Suche:on land

It goes without saying that the global metal scene would not be the same without Sepultura. For 35 years now, the Brazilian icons are not only a band revered worldwide; they have been, are and forever will be at the very forefront of Thrash Metal, trailblazing ever since they released their long-since legendary debut album “Morbid Visions” in 1986.
While quickly establishing themselves as leaders of the second wave of Thrash already in the late eighties, to this day they never came even close to stagnation. “Quadra”, their mighty new undertaking, is proof of a will unbroken, a thirst unquenched and a quality so staggeringly high it’s a wonder this band doesn’t implode. Now three albums deep into what may very well be their strongest incarnation yet – uniting the talents of old-school members Andreas Kisser (guitars, vocals) and Paulo Xisto Pinto Jr. (bass), vocal force of nature Derrick Leon Green (vocals) and drummer Eloy Casagrande – Sepultura are an unleashed power to be reckoned with, uniting bucketloads of experience and youthful vigour in a totally revived way.
“On ‘Quadra’, we felt the urge to revisit that old thrash feeling of ‘Beneath the Remains’ or ‘Arise“,’ only seen through the eyes of today,” Andreas Kisser utters the magic words. “Add to that the tribal percussion, the orchestral elements, the choirs, the melodies and the clean vocals and you get a thorough run-through of our entire career, backed by a very contemporary approach.” Fuelled by an energy almost uncanny for a band that has been active for so long, Sepultura storm through a contemporary thrash monument, backed by sublime melodies, a very eerie atmosphere and a fiendishly high level of technicality. Kisser is appreciating these compliments, still maintaining his very down to earth approach. “We don’t heed the past and we don’t try to be preoccupied by the future too much,” he shrugs. “We’re in the now, trying every day to make Sepultura a little bit better. That’s what keeping us strong.”
And that’s what they have been doing for the last 30+ years. Album after album, tour after tour, no gap in between records longer than three years. “Music is all we do,” Kisser states matter-of-factly. “If it wouldn’t be for Sepultura,” he laughs, “I would be a sad and lonely guy. Sepultura is what we are.” And “Quadra” is living testimony to that. The old Sepultura echo through the very fibre of the songs in all its raw and morbid splendour, but yet it’s the present, the experienced and refined beast that is Sepultura in 2020 that’s blasting out thrash metal anthems for a fucked-up age.
With now 15 albums under their belts, Sepultura are the work horses of the metal world, always ready to attack. In many ways, “Quadra” broadens the vision the Brazilian thrash troopers had on “Machine Messiah” (2017), again relying on the impeccable talent of Swedish producing giant Jens Bogren and his Fascination Street Studios. “He is so full of passion, it’s unbelievable, man,” Kisser raves. “He’s really there, he really cares about the projects he’s doing. For Sepultura, he’s like the fifth member of the band. The chemistry was so amazing, 99 percent of what we were trying do to actually worked. That was insane!” Even after more than 30 years at the forefront of international thrash, guitarist Kisser sounds positively baffled by working with Bogren. “We felt like we were in our rehearsal room.”
Bringing together a monumental grandeur and a wild, untamed ferocity, Sepultura stepped up their game musically – and conceptually as well. “We were possessed by the number four, by the numerology of it”, Kisser starts to explain. “I divided the album into four parts as if we were doing a double vinyl. Side one is the pure and raw thrash side. Side two brings in the rhythms and percussion from our ‘Roots’ era. Three is getting a bit experimental and four brings forth the melodies and the acoustic guitars.” With John North’s book “Quadrivium” as a further source of inspiration, Sepultura dive deep into a mystical world full of hidden meanings. “You have four seasons and twelve month in a year just to pick one example. A lot of stuff in our culture is divided like that.”
Plus, Quadra also is the Portuguese word for ‘sport court’ that by definition is a limited area of land, with regulatory demarcations, where according to a set of rules the game takes place,” he adds. “We all come from different Quadras. The countries, all nations with their borders and traditions; culture, religions, laws, education and a set of rules where life takes place.” In the Quadra of thrash, however, we all are the same. And we bow our heads in unison to the mighty leader that is Sepultura.

Gigantic producer/DJ from Scotland, Creep Woland, lands back on the Astral Black heli-pad with his 'Chamberlain' EP. Four blistering breaks-led, club ready, jungle tracks intended as an ode to the rolling bass and rainy days that raised him. Picking up near enough where his Close Reading debut left off, Chamberlain sees a more refined and honed execution of the hard hitting electronica Woland has become known for.

Informed by the experience of playing to dance-floors, as well as educational journeys down to London for radio sets, these new tracks are fine tuned and bass heavy - perfect for existential club experiences or the driving of sports vehicles. The subdued intrigue of EP opener 'Imposter Syndrome' sets the mystical and reflective tone of the record, while down the line junglist anthems 'Medieval Draw' and '0800-Falkirk Triangle' call for slow motion gun finger. Written at a time of personal hardship and mastery of oneself, the hopeful promise of closer 'Lord Chamberlain' acts as a sonic representation of the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel of this particular time in Woland's life.

Recently, Chamberlain EP's 'Imposter Syndrome' has been receiving early radio support from Rinse FM's Jossy Mitsu & Impey on NTS, whilst his debut release Close Reading received radio support from the likes of Josey Rebelle (in her award-winning Essential Mix), Om-Unit and JD. Reid as well as critical acclaim from FACT, CLASH & Hyponik. In addition to its various accolades, Close Reading also lead to Woland being handpicked by Lanark Artefax as the opening act for his 'Enter The Gateway' performance, and has since performed alongside the likes of Om-Unit, Proc Fiskal, DJ Storm and more.

Samosa Records 10 is the brand new spin off label from Samosa Records concentrating on 2 choice cuts from some of the finest producers at the label one each side of a 10” vinyl. It also see’s Samosa announce an exciting collaboration with another of the finest labels out there Tropical Disco who will be handling the digital release for this one down the line.

Launching the brand new imprint it’s only fitting for the label bosses De Gama and Les Inferno to lead things out.

First up is De Gama’s Sometimes Sometimes which see’s him creating a much more reflective track than his previous powerful peak-time percussive club jams. Despite its ever so bluesy laid-back sentiments it’s no less a sublime outing. Velvety smooth the lead vocal is definitely one of those once heard never forgotten magical musical moments. It’s a track of simplicity, a smooth bassline, subtle guitar licks and the wonderful vocal performance. It’s an entrancing life affirming track which has all the hallmarks of a track which absolutely must be listened to again and again. And yeah, maybe just one more time!

Over on the flip Les Inferno takes us off towards classic Philly territory with an equally subtle but ever so funky slice of feel-good disco in ‘Yeah C’Mon’. Smooth percussion, an ever so danceable bassline, brilliantly performed yet subtle keys and another absolute monster vocal. And did we forget to mention the disco flute? Yeah Disco flute, does it get any better. We think not?

This is a 10” which is quite simply undeniable. You must have this in your collection right now because you will need to listen to it time and again. Samosa continues its quest to dominate the disco vinyl landscape with yet another ridiculously superb release.

What are you waiting for just order this and thank us later.

*More downbeat wickedness on the excellent Fasaan!*

This double A-sider is the fruit of a long gestating collaboration with fellow Malmö-based record collector/selector & producer Simon alias Rizzolo DJ (alias Moisture). Closely intertwined with the label in various ways since the start, his path to producing started with re-edits and a more wild-haired approach to deejaying, finally landing into his own groove with the 2018 album A Freak Is Born. Released as a privately pressed cassette, the album featured two tracks co-produced with Fasaan founder Prins Emanuel.

On that first album, the palette was a lo-fi reverie of minimal waves crashing into depths of goth and heights of camp. Here for the 12" format, we instead get the full onslaught of power tools gleaming in the blast of strobe lights. The weight of GAMMUT unfolds and delivers exactly what the title suggests: a complete scope of percussive barrage unleashed in tight locked grooves and smattering reverberations. In addition to that, we are treated with a spine-tingling re-imagining of the concept of a bass drop.

For ORGONE, a 1984 track by Norwegian group Fra Lippo Lippi serves as the backbone of the composition. Championed by cosmic DJ Daniele Baldelli and here pitched down to wrongspeeder tempo, Moisture uses the original song to bridge the gap between his roots in the re-edit scene as well as in the cosmic tradition. Thedry mechanical bassline is flanked by hollow percussion that eventually propels into a crystal-chimmering microcosm of orgone energy.

The two inimitable long tracks from George Thompson AKA Black Merlin have reached Offen on 13.11.2019, and Offen said: let there be 013! Featuring words by Alexandra Grübler on „Textured Land“. Artwork by Patrick Keuthen, mastered by Enrico Mercaldi at Time Tools Mastering.

Reconnected is compiled from Harold Lucious’ addictive 1990 release Connections, a visionary mix of soulful house, New Jack Swing and RnB, an American predecessor of street soul.

Deeply connected to music from an early age, Harold started his music career in the early 70s at the age of 16. He sang in his first group, The Final Seconds, who pressed a 7” single in New York City in 1973. The group would go on to record a full album called Neo Cosmic Blues, but never had the chance to press it. They would continue to perform and write together throughout the 70’s and searched in vain for a label to work with.

During that time, Harold landed a guest spot on the legendary Brother Ahh record Move Ever Onward, set up by his manager who was Brother Ahh’s sibling. Harold is listed as having played koto, but really he provided background vocals. Throughout the 80’s, Harold worked at WBI radio programming talk shows. On air, he would act out modified scripts to Richard Wright novels like “The Outsider”.

Connections was his effort to finally release a record after years of recording and playing music. Experimenting with dance music he came up with an album that was inspired by his love of house music and RnB. He sold the record out of his backpack, ending up with boxes of copies that were eventually destroyed when he had to move from his long-time apartment in Brooklyn. Few of the original LP remain, and it has become almost impossible to find.

Reconnected is a remastered redux with four songs taken from the original LP, and pressed onto a loud 45rpm 12” for maximum dance-floor potential. Mixed Signals is honoured to introduce Harold’s music to a contemporary audience around the world.

Bunny Wailer’s album Sings the Wailers successfully reworks many of The Wailers songs with the backing of top Jamaican musicians, Sly and Robbie. The way he edited the songs for the modern age is impressive. At some moments he’s harmonizing with himself, to keep the spirit of The Wailers alive. Dubby overtones and well produced arrangements are all part of the wonderful sound created by Bunny and Sly and Robbie.

• 180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
• INCLUDES “MELLOW MOOD”, “HYPOCRITE”, “RULE THIS LAND”, “I’M THE TOUGHEST” AND MORE REGGAE SONGS
• REGGAE SERIES WITH SELECTED REGGAE CLASSICS STICKER ON SEAL

Tilman Robinson’s third album, CULTURECIDE, is an investigation of the anthropocene; a seven part lamentation for our chaotic world.

Tilman Robinson is an Australian composer and sound designer creating electro-acoustic music across a range of genres including classical minimalism, improvised, experimental, electronic and ambient. Tilman’s diverse output focuses on the psychological impact of dense sound employing acousmatic and psychoacoustic principles. His third album CULTURECIDE will be released on Iceland’s Bedroom Community label in April 2020.

CULTURECIDE: “...processes that have usually been purposely introduced that result in the decline or demise of a culture, without necessarily resulting in the physical destruction of its bearers.” D Stein

CULTURECIDE is a rich sonic collage, harvesting sounds from a range sources including field recordings, medical machines that monitor the human body, traditional instruments and synthesisers, often melted electronically. The result is an unsettling paradox with sounds constantly on the edge of recognition. Each piece references a specific socio- political issue ranging from colonialism to neo-liberalism to climate change and the impending singularity of humans and machines. Far from an answer to these questions, CULTURECIDE invites us to meditate on their place in our life and approach personal understanding.

Recorded and produced almost completely in Australia, a land at the forefront of the devastation of climate change, CULTURECIDE was an attempt at catharsis for its author frequently appalled at his country’s incredible apathy and inaction. Mixed by Bedroom Community regular Daniel Rejmer and mastered by Lawrence English, works from the ambitious and unsettling record saw Tilman nominated for the 2019 Melbourne Prize for Music.

TERANGA BEAT proudly presents Vol.2 of Kyriakos Sfetsas' 1976 "Greek Fusion Orchestra" project. Sfetsas' vision behind the formation of GFO, was to create a piece of work that would expand the boundaries of Greek traditional music. The result was a Progressive-Jazz Fusion masterpiece comprising complex and intriguing compositions, performed by Athens' best musicians of the day.

Following the success of Vol.1, Vol.2 is a compilation of musical pieces Sfetsas recorded with the group right upon the completion of the Vol. 1 material. Vol.2 is still reflective of his ambition of bringing together progressive jazz and traditional music, but it does so in a different manner. Although the element of traditional music remains present, it does not provide the compositional foundation for the songs (e.g. most pieces are no longer based exclusively on traditional musical forms). More jazzy and more complex than Vol.1, Vol.2 has a darker feeling, presenting Sfetsas not only as a musical experimentalist, but also as a demanding and distinctive composer, who truly puts his musicians through the test.

Following the success of Vol.1, Vol.2 is a compilation of musical pieces Sfetsas recorded with the group right upon the completion of the Vol. 1 material. Vol.2 is still reflective of his ambition of bringing together progressive jazz and traditional music, but it does so in a different manner. Although the element of traditional music remains present, it does not provide the compositional foundation for the songs (e.g. most pieces are no longer based exclusively on traditional musical forms). More jazzy and more complex than Vol.1, Vol.2 has a darker feeling, presenting Sfetsas not only as a musical experimentalist, but also as a demanding and distinctive composer, who truly puts his musicians through the test.

Thembisa’s Hot Soul Singers were formed in 1975 by promoter and producer Sam “Jiza Jiza” Mthembu. In the early years the trio was called the Thembisa Happy Queens and consisted of sisters Ntombifuthi and Nombuso Mabaso and Lindiwe Ndlovu. The trio would start out playing Jive, Zulu Disco and other popular sounds of the 70s . In 1979 they became the Hot Soul Singers and would begin a career in the emerging Disco scene which their group name was now more fitting for.

