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MEMOTONE, aka Will Yates, has announced details of a new 12-track album, smallest things, set for release on World of Echo on 1 August 2025 on vinyl and digitally.

The album launches today with first track, ‘Time Is Away Theme’, a live favourite that is finally available on album. Watch the video HERE Talking about the release, Will has said, “Staring at a square inch of neglected concrete, I recognise the beauty of existence. Quietly hysterical. While humanitarian catastrophes bubble across the planet, the tides remain in constant and disinterested motion. Your money is worth less than the dusty moss that powders this pavement.

It's certainly not worth a life. We are the smallest things, along with everything else." Will Yates has made music as Memotone since 2007. He operates in the tradition of what Robert Fripp has called 'a small, independent, mobile, and intelligent unit.' If you book him, he will come. When he arrives, he will have everything he needs to make his complex, engaging music: a clarinet, a guitar, synths, samplers and pedals, quickly unpacked in the corner of a club, gallery or village hall. Starting small, he will build layer upon layer of melody, accompanying himself and cutting across himself, creating a music that avoids cliche and moves beyond easy description. His recordings have followed the same trajectory. Moving quickly, he has released fifteen or so albums across various labels (including Trilogy Tapes, Discrepant, Soda Gong). Taken together, these recordings are the sound of a skilled, inventive composer pushing at the edges of what he wants to listen to himself. It is possible to hear a variety ofinfluences in his music: folk and jazz forms, the textural inventiveness of British DI electronica and Chicago post-rock and the blurred sci-fi brass of Jon Hassell are all discernible. But mostly, Will's work seems to stem from a constant drift between long hours in his home studio, and time spent outside in the woods and hills around his home in Wales.

Listening to the album, lushness creeps in at the edges, tiny green shoots appear on what might at first appear to be bare soil. smallest things sheds the skin of Will's previous recordings, removing the electronics and the looping and layering of previous work, to create something almost entirely acoustic. But don't be fooled into imagining music that's folksy, pastoral or twee. Opening track 'I Could See the Smallest Things' is a statement of intent. Widely spaced guitar is underpinned by earthy cello and sleepwalking clarinet, making a gorgeous threadbare pattern, which recalls a Morton Feldman miniature or a Morandi still life.

Beyond the skill involved and the years of self-taught music making that have gone into putting this record together, it is Will's close, careful attention and his talent for existing, observing and creating in the moment that make his work special. Memotone will perform at World of Echo’s annual birthday celebration on 8 Nov Expected Music, when they take over Walthamstow Trades Hall for an inter-genre, day-long investigation into some of the more outré manifestations of the contemporary worldwide underground.

Cleaning Out The Empty Administration Building ist Ross Farrars neuestes Werk aus rohem, gesprochenem Wort und experimentellem Sounddesign, hier präsentiert unter dem Namen R.J.F.. Der Frontmann der amerikanischen Bands Ceremony und SPICE begann dieses Soloprojekt zunächst als persönliche Herausforderung: Songs von Grund auf selbst zu schreiben, sich mit Instrumenten vertraut zu machen und dabei zugleich sein Unterbewusstsein freizulegen. Dabei ging es weniger um musikalische Virtuosität als um Verletzlichkeit - darum, etwas Ehrliches aus einem ungeschützten, unbearbeiteten, unpolierten Moment zu ziehen, kompromisslos amateurhaft und rein.Diese Sammlung zeigt Farrar im offenen, poetischen Dialog: mit Drumloops und gefundenen Klängen, durchbrochen von Gitarren, Bass und Tasteninstrumenten. Nach über zwanzig Jahren in der vertrauten wie chaotischen Welt von Band-Kollaborationen, legt Farrar all das ab - als Experiment. Das Ergebnis ist unverwechselbar und bewegend.Farrars Punk-Pathos ist in Spuren vorhanden, doch seine deutlichsten Einflüsse stammen von repetitiven Musikformen: Drone, No-Wave, Avant-Jazz und darüber hinaus. Seine nüchternen Texte erinnern an Lou Reed, Rowland S. Howard und andere große Exzentriker. Farrars Texte kreisen um Liebe, Sucht, Vaterschaft und das Leben in der heutigen Welt. ,Ich wollte Bilder schaffen, die die Menschen klar vor sich sehen können", sagt er. Farrar unterrichtete früher Schreiben und Literatur - und wendet hier ein einfaches Prinzip an, das er auch seinen Schülern mitgab: Nicht zu viel nachdenken. ,Ich habe mir einfach gesagt: Diese Songs sollen Spaß machen. Sie sollen nicht stressig sein. Zwei, drei Takes aufnehmen und dann gut ist. Nicht über jedes Geräusch den Kopf zerbrechen. Mach einfach das, was natürlich aus dir herauskommt - und wenn es sich gut anfühlt, dann nimm es."Aus hunderten freier Songs, die Farrar in den letzten Jahren mit geliehenem Equipment aufgenommen hat, kristallisierte sich dieses Album langsam heraus. ,Es kam einfach immer wieder."Der Ton von Cleaning scheint die Zeit zu verbiegen, versetzt die Hörer in eine Art Gang voller Songs, bei denen jede Tür in einen neuen Raum führt - Räume, die oft auf unheimliche Weise vertraut wirken. Der gurgelnde Bass des Openers ,Advance" taucht auch in anderen Stücken wieder auf, etwa im gespenstischen ,Ovidian", benannt nach Ovids Metamorphosen, in dem Farrar über das Wunder der Veränderung sinniert - begleitet von fernen Glockenklängen. Instrumentalstücke wie ,Gravity Hill" - ein Flattern aus Synth-Brummen und statischem Rauschen - oder ,Frogs", mit Saiteninstrumenten und perkussivem Topfschlagen, wirken wie tranceartige Zwischenspiele und verstärken die Wirkung der Texte drumherum.,Exile" blickt zurück auf Verluste, die sich nicht mehr reparieren lassen: ,So much of your heart caught in my exile", singt Farrar mit sanfter Resignation - über einer einsamen Klaviermelodie und schlingernden Gitarrenakkorden. Es ist das strukturierteste Stück der Sammlung und erinnert daran, dass Farrar ein Gespür für melodische Linien besitzt.Das Album endet mit ,Traveling Light From Afar", deutlich schneller als alle vorherigen Songs. Hier, über einem stoischen Motorik-Beat, spricht Farrar das zentrale Thema des Projekts direkt an:,I've been so young in my old age / Selfish & self-pitying / But that's just narcissism - man."Genau dieser Balanceakt - zwischen schonungsloser Selbstbefragung und der Klarheit, die mit dem Älterwerden kommt - schafft Raum für Entwicklung. Farrar leert das Gebäude - Zeile für Zeile.

