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Live radio broadcast recording of their 1991concert from the legendary Quartier Latin Club during The Berlin Independence Days.
This 300 limited edition vinyl only release with double sided A3 poster captures BOB at the peak of their powers.
Includes tracks from their Indie top 10 album ‘Leave The Straight Life Behind’ , Singles, and the previously unreleased ‘You Can Stop That For A Start’.
When BOB hit the stage at the legendary Quartier Latin club during the Berlin Independence Days on October 21 1991, they were talking loud and saying something.
BOB had been touring relentlessly for five years. All over the UK and Europe. Headlining their own shows and supporting some of the biggest names in indie rock, but this gig was something else. It couldn’t have happened in any other place, or, at any other time.
In Berlin, the wall had come down two years previous.Things were changing. There was a freedom of movement, unknown for many decades. You could grasp the spirit of creativity.
In London, the underground indie scene of the mid to late 80’s was being replaced by the corporate music marketing machine they called Britpop.
On this recording we capture a milestone moment of this time.

* A welcome reissue of Jah Warrior’s 1998 album `Dub From the Heart Part 2’.
* A venture into raw dub-wise territory with samples galore and weighty bass-lines built for sound system and annoying the neighbours.
* Produced by Jah Warrior and mixed by Dougie Wardrop from Conscious Sounds studio,
* Limited to 500 copies only.

SlothBoogie Records welcomes Deep House maestro DJ Aakmael onto its roster this March with ‘The Hardbody Project’ EP, comprised of four original compositions from the Richmond, US-based artist.

Across the past decade and a half DJ Aakmael has unveiled an impressive back catalogue of soul-drenched, dynamic deep house via revered imprints such as Uzuri, Church, Scissor & Thread, Freerange and Second Hand Records amongst many more. Here we see his latest material perfectly interlace with SlothBoogie Records own impressive back catalogue of bumping house and raw deep cuts.

Leading the release is ‘Hardbody’, laid out across seven minutes with chopped brass samples, bright key sequences, modulating Moogesque resonant leads and shuffled drums before ‘Track 166’ shifts focus over to a deeper aesthetic via dubbed out chord swells, organic percussion and twinkling piano melodies.

The aptly named ‘Deepshyt’ opens the flip side, as the name would suggest employing an amalgamation of deep and entrancing synth work, crisp drums and spoken word vocal chants. ‘Strobe’ then rounds out the release with a more disco-tinged House feel, fusing together funk guitar licks, cinematic strings and a snaking bass groove atop Aakmael’s signature swinging rhythmic feel.

A transcendental journey that takes in meditative musical mantras, sprawling tenor sax improvisation and mesmeric percussion, the new album byWork Money Death(the group that backed ATA artist Tony Burkill on his 2017 debut record of the same name) seeks to reinterpret the sound of artists such as Pharoah Sanders & Alice Coltrane over two tracks: the brooding tension of A-Side"Dusk"and the sanguine & uplifting"Dawn"on the B-Side.Titled "The Space In Which The Uncontrollable Unknown Resides Can Be The Place From Which Creation Arises", this new LP was conceived and recorded by Tony Burkill and Bassist Neil Innes during the spring/summer of 2020.

A stalwart of the Leeds music scene for the best part of 3 decades, Tony Burkill had maintained a low profile nationally, choosing to favour continued study and development on the instrument over attainment of success or recognition within the music industry. With his debut release on ATA in 2017 he impressed audiences with his powerful and gutsy approach to improvisation. Also featuring on the record are Drummer Sam Hobbs (The Electric Doctor M and Producer of Matthew Bourne's Moogmemory), Bassist Neil Innes (The Sorcerers, The Lewis Express), Pianist Adam Fairhall (Nat Birchall) and Percussionist Pete Williams (The Sorcerers, The Lewis Express).

Originally conceived as a large scale group performance of a single extended piece "The space in which the uncontrollable unknown resides, can be the place from which creation arises"was written by Tony and Neil through a series of extended improvisations similar to the extended meditation sessions that both musicians practice. These sessions enabled a state of flow through which Tony's compositional approach to improvisation yielded meaningful melodic fragments that would be returned to and developed in a way similar to someone returning to the mantra.

Bristol's jazz daddies The Jazz Defenders drop their second album for Haggis Records (home of UK funk kings The Haggis Horns), in March 2022 and it's a real departure from their debut release "Scheming" (released in 2020). Whereas that album was a homage to the late 1950s/early 1960s classic jazz style known as hard bop, this release moves into new territory with hip-hop/jazz, cinema soundtrack flavours, Latin rhythms and soul-jazz all upfront in the mix. Three taster singles from the album released in mid/late 2021 and march 2022, "The Big Man/Love's Vestige, "Live Slow" (featuring US rapper Herbal T), and "Perfectly Imperfect" (feat Doc Brown) received great radio support from the likes of Craig Charles (BBC 6 Music), Helen Mayhew (Jazz FM), Jamie Cullum (BBC Radio 2), Ashley Beedle (Worldwide FM), Colin Curtis (Worldwide FM) amongst many others, all loving the Jazz Defenders' musical fusion of retro meets modern.

The classic sound that has inspired the band this time is very much from the mid-late 1960s era and the merging of soul and funk beats with jazz solos/improvisation. Tracks like "Wagger Jaunt" and "Munch" nod to the piano and organ-led soul-jazz of artists like Ramsey Lewis, Herbie Hancock, Reuben Wilson, and Jimmy Smith. Meanwhile "Saudade" and "Love's Vestige" feature Brazilian bossa rhythms but with some added film soundtrack overtones. Speaking of movie soundtracks, "The Oracle'' is a pure homage to the classic cinematic compositions of maestros like John Barry(James Bond, The Ipcress File) or Lalo Schifrin (Mission Impossible, Bullitt) right down to the very impressive string arrangement, beautifully scored and orchestrated by band leader George Cooper.

A big departure from the previous album comes via the two hip-hop/jazz tracks, both of which feature guest MCs. "Live Slow" has US rapper Herbal T blessing the mic over an uptempo soul-jazz number whilst "Perfectly Imperfect" features London MC/actor Doc Brown rapping on a nice and slow 90's style head-nodding hip-hop groove. Both compositions show George Cooper's love for old-school boom-bap hip-hop (by the way, he also plays keys with renowned UK hip-hop big band Abstract Orchestra). For classic jazz lovers who dug the first album, there are two pure jazz tracks that join the dots between that debut release and this sophomore one - "Twilight" and "From The Ashes" - with plenty of vibrant solos for the discerning listener.

