Buscar:other form

The tom-tom heavy tribal rhythm of “Wela Wela” is one of the rawest, hardest cuts from the band Black Blood, a conglomeration of musicians from the central part of the African continent who were based in Belgium. The group had a breakout single in 1974 with the exotica-leaning “A.I.E. (A Mwana)” but never were able to quite capture the excitement that single generated with their follow up records. We can only guess that songs like “Wela Wela” were simply way too heavy for the pop tastes of the day, since the groove is a beast! — an acid rock tangent of the “Soul Makossa” riff that radiates pure energy. Mr. K aserts “It’s an incredible song to dance to, but was not very DJ friendly, and I never seem to hear other DJs play it... or even talk about it.” Originally debuted on his Grass Roots album, Mr. K's new rearrangement should change that, especially now that it's been made available on this hard hitting, portable 7-inch format.

Originally released the same year as Black Blood’s debut, “Komi Ke Kenam (Fish & Funjee)” was discovered and distributed by a small independent Brooklyn label that featured many other incredible African bands of the 70's. The song opens with a tough breakbeat (subtly extended by Mr. K on our release), and rumbles over a funky bassline and slicing wah-wah guitar before bursting out with a sax-led climax, a gritty get-down jam if there ever was one.

Both cuts have been remastered expressly for DJ play and are loud and clubworthy, in new extended edits that tease every last bit of funk from the originals.

"For a long time, I'd come across these discs without really understanding what connected them, apart from a button and that famous logo designed by René Dessirier. Then, with a little more digging, I discovered the "self-production" link. For choirs, schools, folk singers, young pop groups, popular homes and even great composers who engraved unique copies of certain recording sessions...

The French equivalent of the English "Derby Service", the Kiosque d'Orphée, formerly at 7 Rue Grégoire de Tours in the 6th arrondissement, was taken over by Georges Batard in 1967 and moved to 20 Rue des Tournelles in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The adventure lasted until 1991. Georges Batard was a sound engineer who used a Neumann tube engraver to engrave acetates from the tapes he received, before printing the precious vinyls in the press factories of the day, where he was able to produce very small runs of between 50 and 500 copies.

Of course, there were other structures for releasing his records, such as Voxigrave or, later, FLVM, but none of them had so many records in their catalog. Le Kiosque d'Orphée was neither a label nor a publisher, but a structure that allowed you to press your own vinyl, at a time when it was quite an adventure to get your first 45 rpm or 33 rpm album released!

Georges Batard was described as passionate and conscientious. His son, bassist Didier Batard, wrote of him:
"Georges was passionate about recording and reproducing the stereo sound of his great passion, music. He paid close attention to distortion rates, signal-to-noise ratios, response curves, rise times and other damping factors in audio equipment. He was looking for the exact reproduction of concert hall sound in his living room (with the same sound level, if possible...). In the late '50s/early '60s, he found other sound enthusiasts in AFDERS (Association Française pour le Développement de l'Enregistrement et de la Reproduction Sonores). He became its honorary president. Every Saturday afternoon, its members met to test au- dio equipment. Their opinions were published in the monthly Revue du Son.

All you had to do was send in your tapes and choose the number of record copies you'd like to take home with you, so you could finally share your creations and, in a way, exist. You could opt for a generic sleeve, available in several colors, directly customizable with your name and credits, or you could design your dream sleeve yourself in your living room or at a printer's.

This "Do It Yourself" temple gave birth to some superb pouches. Stencilled, hand-written, illustrated with paintings, drawings, illustrations by friends or girlfriends of the time, photo prints hastily stuck in the middle of a blank, white sleeve, on which the traces of time would leave their imprints, so that collectors and the curious would come and buy them decades later, with the promise of a musical discovery, unfortunately not always fulfilled...

What most of these records have in common is the youth of their songwriters, whether or not they've had a career. Stories of buddies, of getting by and dreams of glory made up this catalog. Most of them were amateur productions, both in terms of the level of the musicians and the quality of the recordings, made on a two-track or, the ultimate luxury, a 4-track in a teenager's bedroom or parents' living room.

It was the beginning of the home studio, thanks to the advent of the Revox portable tape recorder. A bit of a shaky DIY system, but, in return, the luxury of setting no limits: one-sided tracks, no outside censorship, no artistic director, no manager, no Barclay or EMI/Pathé Marconi logos...

When you finally had your own record, you could give it away or sell it to friends, family or after concerts. You could also drop it off at the nearest record shop, with undisguised pride.

It was also a calling card that could be sent to radio stations or music labels, in the hope of launching a career...

Many of the protagonists in this story tried to sign with labels, but in those days, bridges were not so easy to build between one's hometown, or even one's village, and the major or more specialized label that might have released these records. At the time, the advertisements published in the press by the Kiosque d'Orphée opened up the field of possibilities for provincial composers. It was now possible to make their own record, without having to go through the process of signing with a label.

Some of the composers who have gone on to make a career have used this channel to release their first record or parallel projects (Claude Engel, Dominique A, Andy Emler, Michel Deneuve, Claude Mairet, Mick Piellard, Tristan Mu- rail...) and sometimes even single or very limited pressings of work or promotional copies (Bernard Parmegiani, Jef Gilson...).

This album is the conclusion of a long investigation, begun six years ago. It took a long time to find the records, scattered all over the place, in the homes of collectors and sometimes the musicians themselves, and then to listen to them, sometimes painstakingly, to unearth these moments of grace.

