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Der Pianist Krystian Zimerman kehrt zu seinen polnischen Wurzeln zurück und widmet sein neues Album
seinem Landsmann Karol Szymanowski zum 140. Geburtstag des Komponisten. Nachdem sich Zimerman
jahrzehntelang mit Szymanowskis Solo-Klavierwerken beschäftigt hat, präsentiert er ein Album mit einem
vielfältigen Repertoire, das von 1899 bis Mitte der 1920er Jahre reicht. Er zeigt den Facettenreichtum Szymanowskis musikalischer Sprache und wirft ein neues Licht auf das bisher weniger bekannte Schaffen des
Komponisten. Das Album verbindet dabei die 2022 in der vom weltberühmten Akustiker Yasuhisa Toyota
entworfenen Konzerthalle in Fukuyama stattgefundenen Aufnahme mit der bisher unveröffentlichten Aufnahme von Zimerman aus dem Jahr 1994. ”Karol Szymanowski: Piano Works” schließt somit Zimermans
Reise durch Szymanowskis Solo-Klaviermusik ab, die bereits 1994 begann. Das Album bietet dem Hörer
einen faszinierenden Einblick in Szymanowskis Klangwelt, vom Glanz und der Opulenz der „Masques“ über
die edlen Variationen über ein polnisches Volksthema bis hin zu den volkstümlichen Idiomen der „Mazurkas“.

Up The Bracket arrived like a raging bull in a tired post-Britpop china shop and introduced the world to The Libertines, a new gang of London bohemians, whose ragged tunes, red military tunics, opiated poetry and "live now pay never" lifestyle came to define the millennial angst of the early noughties. At the heart of the band is the blood bond bromance between the ramshackle Music Hall Jagger/Richards, Peter Doherty and Carl Barat, ably assisted by the rock solid rhythm twins John Hassall and Gary Powell. Any bookie worth his salt would have given you short odds on this quartet surviving more than a month or two, given the teetering on the brink lifestyle they chose to lead, but here we are two decades later and our Byronic heroes, though older and wiser, are still fighting the good fight and making music every bit as vital as their debut. The belief, talent and fervour that Doherty spoke of in their earliest manifesto has stood them in good stead. Up The Bracket, justly considered one of the greatest albums of the noughties, was originally released on October 21st 2002 by Rough Trade Records. The album, a heady stew of indie rock, skiffle, blues, dub and English bucolic pop, was a huge shot in the arm to a largely redundant music scene and helped to inspire the rebirth of guitar music, going on to influence countless artists who followed in its wake. Up The Bracket, which was produced by Mick Jones of The Clash, takes you on a wondrously poetic journey into the band"s mythical world and their fevered dreams of Albion, a land of squalid glamour, liberty, equality, fraternity, gin palaces and chip shops. Quite simply Pete, Carl, Gary and John created a hugely compelling timeless British rock"n"roll classic debut as relevant now as it was upon its release.

Perpetual Doom proudly presents the new album from Austin Leonard Jones: Dead Calm. On this collection of nine new tracks, the Texas-based troubadour channels his eclectic talent into a melancholy country groove. Full of signature tumbleweed melodies and his deadpan wit, it is an essential addition to Jones’ unique and varied catalog.

Like any good country record, Dead Calm starts with a joke and ends in tears. “A werewolf walks into a bar,” Jones sings on opener “Cape Fear,” where vampires pour drinks and no one seems to escape. The town might be full of the undead, but it could be anywhere—after all, as Jones says, “It’s hard on the living in Cape Fear.” The slide guitar and faint bright keys set the tone for an album that mixes domestic sorrow with a touch of kitsch, like Conway Twitty at a seasonal Halloween outlet. “I’m the sole survivor of the all-night show,” he sings on “Back in the Black Lagoon,” “and it cost a thousand tears for every episode.” Somewhere between a funeral and a costume party, Dead Calm bursts with classic songwriting sure to get you on the dance floor and crying.

All these ghost towns, desert bars, and haunted capes emerge from the small town outside Austin where Jones wrote and recorded the album. Alongside producer Jesse Woods, he crafted a sound based on the traditional country palette of acoustic and slide guitar, organ and gentle drums. Songs like “Night Parrots” and “Demon Sands” take stock of life’s disappointments as Jones’ maudlin voice and Jesse Siebenberg’s pedal steel twist tighter around each other. “The Australia Song” puts autobiographical storytelling first, while “Exotics” laughs at our tendency to seek satisfaction in far-off places and things. It all comes together on “Its Treachery,” where Jones confronts the intimate betrayals of “a whole life not working out as planned.”

Sound familiar? Austin Leonard Jones invites you to join the club.

Auf dem Nachfolger zu ‘Ramagehead‘ (2019) präsentiert die Band 10 selbstbewusste, energische Tracks, die alle Fans restlos begeistern werden. Bereits auf dem Opener, ‘As I Leave‘, kommen alle Zutaten zusammen, die diese Band so großartig auszeichnen: Colin Edwins monumentaler BassSound, Mastelottos vertrackte Rhythmen, Pipitones abwechslungsreichen, fetten Riffs, und über allen Lefs beeindruckend starken Vocals. Die Tracks decken eine große
emotionale Bandbreite ab – rau und stets ästhetisch.

OVERVIEW: Field Medic’s latest album doesn’t waste any time getting to what feels like a mission statement for the record with the first lines “I want to fall off the face of the earth and probably die” on opener “Always Emptiness.” The longtime songwriting project of Kevin Patrick Sullivan - Mr. Field himself, the bay-area native who finds himself living in LA these days - has always had moments of melodrama like this, but his latest album grow your hair long if you’re wanting to see something that you can change feels as emotionally charged and poetically devastating as anything he’s ever given us. Sullivan has been turning turmoil into beautiful music for almost 10 years as Field Medic. The project that had origins in busking San Francisco streets has blossomed into a full-time touring act with a few TikTok viral moments. 2018’s full-length Fade Into the Dawn and the pandemic-era mixtape/album hybrid Floral Prince both offered a glimpse into how Sullivan’s songwriting has evolved since his earliest songs

‘Stumpwork’ is the follow-up to 2021’s ‘New Long Leg’. The
South London-based group’s first studio album, recorded in
just two weeks with producer John Parish at the iconic
Rockfield Studios, became a huge critical and commercial
success reaching #4 in the UK Album Charts and featuring in
Best Of 2021 polls across the board. Buoyed by its success,
Nick Buxton (drums), Tom Dowse (guitar), Lewis Maynard
(bass) and Florence Shaw (vocals) returned to rural Wales in
late 2021, partnering once more with Parish and engineer
Joe Jones. Working from a position of trust in the same
studio and with the same team, imposter syndrome and
anxiety was replaced by a fresh freedom and openness to
explore beyond an already rangy sonic palette, a newfound
confidence in their creative vision. A longer period in the
studio afforded the time to experiment, improvise, play,
sharpen their table tennis skills.
‘Stumpwork’ was inspired by a plethora of events, concepts,
and political debacles, be they represented in the icy mess of
ambient elements reflecting a certain existential despair, or
the surprising warmth in celebrating the lives of loved ones
lost through the previous year. Surrealist lyrics are as ever at
the forefront - but there is a sensitivity now to the themes of
family, money, politics, self-deprecation, and sensuality.
Furious alt-rock anthems combine across the record with
jangle pop and ambient noise, demonstrating the wealth of
influences the band feed off and their deep musicality. With
the pressure of their debut album behind them, Dry Cleaning
have crafted an ambitious and deeply rewarding new work
that marks them out as one of the most intelligent and
exciting acts to come out of the UK.
LP pressed on white vinyl.

