schaffen konnte, was jemand mit seinen Vorlieben gemacht hat. Er war an mindestens mehreren hundert Titeln beteiligt, von denen viele bei kleinen Labels erschienen, die es heute nicht mehr gibt, und die vergriffen sind. Tatsächlich ist eine dieser Kollaborationen, die Fair in den 90er Jahren gemacht hat - Strange But True mit Yo La Tengo - schwer zu finden, obwohl sie am 20. Oktober 1998 in den USA bei Matador Records erschienen ist. Jetzt wird das Album zum ersten Mal von Joyful Noise und Bar/None auf Vinyl neu aufgelegt. Als Fair Mitte der 90er Jahre mit Yo La Tengo auf einer Party spielte, waren sie alle Freunde, Fans und Kollaborateure, die gemeinsam an Platten gearbeitet oder diese veröffentlicht hatten. Als Fair vorschlug, gemeinsam ins Studio zu gehen, war das Trio sofort dabei. Das Ergebnis, ,Strange But True", ist so wunderbar, abwechslungsreich und wild wie eine riesige Wiese mit einheimischen Gräsern. Dieses Kollaborationsalbum zeigt die unglaubliche Bandbreite der Künstler und versetzt uns zurück in eine Zeit, in der Indie-Rock noch so seltsam und widerspenstig sein durfte, wie seine Schöpfer es wollten.

Inspired by Lou Reed’s groundbreaking 1975 noise opus Metal Machine Music, this collection assembles a formidable lineup of sonic provocateurs—Aaron Dilloway, Drew McDowall, Thurston Moore, Pharmakon, The Rita, and Mark Solotroff—to explore the outer edges of distortion, feedback, and raw electronic texture. Each artist channels the spirit of Reed’s original manifesto of anti-music, pushing their own boundaries through modular synthesis, tape manipulation, harsh noise, and industrial decay. The result is a visceral, immersive experience that celebrates chaos, confronts structure, and redefines what music can be.

Third opus from Acid Meets familly, Diffidatik Records !

First tune from Sylo vs Minds Controllers is a story-teller, broken and then banger, with an Acid bass full of tension surrounded by dub feelings..
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Second track from Neurotribe is a night caller, sunset style, dark and trance, industrial and acid, A contonuum-vitae, not shouting but growing more and more dancefloor... as the sun goes down, it goes darker !

The flip opens with LOKO and a french speaker calling for Unity in Free Party, as a culture, as a way of life and most of all LOVE & NOISE !

Last track goes PEACE ! Brixton23 and a sweet techno lullaby... A little jewel of tenderness... Even if... the Kick turns a bit more Hard after a little while :) éhéh

All in one this is the best of the 3 Acid Meets release... coming with a super printed sleeve !

Gotta get it !!!!

The record comes with the printed text of B1 tune from LOKO.

Tracks list
A1 - Sylo vs Minds Controllers - Overshoot
A2 - Neurotribe - Ethernit
B1 - Loko - Ca Revendique
B2 - Brixton23 - Acid Spring
Add all tracks to a playlist
Other releases by Neurotribe

Das ist Kramers erstes Soloalbum seit fünf Jahren. Seine letzten Solo-LPs ,And The Wind Blew It All Away", ,Music For Films Edited By Moths" und ,Music For Pianos & Sunflowers" waren Teil seines 2020 AIR (Artist In Residence) Box-Sets für Joyful Noise Recordings. ,And The Wind Blew It All Away" war eine sanfte und magische Mystery Tour mit brodelnden akustischen Saiten, Orgeln, Klavieren und Mellotrons, Tonbandschleifen, gefundenen Klängen und einem Hauch von Percussion, untermalt von Kramers unverwechselbarer, eigenwilliger Singstimme und seinen Texten. Auf dieser neuen LP entfernt sich Kramer von Worten/Texten und widmet sich ganz den minimalistischen instrumentalen Drone-Gedichten, die ihn in seinen frühen Jahren als Komponist und Performer in der experimentellen ,Downtown"-Szene des New York der späten 70er Jahre erstmals faszinierten. Auf dieser neuen LP erkundet Kramer weiter die kreativen Umgebungen, die ihn zurück in den Wald der Ideen und organischen Einflüsse führen, die seit Jahrzehnten still vor sich hin brodeln, an einem Ort, an dem die Zeit immer Jetzt ist. Fans von Terry Riley, La Monte Young und Gavin Bryars werden von Kramers neuesten klanglichen Erkundungen fasziniert sein.

French artist based in Brussels, Che Vuoi presents her first album Cinecittàx, a nod to the great Italian studio, and a tribute to false dreams.

A theatre at the back of a run-down piano bar, where surreal and intimate scenes unfold; words and stories drawn from disparate sources: Fellini, G. Réal, Diderot... or written by herself, spoken, shouted or barely whispered by an altered voice.


Noises, samples, a drum machine, a brush on a snare drum, a piano spinning round and round until it reaches delirium and its own abolition, leaving us suspended in a constant in-between or a time that never truly existed.



« This voice, gentle, mad, with lightning verve, tells between the lines and the echoes the presence of threatening shadows and ghosts. And it is Che Vuoi, her character, her world of images, that haunts us. It is a strange bewitchment that carries us beyond the words she has freed from "the stationery I stole from Bellavista the other night" ("le papier à lettre que j’ai chipé au Bellavista l’autre soir") into the lair of her universe, as whimsical as it is silky in which we let ourselves slip, as one would slip over the rock of an esoteric river, in the heart of a forest that makes music and has delirious things to tell us. »

Dead Bird is AK-Industry's very first EP for Industrial Propaganda's sub-label: Totentanz Recordings. This new EP explores the limits of the hard techno and techno hardcore genres.

AK-Industry, the founder of Nekrolog1k Recordings, has been a driving force in the Industrial Crossbreed and Hardcore Techno scene since 2008.

His signature sound blends breakbeats with hardcore and techno, resulting in a unique and powerful style that has garnered attention from major labels such as The Third Movement (NL), Industrial Strength (USA), Dark Descent (NL) Industrial Propaganda (CH) and Ad Noiseam (DE).

Having performed at some of the biggest hardcore events in Europe, including Dominator, Q-Base, Defqon, Army of Hardcore Festivals, Club r_AW, and PRSPCT XL, AK-Industry has cemented his place as a top-tier artist in the genre.

He has also collaborated with heavyweight artists such as Mindustries, I:gor, N-Vitral, Ophidian, The Teknoist, Bryan Fury, Switch Technique, Igneon System, Delta9 and Fiend.

With brand new releases on the horizon, AK-Industry shows no signs of slowing down and continues to push the boundaries of the Industrial Crossbreed & Hardcore Techno genres.

TWINS from Dresden, Leipzig, and Berlin present their second album in a particularly antiquated format: the LP in the truest sense of the word. Eight songs that are actually one. Without noticeable boundaries. Musically fragmentary, yet consistent and coherent. An album from which no song can be easily extracted; at least not without partially losing its actual effect in the process of separation. All components of the album need each other in a certain way, and it is precisely this peculiarity that gives rise to its musically emancipated strength. "it"s_complicated" is an album like a strange, brittle radio play amidst idiosyncratic post-hardcore, math rock, screamo, noise, and indie elements. A journey of musical possibilities.

Final LP of a productive year for Feral Child is an absolute cracker. The latest of a long line of superb full lengths from Stephen James Buckley's incendiary Polypores project. This one is arguably his most adventurous outing to date, the undeniably psychedelic “Hungry Vortex”. Four extended pieces exploring polyrhythmic fixations and cosmic jazz-prog freak-outs. Percussion-heavy opener ‘The Body Is The Spaceship’ is a fine example of the sort of seamless organic growth we tend to see in Polypores’ music, with slewed synth blips and rolling polyrhythms gradually twisting into unrecognisable strands of melody and unconventional groove before your very ears.

The prog-heavy ‘Wizards!’ sees Buckley’s trademarked playful use of time-signature changes, providing such a wealth of emotional and stylistic variance and immeasurable enjoyment without changing key once (honestly, who needs keys). It’s brilliantly evocative too and could indeed perfectly soundtrack a mushroom-trip wizard march. As we flip the record over, the flutey flourishes and minimalist clicks of the title track draw the listener into a trancelike state, repeated movements spiralling like myriad creatures crawling over a candy-coloured horizon, echoing forth into an inviting sonic oblivion. It’s ostensibly electronic, yet somehow more natural organism than machine, with little concern for the grid, or indeed, the rules. Finally, we end on something a little more subdued - the reassuring classicism of the beautiful ‘Void High’, with washes of warm noise and wobbly delay lines whirring and twinkling away, closing the record with an experience that is undeniably emotional, spiritual and as always, uniquely Polypores. This is a wonderful record with which to close the year out, it comes in a magnificent, spot varnished Jake Blanchard sleeve. A superb record released as a one time only vinyl pressing.