From this work, 23 tracks remain, but there are dozens of others that could have been included, so we had to choose, and the choice had to be as universal as possible. This selection is obviously not objective, but I hope you'll like it.

Today's music is raw, touching and powerful. "

Jean-Baptiste Guillot - Born Bad Records

Lisbet Fritze and Louise Foo have shared artistic trajectories for half of their lives, having been two thirds of pop noir purveyors Giana Factory. As Glas, the duo reveals a patchwork of everyday observations rooted in significant life changes: moving countries, becoming a mother, keeping sane with and without a significant other. The music conveys a quest for balance, riding the line between doomy drama and playing it cool.

Their 10 song, self-produced debut, Kisses Like Feathers, will be released, worldwide in March 2023, through Hamburg’s hfn music. All lyrics, vocals and instruments were performed by Glas, and recorded in their studio. The album was mixed by Anders Trentemøller, with artwork by Brunswicker studio The Copenhagen-based duo have never been short on inspiration. Lisbet has lent her vocal and guitar talents to Trentemøller, in both the studio and on stage. Louise has explored immersive music with avant-pop project SØSTR, along with her sister, Sharin Foo of The Raveonettes. Lisbet’s other life involves architectural design. Louise works with sound installations in a visual arts context. The musical ideas of these two polymaths find coherence in the newly-formed Glas.

Kisses Like Feathers embody Nordic duality. Dark at times, it also presents with an open ethereality. Some songs feel tailor-made for a club’s sound system. Others lend themselves to intimate, headphone moments. While Lisbet and Louise’s harmonious vocal stack is the common thread throughout the album, the musical fabric is interlaced with acoustic, electric, and electronic instruments. Lo-fi piano and acoustic guitars share a reciprocal space with rich, synthetic orchestration. Galloping, modern rhythms and folk arrangements are often featured in the same song. These elements, and so many others, buttress the pair’s hymns.

Dire Straits never made a big to-do about its final run. In classic understated British fashion, the band simply let its music speak for itself. And how. Originally released in September 1991, On Every Street became the group's swan song – a lasting testament to the influence, musicianship, and integrity of an ensemble whose merit has never been tainted by cash-grab reunions or farewell treks. It remains an essential part of the Dire Straits catalog and a blueprint of the distinctive U.K. roots rock the collective played for its 15-year career.

Sourced from the original master tapes, housed in gatefold packaging, and pressed at RTI, Mobile Fidelity's 180g 45RPM 2LP set of On Every Street presents the album like it has always been meant to be experienced: in reference-grade audiophile sound. Recorded at AIR Studios in London and produced by Dire Straits leader Mark Knopfler, it features all of the band's sonic hallmarks – wide instrumental separation, visceral textures, seemingly limitless air, broad soundstages, atmospherics that you can almost reach out and feel. Each element is made more vibrant, physical, and lifelike on this collectible reissue, which marks the first time this 60-minute work has been available at 45RPM speed.

Afforded generous groove space and black backgrounds, the songs from On Every Street burst with nuanced details and vibrant colors. Dire Straits' playing appears to float, their intricate performances organized amid hypnotic, fluid, three-dimensional arrangements. Mobile Fidelity's definitive-sounding set also brings into transparent view Knopfler's finely sculpted guitar lines, expressive tones, and laid-back vocals – as well as the balanced accompaniment from his band mates. Here's a record on which you can hear the full blossom and decay of individual notes, and imagine the size and shape of the studio. It is in every regard a demonstration disc. And it happens to be filled with timeless fare.

Remarkably, On Every Street almost never came to light. Dire Straits initially dissolved in September 1988 after touring behind its blockbuster Brothers in Arms and suffering the departure of two members. At the time, Knopfler professed his desire to work on solo material; bassist John Illsley also explored side projects. But Knopfler's decision in 1989 to form the country-leaning Notting Hillbillies reignited a spark to reconvene his primary band and craft a fresh batch of songs. Six years removed from Brothers in Arms, Knopfler, Illsley, keyboardist Alan Clark, and keyboardist Guy Fletcher teamed with A-list session pros – steel guitarist Paul Franklin, percussionist Danny Cummings, saxophonist Chris White, guitarist Phil Palmer included – to create what still stands as an unforgettable farewell.

The platinum record brings the band full circle in that it returns Dire Straits to a quartet formation; finds the group refreshingly out of step with the era's prevailing trends; and sees Knopfler and Co. knocking out song after song with the deceptive ease of a punter tossing back a pint at a pub. That subtle cool, clever poise, and innate control – signature traits that no other band ever matched – dominate On Every Street. Knopfler's clean, virtuosic six-string escapades unfurl with dizzying melodicism and economical efficiency. Led by his winding fills and focused solos, Dire Straits traverse a hybrid landscape of rock, jazz, country, boogie, blues, and pop strains with near-faultless prowess.

More than any other entry in the group's oeuvre, On Every Street welcomes quick detours down back alleys and into the depths of human souls. What makes it more brilliant is its staunch refusal to cater to commercial expectations or take advantage of prior successes; every passage feels true, every measure echoed in the service of song. It's evident in the humorous satire of "Heavy Fuel," closeted desperation of the witty "Calling Elvis," and shake-and-bake bounce of "The Bug." It pours from the album's darker corners, as on the high-and-lonesome melancholy of the title track and bruised emotionalism of "When It Comes to You."