Born in 1981 in Detroit, MI, Negative Approach were the undisputed champs of Midwestern hardcore in the early to mid-'80s. Led by John Brannon's hoarse wail, with OP Moore on drums and brothers Rob and Graham McCulloch playing guitar and bass respectively, the band concocted an extreme sound devoid of frills. This was first documented on their 10 Song 7" released on Touch and Go Records in 1982. The band released the more metallic-sounding Tied Down in 1983. After disbanding Negative Approach in 1985, John Brannon went on to form Laughing Hyenas. For over three decades, Negative Approach's minimalist and aggressive brand of punk has inspired countless hardcore bands around the globe. Their classic LP, Tied Down, is still considered paramount by most hardcore fans new and old.

The quietest voices can be the most durable.

American Football’s original triumph, on their 1999 self-titled debut, was to reunite two shy siblings: emo and post-rock. It was a pioneering album where lyrical clarity was obscured and complicated by the stealth musical textures surrounding it.

Like Slint’s Spiderland, or Codeine’s The White Birch, even Talk Talk’s Laughing Stock, American Football asked far more questions than it cared to answer. But there wasn’t a band around anymore to explain it, anyway. The three young men who made the album – Mike Kinsella, Steve Holmes, and Steve Lamos – split up pretty much on its release.

Fifteen years later, American Football reunited (now as a four-piece, with the addition of Nate Kinsella). They played far larger shows than in their original incarnation and recorded their long-anticipated second album, 2016’s American Football (LP2). The release was widely praised, but the band members still felt like their best work was yet to come.

‘I feel like the second album was us figuring it out,’ says Nate. ‘For me, it wasn’t quite done. I knew there was still more.’

Enter American Football (LP3). ‘We put a lot of time and a lot of energy into it,’ says Mike. ‘We were all thoughtful about what we wanted to put out there. Last time, it was figuring out how to use all of our different arms. This time, we were like – Ok we have these arms, let’s use them.’ The band used the same producer, Jason Cupp, and recorded the album at the same studio (Arc Studios in Omaha, Nebraska) as its predecessor – yet they approached it in a markedly different way. There was a determination to let the songs breathe, to trust in ideas finding their own pace. The final result is a definite, and deliberate, stretching of the band.

As a result, LP3 is less obviously tethered to the band’s past than the second album. An immediate contrast between LP3 and its two predecessors is its cover. The two previous albums featured the exterior and interior of a residence in the band’s original hometown of Urbana, Illinois (now attracting fans for pilgrimages and photo opportunities), by the photographer Chris Strong. But American Football knew that LP3 was an outside record. Instead of the familiar house, this time the cover photo (again by Strong) features open, rolling fields on Urbana’s borders. It is a sign of the album’s magnitude in sound, and of the band’s boldness in breaking away from home comforts.