In CURSED Plattenbau descends into darker waters, where doom, hardcore, and dungeon synth intertwine, cut with the blade of their signature sound. The record explores the creeping return to feudalism - where rival warlords devastate populations and ecosystems for personal gain, leaving powerless serfs to pick through the wreckage. And yet, despite the dread, CURSED refuses despair. It is not a funeral march but an invitation: rage becomes ritual, noise becomes release, dance becomes defiance.

Ston Elaióna is John Also Bennett’s first album for Shelter Press since his 2019 solo debut Erg Herbe. The American born, Athens, Greece, based flautist, synthesist, and composer weaves a strikingly singular electroacoustic excursion for bass flute and Yamaha DX7ii, largely recorded in the golden haze of the early morning hours - bending time at the otherworldly juncture of consciousness and place. Translating from Greek as “in the olive grove”, Ston Elaióna is permeated with the ambiences of the ancient and present world, guided into form by a playfully rigorous approach to sound.
Initially emerging during the mid 2000s as part of Columbus, Ohio’s noise scene, before relocating to NYC around 2010, Bennett’s diverse activities picked up an increasing sense of pace over the following decade - performing and recording as a solo artist (JAB), with the trio Forma and with CV &JAB, his prolific duo with his partner Christina Vantzou, as well as playing in Jon Gibson’s ensemble among many other multifaceted collaborations. However, since 2020 the flautist and electroacoustic composer has existed in a semi nomadic state: drifting between Brooklyn, Brussels, extensive tours, and Greece, where he finally came to rest in Athens last year.

Drawing upon a carefully honed attentiveness to the environments and experiences of everyday life, Ston Elaióna is a suite of nine pieces (with an additional track exclusive to physical formats), many of them composed and played live as the early morning sun touched the Parthenon, in full view from Bennett’s studio window in Athens. Bennett’s refinement and restraint, honed over his years adrift, led him to adopt a limited palette focused on his primary instrument, the bass flute, and a Yamaha DX7ii synthesizer tuned to just intonation scales. Alongside a handful of other keyboards, digital oscillators triggered by his flute, and occasional field recordings, this simple palette is reflected by the deeply emotive sense of minimalism that permeates the album’s two sides. Following two solo albums defined by outward facing temperaments - 2022’s Out there in the middle of nowhere (Poole Music), which used a lap steel guitar and generative oscillators to evoke the surreal landscapes of the South Dakota badlands, and the largely synthetic atmospheres of the 2024 anthology Music For Save Rooms 1 & 2 (Editions Basilic) - the shift in Bennett’s worldly circumstances offered an intuitive return to the calm, inward states of creative exploration that have historically defined JAB’s sound. In parallel, context provided clear sources of inspiration for many of the album’s themes, as well as sources for some of its sounds. The aura of Greece, from the ancient to the present, from its stones and olive groves to its traffic, figures heavily across Ston Elaióna’s two sides. John Also Bennett’s Ston Elaióna forms an elegantly rigorous world of electroacoustic sonority, bridging the expanse of time with the immediacies of environment and happening in the here and now: a profound sonic mediation on the countless dimensions unlocked by life in Greece.

Joel Shearer’s Listening Immerses Itself in Ambient Guitar, Restraint, and the Beauty of Repetition

With guitarist and ambient composer Joel Shearer’s new album, Listening, he took the path of repetition, subtle movement, and pure sound rather than conventional songwriting. What began as a disciplined experiment — limiting himself to just electric guitar — soon expanded. At various points, he introduced piano, cello, and trumpet, allowing the record to evolve organically. "I didn’t know I was making another record,” Shearer says. “I was experimenting, wanting to do something beyond just the electric guitar. So, I started these other tracks, and that’s how Listening came about.”

Unlike albums built around hooks or dramatic shifts, Listening unfolds gradually, moving with patience and restraint. There are no choruses, no obvious climaxes — just sound evolving over time. “Instead of a traditional song structure with a verse, chorus, or B section, it’s one continuous movement that grows and dissolves,” Shearer explains. “It’s not about anticipating the next moment—it’s about sitting inside the sound, getting comfortable with patience.” A Topanga-based session musician, composer, and producer, Shearer’s previous solo albums, Morning Loops and Hours, explored the manipulation of only the electric guitar, using texture and repetition to push beyond conventions. Listening continues that journey, offering music that resists distraction and rewards deep attention.

Shearer recorded Listening without a click track, working in long, freeform takes. His shimmering, clean guitar tones—often unrecognizable, processed through looping pedals and effects—became a foundation, with layers of sound building around it. “I love making the guitar sound like anything but a guitar,” he says. “I might play for just a minute, but once the sound enters the effects chain, it takes on a life of its own. The music keeps evolving, stretching time in ways I couldn’t predict.”

The opening piece, “Big Sur,” is an 11-minute meditation that drifts in slow, hypnotic waves, its layered guitar textures sparkling like light over water. The piece moves without urgency, subtly transforming as it pulls the listener deeper into its atmosphere. “Threshold” features a delicate piano melody that gradually unfurls, allowing its essence to fully settle before the next emerges. Subtle layers of ambient guitar weave around the piano, stretching and dissolving into the background, creating a sense of stillness and slow expansion.

At nearly 15-minutes, “The Clear Light of the Void” is a slow-burning study in sustain and resonance. Layers of guitar stretch and dissolve into an open, drifting soundscape, each note lingering and shifting like a breath held in suspension. Subtle tonal variations emerge over time, creating a sense of vastness—an expanse where sound is less about movement and more about presence.

“The world is noisy—so much information, so much distraction,” Shearer says. “I wanted to create something that allows people to just be present with the sound, without expectation.” It’s an album that demands nothing from the listener but offers space — to focus, to drift, to listen without waiting for what comes next.

SPFDJ steps up for her long-awaited debut EP, Heel Thyself, out Friday 7th November on Intrepid Skin.

A core figure in grassroots techno circuits, and an internationally lauded DJ, SPFDJ's ascent reflects a passion for music governed by love and grit in equal measure. At once providing a gleefully chaotic two-fingers to dance music's self-serious establishment, whilst also flexing an ever-expanding knowledge of its roots and potentials, her musical armoury is renowned the world over for inspiring debauchery and sweat-soaked hedonism.

As an artist whose journey has been defined by challenging the norms of electronic music, SPFDJ's rebel spirit is recognised locally and globally, but guiding this attitude is a vulnerability to the realities of the music industry, and the rise of conservatism that permeates every aspect of life. And whilst sensitive to the use of buzzwords like community, it's ultimately a respect for the people who keep these scenes alive that motivates her artistry.

In releasing this EP, she taps into a more vulnerable side. The title - a nod to internal healing processes, and a play on words to motivate queers and women to 'boot up for battle' against increasingly oppressive structures - shines a light on some of the values she holds up to electronic music culture. At once playfully chaotic and deeply energising, Heel Thyself spins us through a cyclone of kicks, punches, and noise.

Opener 'Cluster B Intro' is a tempo-twisting barrage of gabber led by a robotic vocal command, setting the scene for pretty much anything to happen. 'That Stiletto Track' kicks in like a tweaked out distortion of 90s trance before spiralling upwards into a storm of heavy breaks. 'F*ckboi' is hot n heavy electro - classic in its structure, but with the added industrial touch of hammerdrill synths and razor sharp percussion. Swinging into a bouncier state, 'The Hot in Psychotic' flings ricocheting rhythms through frantic claps, with a donk to keep things moving. Rounding things off, 'Mindless Counting' flies higher with pummeling drums lifted by a touch of euphoria.

A debut laced with both defiance and self-reckoning, Heel Thyself finds the rebel looking inwards - vulnerable, but sharpened and ready.

HECKSPOILER - Bock auf Stress

Stress? Ja klar. Wir bieten dir die volle Ladung. "Bock auf Stress" ist kein Titel, sondern Ansage - laut, direkt, kompromisslos. Heckspoiler liefern wuchtigen, rohen Punk mit Haltung zwischen Frust, Humor und der puren Lust an Eskalation. Texte, die treffen, Riffs, die schieben, kein Platz für Mittelmaß.
Wer Ruhe will, ist hier falsch.