"King Phoenix" is a statement in itself from The Jazz Defenders. After 2 years of music being destroyed by the pandemic and many musicians inactive, the band has risen from the ashes with new vigour, energy and vision to try something new and not just repeat past musical glories. A band that sticks to the same script every release might just end up having a short shelf life but the Jazz Defenders are planning on being around for a long time.










j Live Slow (Album Version) feat. Herbal T

Repress

dark red marbled vinyl

The Factory hereby presents to you its first release: The Factory 001.

A compilation album which features the likes of artists such as Legowelt, Kypski, Regularfantasy, Klangstof & many more. The aim of The Factory is to bring new and established electronic artists together by giving them a platform and full creative control. All contributions are one of a kind and genres range from IDM, lo-fi house to techno.

The first 250 vinyls are numbered and will include a zine that features drawings, photography and poetry by art squad Rots, Zefanya Anindjola, Cathelijne van der Korput and Nina de Koning.

Amassakoul’: Tinariwen’s breakthrough album originally released in 2004, now remastered and repackaged with a bonus unreleased track, exclusive photos and brand-new liner notes. The first vinyl pressing is on indigo vinyl, with digital download card. ‘Amassakoul’ features songs from Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni, Touhami Ag Alhassane. Indigo vinyl 2LP.

Tinariwen are Tuaregs, children of a nomadic Berber tribe who have roamed the Saharan desert for thousands of years. Over recent centuries, colonialism has seen the Tuareg’s ancestral territory partitioned into distinct countries - Mali, Algeria, Libya, Niger. This drawing of borders has turned the Tuareg into ishumar, a displaced people in search of a homeland lost to them. Tinariwen’s music - a blend of West African traditional music and electrified rock ‘n’roll - speaks directly to this feeling of longing: a sound that critics have called ‘desert blues’.

With thirty years of active, nefarious service under their bulletbelts, NECROPHOBIC are undisputed legends of the death and black metal underground. Formed in 1989 by drummer Joakim Sterner, the Stockholm blackhearts propagated a singular and fearless vision from the very start, confirming their prowess with now legendary debut album The Nocturnal Silence in 1993. Eschewing the self-conscious amateurism and primitive sonics that many of their peers held dear, NECROPHOBIC established a bold and vivid identity of their own, conjuring a densely melodic but endlessly wicked take on macabre extreme metal that countless lesser bands have since emulated. With “Hrimthursum”, the 5th full-length album, NECROPHOBIC already injected its blasphemous attack metal with melody and atmospherics, not to mention a great attention to instrumental detail, in the first place when the album was released in 2006. The Swedish black death metal legends are re-releasing this full-length record as first out of nine upcoming re-issues in total. The album will be available as Ltd. CD Jewelcase in slipcase, Gatefold LP & Poster and Digital album. A must have for every black and death metal maniac out there!

Rearviewmirror (Greatest Hits 1991–2003) is a two-part compilation album by American rock band Pearl Jam, originally released on November 16, 2004 through Epic Records.
The album's two discs are both devoted to different sides of the band's catalogue: the first disc, or "Up Side", contains heavier rock songs while the second disc or "Down Side" consists of slower songs and ballads. Both discs are in chronological order, with the exception of the last song on the "Down Side", regular show closer "Yellow Ledbetter".

We finally made it: BEWITH100LP! And what better way for a re-issue label to celebrate such a landmark catalogue number than to give it to a record of new music. We couldn’t resist when the artist is Official Be With Family Member Kenny Dickenson and when the music is his lovely, lovely score to French-Vietnamese artist Mai Hua's 2020 documentary film “Les Rivières”. If you enjoy the more minimal, intimate piano of the likes of Nils Frahm or John Carroll Kirby’s solo work, you’re certain to fall for this beautiful album.

Taking six years to make, Mai’s film explores what happened when she brought her dying grandmother to France, pulling together four generations of women from the same family. Kenny’s score accompanies all the pretty things, sad things, dirty, beautiful, happy, broken and reborn moments of these women’s experiences.

The whole score is built around delicate, sparkling piano motifs. At times they’re joined by cello and complemented with ambient chords and other flourishes. It’s a very particular palette that Kenny and Mai established early on, as Kenny explains: “We had agreed on a particular sonic aesthetic early on in the process - to use specific and relatively minimal instrumentation, reflecting the intimacy of the picture. So piano and cello were quite prominent in instructing a sense of space and immediacy. Until I had to get the junkyard percussion out… ”

When it comes to describing the end results, Kenny’s happy to wear his influences on his sleeve:

“When the director and I sat down for the creative meetings early in the process, we watched ‘Wolf Children’, a Japanese animation film by Mamoru Hosoda. The amazing soundtrack by Masakatsu Takagi was a launching point for me and thereafter I leaned into more modern classical composers - Reich, Sakamoto, Glass as well as Jon Hassell’s Fourth World output. Richard Reed Parry’s ‘Music for Heart and Breath’ was a good early touchstone for me and Mark Hollis’ sparse, considered and deliberate approach was a constant presence. Also labels like Ghostly, ASIP and the ubiquitous Erased Tapes should probably get a nod here too…”

We’d even suggest there’s the occasional Yann Tiersen moment in there too.

Out of sheer necessity the collaboration between Kenny and Mai continued beyond this initial creative direction. With Kenny speaking neither French nor Vietnamese, Mai acted as translator, a process that naturally lead to discussing the film beyond just what was being said in the footage. Mai herself explains just how successful this relationship felt to her: “Music plays a very important role in all my work, particularly in Les Rivières. I cried every time Kenny sent me a new composition. I felt understood in a way that words cannot describe. It was absolutely magical and I am so happy if this music can make your soul vibrate too.”

Kenny composed much of the music in London, at the same time that Mai was shooting and editing. As the film took shape and the music also evolved, another challenge presented itself when Kenny relocated to Los Angeles part way through, resulting in Arnulf Lindners beautiful cello taking on new shapes- multi sampled, played and manipulated by Kenny into new compositions.

What Kenny has put together for the film score release is definitely a “soundtrack LP”, with the music arranged to work as a proper album in its own right that should be listened to from start to finish. Indeed the album also includes a new piece “Pour Marthe” that Kenny composed in memory of Mai’s grandmother who died after the film was finished.

Kenny’s personal highlight is also ours: “When I listen back to the album as a whole now, I never want part II of the Trilogy (Belles Larmes) to end. I have fond memories of recording it and I love how the dynamic of the piece gradually evolves from falling on the ‘1 and the 3’ to the ‘1 and the 2’. It’s so short and sweet, I keep wanting it to last for longer. But it’s kind of perfect as it is.”

Pretty much our sentiment for the album as a whole.

Running a record label means we often get asked advice about pressing a record. In this case the music was too good not to offer to release it ourselves. To Kenny, having the Les Rivières score on vinyl also feels like the final part of the project.