Their first single under the new name was a tribute to their producer Sam, and their first album “Together” would come 2 years later in 1981. It contained their Lamont Dozier rip off from a year earlier, and biggest hit to date “ Give Me My Love Back” which was playing in jukeboxes across the country. At this time the Hot Soul Singers were also gaining popularity due to their demand as an opening act for American groups. Sam’s ongoing pursuit to be a successful promoter also helped to ensure they were always in the headlines and playing shows. It would be in 1983 that the group would temporarily step away from a major label and go onto record their first Maxi single with the independent Raintree Records new Lyncell Imprint.

Like most places in the world the early 80s was a fast changing time in music for South Africa. Although the Maxi had a disco standard for years in other parts of the world it had only recently been popularized in South Africa. Thanks to the Brenda and the Big Dudes smash, Weekend Special, the maxi took over as the preferred format for pop music, replacing the cheaper but time restricting 7” single. Singles were being pushed to the limits in the early 80’s with running times of 4+ minutes a sides by some labels. The Maxi allowed for groups to extend their grooves onto a full side and later album art containing smiling musicians infant of cheesy backdrops became the norm. Synthesizers had been used in pop music for years already but the DX7 wouldn’t land in the country for another year. Drum machines were being used but had yet to fully replace live drummers like would happen in the years to come. The recording of this new single would require a full band resulting in it being one of the gems of the crossover period before the complete midi takeover. Durban’s Graham Handley was recording some of the best upcoming Disco sounds for labels like Heads Music and groups like Kabasa and Masike Mohapi and was tasked as engineer. Other known musicians in the session would be Jimmy Mgwandi from the group Image, who’s signature bass playing can be heard on both songs. A young Daniel Phakoe aka “sox” was also present and took care of the male parts of the vocal line. Both musicians have writing credits along with lead singer Nombuso. Other possibilities of musicians would be Thami Mduli aka Professor Rhythm who had been with the group since their early days as well as a young Chicco who was best friends with Jimmy at the time.

The single, which was packaged in a customized but simple company disco sleeve, went on to do quite well. Less than a year later they would feature on a track with Sunset which would lead to them singing with Sounds of Soweto records label. The group would enjoy the growing fame when tragedy struck in 1984. On their way to a show in Mpumalanga they were involved in a car accident which took the life of Nombuso and left her husband Sam with a leg injury he limps with to this day. Upon recovering Sam would organize a tribute concert at Soweto’s Jabulani Amphitheatre. Even though the tragedy left the group broken and without a member the band went back to work to record their second full length album. They worked with Mac Mathunjwa who had written Nombuso’s favourite song “Going Crazy”. This album would be released with two different names and covers. One took the former singer’s favourite song as the album name and used a photo consisting of all three girls where the other released under the name “ A Tribute” and would only have the remaining members on the cover.

Although the tragedy never halted the group, moving forward the trio of singers would see a few members change. Lindiwe would leave to join Freeway and then become Linda “Babe” Majika so by the time they were ready to record in1986, now with Teal records, the only original member was Ntombifuthi. She would also shortly leave the group and provide backing vocals to other artists including her old band mate Linda. The Hot Soul Singers would be kept alive by Jiza Jiza and go on to record 5 more albums before calling it quits in 1990 after a successful 15 year career. Today the only core member left is Sam Mthembu who still lives in Thembisa and is occasionally promoting live events. Even though he did produce a handful of artists back in the 70s, his most significant additions to the music industry were the Hot Soul Singers and his event promotions, which is what he is best known for and will most likely be the legacy of his career.

The B-Boy EP presents 4 diverse tracks, from the haunting set opener sounds of ‘Mind Control’ to the ‘Old Skool’ inspired ‘B-Boy’ Madcap goes deeper with a Jungle twist on ‘Bleep Track’ & finishes off with experimental Egyptian vibes on ‘Badlands’
All tracks bring together rolling breakbeats, low frequency sub b-lines & vocal samples.
Support from LTJ Bukem, Digital, Storm, Foul Play, FBD Project & Stretch.

Moscow's leading deep and underground house label Deepology presents a series of releases, Four Seasons. Four releases, vinyl only, each corresponding to a specific season of the year.

The first record, EP 1, includes four tracks by residents and friends of the label - an international team of the artists from Russia, Ukraine, Germany and Finland.

Limited edition of 300 copies. Spread the analogue love!


DJ Feedback:

Mark Farina, Sascha Dive, Luna City Express, Martin Landsky, Jimpster, DJ Linus, Charles Spencer, Nick Holder, Terry Francis, Jay West, Igor Marijuan (Ibiza Sonica FM), Glenn Underground, Jesus Gonsev, Robert Owens, Patrick Lindsey, Lars Behrenroth, Carlo Gambino, Mucho Soul, Finest Wear, Fer Ferrari, Sumsuch and more.

Seb Wildblood readies his first new release of 2020, the ‘Hazy House’ EP. After a year that saw Wildblood releasing his landmark LP, ‘sketches of transition' – which received a glowing 8/10 review in DJ Mag and made it into Mixmag’s of Albums of 2019 round-up – his new two-tracker is set for release via his London / Los Angeles based label, all my thoughts, on April 17th. Along with his recently released edit of Rosalia’s ‘A Palé’ for charity, the EP marks the DJ/producer’s return to a more dancefloor-focused sound, having ventured further into the worlds of downtempo electronics, R&B and Balearic-imbued house on his introspective and accomplished debut album.

‘Hazy House’ is an encapsulation of what a Seb Wildblood DJ set sounds like in 2020, fusing tough house rhythms with electro’s futuristic atmosphere and an ear for emotive melodic hooks. With dreamy flourishes and subtle complexities, the EP retains much of the depth that ‘sketches’ emphasized, despite being his most club-ready work since 2018’s ‘Grab The Wheel’ EP. The resulting release is one that showcases Wildblood’s considered, painterly technique, and his capacity to create thoughtful soundscapes even when focused on mobility and energy.

‘Hazy House Vol. 1’ on the A-side is buoyant and lush, with a warm synth bed hovering on top of its bouncy beat before a soft, chiming arpeggio motif floats into the mix, tying everything together in a silky deep house bow.

‘Vol. 2’ is similarly inviting, if a little more robust. With a sharp beat, angelic choral synths, and a subtle vocoder, the track is one for the depth of the night, when the last push of energy carries you through, right into the warmth of the afterglow.

Inspired by moments experienced throughout his second world tour in 2019, which saw him playing DJ sets everywhere from Australia and Japan to the UK and across North America, the title ‘Hazy House’ is a tongue-in-cheek nod to the assumptions some may have about Wildblood’s sound. But as the EP highlights, there’s a subtle intricacy at play in the producer’s work that further establishes him as a distinct voice for both club-driven sounds, and for those more suited to headphones.

Palette 71 kicks off with legendary Warp artist Plaid on remix duties. Transforming the title track, re-synthesized 909 samp-les and lua scripted sequencing, Plaid builds melodies and ar-rangement to epic proportions in classic Plaid fashion.

Tejada’s new EP is an homage of sorts to the sample heavy production style of the late '90s. "Limiting the options and just creating and manipulating a batch of samples is my happy place,” says Tejada. The title track hints back to a personal favorite, Optical’s "Moving 808s." While the sound is quite different, the approach is similar: samples, editing, some fil-ters and not a whole lot more opens up a lot of creative possi-bilities without too much getting in the way. Of course, the bass plays an important role. Combing through some older influences of varying styles, the production became more in line with Tejada classics like “Timebomb” and “Western Star-land,” both sample collage pieces focused on groove.

The final track, "Infinity Room" also follows this production process while resulting in a slightly moodier sound.

Scottish trumpeter Malcolm Strachan is a founder member of top UK funk/jazz-funk band The Haggis Horns as well as being one of the busiest session musicians in the UK today. In a professional career spanning 20 years, he's recorded with the likes of Mark Ronson, Amy WineHouse, Corinne Bailey Rae, Jamiroquai, Martha Reeves and The Vandellas, Jesse Glynne, The Craig Charles Fantasy Funk Band, Black Honey, The New Mastersounds and Blue Note saxophone legend Lou Donaldson. Now he's finally releasing his first solo album, aptly titled "About Time", on Haggis Records and he's going back to his original roots... Jazz.

The album is a collection of original compositions, all written and arranged by Malcolm, which are firmly rooted in the classic acoustic modern jazz style typified by the great 60's and 70's recordings on the legendary Blue Note Records label. A nice variation of themes and tempos feature throughout the album. From full-on latin vibes to beautiful ballads, soul jazz grooves to cinematic soundtrack flavours, all woven together by a great group of experienced musicians.

Malcolm's core quartet is himself on trumpet/flugelhorn, fellow Haggis Horns members George Cooper (piano) and Erroll Rollins (drums), plus Courtny Tomas on double bass. Featured guests are Atholl Ransome on tenor sax (The Haggis Horns), Rob Mitchell on baritone sax (Abstract Orchestra) and Danny Barley on Trombone. Strings are courtesy of Richard Curran and the percussionist is one of the finest session players in Europe, Karl Vanden Bossche (Incognito, Robert Palmer, Joss Stone, The Gorillaz, Sade, Blur - He and Malcolm met while touring with Mark Ronson)

Malcolm's love of jazz comes from his parents. Aged 7, his jazz musician father gave him a trumpet. From then on, jazz was his life. His musical education came via music teachers, youth jazz orchestras and jazz summer schools but mostly from his dad's record collection listening to Art Blakey and Dizzy Gillespie records and learning to improvise and solo by ear. At 18, he enrolled at Leeds College of Music and quickly immersed himself in the city's vibrant acid jazz, funk and soul scene and from making his recording debut in 1999 with The New Mastersounds, jazz was his musical passion but took a back seat to funk/soul/pop which were the day job. Until now.

Jazz is back. The wait is over. It really is "About Time" for Malcolm Strachan.

Substance, the second album by producer Moisture, sets out to deliver an immersive tech-noir fantasy of emotional and physical deconstruction. Inspired in part by William S. Burroughs 1959 novel Naked Lunch, the conceptual narrative of the album follows a humanoid subject through an urban landscape and the exploration of its depravations.

Sampling and filtering sounds from other music, movies and own field recordings, the tapestry of Substance is a three-dimensional world of hard industrial spaces and fluid organic matter. While it's conception is rooted equally in literature and film as well as music, one can draw comparisons in particular to Barry Adamsons 1989 album Moss Side Story, in that it also works as a chronological narrative; the tracks aligning to make a world of its own.

And while Adamson was aiming to create an imaginary soundscape of his native Manchester, the geography of Substance is based on the city of Malmö. Using field recordings from it's city streets, the album paints a rain soaked, neon-clad portrait of the city's hedonistic nightlife.

On the opening "The Marketplace" we are teleported to Bergsgatan at night (the track title a subtle nod towards Eden Ahbez 1960 song of the same name).

This introduction is similar in line with the experience Burroughs once had in 1957 upon entering Malmö for the first and only time, which he details briefly in Naked Lunch: "averted eyes and the cemetery in the middle of town (every town in Sweden seems to be built around a cemetery), and nothing to do in the afternoon (...)"

This image of Malmö portrayed with dread and loathing holds a longstanding narrative tradition over the cultural geography of the town. Yet it is often paired with an image of great promise and bohemian splendor, seemingly a paradox but often perversely intertwined. This duality has always been a vital mindset in the underground music scene of the town and its illegal after hours clubs. Substance is a work steeped in the grayscale prism of techno and its post-industrial fetischism. Yet in picking it apart, one can find elements of everything from post-punk, drum & bass, trip hop and new age.

The theme of depravation that soaks through Burroughs Naked Lunch seems oddly befitting to this side of Malmö (one wonders what the author would have made of it had he stayed longer) Through rhythmic excursions and the exploration of repetition, the tracks of Substance are arranged to convey this self-destructive longing for depravity. Michel Foucault's ideas on limit experiences serves as context for this peculiar form of endeavour, as he puts it: "the point of life which lies as close as possible to the impossibility of living, which lies at the limit or the extreme."

The longtime portuguese dj-producer Dedy Dread lands on DJ's CHOICE label for his first full-on original production. "Don't Wanna Wake Up" kicks off the collaboration with the soulful Hawaiian-born singer Olivia Ruff, a velvety warm r'n'b banger which will certainly tear through the airwaves. On the flip side, a "bikini-dub" version by The Rebel – helped by the sax of Danilo Desideri (Funkallisto) – which will make you wish summer comes sooner rather than later.

Greece is maybe not the first country that comes to mind when you think of Afrojazz. (Interpret 'Afrodyssey Orchestra' unexpectedly hit the scene some time ago after the release of In the Land of Aou Tila, their debut album — while that first album was going to the hands of the few lucky ones who managed to discover the band back then, Afrodyssey Orchestra were already booking more studio time in order to start working on further recordings.

Three years later, we’re proud to present you 'Under the Sun', with seven new compositions, that reflect the logical evolution, the band has experienced during this time, including some fine-tuning in their line-up. A melange of African polyrhythms, jazz, a scent of the Balkans and a fling with Afrobeat that holds hands with their beginnings — all this devised through the prism of the vast Greek musical universe. It's the - one and only - Greek band out there, playing music influenced by the mother continent!

Very limited 12" (200 copies worldwide).

In a perfect world one would expect to find the music of Klaus Waldeck in the genre of electronic music. With his new project "The Waldeck Sextet" he leaves this stereotype behind and surprises us with a very pleasant acoustic experiment.

It all began with an analogue recording session in Vienna´s legendary supersense studios.And although it is hardly a perquisite to form a new project for these kind of recording ventures, Waldeck - quite obviously enthused by the idea of this analogue adventure - founded his new project "The Waldeck Sextet". Such was his excitement that he lost track of the number of musicians and thus founded the worlds first sextet that consists of 10 members, including his main vocalist Patrizia Ferrara.