'In collaboration with the children of Nico Kasanda, better known as Docteur Nico, Planet Ilunga proudly presents an anthology dedicated to African Fiesta Sukisa, available as a 3LP set and a digital release with bonus songs. This release is the result of many years of preparations and was realized in close partnership with Liliane Kasanda, Nico’s eldest daughter. Marking forty years since his passing, we felt that the year 2025 was the right time to honor Docteur Nico’s legacy with this original collection.
'Almost all of the African Fiesta Sukisa songs were released on Nico’s Sukisa label which translates in Lingala for “the final accomplishment”. The music on Sukisa, crafted by Nico and legendary vocalists such as Chantal, Sangana, Apôtre, Mizele, Lessa Lassan and Josky, embodies the essence of that powerful phrase with genius, class and depth. The label ran between 1966 and 1975 and released approximately 280 songs. Ngoma also issued the group between 1967 and 1971 and, in addition, reissued material from the Sukisa label. Many of these songs have become part of the collective memory of Congolese society and are still heard, discussed, and analyzed daily across digital platforms worldwide, as well as on numerous Congolese radio and TV stations.
'The album we put together features some of Nico’s signature songs alongside never before reissued tracks from the Sukisa catalog. It furthermore contains a large booklet with song commentary, testimonial interviews from well-known musicians, journalists, fans and Nico’s entourage, besides never before published photography about his personal and musical life.
'Alastair Johnston, author of the book ‘A Discography of Docteur Nico’ and longstanding Planet Ilunga collaborator, designed a stylish booklet and cover using all our collected material. Audifax Bemba, longtime admirer, compiler and connoisseur of Nico’s music, and the author of most of the song commentary in our accompanying booklet, offers his portrait of Docteur Nico:
“After displaying technical virtuosity with African Jazz, expert and accomplished guitar with African Fiesta, which musicologist Sylvain Bemba described as a dream guitar, Nico Kasanda was consecrated ‘dieu de la guitare’ by the public in the late sixties. With his band African Fiesta Sukisa, Docteur Nico displays his wide palette of unusual sounds. While exploring the Hawaiian guitar with its clear, airy, plangent, psychedelic effluvia, he continues to replicate the piano comping technique, and adds two missing strings to his bow: a simulation of the sanza (likembé or thumb piano), whose sounds he reproduces right down to the noisemakers of the tiny tin rings, on the one hand, and the sounds of the Luba balafon on the other. The right note, in the right place, at the right time, is the triptych on which Nico Kasanda’s playing is based, a note dressed in the perfect sound. A guitar of pure emotion. With African Fiesta Sukisa, his playing takes a ‘Chopin-esque’ turn, sending out more notes in a sublime adagio. The true artist is the one who simplifies everything. Docteur Nico is a genius of our time, whose style makes him the supreme exponent of the most important guitar school in Congolese music. He is recognized by his peers as the greatest African solo guitarist of all time. Sculpting sound in a tireless quest for beauty, Nico Kasanda has sublimated the guitar throughout his career.”






























[xd] Kamulangu [Outro] (Dr. Kasanda – Sukisa 135) Folklore Baluba

London-based experimentalist Luke Younger (a.k.a HELM) returns to PAN with ‘Olympic Mess’.
Where his previous effort, 2014’s ‘The Hollow Organ,’ dealt in dense, distressed sonics, ‘Olympic Mess’ is Younger responding to a period spent engaged with loop-based industrial music, dub techno, and balearic disco. These musical references, all of which can induce hypnotic states and feelings of euphoria, inform ten evocative aural landscapes which unfurl over the course of an hour and act almost as a counterpoint to the turmoil that spawned them.
Crafted using an array of heavily processed samples, found sound and electroacoustics, personal conflict manifests in “I Exist In A Fog” and “Outerzone 2015,” where visceral noise disintegrates into veiled, ambient strata. The disquieting crescendos of “The Evening In Reverse” and “Fluid Cloak” offer no such relief, while the title track and “Don’t Lick The Jacket” are mineral, multilayered abstractions twisting around a brittle pulse.

Acclaimed Scottish composer Craig Armstrong releases his new work Pacific via his own label CMA Records. Written for piano, cello, and electronics, the three-movement piece was originally commissioned in December 2024 by Christian Kellersman, a pioneering figure in contemporary classical and jazz music, for his new live event series Berlin Confidential, co-curated with Alexander Szlovák. The series aims to promote innovative new music projects, with a particular focus on emerging musicians and composers.

Armstrong was among the first artists invited to perform as part of Berlin Confidential, premiering Pacific at Berlin’s historic Meistersaal concert hall in March 2025. The concert featured Armstrong on piano alongside cellist Lena Angelina von Almen and producer and musician Guy Sternberg, combining acoustic instruments with live electro-acoustic treatments to create a rich and atmospheric sound world.

Recorded in May 2025 at Lowswing Studios in Kreuzberg, Pacific continues Armstrong’s ongoing exploration of blending acoustic and electronic sound in a natural, seamless way. Over several days in the studio, Armstrong, von Almen and Sternberg developed the work’s intricate textures and dynamic interplay, resulting in a recording that captures both the intimacy and expansiveness of the original live performance.

Speaking about the inspiration behind the piece, Armstrong says: “I wrote this work during a time of great instability in the world, I wrote “Pacific” as an Elegy dedicated to the many suffering in today’s conflicts and in the hope that peace will prevail.”

Across its three movements, Pacific 1 is elegiac in nature, with the main themes stated and developed throughout the piece, punctuated by recurring piano motifs. The movement is reflective and atmospheric, with subtle electronic interventions. The second movement is arrhythmic in nature, following shifting time signatures that reflect a sense of uncertainty - the music is searching and static, ending without resolution but leaving hope for one to come. Pacific 3 moves towards peace and resolution, bringing the work to a close with quiet strength and emotional release.

When speaking about the creative process and his collaborators, Armstrong said: “Lena’s beautiful playing , tone and expression worked so beautifully on Pacific, Lena was also a great collaborator and was always willing to experiment and try new musical approaches. Lena is such a natural musician and she brought so much emotion and beauty to the piece. I wish her all the best in her future musical journey.”

He continues: Guy is a unique combination of being a brilliant engineer and mixer and a prolific very talented musician/composer. I was very fortunate to spend time with Guy in his studio in Berlin. His sensitivity to the project and his electronic programming made a wonderful contribution to the composition. His collaboration and friendship made the days working in Berlin such a great experience I would like to thank Emma Ford for her dedication, enthusiasm and guidance on Pacific”

For both von Almen and Sternberg, the collaboration was equally meaningful. Von Almen reflects on the experience of recording the piece, saying: “As a musician, it is always a great privilege to work on a piece together with the composer, and of course I felt even luckier to go through the process of creating something new with an artist like Craig Armstrong. Figuratively speaking, it felt like knitting a silk scarf: using the finest materials and taking the utmost care during the recording, we have realised another beautiful and touching work by Craig, which will bring us and certainly many others great joy. I feel very honoured to have been part of this and to have experienced this warm encounter.”

Sternberg adds: “Diving into Armstrong’s music while working on this record felt like examining a diamond under a microscope, discovering endless beauty within simplicity. Perfection and complexity emerging from simplicity, where every note, tone, noise, and gesture has meaning. I’m deeply grateful to have been part of this process, and for the freedom Craig gave me to express myself through his music, to let our sonic visions merge into one. It’s been both a lesson in music-making and in setting the ego aside, if only for a moment.”

Reflecting Armstrong’s belief in the role of music as a force for empathy and reflection, proceeds from Pacific will be donated to charities working towards peace: Médecins Sans Frontières and the Red Cross.

The limited-edition vinyl release has been pressed on Eco Vinyl at SeaBass Vinyl, a sustainable plant near Edinburgh. The record features striking cover art by Dirk Rudolph, who has designed several of Armstrong’s previous releases.

Carving vast chasms of space with exacting sound design and deadly poise, Katatonic Silentio returns to the Mantis series for another round of highly detailed leftfield techno exploration. The Turin based sound artist continues to plot her own path through contemporary electronic music, taking cues from soundsystem pressure and dubwise minimalism as much as glitchy experimentation and the meditative repetition of techno. While her output across many different labels can reach to noisy extremes and beatless atmospheres, on her latest for Mantis the Italian artist zeroes in on a hypnotic, mysterious sound cast in the icy moods of late 90s tech step and early dubstep. At all times she finds space for surprise interference even in the most austere of situations, creating a palpable tension that amplifies the deep dancefloor potential of her music and moulding powerful physicality out of subtle elements.

Markus Mattern, a.k.a. Kapillarkraft, lands on Slow Process with ‘Transdermal Patches’, a left-field exploration of vintage electronica.

Mattern, a Bavarian experimental electronic musician and professional drummer, builds this album around a plethora of interesting rhythmic elements. Aquatic timbres ebb and flow around almost-beats from analog drum boxes and Moog synthesizers.

Channeling inspiration from the likes of Kraftwerk, Brian Eno, Morton Subotnik and even early hip hop and electro-funk, some of it could be described as left-field electro, while some is just outright off the wall. An ever-present Roland Space Echo assists in the creation of rattling rhythm patterns and pitch dives, two of the album’s prominent sonic signatures. Atonal droplets and washes of simulated industrial noise yield an abiding sense of foreboding and tension, sitting in contrast to a few brief harmonious moments.

It may not be one for the clubs exactly, but it’s a deftly shaped piece of work, brimming with inventive sounds.

Released November 28th on limited edition “pharmaceutical” boxed cassette and digital formats.