‘Stumpwork’ is the follow-up to 2021’s ‘New Long Leg’. The
South London-based group’s first studio album, recorded in
just two weeks with producer John Parish at the iconic
Rockfield Studios, became a huge critical and commercial
success reaching #4 in the UK Album Charts and featuring in
Best Of 2021 polls across the board. Buoyed by its success,
Nick Buxton (drums), Tom Dowse (guitar), Lewis Maynard
(bass) and Florence Shaw (vocals) returned to rural Wales in
late 2021, partnering once more with Parish and engineer
Joe Jones. Working from a position of trust in the same
studio and with the same team, imposter syndrome and
anxiety was replaced by a fresh freedom and openness to
explore beyond an already rangy sonic palette, a newfound
confidence in their creative vision. A longer period in the
studio afforded the time to experiment, improvise, play,
sharpen their table tennis skills.
‘Stumpwork’ was inspired by a plethora of events, concepts,
and political debacles, be they represented in the icy mess of
ambient elements reflecting a certain existential despair, or
the surprising warmth in celebrating the lives of loved ones
lost through the previous year. Surrealist lyrics are as ever at
the forefront - but there is a sensitivity now to the themes of
family, money, politics, self-deprecation, and sensuality.
Furious alt-rock anthems combine across the record with
jangle pop and ambient noise, demonstrating the wealth of
influences the band feed off and their deep musicality. With
the pressure of their debut album behind them, Dry Cleaning
have crafted an ambitious and deeply rewarding new work
that marks them out as one of the most intelligent and
exciting acts to come out of the UK.
LP pressed on white vinyl.

Pinkshift are a vehemently unapologetic punk
band whose songs rail against prejudice and
oppression while also examining in great depth the
human condition.
 Foregoing more traditional careers in the hard
sciences / medicine, Baltimore natives Ashrita
Kumar (singer), Paul Vallejo (guitar) and Myron
Houngbedji (drums), are inspiring fans in a
different way.
 The band smash any preconceived notions of what
a punk band should look or sound like.
 After self-releasing the viral hit ‘I’m gonna tell my
therapist on you’ and the ‘Saccharine’ EP, Pinkshift
partnered with Hopeless Records to release their
debut album, Love Me Forever’.
 Produced by Will Yip (Turnstile, Code Orange,
Tigers Jaw), the band have put together an
emotionally cathartic, raucous, and powerful debut
that centres their unique perspective as POC
individuals in a scene that historically did not
represent them.

CABAL is one of the most brutal and promising heavy acts hailing from Copenhagen, Denmark. The band aims to create a visceral and doom-laden atmosphere throughout both their music and visual expression. The production is crystal clear, whilst the songwriting draws inspiration from everything from black-and death metal to djent and hardcore.

The young band has since the release of their debut album “Mark of Rot” in 2018 managed to make a name for themselves in both Denmark and the rest of the world by playing renowned festivals like Copenhell, Roskilde Festival, Euroblast Festival and Complexity Fest as well as touring in Europe, Japan and North America.

CABAL released the sophomore album “Drag Me Down” in April 2020-a dark descent into a personal hell brought to life by crushing instrumentals, an oppressive atmosphere and dark personal lyrics delivered with relentless intensity, while still leaving room for experimentation and expansion of CABAL’s signature sound. Add to this guest appearances from metal titans Trivium’s Matt Heafy, rising metalcore stars Polaris’ Jamie Hails and Denmark’s Blackgaze darlings MØL’s Kim Song Sternkopf and there is no doubt that CABAL is a band with friends in every corner of the metal scene.

CABAL is now ready to unleash their third and most ambitious album to date “Magno Interitus”, in collaboration with the metal label mastodons Nuclear Blast. This album sees CABAL expanding on the foundation they’ve built with previous releases, but also sees the band experiment more than ever before.

The Exaltics need no further introduction.. operating since 15 years now and become one of the stalwarts of the international underground electro scene. Robert Witschakowski-Jockel founded the project The Exaltics in 2006 as well as the electro/ techno label SolarOneMusic with his long term friend Nico Jagiella. Since then he published countless 12"s and several LP's with labels like Clone, Creme Organization, Bunker or his own label SolarOneMusic and worked during that time with outstanding artists like Drexciya's Gerald Donald, Helena Hauff or the legendary Martin Gore from Depeche Mode. He turned his deep cinematic and most of all charismatic electro into his own trademark. The collection contains 13 Tracks recorded between 2009-2019 including tracks from long out stock titles first time on vinyl. Probably the best overview over the world of The Exaltics.

»Februarys« is a collection of recordings taken over the past few years from these sessions. First started in a hotel room in Iceland and finished in Deupree’s studio in 2021. It is a diary of sorts, collecting these times into a small box of sounds. Taylor Deupree and Marcus Fischer have been collaborating on music for over 10 years. Ever since, and at every opportunity they are together, they record. Whether it’s in one of their respective studios, on stage somewhere or in a hotel room on tour, the tape machines are running. For some reason, this often seems to happen in the month of February.

After a crush at the Brussels World Fair in 1900, King Leopold II decided, for his own personal pleasure, to have the Japanese Tower and Japanese Gardens built. In order to create this little relocated Asian paradise, he had the wood, sculptures, paintings, ornaments, trees, workers, and their know-how imported. For a few years, he invited his entourage to enjoy it during large banquets and private receptions. He then had the idea of transforming the Japanese Tower into a luxury restaurant, but he died. This magnificent place remains closed to the public except during an annual opening.

"A Story of a Global Disease" is a short tale about artificial paradises of globalization, a melancholic walk through the exotic relics of free trade, where whim, appropriation, and appearances take precedence over otherness. Here, geishas eat chips, Europeans confuse Tokyo and Beijing, and tribal ceremonies begin with samples and drumkits.

These tracks have been initially recorded for the “ON THE GO” Beursschouwburg’s project in Oct. 2020. It has been originally and properly released on shiny pinky tape by the fantastic Bamboo Shows imprint and includes an unreleased track (Walk With Your Romance).