Just act like it didn’t happen…
Reznik & Mikesh crack open a fine vintage bottle of conspiracy with the scorching truth bomb ‘The Moon
Landing Was A Hoax’. Following their remix of Telepopmusik last year, the freshly-formed duo of
Keinemusik affiliates deliver such an acid weapon Justin Strauss insisted they release it after it caused
total Panorama Bar meltdown for him.
In case you missed the inaugural edit, ‘The Moon Landing Was A Hoax’ takes off with pure 303 bounces
before sharp vocal cuts pepper the mix leading to a heaven-opening breakdown. Total euphoria; it’s so
powerful it totally misses the lunar landscape and spins us back around our own planet faster and faster
with every emphatic layer. Reznik & Mikesh’s ‘Area 51 Infinite Mix’ adds three more minutes of feels,
creating this immense drama that sits somewhere between Chemical Brothers and Two Lone
Swordsmen.
It’s backed by a giant leap of a remix by Justin Strauss himself. Teaming up with Throne of Blood’s Max
Pask, they take it up through the gears, ramping the rolling acid tension until the last two minutes pays
out the euphoria jolt we’re waiting for. File under rocket-fuel.
There are no small steps elsewhere on this trip either; ‘The Nostromo Swerve’ goes intergalactic with
such tense, epic acid techno thunder it could dodge entire black holes while ‘Kiss My Axe’ goes all-out
Stingray-style electro with its gravity-defying breakbeat swing and sweeping layers of melancholy
synths. Total celestial immersion: in space, no one can hear you scream, dream or even make up
hoaxes… Happy landings.

Dimi is the new solo project and label of (Dimitrios Ploumpidis) one half of techno duo, AnD.

The Dimi label will be an exploration in sound, pushing techno, rave and dance floor sounds with a raw and powerful attitude.

DIMI001 kicks off with "Time Travel". Pulsating kick drums and vocal cuts interweave, creating groove with the snappy snare and lashing hi hats. When the huge synth stab and melody drop to take us straight to a hedonistic past put looking clearly into the future.

"Bang Your Face" enters the room with a tight, hard-hitting kick and serrated rave sirens building an infectious groove before being banged in the face with the old school euphoric synth line that drops in and out of the mix creating tension and dramatic shifts in the track.

"Groove Away" a throbbing bass and kick drum drop with a sinister stab for this funky techno monster. Hard in dynamics but with a maximum amount of groove this track thumps and slams while the spaced out synth line and rave stabs help keep this funky banger grooving all the way to outer space as the alien melodies propel us for take off.

"All In" syncopated delayed synth stabs build in this track with tight rhythmic percussion and distorted kick drum. The snare enters like a punch to the face but only solidifying the swing while the main synth line opens building tension ready to destroy everything in its path. This is Dimi showcasing his direct and unique take on techno music.

After Nu Guinea’s LP, Nuova Napoli, and Napoli Segreta first compilation, NG RECORDS follows up with an exploration into the unknown groovy side of Naples by releasing Napoli Segreta Vol. 2 Famiglia Discocristiana, DNApoli and Nu Guinea team up again selecting more tracks from their archives, for a new compilation containing 9 mysterious Neapolitan tracks, found in the most hidden corners of remote flea markets around the Vesuvius.

But forget classical Neapolitan songs, "'O Sole Mio" or "Luna Rossa"... Forget about what you expect to find once you land in town … Oh and also forget about Google Maps.
Take a dodgy local guide, keep your eyes open, and follow it to enter the secret downtown, the underground, the routes that no satellite can detect, but beware there is no easy way out.

Napoli Segreta Vol. 2 is a musical journey into the sonic landscapes of Naples that you have never heard of before. A variety of genres merging soul, disco, funk, blues, new wave, afro-beat and boogie, including lyrics in Neapolitan urban slang, instrumental tracks with progressive flavour, and also some unexpected covers!

LIMITED EDITION 300 ONLY WHITE VINYL

There was a terrible egregious shift in vibration the day the transmission arrived. It came to me in a dream, as was natural for these particular occurrences, and left no time for preparation. The sound was unmistakable, a low baritone that echoed wildly and reeked of ancient fumes. A deeply monumental and monolithic apparition stood before what appeared to be a crowd of hexagonal beings. The vibrations worked through them in an apparent communicatory way, though would be impossible to translate in any logical linguistic fashion. I don’t know how but I knew they were aware of me, though their disposition was imminent of their consciousness as being collective, rather than individual; and were largely unbothered by my presence.
 
Once the transmission had finished it was clear that there had been a tamper. The kind of which Id seen  before, and had resulted in definite yet undefinable change in the fabric of reality.
 
I initially stumbled upon the odd and highly dangerous musical practices of Perhaps while on an assignment in Bermuda. There had been rumors of a local tribesman partaking in occult practices, of which I knew was native strictly to the Goat Bleeding Bad Men of the Congolese jungle. These rumors intrigued my journalistic nature, so I took the afternoon off in the hopes to possibly glean something that would be an easy pitch to a tabloid back home.
 
Upon arrival it was clear there was a strange foreign intervention within the community of the tribe, which was largely uninhabited upon first glance. Much of the surrounding foliage had been strung with the entrails of various animals and there were several disturbing fixtures composed of bones and various organs lining the commune. I managed to track down the tribesman, who appeared to be in some deep trance and was entirely unable to communicate, though seemed to be fixated on a single task: the drawing of a peculiar symbol. My researching the symbol resulted in only one hit, a piece of musical literature by a band Perhaps, who I later found to be recording in the area just weeks before.
 
It didn’t take long for me to become fully fixated on Perhaps, who were anything but coy about their whereabouts and metaphysical practices. Wherever they went a small commune followed, which was typically composed of deranged acid freaks, occultists, and Norweigian dairy farmers who had sold all their assets to follow the band after “hearing their music speak from the mountains”. After managing to crack into one of their camps that was stationed in an abandoned motel, I spoke with Jim Haney of Perhaps regarding their cultish practices, who gave little in way of detail but claimed to be working towards a deconstruction of reality through a linguistic utilization of vibration.
 
My stint with the cosmic beings through the telekinetic transmission had lead to one conclusion; that Perhaps have been in the works on something new. It seems as if they may have landed on the result which Haney had mentioned years ago. Through my continued interest I’ve procured the names of other members of this current project, which include: Sean Mcdermott, Tom Weeks, Ricky Petraglia, David Khoshtinat, Ben Talmi, Makoto Kawabata, Lucas Brode, Isiah Mitchell, Olivia Kieffer, Tyler Skoglund, Chang Chang. Though I can’t say exactly what is to come, it seems as if the ideas that were proposed during my initial meet may have been surpassed. Perhaps’ plans have begun to surface, and we are all at risk, for whatever that means. The great column and the vibrational prismic beings have shifted their attention to earthly matters, it would be foolhardy to not heed their warning. Though, self-preservation may be an impossibility.
 
Sam Hailstone Dec 24/ 2019

Apparel Music is the platform, Chevals the protagonist, vinyl the material, end of March 2020 is the period of time decided for the landing of the Frenchman’s first solo body of work for the “lovers dogs” label. “Be Yourself” is the title of the four tracks EP by the artist which, by the headline itself, sounds like a declaration of intentions, an acknowledgement of his qualities as a producer, shaping up four different aspects of his creative attitude in a remarkable musical effort. The EP takes off with the title track which is a perfect display of Cheval’s capabilities when it comes to the art of developing intersecting harmonies and melodies, setting up the perfect ground for a smooth vocal line that keeps on repeating the concept in a hypnotic loop: “just be yourself”! With “Keep On” the Bpm increases to design a beat driven track that winks to northern European rhythmics in an apotheosis of upbeat acid lines, a vibey overlapping of loops we advise against light-sleepers! Side B starts with a more rhythmically classic composition called “Good Good” which is also the last of the three original tracks; here the strings section mashes up with the vocals, as usual expertly crafted by Chevals and again some hints of acid bass line to form a proper dance floor hit. B2 is dedicated to Madcat’s remix of “Good Good”, where the French producer explains his point of view with a more funky oriented version of the track but keeping the essential parts intact. Impossible not to be excited by this EP by the Parisian producer who finally slams his fist on the table in what is his best musical statement so far. Bare with us until the end of March to listen to this pearl.

Afro futurist sensations Onipa unleash their debut album, combining Afro grooves, electronics and fierce energy for an effervescent celebration of cultural and musical encounters.ONIPA means ‘human’ in Akan, the ancient language of the Ashanti people of Ghana. It’s a message of connection through collaboration: from Ghana to London, our ancestors to our children, Onipa brings energy, groove, electronics, Afro-futurism, dance and fire! Born out of deep collaboration between long-time friends K.O.G (Kweku of Ghana of KOG and the Zongo Brigade) and Tom Excell (MD, guitarist and writer of acclaimed jazz/ soul afrobeat pioneers Nubiyan Twist), the group features KOG on vocals, balafon and percussion, Tom Excell on guitar, percussion and electronics, Dwayne Kilvington (Wonky Logic) on synths and MPC and Finn Booth (Nubiyan Twist) on drums.

The group have worked closely with Ghanaian star Wiyaala who features on three tracks, singing in the Sisaala language from the North of Ghana. The album also features collaborations with South African rapper Spoek Mathambo, Lesotho star Morena Leraba, Ghanaian percussion master Afla Sackey and Tanzanian sisters Pendo & Leah Zawose, each adding their own flavour to the project. “Through the musical prisms of London and Ghana our influences join together to create, a fundamental thread of traditional African rhythms, instrumentation and storytelling, interwoven with electronics, urban soundscapes and synth bass. We use technology, but it should never use us, our music is live and about deep human connection.” (Onipa)

The landmark 1980 album, representing a period of consolidation for Patrice Rushen. Her studio reputation as a go-to pianist and arranger among other artists and musicians was well established and was growing exponentially. Although never originally planning a career as a solo artist, she had built this side of her work through three Prestige albums and two sophisticated soul and disco albums for Elektra, 'Patrice' and 'Pizzazz'. "I was lucky to have a group of musicians that I knew well by the time of these recording sessions," remembers Patrice. "I had my pick of really incredible players because of all of the studio work I was doing. I also played with Lee Ritenour, Harvey Mason and others almost on a weekly basis at The Baked Potato club in L.A." Tracks include the singles 'Don't Blame Me', 'Look Up!' and 'Never Gonna Give You Up'. "'Never Gonna Give You Up' came out of playing ideas at home. Bassist Freddie Washington was living with my family while he tried to get a foothold in L.A.'s music scene and that groove came out of those jams. With 'The Dream', I had been listening to Minnie Riperton's 'Come To My Garden', one of my favourite albums. With Charles Stepney's arrangements, I saw that he didn't have to use large instrumentation to be orchestral in his approach. So, 'The Dream' was a homage to that kind of writing." "After 'Posh', we had a much better idea from the performance side what was important in our music and that informed my next album, 'Straight From The Heart'. We took a little break after 'Posh' was released, although I was still writing and working regularly on scores for film and TV. That had always been my main focus in my music."

Time to celebrate! Here we have a new installment of the Wild Series, focused on wild, untamed latin American Rock'nRoll from the sixties. This time we are lucky enough to visit the beautiful land of Chile for a rollercoaster of wild sounds and smashing and obscure hits. In Wild Chile you'll find, of course, wild Rock'n'Roll but also crazed out Twist, soul Stompers and a few fiery Instrumentals to boot. If you know the previous two volumes of this series you know what to expect... a record perfectly designed to make your next party explode, pure dynamite!

Robin Renoir lands on Neon Finger with this excellent 7″ that many pose as an instant boogie – funk classic! With a clearly 80's sound and with fancy collaborations of Throwbakk, Roxy or Artur Uronen from Beverly Girl. Don’t miss it!

Disco-funk recorded in London in the late-70s by Fungai Malianga who’d relocated from South Africa to North London. His funk-led ode to his manor with ‘Finsbury Park Party’ sportin’ Break-beats, tape echo, horn section and a narrative on Harringay’s finest known landscape. This is backed by a disco-funk version of Lennon–McCartney’s ‘Things We Said Today’, not only the most unknown version until now but also the grooviest. Drum & bass grooves to the max.

The Pendletons return with a brand new track and a slew of in demand remixes all in one package. First up is "Don't Turn Your Back" featuring Kool Customer vocalist Rojai featuring a bubblin' bassline, analog synths galore and Roj's vocals taking the lead on the cut backed up by Trailer Limon & E Da Boss's unmistakeable vibe. Next up, Bastard Jazz mainstay artists Potatohead People hit the nail squarely on the head with their restrained and eternally funky remix of the last album's hit single "You Do You" featuring the legendary Howard Johnson (previously only available on an unreleased Bandcamp bonus 7") while NYC DJ producer and edit king Jacques Renault does what he does best with "Keep It Working" featuring UK soulstress Gizelle Smith - extending the groove out and letting the bassline ride while keeping the original feel of the song intact. Lastly, Pendleton's member E Da Boss extends out the "Keep It Working" OG for the hardworking DJs across the land giving the intro & outro some breathing room. Also included is the Jacques Renault Instrumental.

Dadub ​is a project synonymous with the deepest rhythms from the interior of the human psyche. Low-end mysticism. Tribalist periodic audio patterns. The Berlin-based Italian producers behind the project, now constructed of sonic warlock Daniele Antezza and performance artist Marco Donnarumma, supply an unmistakably unique vision of post-apocalyptic dub landscapes. Past, present, and future blend into one, backed by the supremely sublime BASS of creators who are light years ahead in their field. A Sun Called Moon​ is a superior first representation on Ohm Resistance, detailing their ongoing mission of creating bass-present music, regardless of dancefloor conformity. The Time You Killed opens as a psycho-acoustic audio film, depicting the unknown world from which the EP emanates. I Would Gladly Die… introduces the first heavy rhythmic patterns, completely alien to identified structures, while unmistakably pushing a groove that entrances hypnotically. Past Times Present Ruins lowers the tempo and continues extrapolating into new rhythmic territory – or is it ancient? It Was Too Soon follows with beat driven hednod, as influences from Scorn to Autechre are subsumed into the universal language that comprises Dadub. Feeling both familiar and foreign, both modern and eternal, Dadub’s first appearance on Ohm Resistance is a fascinating drama played out in 4 acts. Spliff recommended – subwoofer required. All tracks Written and Produced by Daniele Antezza and Marco Donnarumma Mixed by Daniele Antezza and Marco Donnarumma at Dadub Studio, Berlin Mastered by Xergio Cordoba @ Eternal Midnight Studio, Madrid Photography by Flora Schwartz Layout by ​MachineTM

WRWTFWW Records is too happy to announce the much anticipated official reissue of Japanese duo Inoyamaland’s quintessential ambient/environmental/electronic album Danzindan-Pojidon, produced by Haruomi Hosono and originally released in 1983 on his Yen Records label. Available outside of Japan for the first time, the new age classic comes as a limited LP with liner notes by band member Makoto Inoue.