American Football also joked that LP3’s genre was ‘post-house’, because of this very conscious visual break. But, in a strange way, there are links in LP3 with an actual post-house genre: shoegaze. The more exploratory members of the original British shoegaze scene were inspired by the dreamtime and circularity of house music (ambient house in particular), cherishing its sonic possibilities. That spirit drips into LP3, most obviously on ‘I Can’t Feel You’, a collaboration with Rachel Goswell of Slowdive.

The album also features Hayley Williams from Paramore on the album’s catchiest moment, ‘Uncomfortably Numb’, and Elizabeth Powell, of the Québécoise act Land Of Talk. Mike wrote lyrics in French especially for her.

LP3 is contemplative, rich, expressive, yet with a queasy undercurrent. It is heavy with expectancy, revealing its ideas slowly, eliciting the hidden stories people carry around with them. ‘I feel like my lyric writing has changed a lot over the years,’ says Mike. ‘The goal is to be conversational, maybe to state something giant and heavy, but in a very plain way. But, definitely in this record, I keep things a little more vague.’ As on the first album, the lyrics on LP3 may seem confessional and concentrated, but the more you scrutinize them, the further their meaning slinks away. Or, as Mike tellingly sings on ‘I Can’t Feel You”: I’m fluent in subtlety.

‘Somewhere along the way we moved from being a reunion band to just being a band,’ says Steve Holmes. American Football is now a bona fide ongoing focus, and they are making some of the best music of their lives. American Football (LP3) stands with two other rare reunion successes – Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine’s mbv – as a fine example of how a band refinding one another can augment, rather than taint, their legacy.

‘I think that there are those albums, or the music that you heard when you were younger, and they imprint on you,’ says Nate. ‘And no matter where you go, or what you do they’re always there.’ He is talking of Steve Reich – an early and ongoing influence on American Football – but he might as well be reflecting what is said of his own band, and the ardent following they inspire. American Football stands as an enduring symbol of elusive emotional landscapes, where introspection can be as dramatic as confrontation

Old-time and traditional music stay exciting for their contrasts. Exacting instrumentation honed through mentorships and late-night jams at fiddler's conventions tangles with a community-sourced inventiveness that influences variants and new sounds. Joseph Decosimo is a master of this genre for this very reason, blending deep technique with an openness and curiosity that keep his music crackling with life. A "marvelous fiddler" (No Depression) and banjo player who braids "exultation and veneration" (INDY Week) into his music, on his third solo album Fiery Gizzard Decosimo gathers a close-knit ensemble of friends from his musical career to infuse his interpretations of fiddle and banjo pieces with a contagious communal joy. As an artist working with traditional music from the South and Appalachia, Decosimo chooses songs based not only on historical significance and lineage but also his own sensory approach. For Fiery Gizzard, his ear was tuned to otherworldly tones and mystery, sourcing from field recordings such as Virginia fiddler Luther Davis' hypnotic version of "Shady Grove" while amping up the music's psychedelic potential. On the middle Tennessee banjo composition "Flowery Girls," a VHS of bluesman Abner Jay inspired Decosimo to rig up a pickup inside a fretless banjo and play it thr ough a tube amp to capture some of Jay's edge and funkiness. But to round out the sound and keep it kinetic meant galvanizing a genre-eschewing crew to jam out - and not in a "spaced-out drooly" kind of way, he laughs, but as a sort of "responsive conversation." Decosimo has always been a community-minded artist. He began playing as a seventh graderin Tennessee, fostering relationships with older players at jams and in homes, a learning mode natural to his inquisitive nature and desire for musical connection. A folklorist by intuition, he later became one by profession, studying with old-time legend Clyde Davenport, teaching in East Tennessee State University's renowned bluegrass program, and receiving his PhD at the University of North Carolina with a dissertation titled "Catching the `Wild Note': Listening, Learning, and Connoisseurship in Old-Time Music." In North Carolina, Decosimo kicked about in the verdant environment of Durham and Chapel Hill's folk and indie scenes, collaborating with artists including Alice Gerrard, Hiss Golden Messenger, and Jake Xerxes Fussell. This community has influenced his own music, including his "sublime and strangely heartening" (Bandcamp Daily) 2022 release While You Were Slumbering and Beehive Cathedral, Decosimo's 2024 "Appalachian mountain music treasury" (New Commute) trio album with Luke Richardson and Cleek Schrey for Dear Life Records. Continuing on this path, Fiery Gizzard is home base for a loose outfit of mostly Tarheel-based musicians from within and beyond traditional music. Inspired by a tour with fiddler Stephanie Coleman (Nora Brown), guitarist Jay Hammond, and synth builder and multi-instrumentalist Matthew O'Connell, Decosimo assembled studiomates based on close friendships and comfort. Coleman, O'Connell, and Hammond contribute to Fiery Gizzard, along with bassist and producer Andy Stack (Helado Negro, Wye Oak), horn player Kelly Pratt (Beirut, David Byrne), Mipso and Fust's Libby Rodenbough, Joseph O'Connell (Elephant Micah), andtrad/experimental artist Cleek Schrey. Decosimo's fiddle and banjo work is virtuosic, intricate and simple simultaneously, a testament to his many years of study. On some tracks, his playing or lovely, plain-hearted singing is the centerpiece, such as on his interpretations of Texan street preacher Washington Phillips' 1929 recording "I Had a Good Father and Mother" or the Eastern Kentucky fiddle barn-burner "Glory in the Meetinghouse," famously played by Luther Strong for Alan Lomax. But there's also a trusting open-door policy, like where Southern Appalachian tune "Ida Red" relaxes into Coleman's sweet, confident fiddling and Hammond's loping guitar. As a bandleader, Decosimo's confidence and enthusiasm for the music reveal the heart of traditional music and how it can come to life through community. Fiery Gizzard is Joseph Decosimo as a powerful champion of traditional music - a sponge who soaks up as much as he squeezes out, a responsive artist who makes his genre accessible, and a magnet who can bring musicians of all sorts into his orbit with his same passion.

