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FAR are excited to bring Chris Coco and DJ Rocca to the label for this release. Both artists need no introduction to Balearic /House and Disco aficionados, the pair have both notched up stunning solo musical releases.

Meeting at La Casella festival in Italy in the summer of 2019, the duo decided to team up in the studio resulting in the ''Discoteca'' EP, a shimmering slice of Balearic, Disco House containing all the right ingredients and forward motion required for maximum sunshine or nightime connection.

On A1 Discoteca (The Heavy Fun Dub Mix), they manage to create a heady cocktail of synth riffs, ARhodes and Guitars all underpinned by a solid bass line, nodding to the Jazz funk of Atmosphere with the edge of Dinosaur L recording in Italy circa 1982. AAntonio prosper turns up on vocals, whispering, and chanting, evoking imagery of a night out in the mid-summer heat somewhere in southern Europe.

In 1978, Roy Roberts produced and wrote a song for soul music legend Eddie Floyd; this melancholy storyliner has languished in the vaults for over forty years. IZIPHO SOUL are thrilled to release on a 45 and continue our Rock House Records/Westwood Music Group licensed collaboration.
Featuring on the A Side, Southern soul legends Barbara Carr and Roy Roberts duet on the supreme mid-pacer ‘It’s Only You’.
250 collectors’ copies pressed for the Real Soul Heads!

Please note ‘Guess It Wasn’t Meant To Be’ has been restored from the original tape to its best possible quality - unrepairable damage is evident in the final parts.

Lysergic DIY acid house from Estonia, ca. 1995/1996. Cheap machines, romantic literary inspirations (the record is actually inspired by Saint-Exupéry), not a lot of air in the room but enough to keep on dreaming. Loud pressing for serious brain melting. For fans of Irdial, Stroom, rubber hammers and queens that are simply lost in fog or drowned in dust.

Sukh Knight's DAKU imprint comes strong again with its 3rd vinyl release, this time with some of Sukh's classic tracks getting the remix treatment. The title track is Cimm's much sought after monstrous remix of 'Diesel Not Petrol', with Cimm adding his trademark crisp drums, and extra riffs and stabs to give this classic track a modern vibe. This one has been in constant rotation in both Dubstep & Grime scenes getting instant reloads. On the B-side, finally getting a release after being a treasured dub for 12 years, is the VIP mix of Diesel Not Petrol, this one also still sounding as fresh and heavy as it did all those years ago. To top it all off, Mystic State come with their deep, heavy meditation vibes on the remix of 'Shutdown', guaranteed to take you on a journey. Timeless music!

Black Truffle is pleased to announce Ashioto, the first international solo release from Japanese drummer-percussionist-composer Tatsuhisa Yamamoto. Active for over a decade, Yamamoto has performed and recorded extensively with artists such as Jim O’Rourke, Eiko Ishibashi and Akira Sakata, as well as participating in innumerable improvised and ad hoc groups.

Ashioto presents two wide-ranging pieces that combine Yamamoto’s percussion work with piano, field recordings, electronics, and contributions from guest musicians Daisuke Fujiwara and Eiko Ishibashi.

Beginning with a passage of chiming metal percussion, the first side slowly builds into a rolling, open groove reminiscent of Yamamoto’s work on Eiko Ishibashi’s acclaimed Drag City LP The Dreams My Bones Dream. Spacious piano and synth notes, along with Ishibashi’s spare melodic figures on processed flute, hover above this propulsive rhythmic foundation, the whole effect adding up to a more abstract take on the area explored on Rainer Brüninghaus’s ECM classic Freigeweht. The LP’s second side opens up a cavernous space filled with ominous electronics and shimmering metallic percussion, which organically transitions into a passage of rumbling piano chords and mysterious concrète sound. Later in the piece, Daisuke Fujiawara’s saxophone enters, playing melancholic melodic fragments that are looped and layered, creating a seasick swaying effect familiar to listeners of James Tenney’s works with tape delay systems. Beginning as delicate bass drum pulses, Yamamoto’s accompanying percussion eventually builds the piece into a raging torrent of free-improv splatter, processed sax and fizzing electronics.

Though grounded in instrumental performance, Ashioto is very much a studio construction, making inventive use of electro-acoustic principles in its editing and mixing. Together with its sister Ashiato – a different take on the same ‘script’ released simultaneously on Japanese label Newhere – Ashioto demonstrates to an international audience for the first time the true breadth and ambition of Yamamoto’s work.

Mastered by Jim O’Rourke. Cover photos by Kuniyoshi Taikou. Design by Lasse Marhaug.

Dukes of Chutney, the transcontinental trio of Dustin Lynn, John Paul Jones, and Petra, explore the different spaces and places, between nothingness and nature, that nurture inner and outer peace for their debut full-length Hazel. Cosmic yet intimate, long-gestating and free-flowing, diffuse and centered, Dukes turned toward their immediate sanctum, and a network of friends and colleagues, to realize the vision of Hazel. “Pretty much everything we do is without purpose,” the Dukes admit, in line with their pursuit of joy. But it’s not empty hedonism or passivity at play on Hazel, so much as an expression of freedom. “Why not?” was scribbled on the white frame of the Polaroid documenting their first appearance on Tim Sweeney’s Beats in Space many years ago, and it remains their motto, their mantra.

Ltd. Purple Edition

Out 18th September, ‘What It Is’ is the second LP from Brooklyn- based multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and producer Sly5thAve; his first new music since the critically acclaimed project ‘The Invisible Man: An Orchestral Tribute to Dr. Dre’. The recording had been first devised as a benefit concert in LA which was attended by Dr. Dre who took to the stage to express thanks for Sly5thAve’s arrangements. Having spent the past three years performing the project with orchestras around the world, ‘What It Is’ sees Sly5thAve retain the high-quality that fans and critics alike have come to expect from him while stepping out with something considerably different, delving deeper into the worlds of hip hop, jazz and soul. Celebrating not only his own versatile musicianship but that of his collaborators and friends, ‘What It Is’ is a collection of tracks showcasing the best of the multi-faceted musician. A sought-after collaborator himself, Sly5thAve has attained much respect from his work with a host of highly fêted musicians including; Prince (as a member of the New Power Generation Band), Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Taylor Swift, Janelle Monáe, Freddie Gibbs and Quantic.

limited vinyl

The Sweethearts is a project by Tyler Thacker together with Sam Mehran (ex Test Icicles).
Songs were written on a tiny casio between Sam and Zak Mering. Tyler pretty much played all the instruments.