Naomie Klaus is a young artist from Marseille based in Brussels. In love with performance, constantly flirting with cinema and acting, Naomie seems to conceive her music as a big playground, a free zone of mischief in which she likes to experiment and interpret different identities, different characters. The result is funambulistic, a hybrid and synthetic form of a thousand influences that we can't really characterize: 90' Techno, loud Trip-hop, languid Pop, nonchalant Post-punk, dracular mass... Naomie Klaus doesn't know on which foot to dance and invites us to join a zone of in-between, has fun to plunge us in her strange tales for adults, where the princesses we meet are armed, hysterical, nymphos and badly dressed.

Following a B.F.E proposal to release on a limited vinyl edition, Teenage Menopause from France & Moli Del Tro from Brussels joined the project. Rude66 remastered these gems and Harrisson made the artwork.

Brand new label, Psychedelic Breaks & Beats, aims to uncover the rarest of rare breaks and beats and kicks off with two absolute diamonds. The pick for side A was inspired by DJ Bee, cutting up doubles of the original on Twitch, “Close Your Eyes” by The Capprells & Sul Brothers Band is a drum heavy funk banger – original copies on the Bano label go for £200+ Flip to side B for the eclectic “Soul Submarine” by The Inner Thumb aka DJMeDJYou lifted from the soundtrack "Soul Ecstasy” or should I say fake soundtrack, as the movie never existed! As played by Kenny Dope in one of his funk mixes – this label is gonna produce some collectable 45s don’t sleep! Original label art by graffiti artist, OPIUM, from Italy.

IND in his special skillz... With melodious and nostalgic beautyful intros, opening on a light speed kick... and a crazy ambient drop sensitive and touchy.
The kick then turns more threatening... to turn Hardcore, without becoming that crazy either...

Both tunes in a pure Joe IND style.

Superb !

From the mid-90s to 2005, Sweden’s Defleshed churned out a white hot blend of thrash, death metal, and grindcore, marking themselves as one of the most vital bands in all three of those genres. Having run out of inspiration and wanting to try other things they called it a day the same year they released their fifth album Reclaim The Beat, and ever since fans have hollered for their reunion. In 2021 they got what they were asking for when the band’s core lineup - guitarist Lars Löfven, drummer Matte Modin and bassist/vocalist Gustaf Jorde - got back together. None of the members took any convincing to reform or to push ahead with the full-length, starting to seriously write in Autumn 2021, and there was no masterplan guiding them. “We just wanted to see what we sounded like today, with new perspectives on things. We knew it had to be fast and furious yet diverse.” The result is an album “filled to its maximum with power and energy”, this made clear by opener “Bent Out Of Shape”, which is perhaps the greatest start to any of their records. They do not take it easy on the listener from there on, with the likes of the thrashy “Dear Devil” and groove-laden “Unburdened By Genius” taking very different tactics in the damage they wreak, the band making a point of not repeating themselves while staying true to that classic Defleshed sound.

Shinedoe readies her fifth album ‘Freedom Riders’ on her MTM Records imprint with the release of her vinyl-focused ‘Wake Up’ EP, offering a four-track preview into the project while unveiling a selection of diverse electronic productions for home listening through to the dancefloor.

Over two decades, Dutch DJ and producer Chinedum Nwosu, aka Shinedoe, has established her presence as one of house and techno’s most loved talents, while carving a true path to her own vision. Based in Amsterdam and featuring as a key part of the city’s rich and blossoming underground scene, with performances across De Martkantine, Shelter and Thuishaven to international institutions such as Berghain to fabric, her releases on the likes of Rekids, Cocoon, Bpitch Control and her 2021 release ‘The Observer’ on Jeff Mills’ iconic Axis cemented her reputation as one of the scene’s first talents. Having launched her own label MTM Records in 2018, releasing four EPs on the label to date, October signals the arrival of the label’s first album in the form of her ten-track ‘Freedom Riders’ - an expansive and diverse project created in lockdown capturing sonics from across the spectrum - with the LP preceded by Nwosu’s four-track album sampler EP titled ‘Wake Up’.

“Freedom Riders is about living in a world where there is peace, and all our basic needs are fulfilled. Each being having the right to live in peace, be happy and to be. We are all Freedom Riders, some of us get lost and need to get back to the source.” - Shinedoe.

Opening production ‘Wake Up’ is a tension-building journey through metallic textures, warped vocals and eerie interludes, while album title cut ‘Freedom Riders’ fuses hazy atmospherics, rich chords, crisp percussion and sweeping acid lines to offer a late-night ride through smoky territories. On the flip, B1 ‘Peace’ offers an exemplary balance of light and dark with delicate yet vibrant leads guiding murky undertones and sharp percussion throughout, before closing with the hypnotic, off-kilter and mind-altering sonics of ‘Safety First’, traversing soundscapes to showcase and excellently crafted early-morning cut.

Cuts across the album continue this wide-reaching and rich variation, with the likes of ‘Shine’ and ‘Lockdown’ drawing on classic and modern house influences to offer striking additions for the dancefloor, while ‘Floor Action’ and closing track ‘See The Light’ veering into more dubby, paired back territories to offer up a sense of space and tranquillity - with the ten-track project showcasing a carefully crafted album rich in sound design showcasing one of Amsterdam’s finest talents.

DJ FEEDBACK

early support from



Laurent Garnier: Really like PEACE & SAFETY FIRST niiiiiiiiice

Marcel Dettmann: thx

Luke Slater: nice release thanks!

Ame (Innervisions): thanks

Ben Sims: safety first my fave, thx!!

Slam (Soma): Thanx

Chris Liebing (CLR): great vibe

Radio Slave (Rekids): Woah ! "Freedom Riders" is great... and just in time for the weekend ! Thankyou x

Bambounou (50 Weapons / Sound Pellegrino): There's a vibe I like it thanks

Anthony Parasole (The Corner) this is so good

Truncate: Solid cuts!

"UNITED", Tristesse Contemporaine’s new album is like a space shuttle, full of metropolitan and eccentric music makers.

Inside the shuttle: Narumi, Leo & Mike, respectively from Japan, Sweden and Jamaican-British. All "united" behind the unique Tristesse Contemporaine flag and led since the start by French label Record Makers (Kavinsky, Sebastien Tellier, Cola Boyy…).

After three rock & post-punk infused albums: "Tristesse Contemporaine" (2012), "Stay Golden" (2013) and "Stop and Start" (2017), they’re off to a new start and open a new cycle with their new opus "UNITED".

Who other than young prodigy Lewis OfMan, the one-man band behind hits like "Attitude" and renowned collaborations including Rejjie Snow or Carly Rae Jepsen, to join the joyous ride?

After hearing "Sly Fox"'s first demo in 2019, they convinced him to produce a whole album for them and became the fourth member of sorts, adding his pop sensibility, mixing genres and emotions with funky basslines, strong hooks, and digital arrangements.

A free-spirited album filled with irresistible beat-driven tunes thanks to Mike's thunderous voice, Narumi's sparkling synths and Leo's gleaming guitar, conquering new territories from reggae to 90’s breakbeat or New-York disco. A unique and united style glued together by a rare ability to switch moods and dynamics in a gleam of light, like a skilled DJ would.