Purple Vinyl 7" Single! limited edition! Chastity Belt's version of "Loaded Painted Red" doesn't just cover 764-Hero's original. It dissolves into it, rebuilding it with a gauzy, wide-open clarity. It's a song that's always carried a certain weight: bruised and echoing with late '90s Pacific Northwest melancholy. In their first-ever recorded cover, Chastity Belt traces that ache into new territory, drawing it out like bated breath. Lydia Lund threads a new guitar line through the song, tugging it towards their distinct style like a slow orbit around the song's core feeling. "I've been a fan of 764-Hero for a while now, and 'Loaded Painted Red' is one of my faves!" says Julia Shapiro. "It was hard to do the song justice because the original is so perfect, but we also had fun reimagining it and making it our own." Initially released in 1998 on 764-Hero's Get Here and Stay (Up Records), "Loaded Painted Red" has long been a fan-favorite, a softly jagged and charged meditation. The new split 7" pairs the cover with the original, a full-circle release that marks 764-Hero's catalog joining the Suicide Squeeze family. Together, the two versions collapse decades into a single foggy breath riding out the dusky golden-hour light of the Pacific Northwest.

Triple LP pressed on oxblood red, silver and deep ocean pearl vinyl. Pearl Abyss, in collaboration with Black Screen Records, is announcing the release of a special vinyl album set, commemorating the 10th anniversary of its flagship MMORPG, Black Desert. The 3xLP collection celebrates a decade of the game's rich musical legacy, marking a milestone in the globally successful Black Desert IP. Music has been a core pillar of Black Desert's immersive experience since its inception. The anniversary vinyl set pays tribute to that legacy, offering fans an opportunity to revisit their in-game memories through the iconic compositions that have accompanied them on their adventures. The album features a handpicked selection of tracks, composed by Hwiman Ryu and his team, spanning a wide range of genres including jazz, ethnic fusion and alternative rock. Each piece reflects the emotional depth and cultural vibrancy of the Black Desert universe. "I believe vinyl is a journey through time, through music," said Hwiman Ryu, music director at Pearl Abyss. "Since it's common to listen to one side in its entirety, each track builds on the next, complementing each other and deepening the emotional experience. When you listen to the Black Desert soundtrack on vinyl, we hope it will stir something in your adventuring heart and bring about unforgettable memories." In addition to the music, the album's richly designed sleeves are collectible artworks in themselves, making the 10th anniversary set a must-have for audiophiles and longtime fans alike.