“It’s a beautiful thing to have it on vinyl. It’s quite an intimate soundtrack so there’s something really perfect about being able to listen to it on that format. When I was a kid, my Uncle Pat who used to work at Woolworths would visit and bring random records from their record department over to us. I can remember listening to “Theme From Exodus” by Ernest Gold. I had no idea what it was about but the imagery it conjured up when listening to that record was just mind blowing to me at that age. Soundtracks can have their own life on vinyl I think, and removed from their original context is this unique format for reinvention. So I’m excited that people who haven’t (and have for that matter) seen the film can have that experience.”

This might not be a re-issue, but the Les Rivières film score album has still been given the full Be With treatment. The vinyl has been mastered by Simon Francis (under Kenny’s ever-watchful eye/ear, of course), cut by Pete Norman and pressed at Record Industry. The sleeve follows the film’s poster and other promotional material, including Lucile Gomez’s almost magical illustration.

We’re under no illusions that many people reading this will have seen “Les Rivières”, but that doesn’t really matter when it comes to listening to the score. Just on its own, Kenny’s music still captures the robustness and the delicacy of lives lived.

Repress !

Max Roach's 1960 masterwork, We Insist!, is a suite based on the Civil Rights Movement, and involves variations on the theme of the struggle for African Americans to achieve equality in the United States, a struggle that is still all too relevant still. Roach began composing with lyricst Oscar Brown Jr. in 1959, with the initial intention of having the suite performed in 1963, on the 100th anniversary of The Emancipation Proclamation. Featuring the wonderful Abbey Lincoln on vocals, as well as Booker Little, Julian Priester, Coleman Hawkins, Olatunji, and more, We Insist! is a truly stunning album, one that knows no equal from that time or since, reissued on 180 gram LP with download code.

“THE BEAUTIFUL NIGHT”, for many UK Northern Soul fans, epitomises the sound of the Seventies All-Night clubs. Originally spun at The Torch in Stoke and then in every club and soul night in the land. It was written and independently produced by Jimmy Thomas and released on EMI’s ‘Parlophone’ label in 1969. It has remained a rare and collectable 45 on the green promo and even more so on the scarce black stock copy.

In more recent times the original B-side, “Above A Whisper”, has found favour on the crossover scene with it’s more subdued modern soul flavour. Both sides have been remastered for this prestiguous 2022 release.

Elektro Guzzi from Vienna are back with their new, their ninth album »Triangle«. Since their first, self-titled album in 2010, Elektro Guzzi have been working on a variety of techno that is not programmed on a computer or sequencer, but rather analogously performed by using
electric bass (Jakob Schneidewind), drums (Bernhard Breuer) and electric guitar (Bernhard Hammer) and it is techno-music, that arises in the moment of interaction - a music that often develops in the direction of cosmic music. On »Triangle«, Elektro Guzzi overcame the
natural, »learned« sound of their instruments. The futuristic concept of techno shines through all the more as a role model - that there is precisely this clear idea of transcending the present by playing a hypnotic, interlocking music of the future. »Triangle« is the logical
next step for a band that is always looking for »more«, for departure, for consistency. The forced break of the lockdowns 2020/2021 and the restrictions in the context of the crisis made the band move closer together; on »Triangle«, Elektro Guzzi increased their efficiency to the unbelievable.

WAREHOUSE FIND!: OZY is an electronic musician and dj from Reykjavik. In the early years of his career, OZY released a series of influential records on the Icelandic dub techno label Thule Records, paying homage to the Berlin dub sounds and the abstract shuffle rhythms of Cologne techno. In 2002, the legendary Force Inc./Mille Plateaux label released OZY's debut album Tokei, bringing Ozy to the attention of a wide international audience. Orignialy released in 2000 The release "No Undo" is yet another step further, in fusing techno with new and fresh elements of drum&bass music, making the music incredibly dark and funky. The outcome is a wicked concept of futuristic tribal techno, designed strictly for the dancefloor:

Some forty years into one of music’s most impactful, sometimes tense and yet curiously enduring partnerships, Tears For Fears have finally arrived together at The Tipping Point – the group’s ambitious, accomplished and surprising first new studio album in nearly two decades. Tears For Fears find themselves back in peak form at The Tipping Point, an inspired song cycle that speaks powerfully and artfully to our present tense here in 2021. This is an album that vividly recalls the depth and emotional force of the group’s earliest triumphs. Imagine a far more outward-looking take on TFF’s famously introspective 1983 debut album The Hurting set in an even more mad world, or 1985’s Songs From The Big Chair bravely confronting even bigger issues in our increasingly unruly world. Or even 1989’s The Seeds Of Love that sows a mix of love and other emotions. The Tipping Point is the bold, beautiful and powerful sound of Tears For Fears finding themselves together all over again. Available as a 1CD Mintpack, a 1CD deluxe digipak (with extra track), a Gatefold Balck 1LP.

Super Session (1968) was conceived by Al Kooper and features the work of guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills. Kooper and Bloomfield had previously worked together on the sessions for the ground-breaking classic Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan. For Super Session, Kooper recruited keyboardist Barry Goldberg and bassist Harvey Brooks, both members of the Electric Flag, along with well-known session drummer 'Fast' Eddie Hoh.

On the second day of recording, with the tapes ready to roll, Bloomfield did not show up. Kooper hastily called upon Stephen Stills, also in the process of leaving his band Buffalo Springfield. Regrouping behind Stills, Kooper's session men cut mostly vocal tracks, including 'It Takes A Lot to Laugh, It Takes A Train to Cry' from Highway 61 and a lengthy and atmospheric take of 'Season of the Witch' by Donovan.

The album peaked at #12 on the Billboard 200, and has been certified a Gold record. The success of this record opened the door for the 'supergroup' concept of the late 1960s and 1970s — Blind Faith, Crosby, Stills & Nash, and the like.

Singing actors and actresses do not always cut a good figure on the silver screen; play-acting singers, however, are all the better when they draw attention to themselves with great vocals. As did Lena Horne in the days of the black-and-white film, who, with her sultry, versatile voice, was constantly employed by Hollywood. Although she occasionally ventured into the world of jazz, and made music with Teddy Wilson and Benny Carter, she never forayed into the wide world of improvisation. Her musical home was in the American Songbook, which she approached with a natural and entertaining manner. A good example of this is the first number here – the Cole Porter classic "I Concentrate On You", which swings along to the perfectly recorded big-band sound of the Marty Paich Orchestra. A surprise element is the extensive palette of vocal sound-colouring with which the diva enhances her voice to achieve the drama of a Shirley Bassey or the dusky depths of a Dinah Washington. Each and every number on this Grammy-worthy album has been thought out in great detail and guarantees sophisticated entertainment, and a hint of West Coast jazz is perceptible when Jack Sheldon treats us to the sound of his warm and dark trumpet solos.