Previously we’ve mentioned influences from the 1970s self-reflective work of Nick Drake & John Martyn to the lovelorn tragedy of troubadours such as Elliott Smith and Jeff Buckley creating a fusion of 1960s/70s folk and blues.

Now Cardiff-based indie folk singer-songwriter Ivan Moult returns with his most personal work to date, Stood Out In The Storm, due to be released on November 7th through Bubblewrap (home to The Gentle Good). The album follows the acclaimed Songs From Severn Grove (2023), which drew praise for its warmth, intricacy and timeless songwriting, cementing Ivan’s reputation as one of Wales’ most compelling contemporary voices.

While Songs From Severn Grove captured moments of renewal and joy - written in lockdown and
during the early days of fatherhood - its follow-up takes a braver, more vulnerable step. Stood Out
In The Storm was written in the aftermath of a personal crisis and charts Ivan’s gradual process of
healing and recovery. The record traverses darkness and light, despair and resilience, offering a
deeply honest exploration of fragility, survival and hope.

Ivan’s signature sound remains at the core: a seamless blend of 1960s/70s folk and blues infused
with modern textures, drawing influence from John Martyn, the late great Terry Reid and Ry
Cooder. On Stood Out In The Storm, that familiar intimacy is expanded with a greater presence
of guitars and organs, adding new depth and urgency to the sound. As with his previous records,
Ivan wrote, played, recorded and mixed the album at his Cardiff home studio, and the record sits
as a companion piece to Songs From Severn Grove.

Over the years, Ivan has gained support from BBC Radio 6 Music, BBC Radio Wales and KLOF
(Formerly Folk Radio UK), earned festival slots at Cornbury Festival, Festival of Voice and Sŵn,
and shared stages with the likes of This Is The Kit, Becca Mancari and Willy Mason. Now, with
Stood Out In The Storm (out November 7th), he offers his most powerful and affecting work yet –
an album born of struggle, but defined by resilience.

“Exquisite”- Folk Radio UK 

“Beautiful” - Huw Stephens, BBC Radio

“Utterly wonderful” - Adam Walton, BBC Radio Wales

”There is a wonderful delicateness that resonates through Ivan’s heartfelt lyrics, deamy music and vocals. Ivan is able to take listeners on their own journey of growth through his soft melodies and blissful atmosphere”
- Amplify The Noise

Liebe, Schmerz, das Tiefgründige, das Alltägliche: nyxy nyx ist für die Träumer und wahren Gläubigen. Tief im Kaninchenbau, gefangen in einer Schlinge, verwischen die zyklischen Riffs und Selbstreferenzen des Projekts die Grenzen zwischen Zeit und Realität und versetzen die Zuhörer in eine Déjà-vu-Falle aus unheimlichen Melodien und nebligen Blicken. Die für ihre Zeitlichkeit bekannte Band aus Philadelphia hat jahrelang an ihrer degenerativen Diskografie gearbeitet. Tracklisten werden geändert, Master ausgetauscht und Songs neu aufgenommen. In vielen Fällen ist eine Veröffentlichung nur für diejenigen zugänglich, die über einen Download oder eine physische Kopie verfügen. Zum ersten Mal überhaupt wird nyxy nyx sich zu einer vertraglich abgesicherten Unendlichkeit verpflichten. ,Cult Classics Vol. 1" erscheint bei Julia's War Records. Brian Reichert, Tim Jordan (Sun Organ), Benjamin Schurr (Luna Honey) und Alex Ha (ex-Knifeplay) werden von Madeline Johnston (Midwife) und Josh Meakim (A Sunny Day in Glasgow) für das erste Studioalbum von nyxy nyx in voller Besetzung unterstützt. Aufgenommen von Dan Angel, ist ,Cult Classics Vol. 1" die härteste Version von nyxy nyx und fängt ihre schlammige und transzendente Live-Energie ein - die perfekte (Wieder-)Einführung für Fans und Neulinge gleichermaßen. nyxy nyx startete 2014 als Performance-Kunstprojekt von Brian Riechert und Drew Saracco. Das Duo spielte Noise- und Underground-Punk-Shows und arbeitete mit vielen Freunden und Gastmusikern zusammen. Home-Aufnahmen, Kassetten und CDs von ,nyxy nyx" wurden von Labels vertrieben, aber die meisten sind DIY: handgemacht, mit Freunden geteilt und in kleinen Bibliotheken zu finden. Bis 2020 stellte nyxy nyx eine Live-Band zusammen, spielte regelmäßig, tourte an der Ostküste und nahm dann ,Cult Classics Vol. 1" auf. Jeder Song auf diesem Album wurde live gespielt, aber keiner zweimal gleich.

DITZ`Don Enzo Magic Carpet Salesman is a 9-minute, three-part noise-rock epic that marks a bold new direction for the Brighton band

Evolving from a solo-project of Christian Wilson Larsen to a dynasty including members of Serena Maneesh, Le Corbeau, Mindy Misty, Burning Motherfuckers, Next Life, Far From Tellus and Deathcrush, - Izakaya Heartbeat is seemingly a constellation in flux - complimentary to their psychedelic soundscape. Three available albums in our catalog and more on the horizon. "They do a sort of driving early/mid 90s alt rock thing, mentioning Sonic Youth, MBV, Trumans Water, Unwound, Can, Mudhoney and 100 other bands you know as influences. Their guitar sound is definitely Thurston/Lee, but unlike SY, they have members who can headbang their impressively long locks when locating a locked noise-rock groove." - Stereogum

Thermodynamic Indieswing group Mindy Misty. VS Europ Europ in collaboration with noisemystics Europ Europ.

Mette Sofie Breddam of Indie Noir rockers Le Corbeau"s own constellation. "Sofi Lofi"s Killer on the Loose is an Ode to Riot Grrrls and Rebels. The new track from the Norwegian four-piece is a growling piece of badassery." - Noisey "Buried is full of Riot Grrr, machine gun heavy drums and that rebel touch that make this Norwegian project, unique. A band you should definitely follow." - Bizzarre magazine (UK)

It's taken over two decades, but at last, the wait is over: Sevan Mater has unleashed the first- ever vinyl pressing of Live Damage , the iconic live performance by DARK TRANQUILLITY, captured during their "Damage Done" era. Pressed on Gold and Black swirl vinyl, limited to just 500 copies, and housed in a stunning gatefold cover, this reissue is nothing short of melodic death metal heaven. Originally released in 2003 as a DVD, Live Damage immortalized one of DT 's most intense and electric live shows - recorded in Krakow, Poland. Now, for the first time ever, that raw energy, that iconic Swedish aggression, and that perfectly balanced blend of melody and brutality has been etched into vinyl grooves for audiophiles and collectors alike. From the soaring leads of The Treason Wall to the punishing drive of Final Resistance, every track explodes with clarity and presence on wax.

The vinyl mastering brings new warmth and immediacy to the performance, giving fans the closest thing to being there, without the sweat and flying beer. And the packaging? Absolutely elite. Sevan Mater delivers a luxurious gatefold, featuring rare tour photos, liner notes, and an aesthetic drenched in cold, melancholic elegance. If you're a fan of At The Gates, In Flames, or if Damage Done was the soundtrack to your early 2000s fury, this release is a must-own. More than just a live album - it's a time capsule of melodic death metal at its peak.

Mj Lenderman is the project of Asheville native, Jake Lenderman, whose 'Boat Songs' was released to wide acclaim on Dear Life Records in 2022. Now Dear Life is proud to offer a vinyl reissue of MJ's 2021 label debut, 'Ghost of Your Guitar Solo,' a collection of nine songs recorded and performed entirely by
Lenderman, and one live band track. The record was written and recorded quickly, songs often being fully constructed and recorded within frenzied single day sessions. Songs were born out of freewheeling jam sessions with his roommates, with Lenderman often freestyling lyrics that would later become the
foundations of the finished songs. Lenderman would write 20 disconnected lines a day, scrapping most of them but preserving a few to be used later. This process aided in what became an extremely prolific writing period for the artist in the spring of 2020. The record sounds like country music being played by a noisy punk band, unkempt and imperfect like the characters in his songs. Here, Lenderman broadened his lyrical scope beyond solemn introspection, adding humor to scenes larger than his own life. He points to authors Harry Crews and Larry Brown as inspirations, both of whom were southern, self-taught writers who balanced empathy, humor, and darkness. This leads to the erosion of the line that separates humor and sadness. The resulting songs are about over-
indulgence and drug/alcohol abuse, full of self-loathing and pity while celebrating the absurdity of it all.

Leviathan Whispers is an album of longings, laments, deliriums and drones, savage and sublime. Within are breaths, hums and bone songs for shadows and fl ames to dance to. Tim Hill is an inspirational fi gure within the UK arts, jazz, noise and improv world. A shapeshifting maverick exploring Britain's diverse musical traditions, from rough music to industrial folk, free jazz to dub, post-punk to avant-rock, incorporating ambient electronics, hymns and noise. Having worked with pioneering arts company Welfare State International, Tim’s performed inside Stonehenge, on the back of trucks at Notting Hill Carnival, leading giants through the streets of London, Dublin and Galway, at Olympic Torch events, celebratory feasts and leading humanist funerals. Tim is also festival director for The Sound of the Streets, a charity promoting outdoor music and musical director of the Wye Valley River Festival where he helps street bands across the country including The Big Noise in Taunton and Horns of Plenty in Oxford.