With Danzindan-Pojidon, Yasushi Yamashita and Makoto Inoue created what they describe as "a special place where the kingdom of summer vacation never ended". Playful and magical, it’s a sonic landscape defined by tinkling synths, floating minimalist melodies, pastoral excursions, and mythical overtones. The 10-track adventure takes the listener on a joyful audio exploration of unknown but friendly territories, like childhood memories of an imaginary island where everything is vibrantly alive and peaceful.

The original recording sessions for the album took place in an apartment filled with Inoyamaland’s "favorite things and friends" and the wonders that came out of them were handed to master Harry Hosono who added his undeniable genius touch. And thus Danzindan-Pojidon was born, an absolute must-have, sitting in the pantheon of all-time 80s Japanese ambient greats alongside Midori Takada’s Through The Looking Glass, Hiroshi Yoshimura’s Green, and Satoshi Ashikawa’s Still Way - and holding that mysterious power of "music that makes life a little easier and happier".

‘Rejoice’ is a very special collaboration between Tony Allen, the legendary drummer and co-founder of Afrobeat, and Hugh Masekela, the master trumpet player of South African jazz.

Having first met in the 70's thanks to their respective close associations with Fela Kuti, the two world-renowned musicians talked for decades about making an album together. When, in 2010, their touring schedules coincided in the UK, the moment presented itself and producer Nick Gold took the opportunity to record their encounter. The unfinished sessions, consisting of all original compositions by the pair, lay in archive until after Masekela passed away in 2018.

With renewed resolution, Tony Allen and Nick Gold, with the blessing and participation of Hugh Masekela’s estate, unearthed the original tapes and finished recording the album in summer 2019 at the same London studio where the original sessions had taken place.

‘Rejoice’ can be seen as the long overdue confluence of two mighty African musical rivers – a union of two free-flowing souls for whom borders, whether physical or stylistic, are things to pass through or ignore completely. According to Allen, the album deals in “a kind of South African-Nigerian swing-jazz stew”, with it's roots firmly in Afrobeat.

Allen and Masekela are accompanied on the record by a new generation of well-respected jazz musicians including Tom Herbert (Acoustic Ladyland/The Invisible), Joe Armon-Jones (Ezra Collective), Mutale Chashi (Kokoroko) and Steve Williamson.

Kywald & Farrer drop 4 on Constant Sound for there 20th release.

The Prisoners are one of the most influential bands of the 1980s, an astounding live act whose records were the opposite of what pop radio demanded in that era. Raw where they were smooth and full of character where those records needed to be blandly conformist. They hardly sold a record and yet they can count the likes of Noel Gallagher and political journalist John Harris as their fans. Steve Lamacq devoted a whole chapter of his book to his love of them whilst Tim Burgess of The Charlatans once said that at that time he only checked for The Prisoners and New Order. At least two UK hits used their arrangement on Joe South’s ‘Hush’ as their basis.  ‘In From The Cold’ was the final shot at success by The Prisoners the only problem was they didn’t want it. Signed by Eddie Piller to his Stiff-backed subsidiary Countdown they were put in the studio with Troy Tate (Teardrop Explodes / The Smiths) and made this astounding album which they then disowned.  By 1986 they were an incredible live band and had released three albums of their distinctive 60s influenced garage rock. A four-piece featuring Johnny Symons on drums, future Acid Jazz hitmaker James Taylor on organ, Allan Crockford on bass and backing vocals and the compellingly soulful Graham Day on vocals. Graham also wrote fantastic songs. Ten years later and they would have been lauded as heroes in Brit Pop land but the mid-80s had no place in the mainstream for a band with their influences.  ‘In From The Cold’ is full of amazing songs from the hard edges of ‘All You Gotta Do Is Say’, ‘Ain’t No Telling’ and ‘The More That I Teach You’, to the mournful ‘Wish The Rain’ and ‘Be On Your Way’. It is no surprise that Mojo journalist Lois Wilson described this as her favourite album by the band.  This reissue on coloured vinyl is the first time the album has been issued in its original form since 1986 when, due to Stiff’s imminent demise, it was deleted very quickly.

"Available again for the first time since original release in 1974, Outernational Sounds proudly presents one of the deepest custom press jazz recordings of all – Jaman’s spiritualised and funky Sweet Heritage.

The history of jazz is often told as though it was principally a history of releases and recordings. On those terms, it’s easy to mistake a small recorded footprint for obscurity or silence. But that is to put the cart before the horse, for the true history of the jazz is the story of the music as it was played night after night in the clubs, bars, concert halls and backrooms of cities and towns across America and the world. Only a tiny fraction of this living tradition ever makes it onto a recording. The far greater part is embodied in the musicians and their music as they play it and live it. And even though 1974’s Sweet Heritage is James Edward Manuel’s only release, the pianist and educator better known as Jaman has undoubtedly lived it.

Brought up in Buffalo, New York, Jaman studied classical piano before beginning formal jazz studies under greats including Earl Bostic and Horace Parlan. Quickly becoming a respected regular on the club scene in Buffalo, Jaman held down innumerable residencies and worked with top local musicians – one of his early trios included the renowned bassist John Heard and drummer Clarence Becton, both of whom were poached one night by a visiting Jon Hendricks; sometime Sun Ra Arkestra bassist Juini Booth and regular Ahmad Jamal sideman Sabu Adeyola (also of Kamal & The Brothers) have graced his groups too. At famous night spots all over Buffalo’s East Side and on excursions to Manhattan’s storied jazz clubs, Jaman has shared the stage with some of the most illustrious names in jazz and blues: Big Joe Turner, Muddy Waters, Joe Henderson, Ruth Brown, Frank Morgan, Woody Shaw, Sonny Stitt, and too many others to mention. His eponymous group, Jaman, was formed in 1970; they toured the US and Canada steadily in the years that followed. He became, in short, one of Buffalo’s true jazz stalwarts, and so he remains.

But despite a life lived deep within the music, Jaman only recorded a single LP, 1974’s Sweet Heritage. Pressed in tiny quantities by the Mark Records custom service, and issued with a stock landscape cover, Sweet Heritage featured the regular Jaman group playing a mixture of covers and originals. The whole LP showcases an ensemble in compete control, and with the flying, spiritual sound of ‘Free Will’ and the upful, Latin-tinged ‘In The Fall of The Year’ – both Jaman originals – the album has since become a legendary collector’s classic. Unavailable since its original issue, Outernational Sounds is proud to present Jaman’s Sweet Heritage – the soulful and spiritualised sounds of a master at work."

In Ghana "to chop" is to eat, so the phrase No Funk No Chop quite simply means; deliver afro funk and disco bombs, or no one will eat today. With this in mind we jump on the bus to begin our journey. We find our man Grégoire Lawani in fine form with one of the greatest party starters "Africa Land of Soul". Brethren Tany Welck tells the world that he is indeed a" Sexy Man". Peter Mukoko "Esimo Esimo" delivers the breakdown to end all breakdowns. Django Strong supplies us with his super slick "Hoo Dou Hoo Mine". Jide Obi "Give's It Everything he has got", just listen to that bass! Fosto transports us with a synth laden boogie portraying his vision of Africa, K3 Band give us the "Feeling" and we reach our destination ending with Tchamy Patterson's "Camerounaise Children". So, let's eat!!

We hope you enjoyed your trip!

'Slacking Off'... The sought-after 1973 Bahamas recorded percussion-led gem that landed on the scene thanks to Jared Boxx. Renowned DJ and proprietor of New York's Sound Library, Jared unleashed this elusive monster soul-funk jam onto wantslists worldwide via his 'Thanks For Waiting' mix in 2009 and it's remained unobtainable until now. Recorded at 'King' Eric Gibson's Elite Recording Studio in 1973, the track features Theo Coakley of T-Connection on keys, British engineer Allen Mottershaw aka MOTT on solo guitar and Nassauvians lead vocalist and guitarist Tommy Goodwin, who relocated to the Bahamas at least a decade earlier from the US. Featured b-side 'The Time Is Now' is a previously unreleased dreamy AOR island recording from the vaults of Elite Studios made the following year with his friend Don Lepage, sung together with Tommy on guitar and Don on harmonica. Both cuts now available on limited 7" from Backatcha Records for playback far and wide .

Wildflower (Leon Brichard, Tom Skinner, Idris Rahman) continue to explore areas of groove-based improvised jazz on their 2nd album. Taking a slightly freer approach to the writing process, simple but effective melodies and bass motifs are explored to to create fully realised pieces with dynamic extremes that bring a full range of emotion. Recorded over a two day session at Fishmarket Studios in London, the band sounds relaxed and at ease, giving space to explore intricate improvised interplay and dialogue fully whilst at the same time building to fiery powerful climaxes and emotional peaks. Skinner is on fire here whilst Rahman and Brichard trade riffs and push the harmonic and rhythmic boundaries. Rahman’s use of clarinet and bamboo flute plus additional layers of woodwinds, Skinner’s unique approach to stripped-down use of his very personalised kit, and Brichard’s use of both acoustic and electric basses make for a sonic landscape that is both unique and highly approachable. Touching on heavy spiritual vibes whilst taking in dark alternative grooves and delicate folk-like tunes, the overall sound remains instantly accessible



Sax, Flutes and Clarinet: Idris Rahman
Electric and Double Bass: Leon Brichard
Drums: Tom Skinner

Known for its 808s, Bass, Alligators, & Cocaine Cowboys, Florida is the home of Vanguard Sound's Chris Mitchell, who follows his contribution to Squirrels On Acid with an EP of four absolute Rippers at the intersection of classic booty bass & new-school goth electro.

“Every Asshole” announces its presence with an up-tempo red-lined booty beat that will shake the walls of the Strip Mall Strip Club in any neighborhood. Funk is the key ingredient, and it is added generously, even when the synthesizer melodies bring in a darker texture. “Grippers” is more sinister, but no less funky. Dirty South Cold Wave at full frequency, propulsive & punk rock, but this is strictly party music at its core. The drum patterns stay in perpetual motion, programed with skill & precision. “Sh4” is another banger. The sound of a malfunctioning Fairlight over intricate drums & angular arpeggios. Mitchell's tracks never sit still, and again here, the drum programming shines. This is someone who has put in their 10, 000 hours on the MPC, and it shows. “Land Of Make Believe” slows things down & turns ups the Goth. Cybertron Sci Fi Soundtrack moods, but rump shaking nonetheless, wordless alien vocal textures & synth strings weave with the drums, which here are slightly more sparse than the previous tracks, but programmed with the same attention to detail.

If you're familiar with Chris Mitchell, this EP will not disappoint, & if this is your introduction to his music, you'll be wanting to hear more. This sixth release from the world of Squirrels is NOT for standing around at the party looking cool. This for shaking the tail, sweating with strangers at legendary all-ages club & birthplace of Miami Bass the Pac Jam in hedonistic abandon.

For the first release of the new decade we are honoured to introduce LA-based Oxóssi who has conjured a captivatingly sinister sonic palette for his debut EP on the label.

Sama
A scorching 8-bar intro catapults us straight into 'Sama', the first track of the release, where abandoned-jungle-ruins atmospheres meet threatening wooden flutes and weighty wobs - Oxóssi is not messing about. The narration proceeds with a melody sung by a penetrating laser-beam-like synth, which adds a space layer to this organic banger, getting more and more detuned throughout the track while kickstarting a call-and-answer march between the flute and synth-wob melodies. Don't expect to uncover the secrets of 'Sama' at a first listen, this intricate creation will keep revealing itself listen after listen.

Saut Dans Le Vide
An alluring pad harmony and a hidden inspirational message from the artist introduce the fascinatingly titled 'Saut Dans Le Vide', a masterful arrangement of unrelenting piano chords, subtle choir stabs, dreamy flute leads and compellingly staggering drums. Elements keep artfully alternating throughout this convoluted composition which arouses a pensive, melancholy-nuanced hopefulness.

Undead
It's time to get glitchy here, as 'Undead' makes its entrance. Shimmering melodies rain down in a glittery shower of eerie purple confetti, surrounded by rattling white noise strikes and playful-yet-mighty bass hits. As the story evolves, an 8-bit synth lead briefly takes us to a post-apocalyptic landscape before we momentarily wake up from this psychedelic daydream, just in time to take a breath and dive back in for round two.

Refreshing, ruff & ready sounding white label that’s landed out of nowhere, pulling on sounds from the early days of FWD>> as well as old-skool hardcore and 8-bar grime.

“…In The City Of Lights Where Nothing Is Grey…" In the City Of Angels by way of Prague, Pink Gloves channels classic Italo Disco on their Italians Do It Better debut. Petr Pliska weaves a tale of introspection on the neon soaked streets of Los Angeles.

Act 1 – Downtown. The title track is a hypnotic journey to the city center over a symphony of synthesis. He laments that he “Never Wanted To Come… Never Wanted To Stay… In The City Of Lights Where Nothing Is Grey”. It’s a place where nothing ever changes
& fantasy greets us in every direction. Beneath the sedated vocals, the synthesizers strike deep & dissolve quickly into a haze blanketing the strut of the heavy backbeat. The stage is set.