Hinting at the open-minded approaches and boundless curiosity he'd embrace as a solo artist, Knopfler doesn't limit himself when it comes to style or subject matter. Look no further than "You and Your Friend," a shuffle whose all-inclusive lyrics encourage an array of interpretative meanings. Another of the album's deep cuts, "Iron Hand," comes on as one of the band's most memorable moments – the narrative addressing the abuses of power at the 1984 Battle of Orgreave during the U.K. miners' strike. Given cinematic heft by the expert production, the true-fiction account puts into perspective the richness, poetry, and depth of On Every Street.

"Every victory has a taste that's bittersweet," sings Knopfler on the title track. At least that bittersweetness seldom sounded so damn good on record.

Most audiophiles know Alan Parsons Project's I Robot by heart. Engineered by Parsons after he performed the same duties on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, the 1977 record reigns as a disc whose taut bass, crisp highs, clean production, and seemingly limitless dynamic range are matched only by the sensational prog-rock fare helmed by the keyboardist and his creative partner, Eric Woolfson. Not surprisingly, it's been issued myriad times. Can it be improved? Relish Mobile Fidelity's stupendous UltraDisc One-Step 180g 33RPM box set and the question becomes moot.


Mastered from the original master tapes and pressed at RTI on MoFi SuperVinyl, I Robot comes to life with reference-setting realism on this numbered, limited-edition reissue. Boasting immaculate highs and lows, generous spaciousness, and see-through transparency that takes you into the studio with Parsons and Woolfson at Abbey Road, this definitive edition is designed to demonstrate the full-range capabilities of the world's best stereo systems while offering listeners the convenience of having all the music on one LP.

Featuring a nearly inaudible noise floor, this transcendent UD1S edition functions as a repeat invitation to savor reference-grade soundstages, immersive smoothness, sought-after instrumental separation, three-dimensional imaging, and consummate tonal balances. Able to be played back at high volumes without compromise or fatigue, it is a demonstration record for the ages – the likes of which are no longer being made. This is the very reason you own and invest in high-end audio gear.

The special characteristics of this UD1S version extend to the premium packaging. Housed in an elegant slipcase, the reissue features special foil-stamped jackets and faithful-to-the-original graphics. Aurally and visually, it is made for discerning listeners who prize sound quality and production, and who desire to fully immerse themselves in everything about this conceptual landmark. The Alan Parsons Project's most famous record deserves nothing less.

Inspired by and loosely based around the Isaac Asimov stories of the same name, I Robot delves into themes of artificial intelligence and technological dominance that make the record extremely relevant in the 21st century. Indeed, Parsons and Woolfson's pinnacle creation dovetailed with the ascendency of Star Wars, which itself is experiencing a rebirth in an age of self-driving cars, smart devices, and mindless automation. Lyrically, songs such as "The Voice" call into question human behavior – and their relationship to increasing robotic supremacy – in everyday life. Parsons and Woolfson reflect the associated paranoia, dichotomy, and transformation via shifting sci-fi arrangements steeped in drama and moodiness.

The absorbing tunes on I Robot also continue to fascinate due to their perfectionism and innovation. Borrowing from Pink Floyd's strategies, Parsons and Woolfson utilize a looped sequence on the title track to create new downbeats. "Some Other Time" employs two different lead vocalists and yet gives the illusion that only one is involved. Captivating strings, a piccolo trumpet, and bona fide pipe organ grace "Don't Let It Show." The origins of "Nucleus" stem from a unique analog keyboard concoction dubbed "the Projectron," devised by Parsons and electronic engineer Keith Johnson. Andrew Powell's orchestral and choral arrangements top it all off, with "Total Eclipse" arriving as a frightening track that presages the climactic "Genesis Ch. 1 V. 32."

Does man or machine win in the end? Decide as you get lost in Mobile Fidelity's UltraDisc 180g 33RPM LP pressing. Secure your numbered copy today!

More About Mobile Fidelity UltraDisc One-Step and Why It Is Superior
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab's UltraDisc One-Step (UD1S) technique bypasses generational losses inherent to the traditional three-step plating process by removing two steps: the production of father and mother plates, which are created to yield numerous stampers from each lacquer that is cut. For UD1S plating, stampers (also called "converts") are made directly from the lacquers. Since each lacquer yields only one stamper, multiple lacquers need to be cut. Mobile Fidelity's UD1S process produces a final LP with the lowest-possible noise floor. The removal of two steps of the plating process also reveals musical details and dynamics that would otherwise be lost due to the standard multi-step process. With UD1S, every aspect of vinyl production is optimized to produce the best-sounding vinyl album available today.

MoFi SuperVinyl

Developed by NEOTECH and RTI, MoFi SuperVinyl is the most exacting-to-specification vinyl compound ever devised. Analogue lovers have never seen (or heard) anything like it. Extraordinarily expensive and extremely painstaking to produce, the special proprietary compound addresses two specific areas of improvement: noise floor reduction and enhanced groove definition. The vinyl composition features a new carbonless dye (hold the disc up to the light and see) and produces the world's quietest surfaces. This high-definition formula also allows for the creation of cleaner grooves that are indistinguishable from the original lacquer. MoFi SuperVinyl provides the closest approximation of what the label's engineers hear in the mastering lab.