As Tyler explains:
This album was recorded a decade ago underneath a bunkbed in a crowded apartment we shared in Brooklyn. At the time, ‘The Sweethearts’ was just another anonymous moniker among many, intended as a pop-minded musical outlet between primary contributors myself, Zak Mering and Sam Mehran, featuring whatever friends happened to be passing though that day including but not limited to Morgan Whirledge, James Ferraro, Zak Davis, Aaron Frankle, Ian Drennan, Ariel Pink, Ryan Howe.
Like so many of the collaborations from those years, these songs and many more floated to the wayside as we each barreled through various other configurative projects, eventually retired to failing hard drives. But the specter of this specific catalogue always haunted me despite shifting primary focus to painting shortly thereafter. Two years ago in July, the world lost one of its most fearless creators, Sam Mehran , and I lost one of my best friends who oozed melody as effortless as breath.
These songs are letter bombs to adolescence in the information age: reterritorializing the tropes of heteronormative psycho-sexuality proliferated throughout western pop music on top of self-deprecation, heartbreak, disappointment, indulgence, and loss of innocence.
At one point, I caught myself singing harmony to Zak and Sam on a song called ‘Tonight’s the Night’ and it was in that meeting place between the metaphysical and the spirit world, that I finally got to say goodbye to Sam.

Steve Von Till has charted an extraordinary musical path over the last several decades, from his main duties as singer and guitarist of the boundary-breaking Neurosis to the psychedelic music of his Harvestman project and the gothic Americana he's released under his own name. But No Wilderness Deep Enough is truly like nothing you've ever heard from him before—an album that's devastatingly beautiful and overwhelming in its scope, reminiscent of the tragic ecstasy of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' recent work as well as the borderless ambient music pioneered by Brian Eno, late composer Jóhann Jóhannsson's glacial compositions, and the electronic mutations of Coil. 

FOR FANS OF : MARK LANEGAN/MICHAEL GIRA/NICK CAVE.

Over the course of recent time, an aching, growing void has developed where our normal way of life has resided. Uncertainty abounds, and Steve Von Till's No Wilderness Deep Enough provides a voice of existential wisdom and experience to offer comfort and perspective in an era of uncharted territory. These six pieces of music shape a hallucinatory landscape of sound that plumbs the depths of the natural world's mysteries and uncertainties—questions that have vexed humanity since the dawn of time asked anew amidst a backdrop that's as haunting as it is holistic.

Von Till’s fifth solo album is a swirling and iridescent blend of ambient, neo-classical, and gothic Americana that swan-dives into the darkness of modern life, with the resulting emergence a sonic document of rural psychedelia that transcends the physical world—towards a greater spiritual acceptance that connects naturalism, spiritualism, and the corporeal form.

With a foundation of simple melancholy piano chord progressions embellished with mellotron, cello, french horn and electronic treatments Von Till's scorched ache spreads across the terrain of No Wilderness Deep Enough like a brushfire, adding a tactile level to his sonic creation as well as an inviting level of friction to the burning beauty painted across the album's framework.

With a foundation of simple melancholy piano chord progressions that came to fruition during jetlagged nights in his wife’s childhood home in Germany, No Wilderness Deep Enough was further embellished with mellotron and electronic treatments in Von Till’s home studio in North Idaho.  Viewing the emerging result as an ambient instrumental album, he consulted friend and engineer Randall Dunn (Marissa Nadler, Earth) about adding live cello and french horn and piano in a proper studio.  After enlisting Brent Arnold on cello and Aaron Korn on french horn, he challenged Von Till to sing over the music and make it his next solo album—which is exactly what happened, with final work being completed at Tucker Martine’s (the Decemberists, Neko Case) Flora Recording and Playback in Portland.

Tectonic is very proud to welcome Lamont to the team!

Bristol’s bendy-beats whizz kid is mainly known for dropping jaws with his releases on Swamp 81 and it’s various offshoots. This time, he’s been chipping away at 4 fine-cut gem, especially for Tectonic - bringing some darkside vibrations in addition to his usual bounce.

‘Hold Dat’ runs at 135bpm, sitting in-between grime, dubstep and housey/techno/whatever that thing Lamont usually does! Charged with a disgusting, totally greasy bassline, this one drops hard and keeps going - quality moves for (now, mostly imaginary) dancefloors.

‘Push’ takes it down a notch, to 130 for a more heads-y work out, laden with crackling, fizzing sonics - and heavily punctuated by sub bass hits. The energy levels step back a touch, while building intensity.

‘Brain’ sees Lamont working more familiar territories - sending a pounding 4/4 kick drum out to hold together a series of collapsing percussive hits and warping melodies - as a ‘brain’ sample, simply haunts your brain.

The EP closes off with ‘Open Letter’, taking things into a dread-space; dub wise, deep and dangerous. The lurching bass hits take charge and push you through layers of echo’ed hits and micro-melodramas, to round off this great EP in fine style.

Hypnoskull is part of the global anti-music conspiracy networkTM (since 1992). Hypnoskull was created in 1992 as a solo project in order to experiment in the area of electronic noise combined with rhythmical structures. In the first years of its existence, Hypnoskull was releasing cassettes and tracks on international labels in the so-called cassette network, a widely spread network of independent and experimental musicians and artists who expressed themselves throughout limited tape releases often including artworks, ideas, texts. In 1998, hypnoskull signed to the German label ant-zen and up to today he is still releasing his albums on this highly influential record label. That is not a coincidence: ant-zen stands for ‘anti-zensur’ (anti-censorship), one of the main starting points of the provocative hypnoskull project. Patrick Stevens does not limit himself to just producing music as such, albums always include a severe message, a thought-provoking underlying concept text, questions. The main philosophy: ‘the dance floors, the clubs, the festivals,… are staged warzones with a different set of rules – a therapeutic zone where hidden anger and even aggression of both the artists as well as the spectators can be released in a proper, human way. Music as a means to open up the deepest anger inside human beings, letting it out in a way which is not harmful to others. A strange symbiosis between the two worlds Patrick Stevens is a part of: the techno and the industrial scene. Techno being a genre promoting a peaceful yet hedonistic way of life, industrial on the other hand being a highly nihilistic, philosophic but pitch black reflection on society. The mix of both musical as well as content wise elements of these genres result in what hypnoskull is all about. Added to this an explosive mixture of post-war and contemporary western subversive philosophy – in a rather impulsive manner – makes the project what it is today, after 30 years of existence.