Act 2 – The Dancefloor. “Dancing on My Own” infuses Robyn’s four on the floor classic with it’s own cocktail of ethereal melodies & a rhythm section ala Ultravox. In the face of the Narrator’s lament, a mirror ball shimmers reflections of resilience.

Act 3 – The Highway. The downtempo “Wilderness” haunts us, bursting with silken synthesizers & spectral electronics reverberating like the ghosts of last night’s party. The tempered cinematic landscape blends with a mesmerizing sorcery as we drive into the unknown.

Act 4 – End Credits. Suddenly, the film is over. We hear the sunrise straight out of an ‘80s John Hughes film & the beautiful grit of Power, Corruption & Lies.

Produced By Johnny Jewel. Mixed By Lukáš Turza & Johnny Jewel. Mastered By Mike Bozzi At Bernie Grundman Mastering. Vinyl Cut By Bernie Grundman, Hollywood.

Ryan Crosson takes care of the fifth EP on tastemaking Detroit label My Baby Records with a fantastically forward-looking four-track vinyl offering. Ryan Crosson is a complex artistic creature who has roamed far and wide in his storied career. His always innovative music has come on groundbreaking labels including Wagon Repair, M_nus, Spectral Sound, and of course his own Visionquest. Each time he explores a new sound world and draws on things as diverse as musique concrète, Downtown New York funk, and East African jazz. Now he cooks up more beguiling brilliance on this fresh new EP. Opener ‘Speaker Dubs’ is a deep, bubbly rhythm track with dub chords rippling out to infinity. It’s a stylish track full of far-sighted reverence and supple groove that locks you in a trance. ‘Ogilvie’ is a piece of absorbing ambient with found sound recordings of muffled voices that sounds like you’re in an underground station. B-side opener ‘FutureTheory’ is another minimal masterpiece with glitchy sound design and eerie chords peeling off a tight, kinetic groove. Ghoulish voices add more late-night atmosphere and the whole track grows ever darker and more consuming as it unfolds. The excellent ‘OortCloud’ takes you back to the heart of a dance-floor with futuristic menace: the smooth drum loops are militant, the voices are dehumanised and the searching synths speak of a desolate landscape. It’s heady, brilliantly bleak stuff that is utterly infectious. This is another hugely inventive EP from one of the underground’s most consistent talents

»Alchemy« is the debut album from 22-year old singer-songwriter Tara Nome Doyle, following the singles »Heathens«, »Neon Woods« and »Mercury«. Doyle’s 2018 EP »Dandelion«, featuring her breakthrough-hit »Down with You«, has so far amassed nearly two million streams. Recently, two of her songs featured in Sophie Kluge’s feature film »Golden Twenties«. Doyle is a member of Kat Frankie’s choir on whose a capella EP she features.

»Alchemy« deals, in two songs each, with the four phases of development of the pre-modern natural philosophy, the alchemy. The album can be read psychologically or as a portrait of someone coming of age. Experience and reflection are closely entwined which is as beautiful as it’s threatening.

Doyle, whose middle name is pronounced just like »Naomi«, is from Berlin-Kreuzberg, her parents are from Ireland and Norway. She speaks (and sings) both languages without accent. Is it permissible to recognize the biographical background of these landscapes in her art? The stored heat and the fog from the Irish peat bogs, the magic of the the Norwegian forests?

The concept album was recorded in large parts with David Specht (bass player and producer of Isolation Berlin) and Doyle's newly founded band in Berlin. Specht remains reserved, keeping the band in check. It’s the interiors that we should hear – acoustically, but also thematically. The drums sound more like a knock on the window pane than the city noise outside the door, the guitar controls the harmony and not the power supply. The first instrument remains Doyle’s voice, which is always working and is looking for a way. Inward, outward. All songs were written by Doyle, for the arrangement for »Neon Woods« she worked with Max Rieger (Die Nerven, producer for e.g. Drangsal and Ilgen-Nur).

A unique album of outtakes from the classic ‘Songs
Of Praise’ and ‘In Pursuit Of Shashamane Land’
albums, compiled by On-U archivist Patrick Dokter
from the original tapes and expertly sequenced to
work as an immersive listening experience. A
companion piece to the acclaimed ‘Return Of The
Crocodile’ set from 2016 that took the listener on a
version excursion through the early years of the
group.
 These are the dubbier and more out-there
experiments mixed down whilst Adrian Sherwood
was shaping the sound of the albums. Bubbling
percussion lines skitter across the stereo spectrum,
ghostly voices echo inside the machine and
mangled guitar riffs beam down from Mars, whilst
staying rooted in the tough tribal rhythms that
form the bedrock of the AHC sound. This is music
for the head and feet, take heed!
 Mastered by King Kevin Metcalfe. Comes with
digital download card for full contents plus doublesided poster insert containing an extensive new
interview with African Head Charge mainman
Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah, telling the story of his early
life.

Once again the DeltaPlanet offers a beautyfull landscape of sounds !

No Bad Days is back with the weird and wonderful sounds of the Korean tropics for Closet Yi’s debut release ‘Tam Tam Land’. Opening with ‘Honeymoon Junction’ we are greeted by the signature floaty yet punchy sound that often comes with a No Bad Days record but then around the halfway mark, an almost abrupt eeriness ambience washes over the track, letting us know: this isn’t going to be quite what you expected. ‘Circle Dance’ is next on the A side which is more of a functional club track in its structure to it’s predecessor. Birds tweet and a female Korean voice creeps in and out of the mix, luring us deeper into the depths of the island.

Hopping over to the B side we arrive at the climax of ‘Tam Tam Land’ with the thumping ‘Basalt (玄武岩)’. Closet Yi flexes her skills in producing a peak time acid-tropische-prog-banger and doesn’t disappoint.

Christophe Chassol is reshuffling the deck. After making his name worldwide with three magnificent ultrascore compositions (Nola Che?rie in 2011, Indiamore in 2013 and Big Sun in 2015), working with Solange and Frank Ocean, and playing the most prestigious halls, he's taking his quest to arrange reality even further with Ludi, his new project that includes an album, film and show. It's play - an all-important word in music - that underscores this impressive, masterful construction freely inspired by Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game. Everything is part of the melody: a playground or basketball players in the suburbs, an arcade in Tokyo, a roller coaster, singer Crystal Kay and rapper Kohh. Solo musicians were filmed in rehearsal, like flautist Jocelyn Mienniel and the composer's partner, drummer Mathieu Edward, who managed to reprise on stage

Chassol drew from the great German author's utopic book, where music, mathematics, aesthetics and spirituality intermingle, to create a passionate work produced by Bertrand Burgalat's label Tricatel that once again justifies his special place in the musical landscape.

With Ludi, Chassol directs his own round of Hermann Hesse's game, taking on the title of Magister Ludi, master of The Glass Bead Game. With this double album, Chassol realises his ambition: to compose unprecedented music that fills us with joy and prompts reflection.

Mavericks of the musical landscape, Brooklyn’s finest genre-defying duo Dave + Sam release their anticipated debut album ‘No Shade’ on Classic Music Company this spring, a thirteen-track narration of the 21st century experience, told through the eyes of vocalist Dave Giles II and production maestro Sam O.B. With the aim to package love, empowerment and socio-political commentary into a collection of tracks that never compromise on groove or soul, this enchanting album never loses sight of its message as it journeys from deep Chicago house and otherworldly melodies to funk-laden jams and adventurous studio experimentation.

Hinged tightly by the soulful nuances of Moodymann, Mos Def and Gil Scott Heron, Dave’s captivating spoken word delivery is purposeful and considered, as Sam weaves rhythms and grooves so deep you can get lost in them – the two musical narratives working in perfect harmony. Impassioned cuts like ‘Facts’, ‘Worth It’ and ‘Sauce’ leverage hip-hop’s tradition of battle rap against white supremacist rhetoric, a message that remains ever more relevant in today’s political climate. Title track ‘No Shade’, ‘Day One (Oh Baby)’ and ‘Can’t Get Enough’ allow stories of love and loss to unfold to the listener, while the stripped-back grooves of ‘Round The Way’ and ‘You Da Shit Girl’ add another dimension to the album. Featuring a number of collaborators such as Chicago legend Mike Dunn, powerhouse vocalist Ramona Renea and fellow Brooklyn natives Cor.Ece and LATASHÁ, ‘No Shade’ is an evocative, powerful and joyful experience when played in its entirety.

Recorded in Brooklyn’s Bedford Stuyvesant, a neighbourhood bearing the scars of over-policing and encroaching gentrification, the vibrancy of the community and its unyielding history of creative expression shines through on the album’s entirety. As products of such environments, Dave + Sam’s music is resilient, revolutionary and organic in equal parts. An homage to their mutual reverence for early Chicago house and the golden era of underground parties in New York, ‘No Shade’ is a riveting body of work ready for you to lose yourself in.

Comprising producer-engineer Joel Krozer ((Clark (Warp), Smerz (XL Recordings), When Saints Go Machine (Escho)) and Brian Della Valle (singer-songwriter of Of The Valley) the Copenhagen based duo got together when Joel heard Brian recording in the studio below his. Their encounter led to a series of late-night recording sessions, together with collaborator Søren Holme, that quickly became the cornerstone of their partnership and the formation of Fluqx. Monolith is the exceptional debut album of Fluqx and offers state of the art production and highly creative Electronica tracks with that special something. The sound of Fluqx is distinct - a merging of deeply warped synthesizers, swirling textures and Brian’s affecting vocals. There is a versatile range of sounds and atmospheres across these twelve tracks - from the delicate arpeggios of ‘Carvings’ and ‘Ephemeral Objects’, to the massive drum sounds and cutting synth leads of ‘Monolith’ and ‘Hanami’. Della Valle’s warm falsetto navigates through this dynamic landscape with ease and hooks the listener in on tracks like ‘Feather’ and ‘Staring At The Sun’, whilst providing space to breathe on tracks like ‘Here‘ and ‘Golden Hour‘. Elsewhere, ambient, droney textures are at the forefront on ‘Mojave Booth’ and ‘Diamond Dust’, maintaining the dreamy, otherworldly nature of the Fluqx sound

The music of Clan Caima´n is primitive and hypnotic. It is located in the pre-rock era and from there, it proposes a different evolutionary path for music from the 1950' s to present day. Like a different musical development in a parallel timeline. Gamelan, Hawaiian music, surf, exotica, rainforest or aquatic; these elements make up the palette which constructs a mystic and profound music that seeks ancestral connection.

Formed in 2016 by Argentinian musician, composer and producer Emilio Haro, looking to create music generated by group dynamics, Clan Caima´n differs from his past two solo albums ( 'Panora´mico' in 2007 and 'Estrambo´tico' in 2012, both on Radiaciones Armo´nicas) in that these were studio works and not meant to be played live.

The quintet's enigmatic sound is built upon the kalimbafo´n, an instrument created by Haro using several kalimbas, Diego Voloschin's wild and hypnotic percussion (no cymbals, no snare), Gonzalo Cordoba's lap steel and baritone guitar, Facundo Gomez's psychedelic guitar tones and Claudio Iuliano's dry and percussive bass sound. This debut album contains eight anachronistic and oddly familiar compositions that range from introspection to trance, tracing their own sonic landscape.

Standards & Practices returns after an extended hiatus with its first release for 2020 and the label's first-ever compilation. Showcasing six exclusive tracks from a variety of musically like-minded allies both new and established, "Out Of Practice Vol. 1" finds some of the most talented artists currently working in electronic music refining their sound and pushing their craft in exciting new directions.

Stave and Grebenstein's "Rack 4", their first collaboration since 2018's acclaimed "Live From Frankfurter Strasse", kicks off the proceedings with a view into a bleak, dystopian sonic landscape, while Italian producer VSK, known for his excellent EPs on Mord and 47 (among others) delivers "Pendulum", one of his best tracks to date - a visceral, unrelenting, broken-beat behemoth. Closing side A is Chicago native Todd Mattei 's contribution, "Lake Charles", a beautifully textured Frippian soundscape.

Kristian Jabs, better known to most as Pessimist, opens side B with "Rut", a sleek, stripped-down, techno track that positively drips with moody atmospherics and tension. Overlook and Karim Maas's contribution, the dense and claustrophobic "Chalk", is an ultra-heavy breaks track with hoovers and enough sub-bass to shatter blocks of granite. "7th Recording 29", an ambient piece which represents Jonathan Krohn's first recorded collaboration with long-time friend and associate Benjamin Mjolsness since their work together in the group Male - closes the compilation.

The compilation "Celestial Birds" reveals and focuses on the widely unkown electronic compositions of the AACM founder and jazz pianist MUHAL RICHARD ABRAMS. #5 in the Perihel Series, curated by zeitkratzer director REINHOLD FRIEDL.

Anybody interested in jazz knows that Chicago has always been an impressive hot spot for new talents – and still is. One essential landmark in the history and development of jazz was the founding of the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) in May 1965. This non-profit organization was a melting pot (and starting point) for artists like ANTHONY BRAXTON, ROSCOE MITCHELL, GEORGE LEWIS or LESTER BOWIE and his ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO but one of its actual founding members is known only to the deep connaisseurs: MUHAL RICHARD ABRAMS (1930 – 2017).
The autodidact pianist and composer left music school and university, deciding to learn music by himself.

From 1961 on, the EXPERIMENTAL BAND was his first ensemble, but it soon turned out that ABRAMS' interests went beyond jazz and that he was open to the avant-garde and new music and most of all: electronic music. Which led to a double problem: On the one hand, black musicians had almost no access to the rare electronic music studios located in and funded by universities or broadcasting corporations. On the other hand, there were strong reservations regarding electronic music in the black music community.

In his important book "A Power Stranger Than Itself – The AACM and American Experimental Music" GEORGE LEWIS writes that "the use of electronics … proved controversial and widely misunderstood in a world of jazz in which acoustic instruments became conflated with musical, and eventually, cultural and even racial authenticity." ABRAMS' response was to actually "hide" his electronic pieces on the B-sides of his albums, and this compilation focuses on some of his best electronic experiments: the 22-minute long epic "The Bird Song" from 1968 in its original version incl. the reverb that was removed on the later CD reissue on DELMARK, the synthesizer compositions "Conversations With The Three Of Me" (1989) and "Think All, Focus One"1995) plus " Spihumonesty" (1980) with a 2nd synthesizer played by GEORGE LEWIS and YOUSEF YANCEY on theremin.