Andy Bey was one of the most sought-after vocalists in the era of jazz fusion. Between 1968 and 1973 he was first choice as a studio singer for Max Roach, Duke Pearson, Horace Silver, Gary Bartz and Stanley Clarke, to mention but a few. His warm and engaging baritone voice easily crossed the bridge from conventional blues and gospel to a pugnacious, politicising style of soul – Andy Bey was 'spiritual' in every sense of the word. "Experience And Judgment", his debut album under his own name, was recorded in New York in 1973 and quickly became a cult album. Bey delivers twelve songs in single length, which are full of relaxed, funky grooves, soulful and electrifying, and quite lacking in gimmickry – in many of them a blues number is lurking in the background as a basic idea. His most important colleagues are Wilbur Bascomb, who lets his electric slap bass really thump out, and Bill Fischer who joins in on an electric piano, synthesizer and various other keyboards and really sets off a little fusion firework display. The most powerful numbers come from Andy Bey himself, such as "Experience", "Judgment", "Celestial Blues", "Tune Up" and "Being Uptight" – often powering forwards with a vengeance. Bill Fischer – at that time Artistic Director at Atlantic Records – added a few soul ballads to balance out the LP. This album inspired numerous jazz singers, including Gregory Porter. Jamie Cullum says: »What I love about Andy Bey is that he creates an atmosphere. As soon as he opens his mouth, you’re transported to another place.«

Repress due in March. Includes Previously Unreleased Instrumentals! Air Vinyl is proud to be reissuing Benny The Butcher and 38 Spesh's seminal joint album, Stabbed & Shot. These underground kingpins were both at their hungriest at the top of 2018 and this LP is the proof. Air Vinyl will also be releasing Stabbed & Shot II later in 2020, so this re-release should get fans ready. Benny the Butcher is as hot as any artist on the planet right now, fresh off of an incredible 2019 with his The Plugs I Met project, the collaborative effort Statue of Limitations (with Smoke DZA), and his Shady Records debut alongside his Griselda brethren Westside Gunn and Conway the Machine, entitled WWCD. 38 Spesh is heading up the Trust movement, and also had a stellar few years, including his Son of G Rap album (alongside Kool G Rap) and songs with Styles P, Jadakiss, Uncle Murda, AZ, N.O.R.E., Kool G Rap, and French Montana. He has worked with several high-profile producers as well, including the likes of DJ Premier, Pete Rock and Alchemist. Album art by Manuel "Cep" Concepcion.

Best known for their participation in the 1983 Eurovision Song Contest, Belgian synth pop band Pas De Deux present their complete collection. These songs were made in 1982 and 1983, including the cult hits 'Cardiocleptomanie', 'Mani Meme' and various versions of 'Rendez-Vous'. These songs were never together on one album. Some of them were only released as a single or on some special compilations made in Spain and Germany after their much discussed participation to the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) in 1983.

The 2LP vinyl compilation is a tangible thing, a must-have for the fans with some new photos from the band's first video and all the info, credits and lyrics of the songs. Remastered & compiled on this deluxe 2LP with a special etched D side. The inner sleeves include some reactions triggered in the national printed press at that time. Are we lucky that it was before the social media took over?

Highlights of the release:

"RENDEZ-VOUS IN MÜNCHEN", for the first time on vinyl!

"At the ESC we performed Rendez-Vous, a 'minimalistic synth-pop song', accompanied by the Dieter Reith Orchestra, directed by Freddy Sunder, on a backing track with synthesizers and drum machines. Apart from the Eurovision broadcast on 23 April 1983, this (mono!) recording was never released before. We've put it on this compilation, together with 4 other alternative versions of the original song."

CARDIOCLEPTOMANIE, MANI MEME

"Cardiocleptomanie was part of the compilation 'The Hidden Tapes' by Minimal Wave in 2011. It was also the title of a personal compilation of our songs by Veronica Vasicka of Minimal Wave (sold out vinyl). It became our N°1 digital track (thank you Lieven De Ridder)."

"On our mini-LP Des Tailles (Parsley, 1982) we covered Mani Meme, an unreleased song by DE NOTA. To our happy surprise, the song was chosen by the GUCCI Epilogue collection 2020 for their campaign video. It boosted our audience internationally."

Detroit/Chicago and odd techno/house sounds influenced French producers Marius Cyrilou and Popodi Venturi to come back with a new banging crossover project called MOTORBREMSEN. Marius and Popodi already had many digital and vinyl releases on various labels like People Potential Unlimited records, Omega Supreme Records, Outrun records and on their own labels, La Maison Venturi, Bazaar Records under the names of Spaced Out Krew, The Ceeofunk Band or
Westbrook (and many others more).
This 5 tracks EP gathers many influences such as Theo Parrish, Moodymann ("So Confused") or Drexciya-n sounds ("Sanctuary"). Some deep and dark bassy house mood concludes this ep ("Human Freaks" , "Riding Over The Darkness"). Besides this, the marvellous voice of Mae Rojas (The Ceeofunk Band) comes with a sensual touch on the track "Tiger Prey (Radio Edit)". This EP gives an instant deep feeling of a happy-to-sad mood, with mysterious and sexy moments.
On A1 "So Confused", Don’t be confused, this is music to drive by in the hood with your low-rider. Gangsta boogie house at his climax for fans of Moodymann, Theo Parrish and all the raw house music mood.
On A2 "Tiger Prey (Radio Edit)", with the help of Mae Rojas (Cee-O-Funk Band) on the mic, Motorbremsen keep pushing their unique vision of house music : soulful but raw, relaxed but not so slow, catchy but weird at the same time.
On A3 "Sanctuary", let’s get on an electro-funk territory here. The guys explore a sound that can be rooted in seminal Arthur Baker’s productions and Drexciya’s mood but this a strong psychedelic feeling that is truly unique. All this comes with the special Motorbremsen’s touch of course. One for the B-Boys on acid...
On B1 "Riding Over The Darkness", get in the D’s train for a cruise. Laidback house with a monstrous bass and this almost G-Funk feeling. Hmmmm… delicious ! One for the lovers.
On B2 "Humanfreaks", let's get a bit darker. What begins like a bumpy beat get you little by little in real moody trip in a hot warehouse. Detroit techno muscular funk-infused inna 2021 style (by two guys who never listen to a Transmat record of their lives).