For anyone who can remember, Arca's &&&&& was a moment. Its 25-minute stretch of coiling, contorted grime and glitch; dub and hip hop dropped with the buzz of an impending co-production credit on Kanye West's Yeezus in 2013. It included cuts of sound and beats that were too weird for that pop project, while becoming a piece of experimental art that what would come to define what is by now broadly known as a `post-club' sound. It's music that is as visceral as it is experimental; made as much for the mind, as it is for the body. Released with no warning seven years ago, &&&&& became a bridge between Alejandra Ghersi's time partying and collaborating with her queer peers, while still living in New York to the next stage of her career releasing on Mute in London. She'd go from making beats for rapper Mykki Blanco and fashion label Hood By Air, posting lurching bass reworkings of pop hits on YouTube, and producing her first fluid mixtapes with DIS Magazine, to finishing off this seminal mixtape on the synths in Daniel Miller's studio. After dropping three impressive EPs the year before, &&&&& marked a transition. Continuations and extrapolations of material from Stretch 1 and Stretch 2 appeared in the mangled RnB sampling of "Century" and Arca's signature vocal layering in the pitched flow of "Waste". Along with the fluttering, muted heartbeat of "Obelisk", and the lumbering piano chords of "Mother", fourteen sonic sketches were elegantly woven together into a single, downloadable whole. As Alejandra's course turned toward moving to Europe from the United States, &&&&& became a remarkable challenge to the form of the mixtape, which was a relatively new trend taking hold of the online-oriented underground at the turn of the 2010s. But where many, if not most mixtapes where treated simply as a showcase of individual tracks presaging a more `official' release to come, &&&&& was a complete piece in its own right. "I wanted to make something that was my best work," Alejandra says about a record that has stood the test of time, "I listen to it very fondly today." This reissue of Arca's 2013 debut mixtape &&&&& features an etching on side B of the vinyl.

A new colossal star rises in the twilight of funky soul jazz as Ernie Hawks releases his debut album "Scorpio Man" on Timmion Records. The impressive trombonist/flutist, is known to hold no punches, when performing live in the ranks of The Soul Investigators. Here he delivers a fierce selection of S.O.U.L. and Cymande flavored instrumentals that also bring to mind some of the finest sample-fodder library music.

The album's name, "Scorpio Man" might come from the stinging and slightly intimidating style Hawks handles the trombone slide, known to pierce the hearts and souls of the ladies in the front row during his live performances. On this album, Ernie rides to battle equipped only with the flute, but this does not mean we will be exposed to some smooth jazz snooze fest. Rather Ernie handles his instrument with muscular rawness at times and moody ambiance at others, sliding with ease into any groove that the extended Soul Investigators band lays down.

"Scorpio Man" is no one trick pony, and the listener will be shifted around from the exhilarating psych funk of "Scorpio Walk" all the way to the airy moods of "Street of Tears". Take a chance with the Scorpio Man, his sting will give you a funky high much better than what they sell in the streets.

Lounge is the third in a series of five double vinyl releases that bring together some of Ennio Morricone’s greatest soundtrack music. Each collection centres on a different movie genre, together they allow the listener to rediscover the unmatched genius of the greatest movie composer of all time. The Maestro. This collection was announced before Ennio Morricone passed away on July 6, 2020. We’ll continue to release the series to honour this great composer.

The term Lounge Music is not one that Ennio Morricone would have heard at the time he was composing these pieces for the movies that they enhanced, but it is one that has been retrospectively applied to a certain type of music, and it is a style that Morricone has contributed a great deal towards.

Lounge is available as a limited edition of 3000 individually numbered copies on solid orange vinyl. The package includes a 4-page insert with liner notes written by Claudio Fuiano. The gatefold sleeve contains a velvet spot varnish on the outside and images of iconic movie posters on the inside.

In our latest chapter of Spiritual Jazz, we return to the source – the Impulse! label, and the monumental influence of its most prominent artist, John Coltrane.
Since the first release in the series back in 2008, we have mapped out the growth of the spiritual sound in jazz. Spiritually energised and politically conscious, the spiritual sound in jazz music is one of the most important currents in the music. Our series has charted the growth of the style from early experiments at Blue Note and Prestige to European excursions, exiled experimentalists, and sounds from across the globe. But whenever you think of spiritual jazz, it's a fair bet that the double exclamation mark and orange and black spine of Impulse quickly comes to mind. Home to John and Alice Coltrane, Pharaoh Sanders, Yusef Lateef, McCoy Tyner and countless other musical pioneers, Impulse! was the most important and forward-thinking jazz label of the 1960s. With the music-first attitude of an independent but the clout of a major, producers Creed Taylor and Bob Thiele made Impulse the defining imprint of a crucial decade. They hand picked the top players of the moment and gave them freedom to record the music they wanted, setting out their stall with a bold slogan – 'The New Wave Of Jazz Is On Impulse!'

Here we dive deep into the Impulse! catalogue, bringing celebrated masterpieces from Alice Coltrane and Pharaoh Sanders into the arena, together with lesser known cuts from Phil Woods and John Klemmer as well as straight-up classics such from Yusef Lateef and Elvin Jones. Fifty years on and the new wave of jazz still sounds fresh, vibrant and as relevant as ever.

“Don´t go out there, you might get shot” was the warning from Donna Maya relatives when she visited Detroit two years ago. That makes her even more curious to explore the city. Disturbed by, as well as fascinated from the dystopian state of Detroit she recorded many places that made (industrial) history, including the Ford factory, the world’s tallest, now abandoned central station and the once magnificent Michigan Theater, that was brutally converted into a parking garage. Donna Maya transformed the sound recordings into artificial sound sculptures combined with electronic beats. Every track is dedicated to one of those places and makes it musically alive. With her theremin Donna Maya guides the listener deeply inside. The result of Donna Mayas 6 weeksstay in Detroit is her album “Lost Spaces -> Detroit". “Lost Spaces ? Detroit” is about how to handle crises, how individuals get along with it and the relationship of society to its culture. Donna Maya understands Detroit as a perfect example for what capitalism does when people give up cultural values. With “Lost Spaces ? Detroit” Donna Maya draws a musical picture of how she experienced Detroit that shows that not only a city got lost, but a living space for everyone: Pure urban experimental electronics with theremin.

F.S.Blumm is a man most might not know. He ́s no pop artist, and not overtly experimental either. But somehow with In Sight he has done the impossible: put his own sound in that perfect middle point, leaving his voice behind to deep-dive into some truly memorable, fully composed pieces.
In Sight is the kind of record you can put on at first crack of dawn, to enjoy its beautiful instrumental varieties during morning routine, while equally fitting as a listening experience towards the darker time of day, in the background or as highly rewarding deep listening experience. It ́s the kind of album that would be great to encounter played in a tiny Japanese jazz bar on a vintage, top notch speaker system together with a handful of local oddities. It sounds incredibly well produced and is full of beautiful, heart-warming, melancholic moments performed on everything from guitars to percussion, vibraphone, strings, piano and who knows what else. Frank shines on this record. He has created quietly composed pieces for moments one could only wish were real.
As often with F.S.Blumm ́s music, it ́s hard to pin down where to categorize it. He might be best known as frequent collaborator of Nils Frahm. Together they made three great duo albums for Sonic Pieces previously. Although this is far from his first solo album, it is his first for the label, and after listening to it on repeat for some time, we can only say that this is Frank on his finest, creating some of the most thought provoking instrumental music you can find in these parts of the world.