"Celestial Birds" casts a new light on the underrated experimenter MUHAL RICHARD ABRAMS, his innovative approach to composition and pieces that lay dormant for way too long!

• SPECIAL EDITION 200TH SINGLE
• FIRST EVER 7-INCH SINGLE RELEASE
• TWO STUNNING SIDES – “OVO”
• OFFICIAL SCEPTER STUDIOS ACETATE ARTWORK

To celebrate this historic landmark Outta Sight proudly present a unique 45 featuring two stunning sides by rare soul legends 'BETTY LAVETTE' and 'NELLA DODDS'.

First under the spotlight is Betty Lavette with her 1964 recording of “One Thin Dime”, popularised on the Northern scene by Holly Maxwell. Ms. Lavette’s version, unreleased at the time, with it's haunting brass and upbeat production is hands-down the superior version. It first came to light in 1993, thanks to Kent Records, on the rare sixties’ soul CD ‘Living The Nightlife’, and is now available, for the first time, on the premier division format … 7" single.

Next up is Sixties Soul sweetheart Nella Dodds with her Philly dancer “First Date” produced by the legendary Dyno-Dynamic production team for Wand Records. It was written by James Bishop and originally intended for a mid-Sixties album entitled ‘This Girl’s Life’. The album was rejected at the time but finally surface on a Kent CD in 2007.
However, like our A-side, “First Date” makes it's first ever appearance on a much anticipated 7" single.

At the turn of the 80's, a new generation of musicians appeared who saw synthesisers not as dehumanizing machines but as musical instruments that could be coaxed into creating modern, beautiful and decidedly emotional music. It was almost as if the musicians were intentionally creating this music to prove the doubters wrong. 

Compiled by Saint Etienne’s Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs, “The Tears Of Technology” celebrates this brief period when scruffy synth duos from the provinces broke through and took over British pop. Like mellotrons before them, synths could project a strange and deep emotion; listen to OMD’s ‘Sealand’, or the Human League’s ‘WXJL Tonight’, and it was clear that something in the wiring had an inherent melancholy.

In the 60's and 70's, the synthesiser had mostly been regarded as either a novelty or a threat. Tomorrow’s World warned us that the cold, heartless synth would soon make orchestras redundant. But by 1980, Korgs, Moogs and Rolands were becoming affordable for all, and post-punk had created a safe place for new groups to experiment with these new toys.

The influence of Kraftwerk – who had made a landmark appearance on Tomorrow’s World in 1975 – is all over this collection. Big names rub shoulders with obscurities by Turquoise Days, Electronic Circus and Illustration, all highly prized recordings among ‘cold wave’ and ‘minimal synth’ afficionados. There are pioneers like John Foxx and Thomas Leer, alongside unexpected synth sadness from Simple Minds and the Teardrop Explodes.

“The Tears Of Technology” celebrates an era of electronic melancholia, synthesized intimacies and insights – even Tomorrow’s World didn’t see that coming.

The 11-track album titled “Needledrop” provides a suite of both uplifting and easy-listening moments, refined and understated individually yet cohesively crafted with the honest musicianship and inarguable credentials that we know of production duo Session Victim.

The German pair of Hauke Freer and Matthias Reiling are no strangers to releasing quality long-format albums and while rising through a discerning community of DJ’s have previously released three consecutive albums on tastemaker label Delusions of Grandeur culminating in 2017’s “Listen To Your Heart”.

Their latest and fourth studio album via the label Night Time Stories (the London based sister label to the coveted LateNightTales) marks a notable move towards the home listening dynamics of their career counterparts such as Nightmares on Wax and Portishead that have played such a strong influence in Session Victims variety of output over the last decade.

As accomplished producers, Session Victim have been intent on delivering a characteristic body of work for uninterrupted easy listening and with Needledrop have landed with significant inspiration from the engaging jazz and soul compositions that found their way into early 2000’s trip hop.

Fusing downtempo beats, smooth tones and hedonistic grooves via their intuitive sampling sessions, Session Victim’s fourth album succeeds in actively engaging the listeners mood and intellect in equal measure.

The albums clear stand out is "Made Me Fly” which presents a soothing yet expressive live vocal performance by singer songwriter Beth Hirsch, best known for her collaboration with French duo Air on their 1998 album Moon Safari.

As self-confessed semi-reclusive studio geeks, Session Victim have turned their 2020 album focus towards a large arsenal of dusty influences which has inspired them to rediscover the intuitive and playful side of their production personalities while also demonstrating their cherished music knowledge.

A Colourful Storm presents the first ever compilation of work by Velocette, the nom de plume of Jason Williams and one of the most unique producers from the '90s' wider ambient-techno landscape of the United States. Gathered from recordings originally released on Jonah Sharp, aka Spacetime Continuum's Reflective label and Williams' own Parallel Recordings, the tracks are sublime, sought-after and primed for modern audiences. "Bound in a Nutshell" and "Microcosmik" are chill-out room dreams while "Memories For The Future" and "Stumm" are pure dancefloor and after-hours euphoria. Dreamy selection for dancers and and stargazers alike. "Listening to Velocette is like gazing into a brilliant night sky - a blanket of stars shimmering like a kaleidoscope just beyond reach." For fans of Klaus Schulz, Stasis, Likemind. Full-colour printed reverse card sleeve with liner

Exhilarating, previously unreleased recordings by Derek Bailey and his guests at Company Week in 1983: Jamie Muir, Evan Parker, Hugh Davies, Joëlle Léandre, John Corbett, Peter Brötzmann, Vinko Globokar, Ernst Reijseger and J.D. Parran.
What’s remarkable throughout this album is the respect and affection the musicians show for each other, exemplifying the dictionary definition of ‘company’ as ‘the fact or condition of being with another or others, especially in a way that provides friendship and enjoyment.’

It starts with Landslide, a brilliant, spiky, spluttering, twanging reunion of Music Improvisation Company members Evan Parker (tenor sax), Hugh Davies (electronics) and Jamie Muir (percussion). Next up, Seconde Choix, with Joëlle Léandre’s close-miked prepared bass and Bailey’s acoustic guitar seemingly heading in different directions before coming together miraculously in just four minutes.

The opening of First Choice, a duet between Bailey and Muir, is a revelation for those who moan that the guitarist plays too many notes. His patient and truly exquisite exploration of harmonics is beautifully counterpointed by Muir’s metallic percussion.

On Pile Ou Face (Heads Or Tails) Davies concentrates on his high register oscillators, carefully shadowed by Parker’s soprano until Léandre’s deft, springy pizzicato lures them into the playground. JD In Paradise is a surprisingly delicate wind quartet, with John Corbett’s trumpet, fragile and Don Cherry-like, punctuating the sinuous interplay between Peter Brötzmann and J.D. Parran (on sopranos, flutes and clarinet), while trombonist Vinko Globokar growls approvingly in the background.

Igor Stravinsky’s definition of music as the ‘jeu de notes’ comes to mind listening to Bailey’s duet with cellist Ernst Reijseger (executing fiendish double-stopped harmonics with staggering ease). Technical virtuosity has never sounded so effortless – it is, as its title Een Plezierig Stukje simply states, a fun piece.

On the closing La Horda, Bailey and Reijseger team up with the horns for what on paper looks like it could be rough and rowdy sextet but which turns out once more to be a thoughtful, spacious exchange of ideas, shapes and colours.

Still deeper forays into the musical landscape of the Windrush generation. A dazzling range of calypso, mento, joropo, steelband, palm-wine and r’n'b. Expert revivals of stringband music, from way back, alongside proto-Afro-funk. An uproarious selection of songs about the H-Bomb and modern phones, prostitution and Haile Selassie, mid-life crisis and the London Underground, racism and solidarity, the Highway Code and a 100% West Indian Royal Wedding.
For example some frantic British-Guianan joropo music-hall about Eatwell Brown from Clapham, who starts out biting off a piece of his mother-in-law’s face at a party, then devours everything in his path… a chunk of Brixton Prison, a Union Jack, a policeman’s uniform. Or Marie Bryant — collaborator of Lester Young and Duke Ellington — taking time off from skewering the South African PM Daniel Malan at her West End revue, to contribute some arch, swinging filth about uber-genitalia. Superior sound, courtesy of Abbey Road, D&M and Pallas; lovely gatefold sleeve; full-size booklet, with full notes, and fabulous previously-unseen photographs, including a set from the family archive of Russ Henderson (who led the first, impromptu Notting Hill Carnival march, in 1966).

Despite working often alone, Savvas Metaxas is someone who rather thinks in terms of community and connectivity, who prefers alliances over ego, who is a sound artist as well as a musical activist.

Coming from Thessaloniki, Greece, he co-founded Granny Records, puts up local shows, worked with the Goethe Institute, did site-specific sound installations in London, collaborates with other experimentalists like Spyros Emmanouilidis and released brilliant albums on fellow tape travellers Coherent States and Falt, among others.

Why is it important for us to write down these trophies/landmarks/selling points? Because Savvas is not at all about trophies/landmarks/selling points, he is about connecting things, and this, in our humble opinion, is one of the most fundamental qualities of experimental music, and experimental art in general. It is about rearranging disparate materials, transcending different layers of reality, speaking without the use of words or clear significants.

On the four tracks of „Transmitter“, he is exploring sound in a classical set-up, experimenting with chance-operational radio frequencies and their impact on harmonic structures extracted from synthesizers.

The result are compositions with a haptic quality, a glimmering, grainy music that is directly effecting the room in which it is played in. So despite its broad frequential range: don’t play this tape too loud, as it really interacts with its surroundings. Hence, the names, or rather name tags of these tracks are mostly devoid of interpretation and are purely descriptive. „Words“ is, easy to suggest, a composition based on a voice talking in greek, while „Stormy And Colourful“ is a specification of what is heard on that piece. These two are framed by „Heterodyne“ and „Paradoxical“ - characterizations of the techniques used in the working process.

The artwork of the tape is a continuation of this work method. Clear structures, using the specially built typeface and the spinning of letters and words to manipulate perception and to obstruct a simplification, reducing the logic of words to a sign language that obliterates meaning and identity, a process which, as Simon Reynolds put it, induces ecstasy.

Completing a red hot trio of remix EPs of Calm’s By Your Side album is this final part with Lucas Croon, Cantoma and Gallo and Yuri Shulgin all serving up expansive and mind altering new versions.

He doesn’t release often but when he does you need to listen to Lucas Croon. His unique take on ‘Before Landing’ is a proper dance floor heater to get you on your toes. Once you're there, a gentle rush of rave euphoria tases over you and sends shivers down your spine as old school breakbeats and glowing pads complete the trip.

Elsewhere, long time Balearic pin up, scene hero and all round blissed out boss man Phil Mison has a new album corn gin the spring. Before that, he becomes Cantoma for a timeless version of ‘You Can See The Sunrise Again’ that has bright blue skies and jaunty chords making you move.

Regular label artist homie Gallo is in the form of his life right now - he's resident DJ at Hell Yeah's weekly Balearic night Buena Onda in Berlin, has a growing reputation for being one of the best eclectic selectors in the game and is currently working on compiling the forthcoming BUENA ONDA comp with label head Marco. He gets long legged on his deep cut remix of ‘Sky Color Passing’ which is another killer that slowly but surely works you in a slow motion acid trance.

Completing this most exquisite outing is Yuri Shulgin, a multi-instrumentalist music producer from Tajikistan with credits on Cocktail d'Amore Music. His spellbinding take on 'Ending of Summer, Beginning of Autumn' is a fusion of jazz, leftfield and electronica will have you in a spin and your head lost in the clouds amongst the twinkling stars and cosmic pads.

Bram De Looze is a Belgian pianist and composer whose distinct musical vision has found its way through both solo projects and collaborations. His unique technical skill and musical maturity have earned him considerable critical acclaim back home as his work spotlights his far-ranging interests - from traditional classical piano music, to solo improvisations that have often been compared to Keith Jarrett and Jason Moran. On the 21st February 2020, Sdban Ultra will release his highly anticipated new solo album, 'Colour Talk'.

De Looze made his entrance onto the national jazz scene with LABtrio, formed in 2007 with Anneleen Boehme and Lander Gyselinck, and he immediately impressed, flirting with urban jazz, electronics and hip hop.

After a period of studying abroad at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York, where he studied with Uri Caine and Marc Copland, in 2014, De Looze launched the international septet, Septych, that once again stressed his affinity for jazz, classical music and improvisation. With diverse and astounding improvisors like Daniel Levin, Lester St-Louis, Robin Verheyen, Gebhard Ullman, Bo Van Der Werf and Flin Van Hemmen, it was the start of an explorative musical journey.

Over the past few years, De Looze could frequently be heard with kindred spirits like Stephane Galland, Dre Hocevar and Antoine Pierre but it was a visit to the historical collection of pianofortes of Chris Maene that inspired De Looze to release his first solo album 'Piano e Forte' (2017), and it received critical acclaim for its creativity, spontaneity and passion. He would later garner further acclaim working alongside fellow Belgian Robin Verheyen and American rhythm painter Joey Baron with whom he recorded 'MixMonk' (2019), a tribute to the legendary jazz pianist Thelonius Monk.

Bram De Looze's solo career took off in an unexpected way with 'Piano e Forte', a project for which he approached historical instruments from a contemporary perspective. The switch to the Chris Maene Straight Strung Grand Piano for 'Switch The Stream' (2018) indicated a renewed search for movement, evolution and introspection. His latest solo project 'Colour Talk', continues this trajectory with another revolutionary piano model, designed by lauded architect Rafael Vinoly, and a continued attempt to renew from within.