On the tribute album Songs for Tres, Psychic Ills band members come together to commemorate the late Tres Warren who passed away just as the world turned upside down in March of 2020. Isolated, feeling helpless and lost by the death of her musical soul mate and collaborator of 18 years, bassist Elizabeth Hart found making music to be her only outlet in a time where people were unable to be physically together to mourn. So, she reached out to Adam Amram, Jon Catfish DeLorme and Brent Cordero, the main players in the Ills line up since the release of their last full length album Inner Journey Out (2016), to ask if they would embark on this cathartic journey with her. This was a different kind of production endeavor for Hart driven solely by “the aching need and urgency” to do something to honor her friend.

Hart, Amram, DeLorme and Cordero reunited for the first time five months after losing Warren at Amram’s loft – the same spot where they’d rehearsed countless times before – although this time with a different objective. In an effort to share, support and create, the old friends joined in the painful and healing experience of making this tribute album to cope with their loss. The band members wrote, arranged, and rehearsed for months and the result of their work culminated in a weekend of recording in the southern Catskill mountains at the end of 2020. This isolated and intimate environment was a perfectly serene and fitting location to finalize their story.

Throughout the album, Hart, Amram and DeLorme take turns as the vocal lead on each of the songs while Cordero showcases his finger-picking guitar skills in addition to his piano and organ playing, which he is known for. Along with the core band members, a number of other musicians played on the album, many of whom had collaborated on prior Psychic Ills releases and wanted to be a part of this last collaboration in memory of Warren. Keeping the project in the Ills family, Hart produced the album alongside Iván Diaz Mathé, the long-time Psychic Ills sound engineer.

The album consists of five original tracks and four cover songs. Initially, learning the covers was just a method for the musicians to “break the ice” and play together again for the first time without their band leader. However, those tracks became just as important to include as the originals because of their essential role in the process of coming together to make the album. The cover songs were chosen because of their unique connections to the band’s memories of Warren. Dennis Wilson’s "Rainbows" and Fleetwood Mac’s "Station Man" come from two of Warren’s favorite albums, Pacific Ocean Blue and Kiln House. The band also recorded Blaze Foley’s "Clay Pigeons" and Powell St. John’s "Right Track Now." The idea for the latter was suggested by Amram. Warren once sent him a clip of Roky Erikson singing a moving rendition of that song in the film Demon Angel and it had stuck with him ever since.

Hart wrote "I’ll Walk With You" on the day of Warrens’ passing, at the time not knowing what it meant. When she got the call with the heartbreaking news, it became clear to her what the song was about. Relying on a gently lilting string arrangement to set the tone, this duet features Mazzy Star vocalist Hope Sandoval alongside Hart. Sandoval previously collaborated with Psychic Ills accompanying Warren on "I Don’t Mind" (2016). The ideas for "Home" and "Walk Around," two other songs on the album by Hart, started simply with an acoustic guitar and lyrics, a hopeful exercise to connect with her lost friend. Brent Cordero’s instrumental "Whole Lotta Piece of Mind" is nothing short of a transcendental experience. By running his pedal steel through a Leslie speaker, Jon Catfish DeLorme crafts the unique tone showcased on Wonderful Feeling, a moving example of studio experimentation combined with old school techniques. DeLorme describes it as “an attempt to highlight the musical experience I shared with Tres both sonically and thematically. What resulted is the unguarded exaltation I feel lucky to have shared with my fellow bandmates.” Adam Amram’s “Into the Sea” was composed spontaneously the week Warren passed. The melodic tune has a hopeful lightness and Amram describes it simply as “a song to my brother”. Their connection shines through.

In fact, the entire album is one that radiates the layers of friendship, love and music that will forever exist between this family of musicians. As the band themselves state: “This album was made out of love and a commitment to honor our dear friend and bandmate.” A portion of the proceeds from the album will be donated to RAICES, a charity who aids children who have been displaced at the Texas/Mexico border.

International musicgroup SexJudas feat.Ricky returns to Optimo Music this Winter with a new album: Night Songs. The eight track LP draws inspiration from the night and features Malian percussionist Sidiki Camara,jazz clarinetist Andreas Røysum and noise rocker Linn Nystadnes. Making their own blend of disco, post punk and African music.

“It’s the return of Sex Judas feat.Ricky, this time as a six piece in fully fledged band mode. We’re here to take you on a journey through suburban psychedelia, forming our own brew of postpunk, disco and electronic, as well as traditional music from Mali. Night Songs is a meditation on the night time. The excess, the dreams, the highs and lows of night time activity.”-Sex Judas feat. Ricky.

“Black Cat In A Black Room” begins proceedings, taking the form of a psychedelic six-minute offering packed full of tribal drums and desert-like percussion. “A Man Without Purpose” comes next with its African-inspired vocal, before “Hab Mich Lieb” soon arrives. The six-minute cut is hypnotic, trippy and relaxing all in one, as is “Slow Down” feat. Linn Nystadnes. Taking on more of a funk-rock feel, there’s plenty of groove in the guitar-laced bassline, whilst in “Cold Clementine”, Sex Judas tells the sad tale of rave casualty over a dark and funky groove.

We’re taken down a spiritual path on The Light You Saw Was Not For Real, as Andreas Røysum’s clarinet solos sit underneath shamanic vocal offerings that open neatly into The Night Within The Night. Aslow-burning cut, riffs and hats serenade us before When You Wake Up Everything Will Be Fine brings proceedings to a close. Dream-like chords wrap us in a warm and glowing hue, with the harp-like sounds from Sidiki’s Ngoni, leaving us in a starry-eyed state to finish.

The calming nature of the album is a nod to the band’s influences: they were inspired by the great meditative records of the past, setting off on a musical trip that saw them record the whole release at legendary Norwegian studio Athletic Sound. This happened during lockdown and whilst the LP was never meant to be comment on the pandemic, there remains a brooding intensity to each track because of it. Sex Judas feat. Ricky originally began life as the solo project of Tore Gjedrem (from electronic duo Ost & Kjex), but has since grown into a steady six piece involving the talents of Sidiki Camara (djembe/ngoni/balafon), Ivar Winther (guitar/keys), Tracee Meyn (vocals), Tore Brevik (drums/percussion) and Kristian Edvardsen (bass). Centre stage is also illustrator and comic artist Sindre Goksøyr, this time portraying each character as they paddle their way into the sunset and uncharted territories.

Malian-born, Norwegian-based percussionist Sidiki Camara has played a pivotal role in promoting “Night Songs” to world music circles. Having lived in Norway since 2006, he has helped bring WestAfrican rhythms into the country’s wider jazz scene.