Flamenco is a Spanish art, which has always been prone to hybridization with a multitude of musical languages. Therefore, the universe of "flamenco fusion" could well reflect the way in which Spaniards have related throughout history with other cultures. And that relationship may have often been one of dialogue, exchange, respect and crossbreeding. Among the circumstances that could have favored the traditional mestizaje of flamenco art is the open character of the south of the Iberian Peninsula, to all the civilizations that have settled in its territories; the encounter with America in 1492, and the brotherhood with the Spanish-speaking countries; that the Casa de contratación de Indias, the entity that regulated the transit between Spain and America for centuries, was founded in none other than... Seville! (and olé); without forgetting the FUNDAMENTAL African contribution, brought to America by millions of black slaves throughout the 400 years of the slave trade. Pícaro vol. 4 is an excellent example of how some Spanish flamenco musicians knew how to take advantage of the fashion of other styles and rhythms coming from outside Spain, creating a new sound universe and incorporating them into their repertoire. Undoubtedly, there is a generational replacement of "flamenco Ye-Ye" in Spain with artists like Rosalía or C. Tangana, although now it will be necessary to modernize "the label". This compilation offers us a snapshot of the multiple styles of flamenco hybridization that triumphed in the world during the decades of the 50's and 60's of the 20th century. Through its microsurcos we will discover immeasurable flamenco ye yé (track 1), flamenco rock & roll (tracks 3 and 4), flamenco cha cha chá (tracks 6, 7 and 15) or flamenco mambo (track 12), together with other unusual, exotic and impossible mixes of Spanish song with tango arrabalero, bluegrass, easy listening, swing, groove or soul. Always a happy mix, which are brought together with exquisite taste in this vinyl for your enjoyment.

This isn't your abuela's salsa night - this is CHEO Y LOS CONSENTIDOS DE LA CASA. Funk-forward. Rhythm-obsessed. 100% dance floor approved. Cheo y Los Consentidos de la Casa is a dynamic, funk-infused Latin music project led by Cheo Pardo (of Los Amigos Invisibles). Serving as the house band for a bi-weekly dance night at NYC's Nublu, the group blends salsa, boogaloo, cha-cha-cha, and bolero with psychedelic effects and deep grooves. Their debut live album captures this high-energy fusion, reimagining Latin classics with a modern, electrifying twist that honors tradition while pushing boundaries. Born from a love of vintage Latin soul and the raw energy of NYC's dance floors, Cheo assembled an all-star crew of the city's hottest Latin players to cook up a high-octane blend of salsa, boogaloo, cha-cha-cha, and bolero - all filtered through wah-wah pedals, space echoes, fuzzy guitar solos, and a deep, unshakable groove. The result? A psychedelic, percussive party that's equal parts tradition and funked-out future. Their debut album, recorded live at Nublu, captures the heat, sweat, and sabor of their wildest nights - reimagining classics from Joe Cuba, Willie Colón, Eddie Palmieri, Mon Rivera, and more. Each track is a tribute and a reinvention, breathing new life into the old- school with a cosmic twist, and opening the doors for a whole new generation to feel that sabrosura in their bones.

Still Forms in Air is the debut album by Italian composer Francesca Marongiu under her own name. It draws inspiration from mid-1980s Japanese ambient music — Hiroshi Yoshimura, Satoshi Ashikawa, Takashi Kokubo — and, more subtly, from Italian experimental echoes rooted in both personal and cultural memory.

The album unfolds like suspended time, like architecture that quietly bears witness to the shifts that have shaped our cities and the ways we live in them. These tracks reflect an emotional and urban landscape, shaped by a gaze cast upon the mid-1980s and early ’90s — a time of subtle yet lasting changes in the form and meaning of shared space. That period marked a delicate turning point, later described as les années d’hiver: the slow onset of fragmentation beneath a surface of creative openness.

Still Forms in Air doesn’t dwell in nostalgia (though it draws from it), but reimagines that duality through a contemporary lens. Its sound blends memory and presence, layering ambient textures with a refined spatial sensitivity. It is a dialogue across decades — clear-eyed, affectionate, and quietly luminous.

Written, arranged and recorded by Francesca Marongiu in Rome and Pistoia between May 2024 and March 2025.
Francesca Marongiu: electronics, synthesizers, vocals, sound objects.
Antonio Gallucci: wind arrangements on track 1 and 4, bass and sound objects on track 3, drums on track 3 and 4.
Mixed by Francesca Marongiu and Antonio Gallucci. Mastered by Antonio Gallucci at Mercurial Mastering in Pistoia. Artist photo by Elisabetta Scarpini. Artwork by Daniel Castrejón.