Leviathan Whispers is a spectral, contemplative selection of Tim's recorded work, including material created for art installations, outdoor projects, solo performances and personal meditations. Inspired by landscape and the eternal pull of Blake's Albion, baritone, alto and soprano saxophones are mixed with tape loops, old synths, recycled live recordings, woodwinds and reeds. Other sounds are processed by Colin Potter (Nurse With Wound) and drone artist Jonathan Coleclough. The album artwork and accompanying videos feature sound sculptures by Michael Fairfax (Royal Society of Sculptors) alongside unsettling visuals by fi lm-maker and junk-alchemist David Young. "an amazing player - there's a weight to his music with a wonderfully dark edge" Corey Mwamba / BBC Radio 3 Fans of Colin Stetson, John Surman, Anna Von Hausswolff , William Basinski and La Monte Young will fi nd much to savour on this new 12" LP. LAUNCH PARTY: we're holding a special launch event with a live performance and talk by Tim Hill on Saturday, 15th November inside a beautiful Victorian chapel beneath Royal Berks Hospital, Reading.

Interstitial Spaces is Martin Brandlmayr’s debut release on Faitiche. In this award-winning radio collage, the well-known drummer and composer (Radian, Polwechsel) explores the quiet moments in music and film recordings.

The last notes of a piece of music fade out in the space. The pianist and the violinist remain frozen in place, holding their breath. The sound engineer sits silently at the desk. Once he has switched off his tape machine, the dull drone of a ship’s horn is heard in the distance. Otherwise, not a sound. Or was there something else hidden in the white noise?

Interstitial Spaces is based on short excerpts from music recordings, films, TV adverts and field recordings. Brandlmayr takes these quiet scenes, intervals in which nothing seems to happen, and brings them into the foreground, subjecting them to a microscopic spotlight. Moments in which one hears only the space itself, or the subtle presence of someone in the space: faint breathing, footsteps and the soft creak of a chair. We also hear preparations for an orchestra rehearsal: the musicians are all busy tuning their instruments, talking to each other, the concert has not yet begun.

This leads to a shift in perception: incidental details hidden in the hubbub of voices or in the silence suddenly take on a leading role. In the empty spaces, we discover various shades of noise, sharpening our awareness of sonic peculiarities. In a gentle rhythm, Brandlmayr’s radio collage offers a sequence of strange, not immediately identifiable sounds that are woven in the second part into a dense structure. At the end, the carefully captured sounds are released back into the empty space. Interstitial Spaces is a bold spectacle that celebrates the eventful uneventfulness.

For his last solo record ‘Through a Room’, Bill Nace shifted his usual saturated guitar sound and added tapes, hurdy gurdy, doughnut pipe, bird calls and the mysterious Japanese taishōgoto. Setting up for the final night of his three day residency at OTO with only the taishōgoto soundchecked, Nace hoped that Parker would arrive with his small soprano as its opposite. “I’ve been interested in state change, you know, playing until there’s a shift in time.” Known for his development of multiphonics to produce a constantly shifting pattern, Evan Parker has evolved an instantly recognizable sound - his work the soprano most distinct. Happily, it was the soprano Evan brought with him and as soon as the two start to play they entwine - taking off in a double helix of keys and reed primed for endless reconfiguration. Space warps under the velocity of playing, the pitch rising unrelentingly. It felt like unending lift off in the room, sheer energy until the last note makes remember your feet have been on the floor the whole time. Total time bending shredding.

–

"They had never played together before. They had never even met each other before this springtime 2024 concert at London’s Café Oto.

Evan Parker, circular breathing maestro of the saxophone, a legend in the universe that is Free Improvisation since the late 1960s and Bill Nace, one of the most intriguing experimental “noise” guitarists of the 1990s/2000s underground scene.

For those of us who have been enamored by the live and documented work of both these gents, this Café Oto duo was a must-hear event. It could have gone anywhere musically and that would have been totally fine. Particularly with Evan having a history of being thrown into a variety of challenging collaborations throughout his career, employing the learned elegance of trust in his own sensitivity to listening, responding, leading, following, sparring, intertwining, dialoguing, creating in the instant and, essentially, dignifying the non-hierarchical grace of chance.

The aesthetics of socialist consideration in Evan Parker’s playing, in his community of expanded and personal technique, for a younger player such as Bill Nace, strikes an exemplary model. This notion of respect would be entirely the reason Nace, when offered a residency at the most critical “new music” room in England, would request to play in duo with Parker.

Bill Nace came to prominence mostly during the apex of experimental music activity in and around Western Massachusetts in the early days of the aughts, with a focus on visual art and free improvisation guitar action. He could be found in the daytime hours, his head hanging down over a notepad, penning fine-tuned illustrations and abstract line drawings, while in the evenings he’d be attending any number of basement noise gigs, many of which he’d be participating in. His guitar style came across as being informed as much as by the physicality of his writing utensils in friction to the page as it was to his hearing and redefining of radical recordings ranging anywhere from the Black Unity Group to Black Flag.

Utilizing various metal files and other small cylindrical objects Bill would allow his guitar and amplifier to be in tandem with the improvisatory movements of his body as the instrument balanced, intentionally and, at times, precariously, upon his lap. The performances came across thrilling and daring and they would be mostly in the context of venues nothing more than a low-ceilinged damp and dank New England basement, a clutch of people hanging onto rusty pipes or sitting up on dilapidated washer/dryer machines, the shards of Bill’s “file guitar” sounds ringing out like the most alive music on Earth.

By the time Bill reached Café Oto in early 2024 he had relocated to Philadelphia all the while releasing a succession of collaborative LPs on his Open Mouth label to present his developing progression of solo and collaborative work. He also would find himself considerably engaged with playing the electric taishōgoto, a keyboard-activated string instrument from Japan which can exist as a one, two, four, five, or six string oblong sound object. Bill’s approach to the taishōgoto would not be too unlike his approach to the traditional electric guitar, though no outboard implements such as files, sticks, and rocks are utilized. The similarity would lie wholly with Bill’s full immersion of high velocity action-playing where, with the taishōgoto, an electric drone beauty occurs. The flurry of sonics and resultant harmonics emanating from the amplifier (which Bill opts to dial into with borderline loud-as fuck volume settings) furthers the meta-mantra properties of the instrument in an astounding display of drone dynamism.

This sound world of Bill’s two-stringed taishōgoto on this Café Oto night worked beautifully with Evan Parker’s improvisatory saxophone conceptions. The duology achieved instant lift off at ground zero only to find it’s eventual finale as if it were organically ordained. Time seemingly morphed from its ancient human construct of control, rendered inconsequential to the torrential transcendence of the room wildly activated by the magic resonance of the multi-directional pan-spatial sonance of the music as if it were some beatific blessing. It was one of those nights where art as a liberating force of spirit gifted the listeners with an offering of exaltation and joy. It was entirely mystical and mind blowing. A night of Total Music."

Thurston Moore, London, 2025

2025 Repress

DJ Koze doesn't aim for technical perfection for its own sake, but rather to serve the purpose of giving birth to great music. On his debut 'Rue Burnout EP' from his own Pampa label, he plays with finesse and sophistication, and implicitly understands the importance of subtlety, leading from dreamy and restrained parts to a noisy frenzy at the end. 'Blume der Nacht' starts with a looped piano solo from Arabian dodecaphony, interwoven with bangs of violine bows, piercing high-pitched strings, almost shrieking glissandi, deep angel chants and obsessive sharp rhythms. The 37 year old constantly horny wunderkind producer has made a habit of creatively foiling expectations, and works also under the pseudonyms Adolf Noise, Swahimi and recently Madima Lokkah to redefine the boundaries of electronic music. This daring concept works perfectly in the title track 'Rue Burnout' - it is very rare that you find house music this excitingly light-fooded and precisely transparent. The musician cuts the pigtail off the term 'Kackmusik' for good, and demonstrates how sounds are capable of creating the most delicate musical interplay.
Amen.
DJ Koze, Germany, April 2010.