Ivan The Tolerable is the alter ego solo project of Middlesbrough based musical wizard Oli Heffernan. Aside from his solo work as ITT, Oli has played in numerous bands over the years including Year Of Birds, King Champion Sounds with members of the Ex, Detective Instinct, and Shrug, and has collaborated with icons like Mike Watts of the Minutemen, and J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr.

Ivan The Tolerable started by accident in 2013 when Heffernan recorded a bunch of songs for his band at the time (Year Of Birds). These were a bit too left-field for a speedy garage band, so Oli decided to put them out on tape himself, and hasn’t looked back since with releases on Up In Her Room, Stolen Body Records and Library of the Occult to name just a few.

We are delighted to bring you our next entry from the Ivan The Tolerable archive reissue series, 2019’s ‘Wild Nature!’ Originally released on CD by Ack Ack Ack Records back in 2019, the album has now been remastered and repackaged, and will be released on super ltd edition orange wax. Here’s a bit about the album in Oli’s own words.

‘Wild Nature was originally recorded sporadically during the first half of 2019. It started life in one house, then I moved and it was finished in another. I remember screenprinting the original CD artwork on the sly at my old job during my lunch breaks and hand-assembled a small run of about 50 that are all long gone. I also remember walking around Albert Park early one morning in thick fog with a field recorder to capture the sounds that were then processed to form 23 Minutes Over Albert Park (condensed to 4 mins for the reissue due to time constraints). I think this was also the last album I recorded vocals on and also the last one I recorded completely by myself - all instruments, recording, mixing, mastering and artwork done by me at home. I know the first and last tracks were recorded as a birthday present for someone but I cant remember much about the other songs i'm afraid - 4 years is a long time in my speedy world. I've been asked a bunch over the years about a vinyl edition of this one - so here it is. Enjoy - especially everything that went through the delay pedal, which is sadly no longer with us.’

ORANGE VINYL

Daniel Boeckner understands the grit and gravel that accumulates in the heart and that it takes an unwavering courage to crack through that clutter and burrow to the other side. And in Boeckner's hands, that quest comes via post-apocalyptic synth and guitar heroism, a rallying cry for those always coming home through the scorched clouds. Throughout his work with Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs, Divine Fits, Operators, Atlas Strategic, and more, the iconic Canadian indie rocker recognizes that few feelings are more gratifying-more memorable, more generative, more abundant-than hope. But it takes getting the hell out of your own way. A culmination of that deep library of musical reference, Boeckner is set to release his first album under his own name: Boeckner! No matter where his genre exploration has taken him, there's something about growing up in punk and DIY spaces that puts collaboration in Boeckner's blood. Composed of a collection of intimately familiar elements, Boeckner! elicits the same thrill of young passion and discovery. It's a jet-powered chase through a tech-noir cityscape-fueled by a dream and that special someone in the passenger seat. That urgency and passion have always been a trademark of Boeckner's, and writing on his own pushes those feelings further into the center of the scope. But while Boeckner may be the clear driving force behind the album, he's not without collaborators for his solo debut. After meeting producer Randall Dunn while contributing to the soundtrack to the Nicolas Cage-starring psychedelic horror film Mandy, Boeckner knew he'd found the perfect counterpart for his solo debut. "I'd been a fan of his forever, especially the Sunn0))) records he produced," Boeckner says. "Working with Randall really unlocked some suppressed musical urges, things that I enjoy in my private life but don't normally weave into what I'm releasing-like occult synth, pseudo-metal, krautrock, and heavy psych influences." That base allows Boeckner to thoughtfully weave between emotional imagism and more grounded storytelling. Throughout the record, his imagery delves into science fiction, but it's charged first and foremost by experience. The trio of Boeckner, Dunn, and drummer Matt Chamberlain (Pearl Jam, David Bowie, Fiona Apple) formed a sort of dark engine for the album, and Chamberlain's ingenious approach of triggering a vintage Arp synthesizer simultaneously with each drum track helped Boeckner shape the record's atmosphere. That tense futurism was influenced by Boeckner's time staying in Dunn's Circular Ruin studio, a dusky, electronic aura burned into every track. By the end of the album, Boeckner! eases from sci-fi epic into something more akin to a torched VHS copy of a John Cassevetes film, the chemtrails and nuclear fallout fading long in the distance. Like all good sci-fi, the emotion and pain hits home for the author and listener alike, and the genre flourishes bolster the human experience. In revealing more than ever before, Boeckner! ratchets up the musical intensity to unforeseen levels and hopes to find some peace at the end of the journey.

Miles Davis' A Tribute to Jack Johnson is the best jazz-rock record ever made. Equally inspired by the leader's desire to assemble the "greatest rock and roll band you have ever heard,” his adoration of Johnson, and Black Power politics, Davis created a hard-hitting set that surges with excitement, intensity, majesty, and power. Bridging the electric fusion he'd pursued on earlier efforts with a funkier, dirtier rhythmic approach, Davis zeroes in on concepts of spontaneity, freedom, and identity seldom achieved in the studio — and just as infrequently accepted by the mainstream.

Sourced from the original analog master tapes, pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl, and housed in a Stoughton jacket, Mobile Fidelity's 180g LP reissue brings it all to fore with startling realism. Benefitting from SuperVinyl’s nearly inaudible noise floor, superb groove definition, and clean, ultra-quiet surfaces, this 180g LP showcases everything — from the bold tonality of the headliner's white-hot trumpet solos to the decay of crashing cymbals, carry of wiry guitar notes, and echoes of the studio — in reference fashion.