On 'Colour Talk', what you hear is a musician who has freed himself from stylistic constraints and limitations. While still rooted in jazz, classical music and free improvisation have found a new balance, a coexistence that enables the pianist to express himself with a new vigour. Switching between shorter pieces that feel like curious, unresolved puzzles and more extended explorations, 'Colour Talk' is once again an ode to (re)invention in the grey zone were the classical idiom and improvisatory urges meet, with the 13-minute tour-de-force of 'Hypnosis' as one of several undisputed highlights.

If you asked De Looze about his current position as an artist, he would probably tell you that it's all about forward movement and the need to keep evolving, about a trajectory as work-in-progress. However, if you consider 'Colour Talk' as a freeze frame of where De Looze is at, it is hard not to consider it a highlight in a career that should have some more surprises in store.

The Word is one of the better kept secrets of 1980s Austrian disco music. Yet once you put the needle on this record, you notice that it sounds oddly familiar. The awe inspiring signature piece “Lobster” has the same analogue, slow moving aesthetic as Zenit’s timeless “Waiting” that was featured on Edition Hawara’s first release. The same goes for the three other wonderfully unconventional, proto electronic songs: “Easy”, “All My Life” and the eponymous “ The Word”. And there are even more commonalities with Zenit’s LP: The vocals are Linda Sharrock’s, who here teamed up with Karl “Charly” Ratzer and Peter Ponger, the twin brother of legendary Falco producer Robert Ponger. The result of this collaboration is, well, also quite legendary. How this kind of sound emerged in Vienna in 1984 is still a bit of a mystery, but clearly all the stars were aligned when Sharrock, Ratzer and Ponger were jamming in the studio. We are very proud to share this secret with you. Just as there are very few lobsters in landlocked Vienna, there are very few records like this out there.

Maceo Plex's Lone Romantic welcomes ManEater for a superb debut single that comes backed with a remix from the ever-excellent Alinka.

ManEater is a mysterious name with no online profile but an evocative sound that goes way beyond the dancefloor and well into the future. They make music that is much more than club fodder, instead cooking up cinematic and evocative landscapes.

The excellent 'Hurry On Up' is an expansive electro trip to the edges of the cosmos. Distant pads shimmer like forgotten planets, crisp claps and slick drums make for a frictionless groove that always keeps you moving and the ominous bass and soulful vocal cries finish the whole thing in real style.

Chicago native Alinka is enlisted to remix. She is known for her weird and idiosyncratic take on house on labels like Crosstown, Classic and her own Twirl and is one of the most exciting names in the current Windy City scene. Her fantastic version of 'Hurry On Up' is harder hitting, with tough drums and a lead arp that lights up the whole track with a late night menace.

This is classy electro that really makes a mark.

• TWO INCREDIBLE SIDES • FIRST EVER 7-INCH RELEASE OF THE CULT “POURING WATER ON A DROWNING MAN” • PROBABLY THE MOST SOULFUL 45 YOU’LL BUY THIS YEAR!

LEE MOSES is back on Outta Sight in 2020. The cult soul figure caused a stir last year with our first ever reissue of the legendary “Bad Girl” (OSV188), still available.

Now, thanks to our friends at Gusto we are proud to present the FIRST EVER 7" SINGLE of the soul-defining side “Pouring Water On A Drowning Man”! This landmark track has been known to collectors since the mid-Sixties thanks to James Carr’s Goldwax recording and it has been covered many times by the likes of Percy Sledge, Otis Clay and in more recent times by Elvis Costello.

But none of them hold a candle to Lee Moses who tears into the track and spits out a definitive so-soulful masterpiece. Who needs a B-side when we give you something of this magnitude! Ok, so we’ll spoil you with the Dynamo-dynamic rarity “Never In My Life” produced by the legendary Johnny Brantley. A truly stunning 45 to see the New Year in!

Jungletrain resident Trainspotter debuts on Vivid’s first black label
series release. Spaced out ambient pads, noisescapes, and sparse
percussion take you far out and bring you to a place entirely new and
yet somehow familiar. This series is dedicated to individual, abstract
conceptualizations of the jungle / drum n bass landscape, exploring
freedom from formulaic beats while taking you to the fringe of
160-170+ bpm music. Fading Train EP is a truly unique take on this and excellent for bringing a sense of space to busy mixes.

isolée returns to Maeve with his second solo release following the success of 2017's "Mangroove EP". Spanning four tracks, "Candy Apple Red EP", shows different sides to the German artists signature micro sound. The A1, "mad marauder" leans on a big room feel while still possessing all the intricacies of production isolée has become known for over his distinguished career. The title track comes on the A2, "candy apple red", a jovial trot through a languid land of disco-house. The flip side starts with, "you are", a sub terrain deep house number with all the feels of an isolée cut. Rounding things off on the B2 is "Jordi", a darker trip into the dancefloor, perfect for the small hours.

Wewantsounds is delighted to continue its Akiko Yano reissue program with the reissue of her superb double album recorded with YMO at a time when she was part of the group’s touring line up between 1979 and 1980. The album is pure Akiko Yano featuring her superb singing and piano playing, enhanced by touches of YMO’s synth-pop sound (check her cult version of YMO’s classic, “Tong-Poo”). It is the first time the album is released outside of Japan and the deluxe 2-LP set features the original artwork with gatefold sleeve and 4-page insert.
When "Gohan Ga Dekitayo" came out in 1980, Akiko Yano had been touring with Yellow Magic Orchestra for more than a year. She'd play keyboards alongside the three founding members, Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi, plus guitarist Kenji Omura and Synth wizard programmer Hideki Matsutake (as part of the 1980 North American tour, she'd also feature in the group's cult TV appearance on Soul Train for a memorable rendition of "Tighten Up") and they are all present on "Gohan Ga Dekitayo."
The double LP, whose title could be translated by "Dinner is ready," was co-produced with Ryuichi Sakamoto and recorded at two legendary studios: Tokyo's Alfa Studio "A" and Los Angeles' Sound City. It was Akiko's first shift towards a fuller synth sound following four studio albums mixing Pop and Jazz Funk, including her landmark debut from 1976, "Japanese Girl". A shift that would continue with the release of "Tadaima" in 1981, also featuring the YMO musicians.
?The fourteen tracks featured on "Gohan Ga Dekitayo" find Akiko in top form mixing her singer-songwriter's sensitivity with the electro-pop sound of YMO. It's interesting to note though that it is very much an Akiko Yano album even if the group is present on the album (interestingly they do also play analog instruments on the album). Akiko is clearly the one in charge with a string of beautiful compositions and the rendition of one of the group's classics, "Tong Poo" which she reinvents as a slower, less metronomic-paced song adding her own lyrics.
?Other highlights on the album include "Dogs Awaiting..." an hypnotic composition featuring fascinating electro arrangements or "Coloured Water" sung in English by Akiko accompanying herself on Fender Rhodes with subtle percussion by Tatsuo Hayashi and electronics by Ryuichi Sakamoto.
There are many more great moments on this superb album which announces the further experiments of "Tadaima". "Gohan Ga Dekitayo" is an album that urgently needs to be (re)discovered by her growing international fanbase and Wewantsounds is happy to reissue it worldwide for its 40th anniversary.

Berlin / NY collective Climate of Fear releases its debut EP, “Laika’s Revenge” by тпсб – two tracks of sorrowful and menacing technoid expansions. Side A’s “Escape Pod” shimmers like a mirage on a desert landscape, nearly evaporating in the heat; on Side B the title track is five minutes of roiling thunderstorm ferocity. Following his breakout 2018 lp “Sekundenschlaf” on Blackest Ever Black, “Laika’s Revenge” expands on the artist’s fevered vision of the dance.

White Vinyl 10"

A new release this winter marks a landmark moment in an important musical story. Way back in little 2009, the label hfn music was born in Hamburg, and made its introduction to the world with the release of the Trentemøller compilation Harbour Boat Trips: 01 Copenhagen.
Founder Tobias Lampe wanted to start a label that was more broad in scope than his previous, more electronic-focused projects, and the compilation provided the perfect opportunity to launch one. In the 10 years since then, the label has survived the whirlpool waters of the early 21st century’s constantly changing music industry, and released everything from pop to art-punk, with artists ranging from New York to the Faroe Islands.
Now, they’re about to put out their 100th release. Fittingly, given the label’s focus on new and innovative music, and the historic aspect of the release, hfn100 sees one of hfn’s best songs of 2019 put into the hands of the man it all started with, Anders Trentemøller. His Danish compatriots Blaue Blume’s new album Bell Of Wool is one of hfn’s standout releases this year, and so hfn100 sees Trentemøller remix one of that record’s standout tracks, the fragile, but soaring “Lovable”.
In Blaue Blume’s original, “Lovable” is an airy, tormented song, a gossamer-delicate composition that carefully stitches together layers and layers of shining synths that gradually build up and up into a peak, before crashing into a subtle beat, a musical journey that mirrors vocalist Jonas Smith’s trip from anguish to numbness. Whereas the original’s music sounds woven together from light, Trentemøller takes it into darker territory. He hooks the song to a harsh, sparse beat leaving Smith’s vocals bare and isolated in the burnt-out, dystopic musical landscape he creates.
Trentemøller mirrors the original’s careful building up, adding new elements to fill in the song’s sound, before it collapses into a tough, noir disco groove. It’s a perfectly realised remix – Trentemøller keeps the original song’s skeleton and soul, but fills in the space with sonic touches that could be no one else’s but his.Ultimately, it’s a fitting song for hfn’s hundredth release. For a label that’s always been a platform for its boundary-pushing artists, a collaboration between two of them, that sees an already innovative song pushed into a bold new shape is the perfect way for hfn to step into the next 100 releases..

On October 4th Erased Tapes present Handfuls of Night — the highly anticipated follow-up to Penguin Cafe’s much applauded 2017 album The Imperfect Sea — inspired by the Antarctic, Arthur Jeffes’ journey following in Scott’s footsteps and our penguin friends that reside there. Using gut-stringed violins, viola, cello, bass, percussion, upright and grand pianos, synthesiser, harmonium and more, Arthur Jeffes and his cohorts have crafted a vivid series of panoramic sonic landscapes, that are as rich in cerebral poignancy as they are in emotional depth.

Bookended by the atmospheric ambient piano pieces ‘Winter Sun’ and ‘Midnight Sun’, the album traverses glacial minimalism with ease, combining their signature contemporary classical panoramas, such as the melancholic yet upbeat lead track ‘At the Top of the Hill, They Stood...’ and the colossal cinematic piece ‘Chapter’, with the crystalline folktronica on ‘Pythagorus on the Line Again’ — a re-visiting and continuation of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra’s 1993 Union Cafe song on the principles of harmonics.

Andras’Joyful is a cornucopic vision rooted in the decay of dance music from one of Australia’s most distinct yet understated voices. Cutting a path through an overgrowth of nostalgia around 70's acid folk and 90's acid house, Joyful is an invitation to till a n old garden in a glistening new light.

A thirteen year old Andrew Wilson sits in the back of his parents’ sedan, driving down the coast from Melbourne. Headphones covering his awkwardly aged ears and connected to a jam-packed mp3 player, he experiences an intense synchronicity when the car careens over a mountain crest in the Otway Ranges right as the track in his ears peaks. A momentary vision of a “first rave rush,” in which Australia’s lauded party history dances tellingly with this dreamer’s destiny.

Not so much later but perhaps more worldly and certainly more aware, Wilson returns home from touring, now a “veteran” of the dance world, to realize a different synchronicity in his record collection. Finding Ian Van Dahl nestled next to John Fahey, William Orbit spine-to-spine with Shira Small, the harmony between folk music of the early 70's and dance music from the 90s becomes perfectly audible in unimaginable ways.

Through an afterglow from both summers of love seeped in shared sonic soil, on Joyful, Wilson cultivates melodic drama and tenderness, memorable hooks and rapturous arpeggios; sentimental strings summon both joyful aspirations and the shadows of faded dreams. Using folk songs as fodder—lyrics, samples, note progressions—each entry of Wilson’s debut album under his Andras moniker is a return to a different springtime of the mind.

Many artists working in Australia can relate to the feeling of “not quite being there,” as Wilson describes it. Always a couple years behind trend. Turning up at the party as it’s winding down. Fearing that in many ways the culture is looking backwards, confirming the narrow outlook of a parochialism that many have worked tirelessly to disprove. Using this disconnect as an invitation to dream another dream, Joyful becomes the soundtrack of early teen Andrew’s fantasy of Utopic parties past, specifically the late discovery of a bygone warehouse rave scene, as well as a return to a guileless chapter of personal history as heard through plain, sane, and simple folk melodies. Joyful is a homecoming, a testament to the evolving euphoria of a flower garden rooted in earth’s tender rot, of birds and bees flying free but not without a changing landscape in sight.

Andras’Joyful is available on LP and digital formats on January 31, 2020 via Beats In Space. On behalf of Andras, a portion of proceeds from this release will benefit the Invasive Species Council on the recommendation of Tim Low, author of the book Feral Future and Where Song Began.

The 36 track 2CD album comes with 50-page book featuring text, biographies and photography. It also comes in a limited run two volume double-vinyl super-loud super-heavy gatefold sleeve editions. Compiled by Stuart Baker (Soul Jazz Records) and sleevenotes biographies by Jonny Trunk (Trunk Records).

TV Sound and Image features British composers who worked in television, film and music libraries the second half of the 20th century.

Aside from John Barry, whose work on the James Bond films made him a household name, or Tony Hatch and Laurie Johnson, the majority of composers featured here - Simon Park, Keith Mansfield, Reg Tilsley, Syd Dale, Keith Papworth – remain relatively unknown. And yet ironically they have created some of the most recognisable songs in British popular culture, their music widely disseminated on television.

A quick role call of these would include Neil Richardson (who composed the theme tune to Mastermind) and Barry Stoller (who wrote Match of the Day). The Simon Park Orchestra’s Eye Level, theme song to the BBC series Van der Valk, reached number one in 1973. CCS’s cover of Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love was the theme tune to Top of the Pops. And so on.

This album is not however a stroll through the TV memories of the mind, but an exploration of the serious contribution that these creative musicians have on the landscape of popular music in Britain.