Vinyl Edition Featuring New Art! Features Guest Verses From Cormega, N.O.R.E., Meyhem Lauren, Freddie Gibbs, And More Plus Guest Production From Alchemist, DJ Premier, Pete Rock, And More. Kool G Rap doesn’t let his legend status stop him from continuing to do what he loves. Last year, the Corona, Queens veteran dropped his ‘Return Of The Don’ album, and in 2018, he’s following up the solid effort with a collaborative album full of heavy hitters behind the boards and on the mic, alongside Rochester native 38 Spesh (aka $pesh), who linked with Griselda Records’ Benny the Butcher earlier this year for the well-received ‘Stabbed & Shot’ album. The album’s tracklisting boasts veteran features like Cormega and NORE, while also brandishing newer school spitters like Freddie Gibbs and Meyhem Lauren, and Griselda Records’ Benny The Butcher. Behind the boards, as mentioned, KGR summoned production akin to MCing prowess. Alchemist heads up “Land Mine” while DJ Premier and Pete Rock lay the beats for two tracks each. Album mainstays Midnite and 38 Spesh handle most of the rest of the production. Overall, the project is a lot of what you’d expect from Kool G Rap: grimy street rhymes full of stories of peril and the beats to match. On “Land Mine,” the duo of 38 Spesh and Ransom provide a rather introspective look-back on their troubled come up while a song like “Flow Gods” reminds everyone that G and his assembly are nothing to be taken lightly when it comes to witty wordplay and velvety smooth bars.

Faitiche presents a new album by Frank Bretschneider. abtasten_halten was made as part of the raster.labor installation first presented at CTM Festival in 2019. It is perhaps the most radical work in Bretschneider’s distinctive oeuvre: abtasten_halten is a self-generating composition for synthesizer modules whose sole sound source is the movement of two VU meter needles. The resulting percussive sounds coalesce into rhythmic combinations – all random, without repetition. The album resembles a meditation on infinite rhythmic variation. abtasten_halten is Frank Bretschneider’s first release on Faitiche.

One sound can give birth to thousands of tones through self-fertilization. Pierre Henry, 1982

Frank Bretschneider on abtasten_halten:
abtasten_halten (sample_hold) is a largely self-generating composition for a modular synthesizer system. Self-generating here means that as soon as a current flows, the various modules interact, but within limits set by the composer via the connections between the modules (patches): timing, tempo, timbres, dynamics. These conditions are kept variable to a certain extent or left to chance, so that the composition created is always similar but never the same. On the one hand, the use of random generators opens up possibilities that would not otherwise have been considered. On the other, it offers the fascination of the unfinished and the unique: totally unexpected musical events that you might hear only once.

abtasten_halten combines my preferences for percussive music in general and electronic music in particular. Largely avoiding repetitive structures, the piece is more like a free improvisation, quiet and diffuse, but also extremely dense, in ever-changing contrasts and transformations.

The tone generators are two modified VU meters whose needles, driven by trigger impulses, create a simple one-bar pattern by hitting against a metal spring that is connected to a piezo element (thanks to Gijs Gieskes / Gieskes.NL). The tempo is continuously varied over a period of about ten minutes by several mutually modulating LFOs, ranging from about 0.06 Hz up to the lower audio range of about 18Hz.
The percussive sounds thus obtained are then passed through low-pass filters with moderate resonance and random frequency modulation to additionally colour the sound. Further processing is then executed by an echo module whose tempo and repetitions are again determined by random parameters. Finally the audio signal is occasionally enriched with reverb to add more spaciousness to the sound.

The concept for the installation raster.labor was developed by Olaf Bender, Frank Bretschneider and David Letellier. Many thanks to raster - artistic platform.

On Frank Bretschneider:

Frank Bretschneider works as a musician, composer and video artist in Berlin, making mainly electronic work based on complex rhythmic structures and interlocking textures, whose many-layered sound is inspired by the experimental set-ups of modern physics, often supplemented by perfectly synchronized computer-generated visualizations. In 1986, he founded AG Geige, one of the most influential underground bands in East Germany. In 1996, he co-founded the label raster-noton and has since released many solo albums.

Having previously brought together world-renowned Theremin soloist Carolina Eyck and electronic producer Eversines for a specially commissioned collaborative mini album, yeyeh founder Pieter Jansen has now conjured up another unlikely but inspired joint album, this time featuring award-winning free-jazz vocalist Greetje Bijma and leftfield house, techno and ambient producer Oceanic.

The project has its roots in a chance meeting between Jansen and Bijma, a legendary figure on the Dutch jazz scene who in 1990 became the first woman to win the country’s top jazz accolade, the VPRO/Boy Edgar award. Apart from having previously worked with the likes of Anna Homler (aka Breadwoman), Jasper van ’t Hof, Han Bennink, Louis Andriessen and Willem Breuker and her own solo projects, she’s in a league of her own.

Jansen is a big fan of Bijma’s 1996 heavily electronic collaboration with Jasper van’t Hof and Pierre Favre, Freezing Screens, and was with the friend who first introduced him to it when he bumped into Bijma.
Excited to meet someone who had made one of his favourite records, Jansen took the opportunity to ask Bijma if she would be interested in working with young electronic music producers. To Jansen’s delight, Bijma quickly agreed.

Weeks later, Bijma stepped into the studio with Oceanic, a rising star of the Dutch electronic underground whose releases as Oceanic for Nous’klaer Audio and BAKK Plafond revolve around mechanical rhythms, opaque ambient textures, minimalist melodic movements and effervescent electronics. The pair quickly connected on an emotional and musical level, with Bijma taking her cues from Oceanic’s electronic sounds and rhythms, and Oceanic drawing inspiration from Bijma’s dexterous, mind- bending and otherworldly vocalizations.

After two hugely productive days, the cross-generational duo had completed a couple of mesmerizing songs – breathlessly haunting album opener “Swallow a Party” and chilly ambient closer “A Window Drifting” – and recorded several hours or improvisations that Oceanic later edited, layered-up and re-modelled.

The results are little less than spellbinding. The range and versatility of Bijma’s vocalizations is breathtaking, while Oceanic’s music – which cleverly incorporates the free-jazz singer’s vocal notes, tones and proclamations – swings between becalmed beauty and breathless intensity.

Some of the set’s most striking moments are those where Oceanic re-contextualizes Bijma’s varied vocal sounds with the dancefloor in mind. On the pulsating “Technicolour Memories”, up-tempo “Step Snakes” and hypnotic “Never Done”, Bijma’s scat outbursts not only ride Oceanic’s rhythms, but also form part of the densely layered percussion tracks beneath.