Limitiertes Silber mit schwarzem Splatter Vinyl im Klappcover! Ein leeres Fotoalbum. Instinktiv blätterst du jede Seite durch, ob sich nicht doch irgendwo ein Fetzen deiner Erinnerungen, deiner Vergangenheit findet. Doch die Fotos sind längst herausgerissen oder verloren gegangen. Und doch spürst du etwas. Auf jeder Seite, die du aufschlägst, eröffnen sich Welten. Gedanken und Gedenken an Vergangenes macht sich in dir breit. Das Gefühl von Vergänglichkeit unterdrückst du, jetzt und hier ist alles ewig und für immer. Und mit geschlossenen Augen blätterst du weiter und fliegst an Orte, die wie Relikte aus deinem Leben aus der Landschaft emporragen. Es sind deine Orte und nur das Gedenken hält sie lebendig. "Memorial", ist das fünfte Album von RUSSIAN CIRCLES und balanciert von Metal beeinflusste Sounds mit nuancierten orchestralen Elementen. In den zwei Jahren nach der Veröffentlichung von ,Empros" war das Trio aus Chicago fast unaufhörlich weltweit auf Tour und traf dabei auf viele härtere Bands, deren Musik unnötig kompliziert schien. "Also machten wir uns auf, eine unkomplizierte, geradlinige, intensive, heavy Platte aufzunehmen" so Cook. "Unbewusst strebten wir nach dunkleren und düstereren Klängen. Wir wollten weg von der offenen Aufdringlichkeit." Auf der Suche nach dem optimierten Sound konzentrierte sich das Trio auf jeden einzelnen Song mit seinen eigenen emotionalen und musikalischen Eigenschaften. Und so fühlt sich "Memorial" fast so an, als würde man die Stufen der Trauer erklimmen und wieder hinabsteigen. Das Konzept wird durch die clevere Struktur des Albums unterstützt, da es an der gleichen Stelle endet in der es beginnt, und natürlich durch den Auftritt der Gastsängerin CHELSEA WOLFE, die mit ihrem ergreifend düsteren Gesang im abschließenden Titeltrack dem Album das angemessene Ende verleiht. Bis zu einem gewissen Grad sind die monolithischen, nebeneinander existierenden Stimmungen auf "Memorial" die Reaktion der Band auf die Verbreitung und den Einfluss der iPod Kultur und wie diese die Songwriting-Prozesse von Bands neuerdings beeinflusst. Heutzutage versuchen viele Musiker aus unvereinbaren Elementen einen Sound-Brei zusammenzurühren und die Ergebnisse klingen so ungenießbar, wie eine Mahlzeit nach Kochen mit verbundenen Augen. RUSSIAN CIRCLES hingegen umgehen klug und geschickt die Fallen der Genre Verschmelzung. "Ich möchte Bands mit einer breiten Palette hören," sagt Cook, "aber sie sollte diese seltsame Balance zwischen Bandbreite und Weite finden. Wir wollten ein Album mit mehr extremen Höhen und Tiefen. Ich hoffe, dass wir damit durchkommen, eine schizophrene Platte gemacht zu haben."

Two decades in the vault - now finally on wax: Ray Kajioka opens the archives and unveils a selection of tracks originally recorded as demos around 20 years ago, now fully produced and released for the first time. Deeply rooted in the tradition of Detroit Techno, the tracks offer warm chords, emotional depth, and the artist's signature groove.

PEACOCK DREAMS


After the resounding success of his project Le Cri du Caire, whose eponymous album was awarded a Victoire du Jazz in the “World Music Album” category, Abdullah Miniawy returns with ‘Peacock Dreams’, the first opus of his new trio formation released on the label PPL Songs Aghani Al-Khalq.


Accompanied by trombonists Robinson Khoury (2024 Django Reinhardt Prize from the Academy of Jazz) and Jules Boittin, Abdullah Miniawy presents an unconventional combination of three tenor instruments. The lyrical depth of the voice of the Egyptian poet, singer, and composer merges with the bold expressive capabilities of the two trombones, allowing him to explore unprecedented sound ranges that connect Western and Eastern musical traditions.


The Trio performs Abdullah Miniawy's latest musical compositions, as well as adapts former work stemming from the Egyptian revolution and his previous formation Le Cri du Caire, while highlighting collaborations by inviting trumpeter Erik Truffaz, flamenco singer Niño de Elche, and danish-indian producer Hvad on some tracks.


‘Peacock Dreams’ engages the audience in a unique musical experience that freely combines baroque and operatic influences, Sufi and Coptic themes, and musical motifs from the Arabian Peninsula, infused with the jazzy cacophony of Egyptian traffic jams, once more revealing the transcendental and communional power of Abdullah Miniawy's music.


ALBUM PITCH


A peacock dreams of being a poet. It concentrates, trying to shed its colors, turning its feathers into a gradient of flesh. On the other hand, a poet longs for the peacock’s colors—a galactic blend of earth, forest, sea, and sky, seen from a high vantage point.


A poet can close their eyes and absorb the knowledge of the finite, and absorb the knowledge of the finite, yet miss much, trapped in monotone concentration, eyebrows plucked down to 111.


The peacock, dipping in the ink drops from the poet's pen, sails through a tube into the poet's body. A fluttering storm erupts, reversing the roles: the peacock finds itself under an arrest warrant, while the poet, reducing his expression to a roaring "Wak-wak," struggles to describe the world.