Another new colour pressing we have 200 only white vinyl coming in Mrch. Single LPs w/ printed inner sleeve + lyric insert and Download card. The Armed return with their first new album in over three years and Sargent House debut, ULTRAPOP. The album reaches the same extremities of sonic expression as the furthest depths of metal, noise, and otherwise "heavy" counterculture music subgenres but finds its foundation firmly in pop music and pop culture. As is always The Armed's mission, it seeks only to create the most intense experience possible, a magnification of all culture, beauty, and things. The band goes on to explain, "crafting vital art means presenting the audience with new and intriguing tensions sonically, visually, conceptually. Over time and through use, those tensions become less novel and effective and they become expectations. The concept of "subgenre" becomes almost the antithesis of vitality in art itself a fetishization of expectation. ULTRAPOP seeks, in earnest, to create a truly new listener experience. It is an open rebellion against the culture of expectation in "heavy" music. It is a joyous, genderless, post-nihilist, anti-punk, razor-focused take on creating the most intense listener experience possible. It's the harshest, most beautiful, most hideous thing we could make." ULTRAPOP follows their recent contribution to the Cyberpunk 2077 soundtrack “Night City Aliens” and 2018’s critically acclaimed album Only Love, which landed on ‘Album of the Year’ lists from The Atlantic, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Vice, Stereogum, and many more. The album was co-produced by the band's own Dan Greene in collaboration with Ben Chisholm (Chelsea Wolfe) and features contributions from Mark Lanegan, Troy Van Leeuwen (Queens of the Stone Age, A Perfect Circle), Ben Koller (Converge, Killer Be Killed, Mutoid Man) and many more. Kurt Ballou (Converge, High on Fire, Russian Circles) remains at the helm as executive producer. An interactive ARG campaign with numerous stages of engagement is underway and will continue through release. A website, media mailings and various social media interactions are leading fans to find easter eggs including songs, album info, videos and much more. A livestream performance confirmed for same day. Videos for all three focus tracks (“All Futures”, “Average Death” + “An Iteration” are completed and will be released along with each song.

With Bail Was Set at $6,000,000 Batmobile was looking for a sound that was more fitting to the live sound of that moment, something they always did when recording an album. The main difference with the previous albums was that they put more emphasis on the guitar, which led to a slightly heavier sound than Batmobile had before. The album itself contains songs that became long time live favorites such as “Kiss Me Now”, “Calamity Man” and the Motörhead cover “Ace of Spades”.

The legendary Dutch psychobilly kings Batmobile formed in 1983 and were the first band not from the United Kingdom to perform at the influential psychobilly club, Klub Foot.

Bail Was Set at $6,000,000 is now available as a limited edition of 500 individually numbered copies on translucent red & black marbled vinyl.

The original Wild Style soundtrack is such a landmark that it has spread its DNA throughout hip-hop ever since. So many artists found inspiration in it, so many producers fished for samples among its choppy waves. If you haven’t played it for a while, it still has the power to surprise – hook after hook that fed into hip-hop history. That countdown from Public Enemy’s ‘Louder than a Bomb’? The chorus from Cypress Hill’s ‘A to the K’, vocal samples that underpin MF Doom classics and A Tribe Called Quest gems? All here.

Phat Kev – aka Kev Luckhurst – teases out some of those notable moments in his superb cut-up from the 2007 reissue. The Brighton-born DJ subjects the Wild Style OST to a classic ‘Lesson-style’ cut and paste, teasing out some of the most classic moments, taking you on a whirlwind tour of the finest beats and most indelible rhymes. Here you’ll find ‘Stoop Rap’ interwoven with ‘Basketball Throwdown’ and ‘Fantastic Freaks at the Dixie’.

The temptation to overcomplicate matters is wisely resisted – Phat Kev lets the guitar of Chris Stein, the drums of Lenny Ferrari and the lyrics of legends such as Grand Master Caz, Busy Bee and Rammellzee shine in their own right.

Available for the first time on 7”, this is an outstanding tribute to one of the key records in hip-hop history.

10th anniversary reissue of this rhythmically churning one-man-band monster of an album, recorded in a single inspired studio session & originally released in 2012 on Editions Mego.

From the original Editions Mego press release:

“For anyone who still associates Oren Ambarchi exclusively with the clipped, bass-heavy tones of solo electric guitar works such as Suspension, this rhythmically churning one-man-band monster of an album-length piece might seem to come out of nowhere. However, listeners who have followed the breadth of his work for the last few years (solo and in projects with collaborators from Jim O’Rourke to Stephen O’Malley and Keith Rowe to Keiji Haino) will have noted how Ambarchi has allowed increasingly clear traces of his enthusiasms as a music listener (for classic rock, minimal techno and 70’s fusion, among other areas) to surface in his performances and recordings, all the time filtering them through his signature long-form structures and psychoacoustic sonics.

Recorded in a single inspired studio session, Sagittarian Domain displaces Ambarchi’s trademark guitar sound from the centre of the mix, its presence felt only as an occasional ghostly reverberated shimmer. Endlessly pulsating guitar and bass lines sit alongside electronic percussion and thundering motorik drumming (familiar from his work with Keiji Haino) at the core of the piece, locking into a voodoo groove like Faust covering a 70’s cop show theme. The work is founded on hypnotic almost-repetition, the accents of the drum hits and interlocking bass and guitar lines shifting almost imperceptibly back and forwards over the beat as they undergo gradual transformations of timbre. Cut-up and phase-shifted strings enter around the half-way mark like an abstracted memory of the eastern-tinged fusion of the Mahavishnu Orchestra’s classic Visions of the Emerald Beyond, before returning for an extended, stark yet affecting come-down coda, equal parts Gavin Bryars and Purple Rain.

While Sagittarian Domain contains traces of a diversity of influences, it mines all of them to uncover something that is clearly an extension of Ambarchi’s own investigations up to this point, exhibiting the same care for micro-detail and surrender to the physicality of sound that are present in all of his work, extending them in new ways to repetition, pulse and rhythm”.

A collection of Elvis Presley covers recorded by the duet David Fenech & Pierre Bastien. The idea of "Suspicious Moon" started at a party around the topic of blue color. David Fenech had chosen to play "Blue Moon" and Pierre Bastien asked to join in. It was a very enjoyable party and then they recorded the song and decided to plan an album exclusively based on covers of the King. Not that we were absolute fans of Elvis... but as a starting point to go somewhere else. And this is what we reached: in many aspects a premiere for the two musicians. Pierre focuses on (prepared) trumpet for the very first time, while David is heard extensively as a vocalist and is more than ever responsible for all arrangements and textures. Playing other people's material is also a premiere for both of them. 11 tracks around very well known standards. Like familiar places that are changed when seen in a different light. Please enjoy. "Our choice of the Elvis Presley song book for this record may seem strange to many. It seems strange to me as well. Not that I dislike the original music, but before our sessions it had never been a direct source of inspiration. Paradoxically, this distance gave me freedom and flowing ideas. I hear similar qualities in David's parts too. We hope that our relaxed attitude and its positive outcome will be reflected in this album" - Pierre Bastien "The strange thing about these recordings is that the creative process was so fluid and natural_ that it seems that through playing other people's music, we almost reveal something of ourselves. As if these tracks were our creation, as if they were our own children!" - David Fenech

Repress

Dancefloor Damage all the way. The new Soul Notes VA 12'' has been building anticipation all around.