Like the release’s more downtempo and ethereal moments, these hybrid organic- synthetic compositions defy easy categorization, offering a unique brand of alien electronic/acoustic musical fusion that lingers long in the memory.

Secretly in the making for 25 years, 1995 marks point zero for this native electronic side project from Rico Puestel (Cocoon Recordings, TAU, Exhibition).

Back in the days, the basic idea of pure electronic song writing, the project name "Tetzlaff" as well as tidbits of first melodic themes, motivs and lyrical notes came into being - followed by a roller coaster ride of emotions, amendments, rejections and the dreadful search for the equipment (in the days before eBay) to make it sound the way it should.

"Reisen", illuminating two perspectives and homages to travelling, is the vanguard single, performing within the prospective shadows of what's to come...

Senthulà is one of the many aliases of musical jack of all trades José Guerrero, a long standing figure in the already rich underground scene of Valencia. In this solo excursion he explores the vast possibilities of mechanical repetition, the machine funk of dirtbag rhythms and proper boogie DIY synth music, sculpting a syncopated sound that is both modern and atavistic. Coming from a deep knowledge and ability to communicate very diverse sounds, slow jams unfold into dance music for clear eyed lounge lizards for whom sleaze comes not dizzy but focused. Whitened african rhythms beat up no wave disco pleasure points, managing the hard task of being very cool and nonchalant, but also hot and dedicated.

This closed door nightclub music will appeal to fans of the new developments in dance music that put Cabaret Voltaire, impLOG or Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou into XXI Century basements. The record comes also with a killer remix by Tolouse Low Trax, probably our favourite producer in modern rhythmic music.

We welcome to the Moustache Records family the oldskool electro legend Martin Matiske with his Electronic disco-ish 12 inch EP release "Robotic Theatre" This is a future vision of a theatre run by robots and is the era in which machines entertain mankind. Operas are written and played in a mechanical way. The pieces of "Robotic Theatre" deal with different terms of stage work. Track A1 is called "Acting Faces" and Refers to the rehearsing of the role, as well as the interaction of the actors on stage. The well-being of the actor does not often match what is played. He has to play even If it's painful. B2 is the track called "Machinery" Human beings are machines that build machines today. The advantage is perfection and time saving. Robots as actors are reliable and precise. B1 listen to the name "Transistor Dances"its Like The Hungarian Dances by Johannes Brahms you just need a dance to express happiness and remind your culture. Dances bring people together. A robotic dance should not be missing in a play. The last track of the EP is the tune "Practise" a story about a robot the has to practise to achieve perfection and it is fun." Don'tplay this underwater order now gone is gone.

Rare musical magic from the Bruton library catalogue – ambient, spacey, pastoral and electronic. Music by John Cameron, Alan Hawkshaw, Fran-cis Monkman, Brian Bennett and more – all total masters of the scene. All very cool. All very now. All will sell very fast.

Over the last three decades Jonny Trunk has collected and written about library music. But he’s never had a great deal of luck with the Bruton catalogue. By this he means that he’s never stumbled across a massive stash, or lucked-out buying a huge run for practically nothing –that’s the kind of thing that used to happen in the 1990s and the early noughties if you were out there looking hard for library music. But he did manage to get about 25 in one hit about 20 years ago when the BBC shut down their “TV Training Department” near Lime Grove and also when a box of Brutons ended up being dumped at a hospital radio, and they didn’t want the records, so Jonny got a call.

There are lots of Bruton albums in existence – over 330 LPs in the vinyl catalogue, issued between 1978 and 1985. That’s a lot of music to wade through if you are looking for sublime modern day sounds. For many years now the “trophies” from the Bruton catalogue have been the beat or action driven LPs – the two Drama Montage albums (BRJ2 and BRJ8) have always been the big hitters, and others such as High Adventure (BRK2) too.

But Jonny has always found himself drawn to the lime green LPs, the pastoral, peaceful albums (The BRDs), which were full of the kind of gentle, lovely music that would turn up in Take Hart as Tony was paint-ing a woodpecker or a badger or an Autumn tree. The other Brutons he likes are the orange ones (The BRIs) simply because they are full of ex-perimental futuristic electronics and would remind him of 1980s ITV backgrounds. This LP series includes Brian Bennett’s cosmic classic Fantasia (BRI 10). Jonny has been knows to refer to this style of library music as “Krypton Factor library”, because it’s exactly what that strange but successful 1980s TV quiz show sounded like.

In recent years as interest in library music has expanded, we’ve watched
the price of a handful of Brutons really going through the roof - not the just the action and drama ones, but the more esoteric and experimental LPs too – like the BRDs and the BRIs. Jonny gets the vibe that people fi-nally want to hear this other more interesting and experimental side of the Bruton catalogue. So what better time than now to put together a compilation of such sublime period sounds.

Not only does this album bring together a set of fabulous cues that would cost the average man in the street a month’s wages (if the origi-nals were all wanted and if you could even track them all down), but it also chops out the need to listen to other tracks on library albums that are nowhere near as good.

The cues here all date from between 1978 and 1984. They come from the BRD, BRI, BRH, BRJ, BRM, BRR and BRs catalogues.

The composers are all legends within the genre, and here, were doing what great library composers do best – fulfilling a brief and utilising modern studio equipment to both commercial and beguiling effect.

Brand new release from Turbo Guidance Entertainment! We deliver a compilation with 4 versatile dubs cooked by our wizards ! Pablo Bozzi (half of Imperial Black Unit and half of Infravision) signed "Sangria Sound System N°1", a slow burner italo-disco track. Perfect to close a cosmic set in the afternoon drinking pepper-mint lemonades! Cowbells everywhere and powerful arpeggiator. Watch out the guy, this year is going to his year! In the second position we have a reggae-disco remix from the man Androo; part of NS Kroo and also well known on the label Music From Memory. He totally switched the
original dub techno track of Babe Roots into something sweet and bouncy. Lobster for you ears. You can even ear autotune on the vocal! Awesome! Coming at the third place, here come Komodo from Indonesia! "Funky Buzz" is a perfect blend of tribal and dub rhythms with a repetitive bassline. Big delays and full effects to rock iguanas. Komodo is a rising star of South Asia, look at the sky to see him shining like a Telsa soon ! And last but not least, we serve you a sweet downtempo riddim from Mali-I aka Z Lovecraft (Rhythm Section). He built a hip-hop influenced track with aerial chords. Perfect music if you want to take the mic and try to toast like a real badboy. Only 400 copies for the world. Sleeve visual is gently printed in risography 3 colors at Shift Studio (Tunisia) - DIY each and everytime.