Bristling with exuberance, Davis' high-register passages explode with authority and commanding presence. Around him, a barrage of urgent backbeats, knifing riffs, and supple bass lines emerge amidst black backgrounds. One of the most prominent differences long-time fans will notice is how much more aggressive, immediate, and vibrant the music sounds, with those aspects central to the composer's original desires.

Utilizing wah-wah and distortion, the go-to instrumentalist of the performances— guitarist John McLaughlin — attacks with a nasty edge, slashing style, and vicious streak that allows A Tribute to Jack Johnson< cross the until-then-impenetrable divide between rock and jazz. Davis puts both feet in the former camp and erases any gap. The stories of the record’s creation are nearly as legendary as the sounds within: Two sessions, multiple jams, different sets of musicians (several uncredited), and near-miraculous production perfectionism that made it all appear cohesive.

The least-well-known masterpiece of Davis' career, the 1971 record — seamlessly assembled and spliced together by producer Teo Macero — was a victim of limited record-label promotion. Audiences also didn’t immediately know what to make of its original cover art — faithfully replicated here. In addition, the powers that be at Columbia Records were directing the public’s attention to Miles at Fillmore, a completely different kind of album guided by two keyboardists. A Tribute to Jack Johnson practically lives in a different universe, one from the future. To many listeners who did manage to hear it — among them critic/musician Robert Quine, Stooges leader Iggy Pop, and renowned critic Robert Christgau — it surpassed everything that came before.

Indeed, Davis treated it as a personal manifesto: An opportunity to salute the Black championship boxer admired for his threatening image to the establishment and impeccable taste in clothes, cars, women and music. Davis explains in the liner notes his affinity for Johnson — a stance mirrored by the defiant music, which hits with a prize fighter's force and reflects the graceful elegance with which a pugilist navigates the ring — and closes the album with a Johnson quote read by Brock Peters.

Inspired not only by Johnson but by Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone, Davis changed his approach and his band. He surrounds himself with a cadre of musicians in their 20s and, in the case of bassist Michael Henderson, a 19-year-old fresh from touring with Stevie Wonder. Henderson gives Davis what he requested: boogie-based grooves that don’t lose shape or direction. Soprano saxophonist Steve Grossman, drummer Billy Cobham, and organist Herbie Hancock adhere to a similar aesthetic that prizes brazenness, innovation, and energy.

In that vein, during a portion of “Yesternow,” Davis segues into a separate performance (which became known in its entirety as “Willie Nelson”) played by guitarists McLaughlin and Sonny Sharrock, bass clarinetist Bernie Maupin, keyboardist Chick Corea, bassist Dave Holland, and drummer Jack DeJohnette. Dig it!

Talking with jazz scholar Bill Milkowski — who himself noted how McLaughlin’s unrestrained style, decibel-forward volumes, and rapid-fire power chords engendered himself to the rock crowd at the same time that his harmonics and syncopation still definitely made him a jazz player — guitarist Henry Kaiser summed up part of the appeal of A Tribute to Jack Johnson as well as anyone, saying: “It’s a jazz record that way way more open than other jazz records at the time, but still not free jazz. McLaughlin’s rhythm guitar playing on ‘Right Off’ — the use of different chords in a rock shuffle than what anybody had used before — was revolutionary.”

And to think that’s just one aspect of a record that contains multitudes. “Never let them forget it.” Indeed.

Introducing, the experimental violinist and performer Vanessa Bedoret.

The London-based French musician today announces that she’ll be joining, Scenic Route, a label renowned for selecting and nourishing rising stars for the release of her debut album, Eyes, due out on 8th of March 2024. Launching with a taste of what’s to come, today she also shares single “1/2”, a textural track that tells of the dichotomy between those who are selfless and those who are self-centred, and their need to merge as one. This duality is reflected in the industrial metallic echoes under Vanessa’s soaring vocals and the piercing strings of her chosen instrument, the violin.

Treating songwriting as an instinctive process, Bedoret transforms her deeply personal experiences into pure emotion. Not following any set narrative, Eyes takes the listener on a journey via their own experiences, prompting introspection through Bedoret’s hypnotic melodies.

Through the album, she awakens the audience's imagination, to open up their emotional response. On “Ballad”, a vague, loving lyrical letter to someone close, Bedoret’s heartbreakingly soft lament is barely audible over the dramatic atonal strings. She flips her narrative again in the titular track, “Eyes”, so the listener empathises through her isolated violin, and takes on her anguish, not needing to understand the full story.

Bedoret began her classical training at age 6 and on completion at 18 she embraced the thrill of playing guitar in punk bands, and like many at the turn of adulthood, was quickly captured by the allure of the dancefloor. Her far-reaching taste doesn’t stop there, she also counts black metal to opera and from eurodance to IDM as inspiration. Her deep understanding of musical form elevates her experimentation to a truly unique sonic experience, one that never strays too far from her original love of classical music.