2025 Repress

DJ Koze exists both above and beyond club culture as we know it - his albums and remixes flying free from genre and trend - and symbiotically woven into its heart. Yes, he always abstracts and weirds out the principles of house, techno, hip hop, pop, psychedelia, exotica and so forth, but he does that because he understands them. And when it comes to club-demolishing tracks, he understands those principles as well as just about anybody on earth. Thus he could create an enduring club tune like 2015's 'XTC' that is strange, contemplative, even disturbing, bore little relation to anything around at the time, yet still got bodies moving and sweating better than way more obvious techno bangers. And thus the Knock Knock album, which melts a million genres and none into one another, can comfortably include 'Seeing Aliens". 'Seeing Aliens' unquestionably is a banger, its bass riff snaking around your body like a python, its high-drama strings, pianos and outbursts of noise designed for maximum crowd pressure release. But, again, it sounds like nothing else, and its dynamics and twists unfold over eight and a half minutes in ways that will mess with your head every time no matter how many times you hear it. The exclusive b-side track, 'Nein König Nein' ("No King No"!), meanwhile, is slightly gentler on the face of it: it's less about sonic pressure, more about hip-shaking syncopation. But it too tells strange fairytales in its peculiar and brain-tweaking accumulation of detail, and though you'll hear archetypal sounds from the heart of house and disco in it, every last one of them becomes new and otherworldly.

40 Years COSMIC PSYCHOS, 40 years dirty, mean, simple, garagey punk rock & roll! EU pressing of the guys seminal 1991 album, the first for Amphetamine Reptile Records back then Noisy alternative punk rock from Down Under for fans of Stiff Richards, The Chats, Nashville Pussy, Supersuckers, Hard -Ons, AmpRep, early Sub Pop "As 1990 set in, Jones vacated the guitar spot. Knight and Walsh asked their friend Robbie Watts, a self-taught guitarist, to join the fold. Watts said yes and Cosmic Psychos ventured to Wisconsin to record their third full-length release at producer Butch Vig's Smart Studios. Released in 1991, Blokes You Can Trust was the band's first record for the American noise rock label Amphetamine Reptile, after the bandmembers became drinking buddies with label head Tom Hazelmeyer. ... The Psychos conducted a European tour during which they developed an unusual trademark. After seeing many other rock bands take bows after performances, at the end of a show in Potsdam, Germany, Cosmic Psychos decided to alter the tradition by pulling down their pants and mooning the unsuspecting audience." - Do we have to say more? Classic.

Manchmal geht einfach alles POP! Fall in Love Again with "Balloon Balloon Balloon"! Unterwerfung. Das ist das Wort, das mir in den Sinn kommt, wenn ich mich mit Kai Slaters Sharp Pins auf den überwältigenden Pop-Planeten begebe. Das Universum funktioniert nur, wenn man sich unterwirft: sich der Liebe unterwirft, sich der Rockmusik unterwirft. Sich der Kraft zu unterwerfen, die von einem Jungen ausgeht, der seine Gitarre schwingt, um makellosen Gitarrenpop zu kreieren, der ins Pantheon der Idole gehört, zu denen er mit diesem Album aufsteigt. Natürlich ist es verständlich, dass man zunächst wütend ist. Alle waren wütend auf Big Star, weil sie den Beatles zu nahe kamen. Und alle werden wütend auf Sharp Pins sein, weil sie dasselbe tun und dann noch Guided by Voices mit ins Spiel bringen. Wie kann er es wagen? Diese Überheblichkeit. Welcher 20-Jährige glaubt, er könne Robert Pollard übertrumpfen? ,Queen of Globes and Mirrors?" Ein Verbrechen. Mit dem noch schlimmeren Verbrechen, Songs zu schreiben, die so rätselhaft zeitlos sind, dass man glauben könnte, sie seien aus einem verlorenen Beatles-Band gestohlen worden. ,I Don't Have the Heart" und ,(I Want to) Be Your Girl" lassen einen wirklich im Unklaren darüber, wann und wo sie entstanden sind. Aber wenn der Lo-Fi-Noise-Pop von "Balloon Balloon Balloon" uns an etwas erinnert, dann daran, dass nur Kai das kann. Mit seiner 12-saitigen Gitarre und seiner unermüdlichen Besessenheit von Popmusik ist Slater einzigartig ausgestattet, um nicht nur von Pollard und Chilton das Erbe anzutreten, sondern auch den Byrds, den Temptations, den Four Tops und allen anderen Künstlern nachzufolgen, die versuchen, die wahre Liebe auf Band zu bannen. Er wendet die Taktik ,um Vergebung bitten, nicht um Erlaubnis" an, wenn er sich bei diesen Größen bedient, und uns bleibt nichts anderes übrig, als Slater zu vergeben, dass er uns diese Rock'n'Roll-Juwelen schenkt, die er aus der Vergangenheit in eine Zukunft katapultiert, die so melodisch makellos und doch kantig und aufrichtig ist, dass wir ihm auch dafür danken müssen, dass er das Genre vor der Bedeutungslosigkeit bewahrt hat. Denn was Slater hinzufügt, ist ganz und gar sein Eigen. Eine unbeschreibliche Sensibilität für das Songwriting, die trotz der zahlreichen Anleihen nur ihm gehören kann. Am Ende des Albums schluckt man jegliche Wut oder Ungläubigkeit, die man vielleicht hatte, und akzeptiert, dass Sharp Pins wirklich so gut sind. Auf diesem umfangreichen, aber niemals überladenen Album erschafft Slater eine Welt voller kleiner Pop-Perlen, die so einfach und dumm gut sind, dass sie uns daran erinnern, dass eine andere Welt möglich ist. Denn es ist nicht nur so, dass die Songs unmöglich aus dem Kopf gehen, was sie auch sind. Es ist Slaters eigene Hingabe an dieses Streben nach dem perfekten Popsong, die uns glauben lässt, dass dies nicht nur möglich ist, sondern auch ausreicht, um dem Leben wieder Form und Farbe zu geben. Fall in Love Again ist keine Empfehlung, sondern eine Verpflichtung. Nicht nur gegenüber einem schönen Mädchen, von denen es auf dem Album viele gibt, sondern gegenüber der Welt selbst. Vielleicht ist es dann möglich, die Zukunft zu erreichen, von der der 20-jährige Slater selbst träumt, aber bis dahin haben wir seine Liebesbriefe an den Rock'n'Roll und die Welt um ihn herum, die uns Gesellschaft leisten.

GATEFOLD DOUBLE VINYL WITH SPOT UV FRONT COVER

Following the skewed-unself-help-brilliance of ‘Sus Dog’ (which marked his first full foray into songs, abetted by Thom Yorke), and its companion piece ‘Cave Dog’, Chris Clark returns to the dancefloor’s simple, but no less affecting pleasures, with ‘Steep Stims’.
“I found it hard to pull away from listening to this record, hard to stop making it, I had to remove myself from the Stims and stop enjoying it at some point. The album feels like nature to me. I love it when electronic music feels more naturalistic than acoustic music, more potent, that’s the devil’s trick, the promise of electronic music.” comments Chris.
“I used an old synth - the Virus on all of the tracks. I used it at Mess in Melbourne - run by my friend Robin Fox - I loved it so much I had to buy one when I got back to the UK, it took a while to find. They’re a bit clunky to program but make some of my most favourite sounds.”
‘Steep Stims’ marks a back-to-basics approach, invoking the early years of gung-ho creativity enforced by limitations in technology at the time. “Most of the tracks on this album capture the spirit of making music on old samplers, which don’t have much memory time”, explains Clark. “It reminds me of making ‘Clarence Park’, my first album, where I would have to finish tunes in the session, as they would be saved on floppy disks and I couldn’t easily go between tracks. This new record is just a few synths and a few choice sounds; the writing is the important thing.”
Made quickly, ‘Steep Stims’ reflects the immediate rave energy of his live show, but that’s not to say it’s basic floor fodder, as it’s rife with personality, synth magic, and knack for melody. Although swift and impressionistically captured rather than laboured over, it’s still formidably deft, with plenty of oddball weirdness lurking beneath the dancefloor.
Soft, orange, scorched, brutal, the opening track ‘Gift and Wound’ captures the classic dance music dread / awe / euphoria combo perfectly, before ‘Infinite Roller’ merges sparkly-minimalism with snarling bass and soft sines, which turn more dense and metallic as it progresses.
The melancholic smoke belch of ‘No Pills U’ gives strong classic vibrations, which is belied by its creation, made in just 20 minutes. “I love working quickly sometimes”, comments Clark. “Inspiration hits, rough and ready. It’s off the cuff but also screams ‘don’t gild the lily with nonsense, keep it simple keep it clean’”. Segueing into its elder brother, the piece becomes bigger and beatier on ‘Janus Modal’, where it permutates for over 7 minutes of fluttering, beatific club majesty.
At ‘18EDO Bailiff’ you inexplicably find yourself at a clearing, things have suddenly got much quieter. You enter a decrepit and eerie old house, and as you move through its unsettling interior, you arrive at ‘Globecore Flats’. A real piano tuned to 18 notes per octave gives the pair of tracks a haunted, olde worlde feel, which promptly gets eaten by a huge tech step tearout monster, birthing a strange but exotic beast.
The white hot ‘Blowtorch Thimble’ is all hooktasm-rave-hyper-amen-energy, whilst acidic flute leaps around like Ian Anderson on pingers throughout the catchily simple jump-up lurch of ‘Civilians’.
“‘In Patient’s Day Out’ is like some sort of Morricone-does-kraut-rock-with-drum-machines, but that’s probably just in my head” says Clark. “I made several versions of this then went with the early mix but cranked through some choice outboard because it just had something.”
Drumless, yet still full of exhilarating-big-trance-drama, ‘Who Booed The Goose’ flashes by in stroboscopic fast forward, then ‘5 Millionth Cave Painting’ gives a palate cleanser, letting “the virus with its delicious broken, luxurious reverb have a moment”, before ‘Negation Loop’ swoops down in all its glory, with Clark’s tweaked vocals leading deconstructed trance breakdowns, tape edits and brutal noisebursts.
An antidote to the bombast of its predecessor is ‘Micro Lyf’, which closes the set on a poignant note, of sorts. Muted staccato gives way to field recordings “that gradually put it in this outside space; alien in a meadow somewhere nameless. It feels like a sinkhole. The record kinda swallows itself up and then is gone”, ends Chris.