'Swooping, sub-heavy sci-fi from Riz Maslen. Leda Maar is a new moniker for the established artist who’s released a crop of downtempo and electronic music as Neotropic and Small Fish With Spine, as well as collaborated with the likes of Future Sound of London, filmmaker Andrew Kötting, and featured in PSP-era Grand Theft Auto soundtracks.

Mana’s long lasting love of Riz’s 1996 Laundrophonic EP, released under her Neotropic name, spurred this new release. That 12” was a deep and dark web of rhythm and ghostly urban found sound that one Discogs reviewer aptly named “coin-slot Dubstep”. With elements mostly sourced from tape recordings made in and of her local laundromat, it still stands out as a remarkably contemporary feeling work; more like a post-Fisher, post-hauntology observation of urban life from the last decade, taking the ambient temperature and undercurrent pressures of the 90s. Asking if she had anything in continuity with this slice of her discography, and describing our interest in her take on “space and bass”, Maslen returned to us with Stairway 13.

Heavy-lidded and ethereal in long form, the album’s balance of bass weight, mechanical metre, and darkly tinted new age feels like a cinematic re-approach to some of the textures, moods, and themes of Laundrophonic. Originally designed for an installation, Stairway 13 folds in her decades’ experience in sound design and theatre, along with shards and elements abstracted from her more recent folk-like music, zoning into a deep, retreated, altogether dreamlike and expansive atmosphere. The scale and soundscape is reminiscent of Geinoh Yamashirogumi and their Ecophony album series, resonating to similar frequencies and exploring themes of chaos and re-birth in feature-length form.

Stairway 13’s four parts spread and swoop as single extended sides across this double LP. Carried by waves of sub bass and heavenly chorus, and later punctuated with autonomic clicks of machinery, whirrs, and pulses - sometimes reminiscent of FSOL’s weirder and more clipped staccato sampling in sections of their cyberpunk ISDN - the work forms a gothic, otherworldly ambience. A subtle space opera.'

Written and recorded in the midst of a dizzying stretch in which nearly everything about the way the band lived and worked was turned on its head, Motel Radio's "The Garden" is indeed a work of relentless hope. The songs are profoundly vulnerable here, and the performances are warm and breezy, calling to mind everything from Andy Shauf and Cass McCombs to Beck and Tame Impala with an easygoing demeanor that belies the deep emotional work underpinning them. Motel Radio generated early buzz in their adopted hometown of New Orleans on the strength of their 2015 debut EP, Days & Nights, which helped land them dates with the likes of Kurt Vile and Drive-By Truckers in addition to festival slots at Firefly, Jazz Fest, and more. The band followed it up with the similarly well-received Desert Surf Films in 2016 and their first full-length, Siesta Del Sol, in 2019, touring the country on a seemingly endless loop as they built up their devoted following one night at a time. Since then, the band had set a goal of becoming more self-sufficient and learning to record on their own, and when it came time to cut The Garden, they dove in headfirst, cutting half the collection in an old fishing camp south of New Orleans with the help of engineer Ross Farbe (Video Age, Esther Rose) and the other half fully remotely while engineering themselves. "There was this real creative freedom that came with working remotely and learning how to run the sessions on our own," explains co-lead singer Ian Wellman. "Synths, samples, beats, plug-ins; suddenly these whole new worlds of sound were at our fingertips and the possibilities were limitless." That creative liberation is easy to hear on The Garden, which opens with the mesmerizing "Wise." Like much of the album, it's a gentle meditation on finding joy and fulfillment, on spreading love and positivity. "I've gotta open my eyes," co-lead singer Winston Triolo sings over dreamy guitars and a hypnotic digital drum loop. "I only get one life, well now how can I live it wise?" The airy "Outta Sight" celebrates the simple pleasures of letting go and being present, while the washed-out "Sweet Daze" revels in the warmth of human connection, and propulsive "Happiness Pie" looks for ways to share the comfort and contentment that comes with self-acceptance. On The Garden, they've realized there's no sweeter garden than the one you grow yourself.

For its second release, Forbidden Teachings is proud to welcome back Italian artist Nigh/T\mare with his ep “Ceremony”, which also features a remix by Alexey Volkov. While staying true to his sound, the artist invites the listener on a journey, reminiscent of a ceremony where opposing forces reach equilibrium. Light and darkness, hope and despair, instinct and reason, humanity and technology… It is between these tensions that this journey seeks to find a balance. The richness of these themes is represented through four distinct and skillfully crafted tracks that blend powerful drums and immersive atmospheres. Finally, the journey ends with Alexey Volkov’s interpretation of “The Cry of Diomedee” almost entirely performed with live instruments, adding another color to this already rich ep.

After his appearance on Frigio Allstars Vol 3, Scannoir (also half member of the amazing GOTT project) delivers his first full length EP with "Through My Silence". Emotive and raw, the style pursued blurs the lines between synth wave, EBM and techno. “Industrial Technology” opens with powerful percussion and thick strings as distant vocals recite the coming of change. “Get Ready (For Sorry)” maintains the stern drum patterns as samples and lyrics float on rumbling chords. The breadth of Scannoir’s style is truly remarkable, with this amazing 5 track EP being emblematic of his range. The flip takes a different direction, the lovelorn lament of “Through My Silence” melts sweetened synth lines with cold pain-streaked words before blooming into a brooding burner. A shaky alliance between samples and vocals runs through the rhythmic assault and violent undertones of “Why Old News.” The closure comes with the marching melancholy of “Alles Wird Gut”, a dark and moody end to this debut EP.

18 Figures debuts on Southern Lights with a wide-ranging release covering magnetic and esoteric signals, including a blazing remix from Sciahri.

The EP is a nod to the ancient Roman festival Saturnalia, a celebration and holiday in honour of the god Saturn. The A-side introduces 18 Figures’ intent with 82 Moons and God’s Sickle: off-beat, obscure and opaque productions before closing with the ambient composition of Accretion Disk.

The B-side features Ammonia and a ferocious remix by Sublunar head Sciahri, turning the ritual-esqe and hypnotic sounds of the original on its head with an impulsive and heady interpretation.

Drawing from a strong history of electronic influence, Tomashevsky has created his own underworld of foreboding techno. We enter this EP with Incoherent, which exudes ominous sounds - reminiscent of murky radar blips that may be heard deep underwater in the metallic bowels of a submarine. Bubbling electronic delays remain adjoined to these metronomic blips and oer lateral, spontaneous movement around an otherwise sturdy song structure. Jittery melodies scatter nervously under lead elements, remaining disjointed and resulting in increased energy and a darkened excitement.

As we move through the EP, we face ups and downs, both in tempo and mood. Leading on from the first, Rollback is destabilizing, energetic and mean in all the right ways. Wobbling low ends open into a mood of uncertainty, held in place only by the stability of the drums. Rollback suits a peak-time club atmosphere thanks to the gritty synth leads and fast-paced feel.