Since it includes 4 of the most in demand names from the rough house scenes at the moment, this one is not to be missed. Labelowner Kastil pulled out the big guns and got soul notes usual Fulbert on one record with himself and the ever so amazing Malin Genie who has been making waves through the whole of europe with his thumping sound. Fulbert, Kastil and Malin delivered 3 excellent productions that will perfectly fit into one peaktime set.

This is music for the dancefloor and nothing else. Bass bin wrecking club slicers for true house heads.

Last but not least, the excentric Jefferson Belmondo makes an appearance With a disco'ish anthem called Booty Groove. The title kind off reveals where he's coming from as Jefferson might be unknown for most, on the streets of Miami he is a bonafide legend. After spending most of his life in shady motels and as a DJ in extravagantnightclubs, Jefferson finally took out his old DAT tapes and got this track to Kastil through a mutual friend.

All and all, Many Shades of Soul Notes Vol.1 is a peaktime record that is above all meant for clubplay.

This fine package includes a 180GR 12'' and a designed sleeve. This 6th installment in the Soul Notes series will be available from
March 4th through all respected retailers.

As pieces of musical curation go, Kenny Dope’s reimagining and reediting of the Wild Style breakbeats is outstanding. While the music from the ‘Wild Style’ OST is truly seminal, the story behind it is even more fascinating.

Underneath the voices of important rappers from hip-hop’s first wave – Cold Crush Brothers, Double Trouble, Rammellzee, Busy Bee and more – were a selection of backing beats that have underpinned and influenced a whole lot of hip-hop ever since.

It would be easy to mistake them for genuine breakbeats dug out of crates, but they’re not. Overseen by hip-hop impresario Freddie Braithwaite – better known as Fab 5 Freddy – in collaboration with Blondie’s Chris Stein – the songs from the Wild Style soundtrack are all unique creations intended as a homage to the early breakbeats.

Drummer Lenny Ferrari – who had played for Aretha Franklin before emerging on the punk scene – and bassist David Harper played many of the iconic grooves, two somewhat forgotten participants in shaping a legendary sound. They – and Chris Stein – weren’t even in the same studio at the same time.

Kenny Dope, a long-time fan of the music, later acquired the original reel-to-reel tapes from Charlie Ahearn, the film’s director. Using the Wild Style breakbeats – many just a minute or so long – he transformed them into longer edits that give them more room to breathe. ‘Down by Law’ and ‘Subway Beat’ are two of the most famous, breakdance classics that summon up visions of graffiti’d trains speeding through the South Bronx.

2001’s »Anima« was the third album released by Sasu Ripatti under his Vladislav Delay moniker and marked a turning point in the stylistic development of the prolific producer. Clocking in at roughly 62 minutes, the single piece draws on dub aesthetics while working with Musique concrète-like methods through the liberal use of samples to create a dreamlike logic. Muffled voices, lush chords, subtle rhythms and indefinable sound events are not so much integrated into a composition with a predetermined outcome but rather engage with each other freely in a constant sonic flow, forming constellations in one moment before moving on to connect with other elements in the next one. »Anima« marked the first time Ripatti was using a DAW in his working process, creating a piece constantly in motion that subtly evolves over time. This vinyl reissue on the German Keplar label follows up on the 20th anniversary edition of 2000’s »Multila« and will be complemented by a ten-minute long version of the original piece, previously only available on the CD version released by the artist on his own Huume label in 2008.

After the release of his »Ele« and »Entain« albums in 1999 and 2000, respectively, Ripatti took the 1998 independent movie »Hurlyburly« as a conceptual starting point to experiment with different gear and production methods. »Until then I had worked with an old MSQ-700 MIDI sequencer and an Ensonic EPS16 sampler/sequencer that had one or two MB of sampling memory and mixed the music live on a Mackie, which was very limiting arrangement-wise,« says Ripatti. Loading a slightly shortened version of the film into his DAW however allowed him to play along to it with the DrumKAT MIDI controller, triggering and playing all the sounds that can be heard on »Anima« while also contributing synths, bass and other sounds during repeated playthroughs before mixing a total of six stereo tracks together. »This way, after I had edited out most of the few parts that had music in them, I was in the movie; almost like an extra character playing music,« explains Ripatti. »This was certainly the most organic way in which I have ever made music, and I have never again approached another record like this.«

While »Anima« sounded like an unusual Vladislav Delay record at the time of its release, it also prefigured many of the developments Ripatti would go through in the course of his long career. Combining visceral immediacy with a sense of abstraction, it is far more than a mere missing link in his discography but rather a conceptually and musically outstanding piece of work that remains as engaging as it was 21 years ago.

All tracks composed and recorded by Vladislav Delay.
Originally released on Mille Plateaux in 2001.
Remaster and cut by Kassian Troyer @ D&M.
Art direction and design by Marc Hohmann.
Text by Kristoffer Cornils.

"Rush to Riot" is the 3rd EP to be released in mid of July 2021 on the Berlin Techno Label INHERIT. After dropping the first Inherit selection IHT S01 back in May 2021 with tracks by Bacch, Geerson, CLTX and many others we are more than happy to announce that this remarkable journey continues - not only with two more original tracks by the co-founders of Inherit, Daniel Heinrich & Disguised, but rather with two exceptional remixed bangers by Hadone & Hioll on IHT 003.

"Rush to Riot" is definitely one of the most ambitious & remarkable tracks ever published on INHERIT so far. The noteworthy collaboration between the co-founders Disguised & Daniel Heinrich brings together what belongs together: trancey basslines and melodic vibrant tunes captivating you on every dancefloor around the world.

Hadone is one of the most exciting Techno artists from France these days and without any doubt his remix of Rush to Riot adds an unique & outstanding layer to IHT 003. His well-known evocative melodies propped up on pounding kicks unite with a more forward-driven interpretation of the original track that brings so much energy to the EP.

"Against the Current" is the 2nd original track on IHT 003 by cofounder Daniel Heinrich with a remix by Hioll, one of the rising stars within the Cuban electronic music scene. While the original track with the progressive baseline by Daniel Heinrich sounds like a famous club banger already Hioll created with his remix a new and distinctive sound, hypnotic techno supported by industrial elements lifting the original track to a new level.