Moving freely through time and space via experimental DIY recordings since 2009, Joasihno return with their fourth album "Spots".

“Find your spot in the shade,” a truly laid-back and incredibly soft-spoken MC once advised, yet in a world that seems to get shadier every day, it’s probably time to finally get out and face the sun. Southern German experimental pop duo Joasihno – initial solo founder Cico Beck (The Notwist, Aloa Input, Spirit Fest) and drummer/composer Nico Sierig (Instrument, Fehler Kuti) – seem to know exactly when it’s time to shine. Idiosyncratic genre tweakers since day one, they have been operating at their own pace, mostly staying in their own shady corner. Yet, almost a decade after their most recent “Meshes” (an album that came with a whole legion of tiny music robots), it’s high time for them to take over more corners, to reclaim even more spots between lo-fi and sci-fi, retro electronica and contemporary classic. Drawing upon influences as varied as Reich, Riley, and Ryuichi, múm, Meek, and Moondog, while also nodding to other experimental twosomes (e.g. The Books), the duo’s fourth full-length “Spots” is set to arrive via Alien Transistor in late 2025.

Leaving soulless automation and all things artificial to others, Joasihno launch the latest record on “2 Squares” that feel like a peaceful, almost bucolic version of retro space age: lights blink ever so softly as easy-going bass tones point at today’s introspective flight arc. Electronic shapes align and things lift off – with a majestic 8-bit sunrise soon appearing right in front of us. Whereas playful title song “Spots” is a miniature Rube Goldberg kind of device, with quirky plucked strings and glitches setting off more and more contraption layers, “Crackleboom” is uncharted energy, an open landscape, an expanding bonfire that leads to a long-forgotten piano, all dust-covered in some kind of saloon. Space might be only noise to others, here, it’s foreboding screeches (“Dizzle Whistle”) that make room for A-side center piece “Forest Lights”: a steady beat that lures us to a clearance in the woods. Things break and shatter in the distance, but this spot right here is for hypnosis, dancing, sylvan spirits. And yeah, it’s surprisingly hot down here in the undergrowth…

Opening side B with a fun banger that takes the unhinged dancing to the playground – “Characa Orb.” feels like French kids on swings going crazy, a tipsy, tongue-in-cheek electro blow-out between Oizo and Orbis Tertius –, things get even more cinematic throughout the second half. Even the cheapest, lo-fiest gear is sufficient to make “The Slow Hour” glow like true, timeless pop royalty. In fact, the very same pop spirits roam and celebrate freely in the chirpy coves of mesmerizing “Detune Lagoon” – more hand-crafted sci-fi/lo-fi loops you’ll only find after facing the ghosts of Lynch or Sakamoto on those night-time trails under the “Deep Moon”. It’s all DIY spots, spots that leave room to dream or dangle, drape yourself over or dive into. Returning to the leafy bower on a melancholy post rock tip, we eventually learn that “Death Is Real” – and so we’re left with a laterna magica that turns and turns and turns. It’s a beautiful spot where light and shadows keep on dancing, just like they’ve always done, ever since the dawn of this madcap universe.

Channeling inventive sound design into incisive, characterful techno variations, Jurango returns to Livity Sound with an eight-track double EP — his longest release to date. Taíno Gold captures a moment in time for Bristol-based Nate Reece's continually evolving sound as it draws on the full spectrum of UK club music.

Following a debut for Livity's reverse label in 2021 and last year's An Amorphous Mass EP, Reece is more assured than ever tackling a variety of club-focused cuts. The tracks on the release all came together before, during and after a two-month visit to Reece's grandparents' home — an idyllic tropical environment in a small community at the top of a hill in the northern part of Jamaica.

Taíno Gold refers to the island's indigenous Taíno community and the legend of a witch luring Spanish settlers into a trap on the Martha Brae river. There are no messages explicitly embedded in the music, but the release is both a personal reflection of Reece's own experiences and family heritage, plus a reminder about the enduring sceptre of colonialism and the continued need to fight against it. From absorbing Jamaica's fraught history through museum and plantation visits to the abundant nature in the garden surrounding his grandparent's house, the double EP marks a place in time for Reece, with eight advanced, ear-catching tracks as the end result.

From the cascading arps of 'Black Torches' to the tunnelling chords of 'Waiting For Trelawny', the melodic dimension of the Jurango sound is more confident than ever. 'Hibiscus' is a shimmering celebration of dub techno and crooked drum pressure and 'Chalk On Trees' basks in aqueous, fathoms-deep pads to close out the EP. Elsewhere, Reece brings new textural and tonal detail to his percussive workouts, splashing acidic noise around the angular experimentation of 'Maybe It's Broken' and firing off double-time rhythms to inject 'Double Sevens' with infectious urgency.

With the space afforded by a longer release, Reece widens out the scope of his artistic identity while absorbing the particular scene and setting that surrounded him while making the tracks. Taíno Gold is a vibrant next step for Jurango and a natural continuation of his work with Livity Sound.

Livity Sound is a label set up by Peverelist in 2011 as a vehicle for a raw and exploratory strain of UK techno, rooted in the heritage of UK dance music and sound system culture. It has since become one of the UK's foremost protagonists for cutting edge underground electronic music.

Karen Willems is a Belgian drummer/percussionist active in various fields. Started as a drummer in rock and pop bands. With a number of musicians she built up a tradition within improvised music and sound art. Since 2020, with ‘TERRE SOL’ Willems is searching for personal modifications within her play of instruments and objects, with the focus on solo work and compositions.

"When I make music, there’s no plan. I draw my inspiration from everyday life. Small encounters, people, and the greatest source, of course, is nature. There we find all the beauty, all the sounds we need. With my solo work I try to stay far away from my familiar drum set. Only then I can create a special universe. Eccentricity and playfulness go hand in hand with exercises in tension and release, and calls for connection in antisocial times. It's difficult in this world obsessed with productivity and results, and you really have to be crazy to release music these days. So ‘A Fool’s Guide to Reality’ is a fitting title." Karen Willems

All music performed by Karen Willems using citer, casio, fieldrecordings, tambourin, mikado, xylophon, pots, bells, kindergarten instruments, snare, noisebox, crispy shakers, synths, effects...

Das Multi-Platin-Quartett All Time Low aus Maryland - Alex Gaskarth, Jack Barakat, Rian Dawson und Zack Merrick - ist bekannt für seinen hymnischen, unnachahmlichen Sound und seine treue Fangemeinde.
Sie kündigen die bevorstehende Veröffentlichung ihres zehnten Studioalbums Everyone's Talking! an, das am 17. Oktober über ihr eigenes Label Basement Noise Records in Zusammenarbeit mit Photo Finish Records/Virgin Music Group erscheinen wird.

A central figure in the contemporary scene, Setaoc Mass delivers five tracks of intimidatingly dystopian techno for Fuse's next release. Synth-heavy and melodically focused, the UK native brews moody tones over his signature percussion to provide a touch of improvisation for balance. In Static Rush, genres and influences collide under the persistence of concrete club music.

A haunting synth sequence opens FUSE10 with 'The Sky Above', showcasing Setaoc Mass's intentions for the rest of the release. Playing with decay and sifting through shakers, the seasoned producer fills the spectrum with constant tension throughout the entirety of the A1. In 'Shaded', whipping white noise over sixteenth synth notes, the pressure rises and falls with whistling accents on the transitions. Keeping the dancer on their toes with a lively arrangement, Setaoc Mass keeps his hands on all elements to maximise the record's progression. Moving to the B side, Feeling blends harmony and robust tone. Claps thunder through the track's warehouse acoustics, complemented by a sharp lead cutting through a heavy low end. The structure remains elusive and quick like the previous two, and it boasts a full, grinding sound destined for peak-time sets.