Ending with the two tracks on the B-side, Tomashevsky still seeks to surprise. Rejected seems to be a distant relative of the Incoherent, following the synthetic blip structure but allowing snares and other percussions to build more prominently. Finally, we arrive at the closing track which marks itself as more obscure. Leaning on kick drum patterns initially reminiscent of electro/breaks, the use of half-time tempo gives a change of pace and a platform for a slightly different song structure and mixing potential.

Mesmeric and entrancing, these songs give any DJ or listener to chance to turn mind chatter o and lock into a hypnotic groove. Drawing on classically techno foundations, Tomashevsky has tipped his hat to the founders of the genre whilst adding his own flavour and subtle techniques that make this EP shine.

Back from a hot summer we are presenting you this great new release by Steve Mill who truly captures the sun and warmth in these new jams for us. The Greek born artist who lives between Berlin and Thessaloniki just released his “The Mistake EP” on Tensnake’s own True Romance label where we could already hear his soulful and groovey disco infused sound.

The opener “Love Attack” is a real “good times” tune with catchy vocal snips and a bad ass funky arpeggio bass line topped with spaced out strings and pads, this one reminds us a lot of Krystal Klear material and our own Lorenz Rhode. Saying that, we of course could not think of anyone better than him to take on this tune and drawing the inspiration to create his own super funked up version! As always all parts are played and recorded live in his Cologne studio with the same hot summer vibes on this one as well! You can find the vox version on vinyl and an instrumental as bonus digital track to get your party really started. On repeat!

“Make Me Feel” featuring the Berlin based vocalist Tee Amara has disco flavors all over it and is just an irresistible house tune, majestic and soulful. Followed by the slow and developing “Next to You” that’s steadily building towards a crescendo “heaven” gem, much in the tradition of disco edits from back in the 80’s. It reminded us a lot of our old Ben La Desh records we put out some good 10 years ago. Maybe this one is our personal fave, for sure a tune you could drop on any floor: disco, electro or house.

Get in the groove with Steve and Lorenz and let us surprise you with a truly funky, groovey and above all positive vibes only release to reminiscent the summer time. Enjoy!


All tracks have been mastered by Salz Mastering in Cologne. Photography & Art by Break 3000.

Pure Wicked Tune is a mixtape-style collection of extracts & cut-ups, taken from DIY cassette recordings featuring rare groove and "soul blues" soundsystems playing at early morning house parties and blues dances - mostly in South & East London - between the mid 1980s & early 90s.

Sounds like Funkadelic, Touch of Class, Latest Edition, JB Crew, Manhattan, 5th Avenue (and the many more featured on this tape) originally began to form in the mid-1980s. With lovers rock dwindling, and the reggae scene becoming dominated by harder digital-style dancehall, these sounds provided a tight but loyal crowd with a potent alternative - playing a mixture of killer rare soul, funk and boogie records in an inimitably reggae soundsystem style, complete with toasting, sirens and effects aplenty.

They were most well-known for playing at house parties and blues dances, typically in small flats or warehouses, with timing of such events generally running from the early morning hours until late the next afternoon. Though the popularity of the sounds faded following the dance music explosion of the early 1990s, there has been continued demand for revival sessions ever since. Whilst the influence of key British reggae & dancehall soundsystems on subsequent UK sounds like hardcore & jungle is relatively well documented, a similar line can just as easily be drawn from these sounds and the aforementioned styles' tendency toward sampling popular rare groove cuts, particularly well evidenced in the work of Tom & Jerry, 4hero, Reinforced & LTJ Bukem among others.

This represents the first outing in a series of collections exploring the sounds of UK soundsystem culture, via extracts from archival DIY cassette recordings of blues parties, dances & clashes made between the late 70s and early 90s. Often duplicated and shared widely, these ruff and ready "sound tapes" provided keen ears with music that wasn't otherwise readily available on the airwaves or in the record shops, and would go on to leave a deeply-rooted but too often overlooked influence on the UK's musical landscape.

Ever since jazz took its bop and free turn, each generation solved this eternal equation: how do you reconcile serious music and simple pleasure? On each of these occasions opinion was divided between orthodoxy and hedonism.

Trained in the theoretical rigours of classical music and jazz, experts on their instruments, and brought up on hip-hop culture, techno and house club scenes, Matthieu Llodra and Arthur Donnot - composers of KUMA – go against the conventional rules because they like to challenge their musical boundaries.

"Honey & Groat" is just like a bear (KUMA in Japanese, emblem of the band): behind the sweetness and apparent placidity, plenty of power. The resulting urban groove is reminiscent of 70's soul jazz with a contemporary sound: where instrumental talent meets pop simplicity.

Growing Bin say sayonara to summer with these bittersweet Balearic gems from Japan’s Nuback. Emotional pop and daydream dub to make you feel younger than yesterday. While the Discogs hipsters hastily hunt down the last, lost street soul OGs, Growing Bin choose instead to indulge in a little Nuback swing. Enlisting the talents of Tokyo’s Dai Nakamura, Hamburg’s home for sensitive sounds provide a much needed vinyl release for the misty-eyed ‘When The Party Is Over’ and ‘Heartbeat Summer’. Largely operating through his own Too Young Records, Nuback trades in textured soul, sympathetic synthesis and forlorn funk - a master at making you move while breaking your heart. Back in 2013, he waved ‘Goodbye To Summer, Again’, giving a digital release to these two tracks, which lurked a little low for the radar until Dai and Basso met somewhere beyond the algorithm, soon bringing this release to bloom. Opening with a fanfare of featherlight pads and full bodied bass, ‘When The Party Is Over’ is pure sonic seduction, holding both Balearic boogie and City Pop in a tender embrace. Delicate guitar and sparkling sequences tug the heartstrings with nostalgic beauty, and Dai’s smooth vocals are made to make you swoon. Emotional pop at its finest folks. On the B-side, ‘Heartbeat Summer’ drops the tempo and soaks up the sun, losing its cares in a haze of loved up dub. As soulful keys sink into spring reverb and steam kettle synths ride a rolling bassline, this downbeat delight lays back in the long grass, making shapes from the clouds and sipping a cool koshu. For summer lovers everywhere; A facemask ruins a first kiss, so start your romance right with Nuback.

After beginning his career with roots in Drum & Bass, Russian producer Nuage shifted his sound to embrace a wider range of styles while maintaining an emotionally charged sound and finding a home on labels such as Anjunadeep and 20:20 Vision. For our 32nd Phonica Records Label release, we are proud to present four stunningly euphoric works from Nuage.

Kicking off the ‘Pink Television EP’ is the title track, a floaty and playful melodic House excursion that reminds us of Floating Points’ synth work on his ‘Crush’ album. Next is ‘Ninety High’ which swaps the four to the floor for an intricate breakbeat, highlighting Nuage’s history in break heavy music. A cleverly reconceptualised Disco vocal sample and subtly withheld synth lines are combined with a sub rattling and pulsating bassline.