Truth is stranger than fiction they say, 2020 has proven it. This is not the year we asked for, but it's the year we received. Remarkably, even as clubs and social events across the world shuttered, the spirit of Techno remained alive in living rooms, bedrooms, and basements planet-wide. We hope you still draw inspiration, and excitement in the culture we've collectively nurtured for so many years. Before long we will see each other again, hug and kiss one another, and reconnect under more auspicious stars. For now, we wait. Luckily, we have new music for you to pass the time. We present our latest vinyl 12” record release: 'Life Under Lockdown', featuring tracks by Kessell (1/2 of the legendary Spanish duo, Exium), Joton (founder of Newrhythmic Rec.), HD Substance (co-founder of Sub_tl, and teacher at the Bass Valley), and JX-216 (co-founder of From 0-1). Modern, syncopated Techno for the new world.

It was a busy 2019 for Asian Dub Foundation with the long-awaited reissue of their Mercury Prize-nominated 1998 classic Rafi’s Revenge. The reissue garnered ecstatic reviews, all of which agreed that the sound and the message that ADF threw down in 1998 is as relevant now as it was then-perhaps even more so. So it’s timely that in 2020 the band are set to release their 9th album “Access Denied” which finds them as uncompromising as ever. The album showcases ADF in full spectrum mode from the tough Jungle Punk sound of “Stealing The Future” and “Mind-lock” through to the orchestral meditation of “Realignment” and the reggae lament of the title track.

With guestspots from Greta Thunberg, incendiary Palestinian shamstep warriors 47 Soul, Chilean revolt’s rap main figure Ana Tijoux and radical UK comedian Stewart Lee, Asian Dub Foundation continue their sonic opposition to the powers that be and “Access Denied” kicks harder and higher than ever.

Asian Dub Foundation are a genre unto themselves. Their unique combination of tough jungle rhythms, dub bass lines and wild guitar overlaid by references to their South Asian roots and militant high-speed rap has established them as one of the best live bands in the world. During their long and productive career Asian Dub Foundation have shared the stage with the likes of Rage Against The Machine, the Beastie Boys and Primal Scream also collaborating on record with the likes of Radiohead, Sinead O’ Connor, Iggy Pop and Chuck D.
The story began in the early 90’s when ADF formed from a music workshop in East London at the institution which is their spiritual home, Community Music. Their unique beginnings in a music workshop in east London marked out both their sound and their wider educational aspirations, as showed by their early involvements with Roma Youth in Budapest, hooking up with the leg-endary Afro Reggae in the favelas of Rio, and setting up their own education organisation ADF Education (ADFED), not to mention their campaigns on behalf of those suffering miscarriages of justice. Building a solid live reputation in the mid-90’s, particularly in France, they eventually es-tablished themselves as an important worldwide force and particularly as an explosive alterna-tive to the backward-looking obsession with Britpop in the UK.
In addition to their blistering live reputation ADF were one of the first bands to experiment with the now more commonplace live film re-score, beginning with their rapturously-received interpre-tation of the French classic La Haine back in in 2001. They’ve continued to perform said project or nearly two decades, taking in David Bowie’s Meltdown at London’s South Bank and a contro-versial show at the Broadwater Farm Estate, scene of the events that led to the London Riots of 2011.They’ve also rescored George Lucas’ debut THX 1138 (with encouragement from Mr. Lu-cas himself) and they’ve recently revived their explosive live interpretation to the continually rele-vant Battle of Algiers at the Museum of Immigration in Paris.

»Sonic Healing« is the third full-length release by Martin Steer’s Bad Stream project. While the concept was started by one person in response to a singular situation, it fully came to life as a product of collective imagination. For the album, Steer sent a single guitar loop to twelve musicians from the extended network of his ANTIME label who improvised with the recording, which was later collaged by Steer into a single, 39 minute long track that stylistically ranges from feverish jazz to brooding ambient and abstract electronica. Together with the Iranian artist Arash Akbari’s vivid animations based on generative algorithms and real-time processing, »Sonic Healing« does not ask how one person can deal with turmoil in their life alone, but how we can create new forms of being together with art as a mediator.

Lina & Gwen Wayne have become notorious for their techno sets throughout Germany and Europe, maneuvering from insider to headliner depending on the premises. We are pleased to announce their first EP "Genug gelabert" will be released on 4th September 2020 via Hold Your Ground on 12" vinyl and digitally.

Worm & brutal, like falling face first onto the concrete floor on a warm summer night, is the first track "Palaber" by Lina & Gwen Wayne. For six minutes, the ground feels like the sky, lying feels like falling, dancing feels like breathing and beyond your immediate surrounding there is nothing. This is techno and for the moment these two producers from Hamburg and Berlin are your new horizon.

The two DJs started producing together in late 2019, with their no frills & dark, but fun style translating effortlessly into their own productions. "Genug gelabert" ist the title of their first EP, meaning Enough said, and we are gonna keep it at that. Come marvel at the beautiful brutalism. Incl. Remixes by Moog Conspiracy and Innacircle & Metatext.

Vital Sales Points:
DJ promo by Cutthenoize, German print & online by Audiolith Inhouse, UK/international online

clocolan is Emlyn Ellis Addison, a South African artist now living in Providence, Rhode Island. Exploring themes of ontology and psychedelia, his is a music of imaginary futures—of neglected hinterlands and unconquered vastness lost in the background noise of human endeavor.

Addison’s 2017 album, Nothing Left To Abandon, examined the experience of memory while his new album, It’s Not Too Early For Each Other, examines a more pressing experience: the ecosystemic collapse. clocolan dotes once more on dusty melancholy and electronic psychedelia in his new album, pressing into darker territory and more visceral textures.

It’s Not Too Early For Each Other examines the looming inevitability of a future shaped by mankind's destruction of natural ecosystems—and its seeming inability to alter that course. This music is dedicated to the pariahs: the messengers who confront the murder of the ecosystem.

Emlyn was introduced to Colin Morrison at Castles in Space by Strictly Kev AKA DJ Food. It's proving to be an incredibly fruitful collaboration and a third clocolan long player is already delivered and undergoing mastering for future release on Castles in Space.

- 2020 black vinyl repress / comes in Flatlife sleeve -

This is the 1st vinyl and many more to come. Fat Acid only! On these compilations Jack Wax is presenting different styles of Acid Techno on 1 vinyl.

The huge colab with Sterling, Austin & Chad is representing the UK acid techno sound as I like on Flatlife Records. The Jack Wax is typical oldschool trancy sound and a sound you not hear very often. "Hypnotizer" is specially licensed from Astraltech. Benji303 brings with his Dysfunctional a real Acid Techno banger on this vinyl & last but not least mr Pzylo from Acid Cirkus (France) makes this compilation complete with this fat acid track that has Tekno / Techno flavour !!