Here then is a guide to the amazing music of many of the composers (both well-known and obscure) responsible for some of the most widely known music ever to come out of Britain in the second-half of the 20th century.

Reviews:

Quietus

Der Spiegel: "spannende Klänge ... die oft funky und immer lässig klingen"

"thrilling sounds.... often funky and always chilled"

New Zealand Herald: ***** "Every track is a killer... This is more than just music to mooch too."

Irish Times: **** "downright funky"

Volkskrant: "Ze leverden spanning op maat, die onbekende makers van fenomenale Britse film en tv-muziek. Door de cd TV Sound and Image opnieuw in de aandacht"

Evening Standard: "deeply funky"

Uncut Magazine "excellent 36 track set ... welcome additions to your collection"

Q Magazine: ****

A record to be enjoyed to its very last second AM Jazz is set to place this songwriter where he just might, finally, receive the recognition he deserves; from unsung hero to a truly worthy candidate for being called up to join the City of Manchester’s ranks of great musical icons. Whether you prefer to know him as Mr. Roberts or simply call him Al, it’s time to become acquainted with the real Jim Noir.

Tossing his bowler onto the hat stand and sliding on his slippers, AM Jazz sees ‘Jim’ putting his feet up whilst Alan Roberts takes the lead. A creative masterpiece for the record player and the mantlepiece, it’s a multi-layered album that features close friends including those dearly departed, and is his truest record to date, by a songwriter painting his own hypnotic Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

“I haven’t 'felt' like Jim Noir for a long time. I’m not sure I ever did; it was a construct of other people’s imaginations,” reveals Al. “AM Jazz is definitely the kind of music I make generally. It harks back to when I started making music years ago and didn’t worry about capturing a particular style. It will be nice to show people more of that.

It's the best album I've written; real hypnotic minimalism, the good stuff!” 15 years since he recorded the first ever 'Jim Noir' EP, AM
Jazz is the record all Noirheads won’t be surprised Al had inside him.

Letting the Beatlesesque stylings of his most recent album Finnish Line be (5 years ago no less), AM Jazz suits the Noir repertoire of his catalogue so far and is another homegrown offering which sees the Daveyhulme composer tinkering in his suburban Manchester studio once more, with the magic of his computer work sorcery, analog and tape recordings.

“For this I went back to the slightly more haphazard way I wrote my first album, Tower Of Love, wherein I’d use things in front of me, or a bit wrong like headphones for a microphone, to make the most Hi-Fi Lo-fi album ever.”

Whilst a brief disappearance of Jim’s online persona may have provoked bleak theories as to his whereabouts, Al had little time for digital distraction. Whilst writing and creating with friends, he has worked on electronic pet project, FAX with former Alfie guitarist, Ian Smith, and the vintage analogue house meets electro sound of his own solo EP Granada Personnel Recovery, as well as producing local band, Shaking Chainsor, and helping long-time musical colleague, Aidan Smith with his long-awaited 'The Planets' project; “I’ve been writing in dribs and drabs when I feel like it,” Al says. “I used to write all day everyday but it’s a lot harder now I’m (feeling) over 100 years old.” Never not sonically exploring or being inspired by the sounds around him, there was even a red-carpet moment when he appeared as a film premier guest after a couple of his songs were selected for the OST of director Jason Wingard’s film Eaten By Lions.

Performing all AM Jazz’s instrumental parts himself but also, at the right moment, bringing in present and past pals along the way, sexy lounge song, ‘Hexagons’ features 'Phil Anderson' and Mark Williamson singing and playing “legendary OTT guitar solo” respectively. Meanwhile the orchestration of ‘Peppergone’ waltzes like a beautifully romantic ode to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata – a tribute to dearly departed best friend 'Batfinks' who originally wrote the chords in his song 'Peppercorn.' “I hope he doesn’t think it’s shit,” Al jests. Listen closely and you may even find a few unsuspecting celebrity guest appearances as, perhaps, it could be the very first album to feature soundbites of podcasts sneaking onto the recordings. “I will have a podcast on if I’m recording; Adam Buxton, Athletico Mince, Frank Skinner or Richard Herring… I’m sure some mics will have picked them up, like in the old Tower of Love days,” he says referring to his breakout debut.

Culled from around 50 tunes AM Jazz moves like the time of the day, from dawn to night, stirring from the pop of ‘Good Mood’ and ‘Upside Down’s Beta Band groove. “As the album was playing, I imagined this smoky backstreet with all those neon signs outside clubs at about 4am,” Al says. Mellow ‘TOL Circle’ is like Percy Faith’s Theme From A Summer Place synthesized, capturing the style of TV library music or movie soundtrack obscurity that has always stirred Al’s curiosity, and the album plunges into a vast chasm of instrumental exploration with ‘Mystermoods,’ visiting Japan’s funky synth whiz duo Testpattern and Hakabashi Sakamoto. Darkening and deepening in intensity, ‘Eggshell’ is like an undiscovered gem from Angelo Badalamenti’s cutting room floor, the Panda Bear shimmer of ‘Lander’ is where blissful positivity and sadness meet, about another of his friends who left the world too young. “By the album’s close, its nearly time to let go and enter the ether,” he says of the album’s story. “Like one would do when they take their final sigh on this earth.”

LP IN STOUGHTON JACKET, PRINTED INNERS, OBI STRIP WITH FOUR OF SAMANTHA KEELY SMITH'S INCREDIBLE CONSCIOUSNESS MEMORY LANDSCAPES GRACING THE ALBUM SLEEVE.

The Pyroclasts album is the result of a daily practice which was regularly performed each morning, or evening during the two week Life Metal sessions at Electrical Audio during July 2018, when all of the days musical participants would gather and work through a 12 minute improvised modal drone at the start and or end of the day’s work. The piece performed was timed with a stopwatch and tracked to two inch tape, it was an exercise and a chance to dig into a deep opening or closing of the days session in a deep musical way with all of the participants. To connect/reconnect, liberate the creative mind a bit and greet each other and the space through the practice of sound immersion. The players across the four pieces of Pyroclasts are Tim Midyett, T.O.S., Hildur Guðnadóttir, and as always Stephen O’Malley & Greg Anderson.

The music on Pyroclasts is inextricably woven to Life Metal. It exists on the very same tape reels, was explicitly recorded by Steve Albini. The brightness and vividity of that glorious session glares through these four tracks, the precision and radiance, prismatic lustrousness of the saturation, the elemental sculptural shapes, the abstract renderings. It is a sister, or perhaps a shadow album. Or perhaps the now apparent miasma or aether. But it also exists in a form of a pause, a time space which exist in between and around the compositional structures of Sunn O)))’s titanic works. 

For the listener or recipient/participant there are deep rewards within the patience of pulling down the walls and letting the music feel, and feel the music. To be immersed will reveal great detail and colour, clarify image, encourage a depth of focus and stillness which may lead to a quite profound experience. Sitting inside the space of time. A deep form of elementalism, even atomism, and connection with presence moment, time and reality.

Sunn O))) would invite their audience to consider these points of perception when experiencing and listening to Pyroclasts. Sunn O))) would also invite and encourage the audience to use Pyroclasts as a lens to review and reexperience the complexity of the Life Metal album, and even to interrupt its sequence with Pyroclasts. This elaboration can bring the astute listener both abyssal, hallowed rewards.

Pyroclasts was recorded and mixed by Steve Albini at Electrical Audio on two inch tape July 2018, and mastered by Matt Colton through all analogue AAA process at Metropolis July 2019.

Stephen & Greg would like to dedicate this album to the memories of Ron Guardipee, Kerstin Daley & Scott Walker.

Were you ever really here? Plug in to the history of feeling with four beautiful cuts of post-genre sentimentalism from YS. Traversing the landscape of urban emotion, the duo find solace in the momentary states of being in this post-internet epoch. On the A-side ‘Music Angel’ and ‘Dreams We Share’ explore the processing of healing through poignant dub and empathetic ambience. On the flip, B1 ‘Touch’ raises the tempo with a timeless slab of ghetto nostalgia straight from the early days of Databass Records. Closing things is ‘The Future’, a bold not-so-sanguine gambit around the end of modern times; truly a beast of its own. So here it is - now and always x

The drum and bass chart-topping artist, CURRENT VALUE, whose tunes are often a staple of Aphex Twin’s performances, returns to METHLAB RECORDINGS with his SENEX LP, which features twenty one of his most technical and innovative sonic works on the
ike-minded label.

A twin release with it's more upfront & riotous cousin PUER delivered via Souped Up Recordings, SENEX displays its half of the CURRENT VALUE sound with an expansive array of sonic sequences marked by their forward thinking sonic character and the singular timbres for which CURRENT VALUE is known.

Early in the album’s span come the glittering arpeggios of MEGACITY, which filter downwards above the bassline pursuit that plays out beneath their fluttering rays. Further in, DISMANTLE deconstructs a set of classic rhythms before reshaping them within the milieu of it's hazy pads under the pressure of it's mechanical low frequency generator.

An elysian piano melody wafts through the opening percussion of FRIENDLY TAKEOVER and therein masks the brutalist companion frequencies that await within the track’s second section.

ACCESS POINT surges within a stream of bitcrushed binary at the albums third quarter, and opens the way for the enigmatically warped sonics that course through the albums final sections and flow within the depths of it’s voidborne closing track, CRYSTAL BALL.

With SENEX, CURRENT VALUE delivers one half of his joint 11th and 12th albums as he explores his most experimental sonic leanings to both a further breadth and depth than ever before upon the METHLAB RECORDINGS label.

Mr. Collage’s debut solo album “Layers” takes a traditional Hip-Hop approach, utilizing samples as well as recorded instruments. “Layers” is a sonic painting consisting of dusty vinyl memories and future plane tickets. Funky beats and basslines, afro percussions and a second-hand synth are layered to complete the musical background of the album.

Is that all? Def not! The album features some very talented artists from the USA, Australia, Spain, Greece and Belgium. The rappers Nico The Beast, S Squair Blaq, Mic Bles and 1989TRE get funky on Collage’s beats and lady MC Amira Lacrima with her mellow raps gets into a story telling.

Soul comes strong in the album too with Lady EMZ cherishing life over a Northern Soul-inspired beat and Mantique spicing up the funkiness with her deep voice. Not to mention vocalist Lisa Spykers adding an extra R&B/Soul vibe by joining forces with 1989TRE.
On the wheels of steel, the IDA World Finalists - Fly Immigrants (DJ Mysterons and DJ Hypercutz) and the heavy artillery of scratching of Mind The Wax, DJ Moya take care of the scratches in the album.

Layers will be released on vinyl by label Mind The Wax in December 2019, and includes 11 tracks.

For this first volume of Musax Background Music Library, Farfalla Records continues exploring the maze of the french library music through one of its most discreet and prolific representatives: Jacky Giordano and one of his many projects, the Musax label. Farfalla Records carefully selected this tracklisting among LPs recorded between 1978 and 1979 of which the originals became particularly sought after by the collectors. Jacky Giordano who appears under his aliases Joachim Sherylee and José Pharos, is surrounded by qualified and renowned musicians such as Jean-Pierre Decerf, Jean-Claude
Pierric, Serge Planchon, Patrick Petitbon, Gérard Gesina, Jean-Charles Capon, Daniel Humair and also a band composed of members from the legendary Crazy Horse cabaret, namely Pedro Perea, Claude Brisset, Bruno Bompard, Jean-Claude Guselli, Claude Thirifays, Vincent Momplet and Joseph Gatineau. This selection mixing explosive jazz-funk, lascivious jazz and electronic music more spacey
or experimental, which could also be the soundtrack for a TV show, a porn movie or a car chase between cops and gangsters in the bad neighbourhoods of Paris. A fascinating slice of the French music scene of the late 70 is brought to life before our very eyes. (Erwann
Pacaud)

Borneo Records welcomes Swedish made, Berlin based DJ City to the family!

As a fairly fresh face to the European dance music scene, involved with renowned musical outlets like Cocktail d’Amore and Born Free, DJ City has been turning heads with his playful and energetic style.

For Borneo’s ninth release DJ City delivers two deep dance floor cuts, referencing and paying hommage to his childhood idols, craftily combining well known building blocks into future classics.

”Sierra Madre” is a warm and deep dive into the aesthetics of the late 90s electronic music scene, balancing between lush pads and low bit rates. Steadily it progresses as the loops unfold and evolve into an ambient landscape of clear peaks and valleys. Dreamy and suggestive without becoming too literal or camp, it invites its listener to let the mind wander during the course of the dance.

On the flip side, “5426261” is a more playful feature as its percussion and somewhat off tune melodies roll out. The texture is light and invites its listener to venture in thought to an imaginary Mediterranean location right before dawn. The enigmatic title is repeated in a sample towards the end, implicating it is a phone number. Who are you trying to reach?

Written & produced by J. Norling, 2016-2018, Örebro/Berlin. Artwork by Nicole Martens. Borneo Records Rotterdam 2020.

21-year-old New Zealand musician Arjuna Oakes's debut EP,
The Watcher, is a showcase of his ability as a singer-songwriter, instrumentalist and producer, and a testament to his depth of engagement with music. The first two tracks on the EP fit neatly
within the jazz-infused soul music landscape he is quickly becoming part of, but the latter half of the EP is far harder to categorise.

Featuring instrumentation from some of New Zealand’s most exciting young jazz musicians, The Watcher explores a wide variety of themes and musical ideas, with Arjuna’s charismatic soul vocals and robust sonic palette serving as a connective thread. From big social issues to personal relationships and internal self-discoveries, across The Watcher, Arjuna takes his cue from the title track and exploration of mass surveillance, and it’s relevance within our everyday lives.

This watcher theme continues throughout the rest of the EP, with the stories told rendered as if being observed by an outside force. Decorated by cinematic soundscapes, hypnotic grooves, creative improvisation and catchy melodies, Arjuna's debut is a test palette for his future projects, one that makes his enthusiasm to develop and explore themes and style in song abundantly clear.