Maintaining the breakbeat on the B-side, ‘Don’t Forgive Me’ recalls classic Trance and Progressive House with haunting vocal reverberations and a warehouse wall shaking bassline as the track meanders through tension and release of euphoric energy. Lastly, ‘Glances’ opens with a skittish Rhodes riff and unites it with rich and perky melodies that weave in and out of focus.

A deluxe, remastered, 20 year anniversary edition of the Heads’ third album proper, the under-rated gem in their canon that is “Under Sided”.

Originally released in 2002 on the Sweet Nothing label (SNLP/CD 11), Under Sided was recorded in 2001 at WhiteHouse Studios in Weston Super Mare, with Martin Nichols engineering. The band had previously recorded tracks for Mans Ruin 10” at these studios (also famous for Ripcord, Heresy, Slowdive, Hardskin, Decadence Within, Icehouse.. amongst many others!).

For the reissue, the original recordings were remastered for vinyl and CD by long time Heads Masterer (!) Shawn Joseph. The resultant 8 tracks, spread over 4 sides of vinyl are some of the best music the Heads have recorded, after a bit of a hiatus following their 2000 US tour / Peel session (included in the boxset / on the 2CD version here), the band regrouped and worked out the tracks for the album, relentless rehearsing for the recording. Very few shows happened in that 2001-2002 timeframe.. band members were busy, earning a living, getting on with life, but they still had some riffs/songs there.

Upon release in 2002 the album got great reviews in the press, from Kerrang and MOJO to the Sunday Times, all helping the Bristol fourpiece confirm their cult status, which has continued to current times..

The remastered album is being reissued as a 4LP + 2CD boxset. The extra 2LP features their Peel session from 2000, as well as a couple of compilation tracks (For Mad Men Only / Born To Go), and some unreleased demo versions, as well as 2 exclusive to this set CDS that feature nearly 150 minutes of Live recordings (mastered, but RAW!) from their gigs on the Thekla in Bristol and rehearsal room tapes in 2001 and 2002.
The boxset will also have a special slip-mat, stickers, and a 24 page booklet of photos /writings, including recollections by each band member, and others including Stewart Lee.

Under Sided is a pounding sike-nightmare that shows the Heads at the peak of their powers, there’s a flow throughout the album of melding psychedelic noise rock to unrelentin rhythms and creating a bad trip for all listening.. open battering-ram “Dissonaut” is a staple in their live shows to this day… even the gentle sooth of “Energy” is enveloped by a white noise fury.. the intensity of some of the tracks: the terror inducing “Bedminster” or “False Heavy” (a tour worn riffmonger from 2000) or the Magnet-esque “Heavy Sea”, showed the band as ferocious as any of the insurgent “stoner” genre of that time.

They were never going to make their living out of touring, record sales… as Hugo mentions in his notes for the booklet, “.. we had less boundaries and felt we could experiment more and not worry about commerciality…” but they were able to make this album.

A deluxe, remastered, 20 year anniversary edition of the Heads’ third album proper, the under-rated gem in their canon that is “Under Sided”.

Originally released in 2002 on the Sweet Nothing label (SNLP/CD 11), Under Sided was recorded in 2001 at WhiteHouse Studios in Weston Super Mare, with Martin Nichols engineering. The band had previously recorded tracks for Mans Ruin 10” at these studios (also famous for Ripcord, Heresy, Slowdive, Hardskin, Decadence Within, Icehouse.. amongst many others!).

For the reissue, the original recordings were remastered for vinyl and CD by long time Heads Masterer (!) Shawn Joseph. The resultant 8 tracks, spread over 4 sides of vinyl are some of the best music the Heads have recorded, after a bit of a hiatus following their 2000 US tour / Peel session (included in the boxset / on the 2CD version here), the band regrouped and worked out the tracks for the album, relentless rehearsing for the recording. Very few shows happened in that 2001-2002 timeframe.. band members were busy, earning a living, getting on with life, but they still had some riffs/songs there.

Upon release in 2002 the album got great reviews in the press, from Kerrang and MOJO to the Sunday Times, all helping the Bristol fourpiece confirm their cult status, which has continued to current times..

The remastered album is being reissued as a 4LP + 2CD boxset. The extra 2LP features their Peel session from 2000, as well as a couple of compilation tracks (For Mad Men Only / Born To Go), and some unreleased demo versions, as well as 2 exclusive to this set CDS that feature nearly 150 minutes of Live recordings (mastered, but RAW!) from their gigs on the Thekla in Bristol and rehearsal room tapes in 2001 and 2002.
The boxset will also have a special slip-mat, stickers, and a 24 page booklet of photos /writings, including recollections by each band member, and others including Stewart Lee.

Under Sided is a pounding sike-nightmare that shows the Heads at the peak of their powers, there’s a flow throughout the album of melding psychedelic noise rock to unrelentin rhythms and creating a bad trip for all listening.. open battering-ram “Dissonaut” is a staple in their live shows to this day… even the gentle sooth of “Energy” is enveloped by a white noise fury.. the intensity of some of the tracks: the terror inducing “Bedminster” or “False Heavy” (a tour worn riffmonger from 2000) or the Magnet-esque “Heavy Sea”, showed the band as ferocious as any of the insurgent “stoner” genre of that time.

They were never going to make their living out of touring, record sales… as Hugo mentions in his notes for the booklet, “.. we had less boundaries and felt we could experiment more and not worry about commerciality…” but they were able to make this album.

A deluxe, remastered, 20 year anniversary edition of the Heads’ third album proper, the under-rated gem in their canon that is “Under Sided”.

Originally released in 2002 on the Sweet Nothing label (SNLP/CD 11), Under Sided was recorded in 2001 at WhiteHouse Studios in Weston Super Mare, with Martin Nichols engineering. The band had previously recorded tracks for Mans Ruin 10” at these studios (also famous for Ripcord, Heresy, Slowdive, Hardskin, Decadence Within, Icehouse.. amongst many others!).

For the reissue, the original recordings were remastered for vinyl and CD by long time Heads Masterer (!) Shawn Joseph. The resultant 8 tracks, spread over 4 sides of vinyl are some of the best music the Heads have recorded, after a bit of a hiatus following their 2000 US tour / Peel session (included in the boxset / on the 2CD version here), the band regrouped and worked out the tracks for the album, relentless rehearsing for the recording. Very few shows happened in that 2001-2002 timeframe.. band members were busy, earning a living, getting on with life, but they still had some riffs/songs there.

Upon release in 2002 the album got great reviews in the press, from Kerrang and MOJO to the Sunday Times, all helping the Bristol fourpiece confirm their cult status, which has continued to current times..

The remastered album is being reissued as a 4LP + 2CD boxset. The extra 2LP features their Peel session from 2000, as well as a couple of compilation tracks (For Mad Men Only / Born To Go), and some unreleased demo versions, as well as 2 exclusive to this set CDS that feature nearly 150 minutes of Live recordings (mastered, but RAW!) from their gigs on the Thekla in Bristol and rehearsal room tapes in 2001 and 2002.
The boxset will also have a special slip-mat, stickers, and a 24 page booklet of photos /writings, including recollections by each band member, and others including Stewart Lee.