Donald Byrd’s 1974 R&B-Funk fusion masterpiece Stepping Into Tomorrow was the third album the trumpet legend made in collaboration with visionary producer Larry Mizell. Featuring the standout title track and “Think Twice,” the album became a touchstone for future hip-hop generations and featured Gary Bartz, Fonce Mizell, Chuck Rainey, Harvey Mason, and others. This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is stereo, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

Our favorite Icelander is back on Riotvan. Sexy Lazer! His midlife crisis is over,
and he's diving headfirst into a new chapter—reinvented and re-energized. Honestly,
we can’t quite put it into a box, but that’s exactly what makes it so thrilling.
It’s pop, it’s lo-fi, it’s electro, it’s indie. It’s pretty much everything we
think is cool. With Ape Escape, he not only throws a nod to his roots (the pros
will know) but also opens a gateway to a world of playful details that leave us
absolutely delighted. This EP is a concept, a performance, and so much more—without
ever feeling forced or pretentious. Pure authenticity from start to finish,
culminating in… a film. Yep, you heard that right. Not just a music video, but a
proper short film that does this whole thing justice. And now, suddenly, it all
makes sense. Or maybe it doesn’t. But that’s exactly why we love Sexy Lazer. A
wild-haired whirlwind who does whatever the hell he wants. And for that, we say:
Thank you!

Dokkerman & The Turkeying Fellaz, the Hungarian apostles of heavy funk return with this crisp 7” featuring two deep cuts. On this one they show us their more mature and mellow side fusing Oriental, African and psychedelic characteristics with their signature all-in dirty funk sound.

’Hat’ on side A is a mellow jam of the kind we all love: hypnotic guitar and organ playing over a slow burning groove and a beat you start nodding your head to in the second the needle hits the groove. Ont he flip, ’Kilenc’ is an uptempo number composed and performed in the same vein - the perfect choice for any bold funk set played for an open minded crowd.

Limited to 300 copies.

Opolopo, which is a Yoruban word for 'plenty' as well as being the alias of Hungary-born, Swedish-raised disco king, is back on Z Records with a bunch of his brilliant remixes. He flips AC Soul Symphony's 'AC Express' into a disco jam so rich it might just give you indigestion. It's packed with Philly soul strings, then the 'Windy City Theme' remix gets a little more smoky and sultry with funky basslines and gorgeous vocals. Last of all is the more pumping disco trip of 'Six Billion Dollar Man' with its sense of wide-eyed cosmic wonder and free-spirited celebration.

Maggot Mass, the fifth full-length album by Pharmakon on Sacred Bones Records, marks the project's return after a five-year hiatus. This album signifies a departure from the original rules and structures established by Margaret Chardiet for Pharmakon, evolving into a new form. It retains the project's experimental roots in power electronics and noise while incorporating industrial and punk influences. The album stems from a profound disgust with humanity's dysfunctional relationship with the environment and other life forms. It explores the loneliness resulting from this broken bond and challenges us to acknowledge our personal and systemic responsibility. What peace can we make with privilege when the true cost of our comfort is not measured in dollars but in death? How can we reconcile with death when we impose the same hierarchical structures on it that we do in life? Is life worth living in the isolation of this self-imposed species loneliness? Humans often measure worth by accumulation _ money, assets, objects _ mistaking this for power and influence. Western heritage dictates a hierarchy, placing humans at the top, separate from the natural world. This delusion turns bodies into objects, land into property, and people into expendable tools. If our value were instead determined by our contribution to the ecosystem, who could claim that a human is more valuable than a maggot? Maggots recycle death into life, breaking down matter and nourishing new growth. They transform into flies, pollinating plants and sustaining the Earth's flora. In contrast, humans pollute rather than pollinate, with a select few profiting from exploitation at the expense of biodiversity and the well-being of many. In grappling with grief and loss on both personal and global scales, Margaret sought solace in the idea of rebirth through death, celebrating the beauty of regeneration through decay. However, she had to confront the stark reality of the disconnection from the earth under oppressive systems. Pharmakon is here imagining a path where the final act is to give back what was received from creation, offering our lives and deaths to sustain existence. once I slough off this human skin I will find my home and ancestral kin_ in the coffin-birth of my cadaver's ecosystem