IHT 003 leaves us with the feeling how hard we crave for the clubs to reopen again soon. Until then enjoy your catchy four track compilation by Daniel Heinrich, Disguised, Hadone & Hioll.

"Two Duos" is pressed from cellist Okkyung Lee's most recent OTO Residency; the first side a duo with Jérôme Noetinger on Revox B77 and the second with Nadia Ratsimandresy on Ondes Martenot. Cut together, the two meetings seem to raise three cellos in the search for expressive voice: the cello, its magnetic reproduction, and the dual controls of the machine invented to expand on its musical qualities. On the A side Noetinger's opening tape hiss establishes a current; an electrical partner who gives Lee room to slide across and stretch out. Progressively the cello is returned, duplicated and manipulated with increased velocity and distortion. Noetinger draws out the full extent of Lee's extended technique; rewinding strands of Lee's horse hair and transmuting her percussive attacks into shuddering echos, before letting his own concrete interjections spin the duo's sonic tussle into an almost romantic daydream. On side B the ondes (invented by French cellist and wartime radio operator Maurice Eugene Louis Martenot and so loved by Bernard Parmegiani, Varese and Messiaen) seems shaken from classical tradition and those long, drawn out horrorscapes it has come to be associated with. In a duel with Lee, Ratsimandresy grasps the ondes' extraordinary capacity for dexterity, nuance and speed, hounding Lee's cello in a bid to drive her instrument out of the past and into the future. Two fantastic pairings and a testament to the freshness with which Lee and her collaborators continue to work with their instruments. Okkyung Lee / cello. Jérôme Noetinger / Revox B77. Nadia Ratsimandresy / ondes Martenot. Recorded live at Cafe OTO on. Mixed and mastered by Lasse Marhaug. Design by Maja Larrson.

Nearly 24 years ago, on 7th July 1998, the first Hefner LP was released, it garnered some great reviews, ensured the band were to become one of Peel’s favourites (they had 5 entries in 1999’s festive 50!), and cemented their reputation as Britain's largest small band. NME - “truly independent, unassuming and painfully honest: the sound of thin, white indie dukes in spectacles.” Melody Maker - “heart-skeweringly astute” combination of “grimly sweet lyrics and delicate, tentative tunes.” Time Out - “awe-inspiring in their naked honesty” More recently, the album was number 25 in Pitchfork’s 50 greatest Britpop albums, above A Northern Soul (Verve), Fuzzy Logic (Super Furry Animals), Vauxhall and I (Morrissey) and Tellin’ Stories (the Charlatans) Breaking God’s Heart now gets the essential 20th anniversary vinyl re-issue, accompanied by some shows where Hefner frontman, Darren Hayman, will play the album in full Here’s what Darren has to say about the record now: Breaking God's Heart is an awkward, over confident start to my career. I have yet to get to grips with it again properly in preparation for these anniversary shows. It's so far away in my past that I have some difficulty in relating to the person who made it. Mostly when I hear it I'm just amazed at the confidence, and possibly arrogance, I had then. I insisted on mostly first takes being used, vocals being recorded live in the room with the instruments, a ban on any reverbs or ambience being used. It was like I was trying to sabotage my career at the first hurdle. Many of those decisions were based on half understood, interviews with my idols from the American Lo-Fi scene but I really didn't know what I was doing. It does make a bizarre and caustic record though, and I know there are plenty of people who think this is my best work and I never got back to the blunt energy of these recordings. I do see their point. Quotes - Hefner's is a bedsit world of spindly guitar and towering passions; of skewwhiff ideals and surprisingly smooth melodic surges; of awkward outbursts and slow-burning lo-fi for lovers… 'Breaking God's Heart' is all about sparkling melodies, twinkly-eyed poetry, intimate confessions, a thrillion knowing references to sex, soul and sadness and the sort of chipper attitude that says: 'This is a record you will relish for years to come'. So save yourself time, start treasuring it now. 8/10 NME // Hefner are running on the same rock-not-rock fuel as early Violent Femmes or The Modern Lovers, and like those groups are expert at building emotionally charged arrangements by adding or subtracting at precisely the right time. 8/10 Drowned In Sound

A guitarist, a composer, a sought-after musical enabler and sideman? Of course, he's all of those things and more, but none of those descriptions really do the seven-time Juno Award-winning musician justice.

Like all of Steve's albums, 'Gone, Long Gone' features brilliant instrumental performances from some of the finest players in roots music. Jeremy Holmes holds everything together on bass with drumming split between Gary Craig and Jay Bellerose (both drummers play together on 'Six Skeletons'), while Kevin McKendree and Chris Gestrin laid down the piano, organ and other keyboards.
Keri Latimer joins in on vocals on two songs, and Steve's old 'Birds of Chicago' band- mate, Allison Russell joined in to sing on a few as did Steve's daughter Casey Dawson. John Prine alumnus Fats Kaplin also dropped in to add some sweet fiddle and mandolin.
'Gone, Long Gone' is just the first of three new albums that Steve created during the lockdown. The next two will come to light over three month intervals throughout 2022. Be on the lookout for a moody, psychedelic pedal steel excursion coming up next!

Emerging from Lower Franconia's hidden reverse, Johannes schebler, known as ambient-poltergeist "Baldruin" and surreal folklorists Christian Schoppik & Katie Rich of "Brannten Schnüre"-fame have puzzled and amazed outernational audiences from the stranger end of the avant/lo-fi spectrum in recent years. The trio is now collectively dreaming as "Freundliche Kreisel",reaching for terra incognita rather than common ground on their most bewildering and accessible outing to date. Arch-pontifices of the electro-acoustic and outsider-art realm, they fill in gaps and invent missing links on the go with somnambulistic ease, confusing the hypersensitive and hyaline timbres of contempo-electronic aesthetics with the naïve charm of Germany's obscure Kassettentäter and mutant-NDW.

Think Daniele Mana and Lorenzo Senni digitally rewiring the 4-track recordings of Gareth Williams' Flaming Tunes or sometimes, much scarier, it feels as if it's the other way round. There certainly is an air of whimsical yet post-ironic romanticism to the songs contained here, a madcap, tongue-in-cheek ghost story as filtered through the transcendental senses of a childhood perspective. This attitude is best personified in the disarming innocence of Katie's vocals whose intonation touches on nursery rhymes as much as on dirges and bizarre 'schlager' kitsch.

Heirs to the tradition of magic realism, examining fragments of an arcane sacred mundanity like a crack in the concrete of everyday life, Freundliche Kreisel dwell on this often neglected microcosmic topography, yielding an adventurous and visionary piece of a decidedly Franconian next-level post-modern folklore.