A "not to miss" vinyl!! Get this one before it's sold out!!

For every celebrated name in jazz, soul and related music, there are probably another 1000 musicians who had all the talent and potential but for whom widespread recognition remained elusive. Roscoe Weathers is one such figure, a jazzman who earned his chops the hard way, a sideman in smoky clubs from Memphis to Seattle, before finally settling in LA. He recorded a significant amount of music through the 1960s, but never found the slightest modicum of commercial acclaim nor the success that comes with it.

Overlooked by all but the tiniest of record labels, Weathers' released much of his material himself. Indeed, we can lay claim to be the first outside label to release any of his music since the early 1960s. That's sixty years of being overlooked by the record industry, so we are delighted to release this first full length album of his music in a first attempt at righting that historic wrong.

A multi-instrumentalist, Weathers mainly led on the flute in his recorded output. The music here spans the course of the 1960s, and moves from laid back beatnik jazz stylings through to percussion heavy Afro-Latin influenced workouts. As usual with Jazzman, we have not only dug deep to unearth Weathers' music but also his background and biographical details, shining much deserved light on this enigmatic and largely unheralded figure for the first time.

Marlowe is a collaborative alt-rap project from North Carolina-based hip-hop producer L'Orange and rapper Solemn Brigham. Their unique blend of quick-fire vocals and dusty breakbeats is most well-known on tracks such as "Lost Arts" and "Tales From The East." The project came together in 2018 with the intent of marrying Brigham's lyrics concerning social commentary, police brutality, and poverty with L'Orange's thudding beats and crackling vinyl samples to achieve a new, refreshing take on hip-hop in modern times. Marlowe 2 seeks to continue that legacy.

This is the 1973 solo album by Ghanaian percussionist Anthony Kwaku Bah, who was given the nickname „Reebop“ by American
jazz legend Dizzie Gillespie. He passed away early at the age of 39 in Stockholm in 1983, but before made himself a name for his
works with UK 70s rock heroes TRAFFIC and German Krautrockers CAN, amongst others. If you might expect here the prototypical
Afro Beat and Afro Rock you mostly know from British bands, you will be surprised that this is only one part of the deal. Yes, there
are African elements to be found, buried somewhere in this boiling cauldron where polyrhythmic grooves are the base for jazz
improvisations by the brass section, that range from naughty swing and bebop, to freaked out free jazz and enchanting soul jazz
the way it was popular in the late 60s. The arrangements are utterly lush with so much going on here in every aspect that you
would get lost if there was no trace of melody to be discovered, but there they are and they tell you fantastic stories of exotic
places that only exist in your wildest dreams. Kwaku Bah’s rhythm patterns grab you by the horns and pull you into a world of
their own. Hypnotical, irresistible, hot and vivid. The tunes combine jazz, soul, funk and each one is constructed like a self –
contained story. One could imagine these tunes being used as library music for 70s movies from action to romance. All pieces
though are characterized by the constantly pulsating rhythm. To avoid drifting into the field of insubstantial disco dance music,
the performances witnessed here were executed with the highest possible emotional intensity and dedication. Lay back, close
your eyes and float away on a raft of sound upon the wild river of grooves and melodies. Some haunting Exotica jazz passages
with a typical „jungle“ feel get thrown in for the good measure. There are even vocals in an African language hard to identify,
which create and even more mysterious atmosphere. This is just an introduction part of another powerful speed funk groover but
the vocals stay and make this a clear standout track. Saxophone and guitars seem to have a duel here. You will not sit still while
having this tune „Iphonohimine“ coming down on you like a thunderstorm. Blues, Afro Beat, Psychedelic Rock, Funk, it can all be
found in here and the band goes wild into an everlasting improvisation that deprives you of your breath. Can this record get even better? Do not ask, just enjoy what comes next. If you think that some melodies by the giant brass section sound a bit too catchy
just reach out beyond these harmony lines and find yourself in a thicket of grooves, pulsations, bits and pieces of melody with a
dense, sultry atmosphere. Some smaller parts might make you think of cruise ship big bands and white suits, but everybody will
soon drop these and dance in their underwear for the hot blooded power funk base of the tune called „Africa“, which will take
over one’s soul and set it on fire. So clean, so nice and so filthy and dangerous at the same time, this album is a masterpiece of it’s
style. The exciting and very sensual funk rock of „Lovin‘ you baby“ with crazy fuzz guitars and a dark and haunting approach is
another reason to kneel down when you put this record onto your turntable. Great clean lead guitars give it a latin garage rock
edge Carlos Santana would commit serious crimes for. If you love bands like OSIBISA, Eric Burden & WAR, GINGER BAKER
AIRFORCE, SANTANA, Miles Davis, all around 1969 to 1973, this is what you always wanted to listen to. Grab your copy now.

We're glad to be back with our latest reissue, a couple undercover soul gems from the Midwest originally self-released in 1984: LaVerne Washington's "The Promise" and "I Found What I've Been Searching For".

LaVerne has dedicated her life to the arts in every possible way. As an artist herself but also behind the scenes, helping and supporting her contemporaries fulfil their callings. Charlie Parker, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Mary Lou Williams - LaVerne grew up in Kansas City listening to the all time jazz greats, and soon discovered she was blessed with a keen sense for playing music by ear, playing the piano to what she would hear on the radio. In her teens whilst the 60s transitioned to the 70s' disco and funk era, LaVerne was there to witness it all, and she would go on to study music at the Charlie Parker Academy where she was inspired to become an entertainer.

At Langston University, LaVerne kept studying music where her career blossomed, founding and touring the US with the gospel group "Emery Shaw and the Voices of Praise", singing in several college bands and with her choir "The Voices Of Bethel". LaVerne would go on to perform notably with her bands "LaVerne Washington and Rococo" and the "LaVerne Washington Quartet", and record several songs in KC including "The Promise" and "I Found What I've Been Searching For" in 1984 before moving to Washington DC.

In DC, LaVerne was offered a position as a Program specialist with the National Endowment For The Arts where she started supporting other artists through her work. Over the next couple decades, LaVerne became an associate producer for the Rhythm and Blues Foundation and the Pioneer Awards Ceremonies held in New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles, which saw the likes of Prince, Aretha Franklin and Jerry Butler attending among others. She has also managed and was mentored by DeeDee Sharp and consulted with artists including Bonnie Raitt (who acted as a mentor to Laverne as well), Kim Weston, Kathy Sledge (SisterSledge), Smokey Robinson and G.C Cameron (Spinners). During that time, LaVerne has kept singing, on her own and as a backing vocalist for DeeDee Sharp and Freda Payne and has never stopped her lifelong dedication to music and the Arts.