"Tonky" ist Lonnie Holleys fünftes Studioalbum und enthält Gastauftritte von Isaac Brock, Angel Bat Dawid, Billy Woods, Alabaster de Plume, Mary Lattimore und anderen. Bei der Leadsingle "Protest With Love" ist Jacknife Lee, der auch das gefeierte Vorgängeralbum "Oh Me Oh My" produziert hat, als Bassist, Keyboarder, Synthesizer, Schlagzeuger, Programmierer, Flötist, Percussionist und Sänger zu hören. Weitere Mitwirkende sind The Legendary Ingramettes am Gesang, Kelly Pratt an den Bläsern und Flöten, Jordan Katz an den Bläsern und natürlich Holley am Gesang. Holley fordert die Zuhörer auf, "mit Liebe zu protestieren" und "die Liebe zu deiner Waffe zu machen". Es gibt Dichter wie die große Mary Oliver, die vorschlagen, dass die Hauptfunktion des Menschen, wenn er sich durch die Welt bewegt, solange er Leben und die Fähigkeit hat, sich durch die Welt zu bewegen, darin besteht, dem Aufmerksamkeit zu schenken, was andere törichterweise als klein oder alltäglich bezeichnen mögen. Das Gehirn und das Herz sind beides Gefäße, die so viel Platz haben, wie man ihnen zugestehen möchte, und zu leben bedeutet, Sammlungen von gefundenen Zuneigungen zu schaffen. Die Geräusche der geliebten und vertrauten Häuser, die Bewegungen der Bäume und der Menschen unter ihnen, die Art und Weise, wie jemand, den man verehrt, einen ein paar Sekunden lang umarmt, bevor er sich aus der Umarmung löst und in einer überfüllten Fußgängerzone verschwindet. Wenn wir unser Leben, unser Schaffen und unsere Liebe auf diese Weise betrachten, bedeutet das, dass wir, zumindest für einige von uns, durch die Aussicht auf das, was als Nächstes kommt, vorwärts getrieben werden können. Welchen Moment wir festhalten und in unsere überquellenden Taschen stecken können. Die Arbeit von Lonnie Holley ist ein Werk dieser Art von Anhäufung und genauer Aufmerksamkeit. Das Vergnügen, einen Klang zu finden und ihn gegen einen anderen gefundenen Klang und einen weiteren zu pressen, bis der Hörer, bevor er es merkt, von einer Klangsinfonie überflutet wird, die sich anfühlt, als würde sie sich zusammenfügen, während sie über einen hinwegspült. "Tonky" ist ein Album, das seinen Namen von einem Spitznamen aus der Kindheit hat, der Holley anhaftete, als er einen Teil seiner Kindheit in einem Honky Tonk verbrachte. Lonnie Holleys Leben des Überlebens und der Ausdauer erforderte - und erfordert zweifellos immer noch - eine Art Erfindung. Eine Erfindung, die auch in Holleys Liedern reichhaltig und präsent ist, die auf "Tonky" voll und eindringlich sind, einem Album, das mit seinem längsten Lied beginnt, einem neunminütigen, erschöpfenden Marathon eines Stücks namens "Seeds", das mit einem einzigen spärlichen Klang beginnt und sich dann ausdehnt. Gesänge, schwache Tasten, Streicher und als Krönung Holleys Stimme, die nicht singt, sondern klar und deutlich von der Arbeit auf der Erde erzählt, als er jung war, und von der Gewalt, die er dabei ertragen musste, als er blutig und mit Schmerzen von Schlägen ins Bett ging. Der Song weitet sich zu einer Metapher über den Ort aus, über das Versagen des Zuhauses oder eines Ortes, der einen beschützen soll, der nicht das hält, was er zu sein vorgibt, selbst wenn man unermüdlich daran arbeitet, daran arbeitet, daran arbeitet, etwas Sinnvolles daraus zu machen. "Seeds" gibt nicht nur den Ton für ein Album an, das sich um Wiedergeburt, Erneuerung und die Grenzen von Hoffnung und Glaube dreht, sondern unterstreicht auch, was Holleys größte Stärke als Musiker ist, nämlich sein Engagement für Fülle und Großzügigkeit. Er ist ein unglaublich begabter Geschichtenerzähler, der sich der mündlichen Tradition verschrieben hat, so dass viele Hörer völlig zufrieden wären, wenn sie zu Füßen einer Lonnie-Holley-Platte säßen und seinen robusten, ausladenden Erzählungen lauschen könnten. Aber "Tonky" ist ein Album, das sowohl klanglich als auch in Bezug auf die vielen verschiedenen Künstler, die auf dem Album vertreten sind, einen Platz bietet, an dem sie sich zu Hause fühlen können, ganz gleich, wie sie die Zeit verbringen, die sie für einen Song brauchen.

Funk Machine marks a second release on Big Baba Record for Edaldo who goes big with four electrifying tracks that are perfectly tooled for open-air and summer dancefloors. The title cut brings big, bright, bold disco-house anthem vibes with full-throttle vocals and piano stand, 'People' has a more Italo-disco vibe with an infectious vocal hook and nice retro bassline and 'Jah Noon' is a club-ready remix of a rare Yemeni groove that melts disco and indie-dance with an oriental twist. Last of all is the acid-infused Kwaito cut 'Johna' with classic cowbells and snaking bass. These are big tunes but they don't lack class.