With only a string of releases under her belt via independent labels like Laura Lies In and Archaic Vaults, her refined skillset has meant she’s been in high demand for both solo shows and collaborations. These accolades include playing violin with New York avant garde collective Standing On The Corner at The Serpentine, as well as a part of Kahil El’Zabar conducts MOKI at the ICA, and Linder: Another Music in a Different Arcadia at the Design Museum alongside artist Linder Sterling, Naima Cherry, Maxwell Sterling, Kenichi Iwasa & Ella Frears.

For her solo performances, she’s shared stages with Standing on the Corner, Ekaterina Bazhenova-Yamasaki, Philomème Pirecki, John T. Gast and Nexcyia to name a few. She’s also performed as a duo alongside musician Severin Black in support of their collaborative EP release, First Passage / Excommunicated.

Through the lens of a life lived to it’s fullest and one that does not shy from experiencing the rawest of emotions, it’s clear that Bedoret has a nack for translating personal observations into cinematic crescendoes. The field recordings throughout only heighten this feeling adding both a grounding and other worldy sensibility. Lyrically, she allows you to peek into her private world and for a fleeting moment letting you lock eyes with hers, asking what do you see?

This debut is a glowing experimental work that purrs with a distinctive narrative. Vanessa Bedoret is a promising new act, ready to take 2024 by storm.

Before coming to Europe, in 1970, pianist Manuel Villarroel was a vet in his native Chilli. A few years later, as leader of the Machi Oul Big Band, he returned to the animal kingdom. A very specific kind of animal, for sure, the Quetzalcoatl, also known as the Feathered Serpent. What is behind this title (also the name of one of the three original compositions on this album released on the Palm label in 1976), is first and foremost a sort of homecoming...

After discovering the jazz of Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Miles Davis and John Coltrane, Villarroel was taken by the free jazz which was all the rage at the time in America and Europe, and this would inspire the first version of his Machi-Oul, project. This was a septet, with which the pianist would record, in 1971, the tremendous Terremoto (re-released by Souffle Continu FFL085). After this masterstroke Villarroel was invited to record with Perception (Perception & Friends) and with Baikida Carroll (Orange Fish Tears). While these were notable contributions, Villarroel was already looking into other combinations.

“I had to deal personally with my situation as an expatriate, without disavowing it. I tried not to betray my roots, I tried to translate into my music what was essential to me, to reflect my origins – Latin America, its musical and above all human feelings – while remaining faithful to jazz, which is the mode of expression of the musicians in the group”. This then is the ‘homecoming’ we mentioned, which would incite Manuel Villarroel to compose what he would call “structured free music”. In January 1972 the pianist enlarged his formation to reach the size of a real big band: the Septet became the Machi-Oul Big Band. Three years later in January 1975, with producer Jef Gilson at the helm, fifteen musicians including those from the old Septet (Jef Sicard, François and Jean-Louis Méchali, Gérard Coppéré) worked on a rare form of jazz. From togetherness to dissonance, we danse to it “Bolerito” then shake it up on “Leyendas De Nahuelbuta”. As for the concluding serpent, it is a piece which is impossible to pin down: “Quetzalcoat” is as impressive as it is difficult to grasp. To remind ourselves of this, lets listen to it again.

In 2005, an 18-year-old Raphael Gimenes left the sunny shores of Brazil behind, embarking on a journey to a distant and wintry land. "Dinamarca," the Portuguese name for Denmark, became his new home, where he has lived for almost two decades. Today, he presents his third album, a deep exploration of his life in Scandinavia. Rather than being a nationalistic tribute, "DINAMARCA" tells chapters from Gimenes" life story as a Brazilian living in the northern corners of the world. It guides us through the enchanting nordic woods, the vast fields stretching to the horizon, and the timeless sea resting beneath an endless sky. The melodies of blackbirds, the dances of red deer, and the whispers of ancient oaks form the backdrop for his musical stories. Within his songs, we experience moments of deep solitude and boundless inspiration, moments where reflection and creative passion intertwine. Gimenes skillfully turns the power of love into harmonies, dedicating songs to both his companion and his closest friends. Beyond these experiences, he leads us on journeys to Denmark"s neighboring lands, Norway and Sweden, where revelations and encounters with the mystical found their way into the lyrical fabric of his songs. The album"s orchestration includes Gimenes" vocals and the resonant chords of his classical guitar. Accompanying him throughout the album are Jan Kadereit"s multilayered percussion, and Lucas Delacroix"s bass synth, who also plays the electric guitar at times. The music further unfolds with the nuances of a string quartet, and a brass quintet, both recorded in the tropical highlands of Minas Gerais. Other guest musicians feature on individual songs, such as pianist Sebastian Macchi, flautist Flavia Huarachi, cellist Lucas Almeida, and singers Gaby Echevarria, Cecilia Pahl, and Cris Ferro. Gimenes has garnered acclaim and accolades across continents. His debut release, "Raphael Gimenes & As Montanhas de Som," delved deep into the rhythms and traditions of Brazil. It rose to prominence as the top Brazilian release in 2016 in Holland and was hailed as a "conceptual masterpiece" in Japan. His second album, "A Tongue Full of Suns," co-produced with Faroese multi-artist Teitur, ventured into the English language, blending Gimenes" inspirations from the world of prog-rock. Danish rock legend TimChristensen praised it as "top-shelf neo-folk," while Brazilian website80minutos described it as "hypnotizing." The music within "DINAMARCA" delves deep into the soul of a man who embraced a new land with open arms, while staying true to his roots. It unites elements from both of Gimenes" prior works, embarking on a journey across new musical horizons. The result is music that transcends borders, weaving itself into an intricately beautiful tapestry - a soul that has learned to harmonize with two worlds.