Under Sided is a pounding sike-nightmare that shows the Heads at the peak of their powers, there’s a flow throughout the album of melding psychedelic noise rock to unrelentin rhythms and creating a bad trip for all listening.. open battering-ram “Dissonaut” is a staple in their live shows to this day… even the gentle sooth of “Energy” is enveloped by a white noise fury.. the intensity of some of the tracks: the terror inducing “Bedminster” or “False Heavy” (a tour worn riffmonger from 2000) or the Magnet-esque “Heavy Sea”, showed the band as ferocious as any of the insurgent “stoner” genre of that time.

They were never going to make their living out of touring, record sales… as Hugo mentions in his notes for the booklet, “.. we had less boundaries and felt we could experiment more and not worry about commerciality…” but they were able to make this album.

CITY BURIALS - KATATONIA'S 2020 STUDIO OPUS OF ABSORBING,
SOARING PROGRESSIVE ROCK & METICULOUSLY CRAFTED DOSES OF
MELANCHOLY - SINGLE LP FEATURING NEW HALF-SPEED MASTER FOR
OPTIMAL SOUND QUALITY.Formed in 1991 by Jonas Renkse & Anders
Nyström & transitioning from early pioneers of the rising black/death/
doom movement to powerhouses of the progressive metallic rock genre,
the Swedish connoisseurs of melancholy returned in 2020 with their
stellar opus, 'City Burials' - the band's eleventh studio album & first since
2016's haunting 'The Fall Of Hearts'
With the winds of a new direction steering the band on their latest journey, 'City
Burials' stood as a triumph of deep & enigmatic progressive rock – the fruits of a
rejuvenating & profound chapter in the band's legacy & a catalyst for its creators.
Compiled into one of their most important modern works & statements to date,
the finely- honed instrumentation provides a multi- textured backdrop with the
voice of Jonas Renkse guiding us through these latest trials of loss & ruin.
The chemistry between Jonas, Anders & their band mates – bassist Niklas
Sandin, drummer Daniel Moilanen & most recent recruit, guitarist Roger Öjersson
– never sounded more potent, with 'City Burials' being the first album Katatonia
made since Öjersson became a full-time member.
Inspired by an injection of fresh blood into Katatonia's creative brew, 'City Burials'
helped Katatonia reclaim part of their heavy metal roots, via several moments of
exuberant, old- school classicism, deftly woven into these new songs'
kaleidoscopic fabric, resulting in an album that propelled the band ever further
into the spotlight.
'City Burials' was produced by Nyström/ Renkse & recorded at Soundtrade
Studios, Tri-Lamb Studios & The City Of Glass, throughout October & November
2019, with engineering work handled by Karl Daniel Lidén. The album also
featured a guest appearance by Anni Bernhard, the voice behind Stockholm
based act 'Full Of Keys'. Artwork appeared courtesy of Lasse Hoile, the image
itself representing the ongoing era of the Dead End King.
This edition of 'City Burials' is presented on single black vinyl, featuring a new
half-speed vinyl master for optimal sound quality.

2022 Repress

The legendary gig that Joe Strummer, singer from the Punk Rock band 'The Clash' attended and inspired his writing their classic 'White Man In Hammersmith Palais' took place on the 05th June 1977.
At the Hammersmith Palais venue on Shepherd's Bush Road W6, London during the height of Punk Mania. The full line up for the show were all Jamaican artists Dillinger, Leroy Smart, Delroy Wilson (all the first time from Jamaica) and Ken Boothe.
'Ken Boothe for UK pop reggae' who had already scored some hits with 'Everything I own' and 'Crying Over You' in 1974. Joe Strummer was expecting Roots, Rock, Reggae but the Sound System this evening 'Admiral Ken Sound' was playing 'Four Tops all night' as in soul and northern soul that were staple crowd pleasers at the time to warm up the audience, but in Joe's eyes the music should have reflected more Jamaican roots based music. The song also deals with bigger issues of black and white unity, but some people including the Punk Rockers.
'They're all too busy fighting, for a good place under the lighting'. Joe Strummer himself was looking for fun. 'I'm the Whiteman in the Palais....Just Looking for Fun'

The artwork supplied by Punk Artist MAL-ONE has used the two posters that were made for this gig, the reggae promoters 'Star Promotions' poster, that contained a picture of Ken Boothe and the venue's own poster that used text to announce it's line up for that evenings performance. Alongside these lost relics he has also combined the groups own poster for the 'White Man In Hammersmith Palais' single that incorporated the use of rifle target sights, perhaps enhancing the air of violence contained in the songs message.
MAL-ONE has collaged these together joining the two stories as indeed the song lyrics reflected. People often forget that the songs release was in fact as year after the actual gig, we have tied this release to the 40th anniversary of the song's release. Joe Strummer was one of the few voices from the Punk Era that used his lyrics as a weapon to tell the events that were happening around him and their relevance to those times.
The song itsel a Clash Classic and also a Punk Anthem, released on the 16th June 1978. We have compiled this album with songs by these artists, most of which you would have heard that night. As a post script to this story when the Hammersmith Palais sadly closed its doors for the last time after 82 years' service in 1999, the owners thought it fitting to present Joe Strummer with a sign from the venue's entrance. Mr Strummer's understated reply 'I guess I'll have to send a man with a van round to pick it up'.
Hope you Enjoy the set....

Marked by resilience, maturity, and the optimistic joy of a creative resurgence, Pat Green’s Miles and Miles of You is the work of an icon reclaiming ground only he himself could have ceded. Ten fresh tracks feel like the spiritual exhale of a celebrated troubadour, taking fans on a journey to the other side of turmoil… and to a place where the old ways feel new again.

Credited as one of Texas country’s modern-era founding fathers, Green has traveled many roads in the 25 years since his debut album, Dancehall Dreamer. A Grammy nominated singer-songwriter with a restless creative spirit, his career has gone beyond the bounds of a “country star” to include the work of a painter, sculptor, philanthropist, family man and more. But one constant has remained – his vision.

Green’s 14th album overall, Miles and Miles of You is also his first in nearly seven years – since his inspiration-first writing style means he won’t force a song into existence. But that philosophy also makes it possible for a whole album to arrive in a dam-burst of expression, and Green now calls Miles and Miles of You an “effortless” project.

“It was just so smooth and natural,” he says. “I write the song when it comes, and it was like ‘Man, we’re on a roll.’”

Recorded outside Austin with producer Dwight Baker (Bob Schneider, Josh Abbott Band), more of that story is revealed with each track, as Green and his band mirrored the loose vibe of the songwriting with country balladry, dancehall energy, soul-baring reflection and at times, a swampy blues strut. “The older you get, you just have more to think about,” he says. “So that’s
what this record is – a guy with more to think about, coming through a hard time and into something as fun and beautiful as creation. I’m just gonna take the ball and run with it.”