The Promise original 7" was LaVerne's last recording in Kansas City before her move to DC and the beginning of her involvement behind the scenes. Channelling her gospel roots - with impeccable arrangement, a contagious drum machine led rhythm section, soaring vocals and relatable lyrics, "The Promise" is guaranteed to bring back smiles to dancefloors and living rooms alike! "I Found What I've Been Searching For" on the flip is a beautiful soul ballad which really showcases the strength and emotion in LaVerne's voice.

Back again in it's original 7" format, we've had the audio transferred and restored from the original 24 track tape provided by LaVerne, and got the recordings re-mixed for the best possible sound! Floating Points behind the mixing desk for this new iteration of a lost classic, comes with a 14"x14" poster of the original picture

BEATCONDUCTOR strips down the STEVIE WONDER’s “SUPERSTITIOUS” to the core of moogbass & vocals. PHIL COLLINS’ “I’M NOT MOVIN” gets a Balearic rework with new rhythms and MICHAEL JACKSON’s “ROCK WITH YOU” gets the vocals stripped out to make “DUB WITH YOU". Hand stamped limited 12″.

It is possible that a deeply fickle Bryn Jones, who was never happy with remixes of Muslimgauze music apart from his own, might be with this one.
Extreme, an earlier Muslimgauze label, had a long history of remixing the material Bryn sent to them and this was the main reason for the artist to move to the staalplaat label.

It’s an interesting coincidence that Extreme hired Anders Peterson to remaster Muslimgauze for them. In the process of listening to masters and studying the music, the idea of a remix or ‘rework’ seemed an intuitive next step, reflects Peterson, “The remixes are based on various material from about 6 DAT tapes. I did not choose any specific tracks, rather sections and parts of all the recordings on those tapes. I did not seek to do a remix, it just grew up of that remastering project. I think I could not find any artist in any genre, anywhere, that would be more interesting to rework / remix than Muslimgauze, so I definitely feel very honored having been able to record these remixes.”

Musically, this release falls in line with the more deep spiritual, meditative, abstract side of Muslimgauze, which is often overlooked. The music remains timeless, the production as crisp as ever. Those familiar with the Muslimgauze oeuvre know this music is more than just a series of infectious rhythmic works. Rather a historical document, a musical commentary on the tumultuous times that inspired it; a reflection on the Iran/Iraq war, Operation Desert Storm, the Soviet invasion of and retreat from Afghanistan and the first Intifada. Anders Peterson brings the music of Muslimgauze and successfully found new ways to reveal the artistries from one of the 20th century’s more intriguing artists. Through circumstance, Staalplaat is to ensure that the remix project sees the light of day, now available on the evidently timeless medium of a vinyl record.”

The Danish label/imprint arbitrary announces the release of Framework 3 (arbitrary11) by Mads Emil Nielsen. Framework 3 is the latest instalment in Nielsen’s sequence of graphic scores and recordings. The series includes the Danish composer’s own subjective translations of visual materials and sound pieces accompanied by visual notations.

On this release he collaborates with Katja Gretzinger and Nicola Ratti. Published as a limited edition art print folder, Framework 3 consists of risographed scores and recordings on 10” vinyl and CD – with recordings by Nielsen, along with graphic scores by Gretzinger and contributions by Ratti.

Raised in a family of architects Nielsen has for several years been occupied with the question of “how do you intuitively sonify an image?” along with the complementary processes of translating sounds and music into illustrations and scores. In early 2019, he produced various drawings and sound pieces which formed the starting point for the three tracks on this 10” vinyl EP. The audio is derived from synthesizer recordings and basic electronic sound sources (sine waves, feedback, noise) and percussive loops combined with recordings made in the studios at EMS (Elektronmusikstudion, Stockholm).

The audio material was translated by graphic designer Katja Gretzinger into a series of visual notations made while listening to the music. Gretzinger developed various symbols, forms and structures, such as points, bars, 3D balls, irregular patterns / “swarms” and regular patterns (vertical hatchings). These were combined with found image materials and cut-outs from old prints and layered with large geometric forms, which define the individual character of each of the three parts. The resulting 18-page graphic score is included in the release in the form of risograph printed sheets.

Nielsen then invited musician Nicola Ratti, who is also trained as an architect, to create sonic re-interpretations of the graphic score. Ratti reinterpreted the imagery as a selection of sound elements positioned in a three-dimensional area; which he visualized as the space between the composer / artist, Ratti himself and the loudspeakers. These recordings are included on the CD.

1, 2, 3 written & produced by Mads Emil Nielsen, Copenhagen / Berlin, 2019 / 2020 (reworked and combined with a live recording from Standards, Milan, September 2019). Recording by + thanks to URSSS. CD: 1, 2, 3 written & produced by Nicola Ratti, Milan, 2020.
Scores by Katja Gretzinger. Artwork/design (packaging, discs, text) by Mads Emil Nielsen.

The Story Itself

On the 12th of April 1961, Yuri Gagarin was launched into orbit for the first and - so they tell us - the last time. Upon returning to Earth, Yuri became a global hero, travelling the world to tell of his adventure.

Secretly, he was plagued by strange hallucinations and a persistent glow around his vision; a cornucopia of colour in a constant corona. In 1964 - following a silent coup by Leonid Brezhnev - Yuri was banned from embarking on further manned missions into space. At first fearing madness, the cosmonaut came to see these apparitions as a signal, an invitation, a welcoming beacon from a distant lighthouse blinking across the cosmic void.

On the 27th of March 1968, aided by trusted friends within the space program, Yuri Gagarin swapped places with another cosmonaut on a secret test flight and was once more blasted into outer space. Knocked unconscious by the extreme velocity of his experimental craft, Yuri awoke a mere 15 minutes later in view not of the rapidly shrinking Earth, but an entirely alien vista; he was elsewhere...

About Tony Neptune

Tony Neptune is a multi-media persona created by the Leeds-based artist and producer Sam Jefferies who, inspired by the narrative and musical legacies of early Detroit techno culture, aims to tell a complete story for the senses through a combination of image, sound and text. Asa member of the DimensionsDJ Directory three years running, some know Jefferies for his notorious DJ sets—whether he’s playing new wave or booty bass; as Tony Neptune or Yuri; solo or alongside Mark ‘Turbo’ Turner in another peak time marathon b2b, it doesn’t take long for crowds to catch on to his deep knowledge of all things riddled with Hi-Tech Funk and Soul. But this isn’t the only storm he’s cooking up: in his visual work, Jefferies uses oil paint to unveil the surreal and celestial adventures of the original cosmonaut and space pioneer, Yuri Gagarin, capturing every aspect of their dream-like surroundings with an eye devoted to detail and depth. This painting lies at the heart of his debut EP, Reflections on a Daring