50 years after the genre turned the music world upside-down, GRADE 2 bring the raw power of old school punk to a new generation. Their second release on Tim Armstrong"s legendary Hellcat Records is a thumping 15 track tour de force melding the uncompromising ethos of punk with the howl of contemporary injustice, personal identity and frustrations of Gen-Z youth, authentically told by three lads with punk coursing through their veins. Formed on their native Isle of Wight when they were just 14 years old, Jack Chatfield (guitar & vocals), Jacob Hull (drums) and Sid Ryan (bass & vocals) honed their craft covering punk pioneers before creating a sound uniquely theirs: ten years on, the eponymous Grade 2 is their magnum opus. The new album was produced by the band along with Tim Timebomb (Armstrong) and T.J. Rivers at Armstrong"s Ship Rec Studio in Los Angeles. "Returning to Ship Rec Studio resparked that magic dynamic" says guitarist Jack Chatfield. "When we"re in there I feel like we reach our full potential. Tim would offer tweaks and tips for some songs, while others he"d compliment as finished first time we played them." "We worked flat-out recording this record," says drummer Jacob Hull, "but we never felt pressured, Tim keeping us in the zone to make the best tunes of our li ves.

Legendary Blondie drummer, Clem Burke , was joined by former Sex Pistol and punk pioneer, Glen Matlock on bass; broadcaster and Pet Shop Boys dancer, Katie Puckrik on vocals; Iggy Pop and David Bowie collaborator, Kevin Armstrong on guitar; Luis Correia , who's toured internationally with Earl Slick on second guitar together with classical pianist, composer, and touring member of Heaven 17, Florence Sabeva on keyboards.

Lust For Live , recorded live over two exhilaratingly riotous nights at London's Lexington on 11th and 12th March 2023, sees the band perform Iggy's Lust For Life album in full, as well as revisiting songs from across the individual band members' careers with legendary artists including Blondie, David Bowie, Iggy Pop and the Sex Pistols.
Lust For Live is available as a 19-track, limited edition, double- atefold, live album as well as being released digitally. One disc will be pressed in opaque white with the other in opaque yellow, in a limited-edition pressing of just 1,000 copies

»Other Rooms« is an uncompromisingly adventurous and engaging listen. It manages the rare feat of remaining concise while brimming with detail and inventiveness.

Ten years into a multifaceted career in experimental sound, Belgium’s Adriaan de Roover presents »Other Rooms«, his second solo album and a product of the thoroughly unexpected things we all experience, from societal freeze to the dissolution of individual relationships. Originally recorded for a performance with Fennesz at Église Notre-Dame de Laeken in 2020, »Other Rooms« was reworked into its final form in 2023. De Roover notes an inspiration from »looking at different versions of a life, sitting in a space between them; a constant focus on those alternate things... What if, what if.« It is introspective music informed by a desire for connection to oneself, to others, and to the boundless scale of everything else.

»Other Rooms« is Adriaan’s second outing through the acclaimed Dauw imprint, which is also the home to Midori Hirano, Dylan Henner, H.Takahashi, Lieven Martens and Taylor Deupree. Stepping back from rhythm-oriented motifs, this latest work is a concise but varied collection of weightless melodies and expertly sculpted, computerized soundscapes.

»Sound of Matter« is the debut album by Romanian sound artist and composer Simina Oprescu. The two pieces draw on research conducted with 15 historical church bells at the Märkisches Museum and the Stadtmuseum Berlin. After the artist had presented the results of her studies of the connection between matter and harmony in the form of a multi-channel installation, she has translated the underlying approach of this site-specific work into an album that unfolds slowly, consistently setting in motion subtle tonal changes that continuously change the mood of the two pieces. »Sound of Matter« is both minimalist and maximalist, creating an infinitely rich and multi-layered dronescape that modestly invites its audience to get lost in the sonic experience.

Oprescu has been fascinated by church bells since her childhood spent in Transilvania since the instruments were shrouded in mystery, as she explains in an in-depth essay that accompanies the album. Having received a Bachelor’s degree at UNArte in Bucharest and after studying at the Royal Conservatory of Mons in Belgium, Oprescu enrolled at Berlin’s Universität der Künste for an M.A. in Sound Studies and Sonic Arts. She started working with the archive of the Märkisches Museum, which included 15 historical church bells that were built between the 15th and the early 19th century.

Since every bell sounds different according to its shape, material, and density, Oprescu abstracted these qualities in the formula f = K1t/d^2√E/s(1-m^2). This enabled her to recreate the harmonic tone of the individual bells with Max/MSP. She then composed a piece with semi-overlayed tones, i.e. overlapping frequencies. Naturally, this resulted in a beating effect that provided the music with a sense of urgency, though the five second-long natural reverb of the Märkisches Museum’s Große Halle turned it into a »warm blanket of sound,« as the artist herself puts it. This is perfectly recreated on »Sound of Matter« due to the music being presented in mono, bringing out the intrinsic movement of the beatings with more nuance than a stereo version would.