Ranging from sanguine emotional clarity to distortion and unrest, Wow Sailor voyages through sunlight and storms in this mindful and explorative album. Happy Fear is an intricate tapestry of emotional experience, where fear and joy clash heads in the pursuit of self-understanding. Scattered field recordings of literature, ambiance and chance encounters provide atmospheric depth to enrich a resonant and meditative soundscape.

This tale begins with fond yet powerful nostalgia, before segueing into a range of hybrid instrumental explorations in which guitar, voice, violin, and trumpet blossom alongside refined electronic foundations. The album closes off with indulgent melancholia reminiscent of the opening, providing lifelike circularity to the album.

All songs remain connected; one leading into another without pause or silence. This urges the listener to digest the work in a single sitting as elements of the story seem intrinsically connected.

The first half is studded with gems of atmospheric conversation and recordings, providing a living and textured environment for the crafted synthetic sounds of Wow Sailor to evolve. Most songs are free from percussive structures, but In Her Gaze breaks the mold with clear percussive dictate. The middle and latter titles are connected by ominous frequencies that err on the darker side of curiosity - encouraging exploration into the transformative power of fear.

All in all, the work glimmers with spontaneity and diversity that resembles real-life experience. Carefully crafted sonic interplays bare semblance to the fluctuating emotional life of the ever sensitive and sentient human being.

Dugnad Rec sits at the helm of yet another wonderfully creative and philosophical work. This release gives verity to the artistic integrity, sound design, and mental exploration of the label. Wow Sailor’s work radiates an enticing, authentic, and indelible mark of individuality.

To confuse parts for the whole is inevitable with Palm. Drummer Hugo Stanley, bassist Gerasimos Livitsanos and guitarists/vocalists/high school sweethearts Eve Alpert and Kasra Kurt started making music together as teenagers, and spent much of their twenties in the kind of proximity unusual for adults, outside of touring bands and the International Space Station. For a number of years the band consumed the lives of its members to a point of exhaustion: “To be honest I think we got a little burnt out. There were times where it wasn’t clear if we’d make another record,” says Alpert. It was only after multiple freak injuries followed by a pandemic, forced a pause - from touring but also from writing, rehearsing, even seeing each other- that the four were able to regroup and see a way forward again.



On their latest effort, Nicks and Grazes, Palm embrace discordance to dazzling effect. “We wanted to reconcile two potentially opposing aesthetics,” Kurt says. “To capture the spontaneous, free energy of our live shows while integrating elements from the traditionally gridded palette of electronic music.” In order to avoid what Kurt refers to as “Palm goes electro,” the musicians spent years educating themselves on the ins and outs of production by learning Ableton while also experimenting with “the percussive, textural, and gestural potential” of their instruments. To this end, the band continued the age-old tradition of instrument-preparation, augmenting guitars with drumsticks, metal rods and, at the suggestion of Charles Bullen (This Heat, Lifetones), coiling rubber-coated gardening wire around the strings. The unruliness of the prepared guitar on songs like “Mirror Mirror” and “Eager Copy” contrasts with the steadfast reproducibility of the album’s electronic elements.



While Palm cite Japanese pop music, dub, and footwork as influences on this album’s sonic palette, they found themselves returning time and again to the artists who inspired them to start the group over a decade ago. “When we were first starting out as a band, we bonded over an appreciation of heavy, aggressive, noisy music,” Alpert reflects. “We wrote parts that were just straight-up metal.” Kurt adds, “I found myself rediscovering and re–falling in love with the visceral, jagged quality of guitars in the music of Glenn Branca, The Fall, Beefheart, and Sonic Youth, all important early Palm influences.” Returning to the fundamentals gave Palm a strong foundation upon which they could experiment freely, resulting in their most ambitious and revelatory album to date.

Both Aesop Rock and Homeboy Sandman are regarded as top tier lyricists known for pushing the envelope of creativity in their writing, while covering a wide range of topics and moods. However, sometimes things are inherently simple. Take for example, the origin of their collaboration, born from a mutual appreciation for each other as artists Which became fully realized when Aesop Rock invited Homeboy Sandman to join him on tour in 2015. Traveling the country together, they built a connection beyond the music, resulting in a friendship that led to recording a few songs together, and before they knew it, there was an infestation...Lice. Initially released in 2015 as a free direct download, followed by an extremely limited vinyl pressing sold exclusively on tour, Aesop Rock and Homeboy Sandman's Lice is finally available to fans everywhere. The first in a series of EP releases, Lice featured production from DJ Spinna, Optiks, Blockhead, Alex "Apex" Gale and Mike Shinoda. The original cover art was designed by renowned illustrator Jeremy Fish.

Dimi Angelis presents the 11th release on his ANGLS label - four timeless, heavily saturated,and straightforward tools decorated with minimalistic and highly effective sequences.

On the A-side, "Warp Drive" opens with an impactful 909 groove interrupted by a sharp and manic percussive sequence - the energy is driven by the interplay between these elements. "Hidden Spider" offers a driving, polyrhythmic bass line plotted against two psychedelic sequences interlocked in a call-and-response pattern.

On the B-side, "Cyberman" is direct and persistent - FM synthesis and highly focused hi-hats create an insistent and unrelenting rhythm. "Axonite" closes out the EP with a dense low-end and patiently evolving sci-fi-influenced sequences that fluctuate in intensity - effective weapons for any dancefloor.

We are happy to release another vinyl 12“ with Carsten Halm adding up to the series we have released with him so far. This ep marks the end of the series, but not the end of the relationship with Carsten. Carsten has been very successful with his releases on Traum starting with his "Taubenflug" ep in June 2020 followed by "Fuchsbau" and "Hammerhai". As we stated with his first ep: „His music has the unique quality to bring people together and experience something very positive“. Carsten showed this quality with all of his eps and last but not least this also makes him a popular DJ. Carsten plays clubs all over Germany but he still sticks to his roots and organizes parties in his hometown Cologne in his own dedicated space which he has rebuild with his friends after it was destroyed last year.

The fourth vinyl release with Carsten Halm "Licht Und Schatten" highlights another cover design by graphic designer Daniela Thiel and shows collages of the animals in a similar graphic context as his previous releases. The idea was to keep the graphic idea of the series but to use only artifacts of his previous designs to create a new cover.

The ep kicks off with "Licht" a track that has the quality to embrace you emotionally as well as musically with a massive warm and widening synth sounds that is a true a-side tune.

"Chimäre" instead is more jumpy and good natured, resulting in a nice break to carry the listener throughout the track.

"Schatten" kicks off with a rather dry drumming but in the course of the track is joined by a merry melody which is pushed aside by a bad ass rectangle synth sound that inflates the track with a techno spirit that is very welcomed at open airs.

The ep closes with the track "Notes" a horse ride though valleys of sparse vegetation with a happy sad Morricone inspired soundtrack that is very easy to like.