The end of Feeling then dips down into a two-track journey of ethereal sound designs and soft melodies. Keeping the rhythm swinging, Flutter By settles the atmosphere with an IDM-inspired iced synth and pads. This change of emotion pushes depth into the record, providing a welcome surprise in Static Rush. Setaoc Mass then signs off with the final contribution to the EP, Overload. Pushing further than ever into melody with hints of Detroit electro and a complete absence of a kick, the producer teases a slithering arrangement that ends his record with a bold conclusion.

Werewolf Etiquette sind Geoff Habba und Davo Gould, Gründer und Rhythm Section, der 90er AlternativeRock-Helden Mother Tongue Ihre letzten gemeinsamen Aufnahmen waren das legendäre Debüt-Album »Mother Tongue«.

2025 folgt ein erstes Lebenszeichen neuer Energie mit großer Europatour von Mother Tongue und der Werewolf Etiquette-EP im Post-HC-Heavy Psych Noise-Stil.

"PROG-ROCK LEGENDS SPOCK’S BEARD ARRIVE ON MADFISH WITH NEW ALBUM THE ARCHAEOPTIMIST. GATEFOLD 2LP VERSION, PRESSED ON RED VINYL. “mad time signatures, impossible harmonies, intense arrangements…sensational”
THE PROG REPORT “a true heir of the legacy of bands as Yes, Gentle Giant, Pink Floyd & old Genesis…a truly fascinating voyage.” METAL TEMPLE If Spock’s Beard have taught us anything over their 30+ years in the business, it’s that they have no interest in becoming their own tribute act. The Archaeoptimist - their latest offering & first release on Madfish - is not a retreat into old habits, but a recalibration. Just when you think they’re settling in, they kick the walls out instead. At the centre of this particular storm is Ryo Okumoto, whose fingerprints are all over the album - not just as a performer, but as a driving creative force. Teaming up with co-writer Michael Whiteman (I Am the Manic Whale) & longstanding bandmembers Alan Morse & Ted Leonard, Ryo has helped shape an album that is undeniably Spock’s Beard with a characteristic wry smile to boot. The album was produced by Okumoto & recorded at each band member’s respective home studios. Esteemed producer Rich Mouser (Dream Theater/Weezer) takes up the mixing & mastering duties. Over more than 30 years, Spock’s Beard have established themselves as one of modern progressive music’s most exciting & consistent acts, with live shows as renowned as their studio work & tours that draw sold-out audiences across the globe. Their albums regularly chart worldwide, with 2018’s Noise Floor reaching #3 on the UK Official Rock & Metal Chart & #6 on the Official Progressive Albums Chart.

LTD EDITION

"Kaidi Tatham maintains one of the most prolific artists from the UK, he's been releasing music for 30+ years and has reached some form of cult status amongst many musicians. Seen as one of the key players in the broken beat movement, he collaborated with everybody from Bugz In The Attic, Dego, IG Culture, Andrew Ashong, to DJ Jazzy Jeff, Patrick Gibin, Volcov and the likes. For this special release he remixed the young Amsterdam-based group RADIOHOP, who are a quartet playing groove-based jazz, with influences from hip-hop, funk, fusion, broken beat & more. In the past 4 years they've made noise all across the country by playing in many venues, at festivals like Super-Sonic Jazz, and their stellar debut album 'All We Do' got really well received in 2024."

DarkSonicTales is a project by Rolf Gisler and his eponymous album his first for Hallow Ground. Having been granted an artist residency by the label in a 300 year-old farm house in the Swiss countryside in autumn 2019, the Lucerne-based musician and sound artist explored the peculiar sonic environment of the building and its surroundings through the use of field recordings, modular synthesizers, guitar, bass, kalimbas, a singing saw as well as self-built instruments. "DarkSonicTales" starts with kalimba sounds and field recordings, setting the stage for "Sonic Darkness"- a self-referential spoken word piece whose sinister jazz-like sound calls to mind Bohren & der Club of Gore. The following "Spring Feelings" contrasts insect sounds with harsh noise elements, elegiac drones and a throbbing rhythm. It's not quite what you'd expect from a piece with such a title, but the stories that Gisler tells throughout the record are more concerned with uncovering the hidden histories underneath what meets the eyes than (re-)creating idylls. The nine minute-long "I Still Believe" further underlines that by bringing together glistening synthesizer notes with industrial-like drones and field recordings that give it a palpable effect before Gisler unexpectedly changes course and quite literally bursts into song. Towards the end of "DarkSonicTales," the music becomes notably more minimalistic. Gisler experiments with the dynamics of modular drones on "Kind of Restless," juxtaposing birdsong and ominous electronic noises on "Best Buddies" before a mid-tempo beat emerges, making the record close on a decidedly hopeful note. These dark sonic tales, they have a happy ending. "DarkSonicTales" is an organic album in more than one sense of the word. Reacting to and reflecting the world around him as well as expressing his inner one, Gisler gives the sounds at the core of his multifaceted compositions space and lets them breathe. Working along stark contrasts and with surprising twists, he also shines a light on the atmospheric and emotional ambiguity of the world he encountered during his solitary artist residency-unearthing the hidden layers underneath what is perceivable.

Ho comes back with a new EP on Epiteth.

A side brings 2 tunes from David Lagon and LSA, David Lagon brings here one of his best tune ever... probably the track of the EP.
The LSA comes with a mental industrial Hardcore tune.
Both are at 200 BPM.

B side start with a superb collab' between Le Tallium & Inger : a long broken industrial intro opening to a dark noisy beat. A bass-wind maker.
The superb second track is from Clarise Volkov : a killer melting dancefloor and experimental sounds.

The sleeve is glossy, printed. Visual and photos by Ho himself.

Limited edition.

Room Noises is the debut album by the American indie rock/pop band Eisley. The album spawned three singles: "Memories",

"Telescope Eyes", and "I Wasn't Prepared". It was placed at number 9 among Paste magazine's top albums of 2005.

The dreamy sound on this album is pretty unique and the album contains a healthy dose of fragile songs.
Room Noises is available as a limited edition of 750 individually numbered copies on crystal clear & black marbled vinyl and includes an insert.

Der zurückgezogen lebende Elektronikmusiker Jeremy Dower aus Melbourne kündigt eine Compilation mit bisher unveröffentlichten Stücken aus einem Vierteljahrhundert an, die in zwei Hälften unterteilt ist, um sein unaussprechliches Ambient-Techno-Projekt Tetrphnm aus den 90er Jahren sowie die melancholischen Faux-Jazz-Aufnahmen, die er später unter seinem eigenen Namen veröffentlichte, zu präsentieren. Personal Computer Music, 1997-2022 ist der Höhepunkt der laufenden Reissue-Reihe von Chapter Music für Jeremy. Im August veröffentlichte Chapter seine früheren Alben erstmals digital - Sentimental Dance Music For Couples (ursprünglich 2000 über das US-Label Plug Research, Heimat von Veröffentlichungen von Flying Lotus und Jon Tejada) und Music For the Young and the Restless (ursprünglich 2004 auf dem japanischen Label Bit Of Heaven). Zunächst inspiriert von strengem deutschen Techno wie Monolake und Mouse on Mars, wuchs Jeremys Klangwelt und nahm so unterschiedliche Einflüsse wie The Sea and Cake, Joao Gilberto, Jaki Liebezeit und Alain Goraguer auf. Jeremy arbeitete jedoch ganz allein auf der anderen Seite der Welt an diesen Meilensteinen und improvisierte Systeme der ,subtraktiven Komposition" mit billigen Soundkarten aus den 90er Jahren, 12-Bit-Samplern und gebufferten Noise Gates. Seine Musik entwickelte sich in einer parallelen, aber separaten Welt zu Genres, die später als IDM oder Microhouse bezeichnet wurden, aber eigentlich klingt sie wie nichts anderes als Jeremy Dower - magisch einfallsreich, berührend und persönlich. Efficient Space hat einen Tetrphnm-Track auf ihrer beliebten 2018er-Compilation mit australischer Elektronikmusik der 90er Jahre, 3AM Spares, veröffentlicht. Aber Personal Computer Music, 1997-2022 ist Ihre erste Gelegenheit, Jeremy Dowers faszinierende Musikgeschichte mit der Tiefe zu erkunden, die sie verdient.

Gerry raus, kein Ersatz. Zu fünft, Dim Prospects sind zurück zur deutschen Sprache, neues Kapitel. "Abscheu und Neugier": aufgenommen im Winter 24/25 mit Tom Zwanzga im S.T.R.E.S.S. Studio, gemastert in der North London Bomb Factory von Daniel Hajji Husayn.
13 Songs zwischen Punkrock und Hardcore - mal schnell, mal gedrosselt, immer mit Melodie und melancholischem Unterton. Irgendwo zwischen Hamburger "Schiffen", Leatherface und Hüsker Dü. Texte voll Wut und Spott über den täglichen Irrsinn von Konservatismus und Rechtsruck. Abscheu trifft Neugier, Grant trifft Augenzwinkern.