»Sound of Matter« feels warm and welcoming even when different frequencies seem to create friction between each other or when the subtle beating effects turn into throbbing rhythms, like at the end of the record. It manages to explore both Oprescu’s personal fascination with church bells and psychological and psychoacoustic questions relating to them as well as philosophical issues connected with them. This music is profoundly physical, but also intellectually stimulating—perfectly at home in the catalog of the Swiss Hallow Ground label between records by Kali Malone, Lawrence English, or Siavash Amini.

The booklet features an in-depth essay on church bells by Simina Oprescu.

Band Of Nowhere is a new constellation project by Juanjo Sánchez, together with other collaborators with whom he had previously worked. It is worth mentioning Bob Drake on drums, former member of the legendary formation Thinking Plague (also on Hail, 5UU's, The Science Group) who has also mastered the project from their studio in the Midi-Pyrénées and also to mention the guitarist Jordi Cabayol (Camino al Desván) both Juanjo and Jordi began their career in a significant band of Barcelona of the early eighties, such as Entr'acte.



The becoming of Juanjo Sánchez would take him to other latitudes as a member of Alondra Satori and without losing the lighthouse of his city, he would collaborate with other outstanding musicians such as Quicu Samsó (Koniec, Macromassa).



The fluidity and chromaticism of his previous album Gonza Magilla is still perceived in here, but in a much more electrified way with guitars that are sometimes expansive, other times exuberant wrapped up with contagious synthesizer modulations and very marked rhythms. The production and especially the arrangements are fantastic with those special presences of synthesizers that are not common around here.



Its original improvisation and experimentation is skilfully adjusted by Juanjo Sánchez, giving a much more playful result with unexpected combinations, very much in continuity with a certain European Art Rock such as Aksak Maboul, Etron Fou, Zamla,The Work or the mischievous resonances of The League of Gentlemen; all this mapping the sound transit, to an unpredictable and vibrant non-place.



Housed in it's original hand made artwork with the little upgrade twist of silk-screen printing textured grey cardboard and including a insert colour with photos and text provided by Juanjo Sánchez.



Housed in it's original hand made artwork with the little upgrade twist of silk-screen printing in Plastic clear cover and including a insert colour with photos and text provided by Juanjo Sánchez.

Javier Hernando

a1 Calling All Beginners
a2 Fleeing To the Poles
a3 Ashes
a4 Rouler ma Bosse
a5 Sunday Machinery
b1 lucid Dreams
b2 Twisted Maze
b3 Rolla Bolla
b4 Chinese Forecast

Produced by Henry Jenkins (Surprised Chef), cinematic funk combo The Diasonics are back with a limited edition 45 feat. an explosive version of soul stormer "Beggin'. Limited to 500 copies worldwide.

Produced and mixed by Henry Jenkins (Surprised Chef), Russian cinematic funk combo The Diasonics unleash a limited edition 45 featuring an explosive version of soul classic "Beggin'. Composed by Bob Gaudio and Peggy Farina and initially brought to success by the Four Seasons of Frankie Valli in 1967, "Beggin" became a classic of the Northern soul scene in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. With a tight rhythm section, a super funky bassline and heavy wah-wah guitars The Diasonics version is an instant floorfiller. On the flip side the brand new track "Take One", an irresistible hammond-funk mover, full of heavy breaks and eastern spices.

Active since 2019 The Diasonics are five young and seriously talented Muscovite musicians: Anton Moskvin (drums), Maxim Brusov (bass guitar), Anton Katyrin (percussions), Daniil Lutsenko (electric guitar) and Kamil Gzizov (keyboards). In just a few years the band has amassed a cult following, releasing collectable and in-demand 45s on labels such as Funk Night Records and Mocambo Records. In 2021 they released their debut album "Origin of Forms" on Record Kicks produced by Henry Jenkins, producer amongst the others of the Australian cult instrumental band Surprise Chef. Thanks to the Diasonics's unique style that blends infectious Funk Instrumentals, East European flavours, abstract hip-hop and psychedelia, the album rapidly went sold out on vinyl and it's heavily praised on the international cinematic-funk scene.

Tucked away in a corner of northwestern Europe and so small you could drive through it in minutes without noticing you were ever there, Luxembourg is often overlooked. This is also true for Luxembourg’s music scene, and even more so in the early 1980s. Aside from a string of victories at the annual Eurovision song contest or the mighty Radio Luxembourg that had for decades been blasting jazz, rock and other modern music into stolid Western European ears, very little else seemed to be going on. But even in a country of barely 350,000 people, musical adventurers had picked up on the spaced-out jazz-funk of bands like Return to Forever, Herbie Hancock’s Mwandishi, Weather Report, George Duke, and the electric Miles Davis. Under the leadership of trumpet player Gast Waltzing, a handful of them put together a band called “Atmosphere” and used the sound of their inspirations as a launchpad for their own musical exploration.

What you hold in your hands is a “best of” the Atmosphere band, which released two albums and a 7” single between 1981 and 1986. Privately pressed and long out of print, with original copies very hard to come by even in their country of origin, these records have for years been unheard by anyone outside hardcore collector circles. With no master tapes available, it was a real labor of love to track down the best quality vinyl copies and to reissue a selection of our favorite tracks in professionally remastered form.

Editions de Lux is a new label dedicated to unearthing and releasing records we love and believe deserve more attention, with a focus on Luxembourg and the surrounding countries. We are just the latest in a long line of immigrants who have come to work in Luxembourg and who are trying to find our own path into the heart of this mysterious little country that has much more to it than dark forests, medieval castles, rusting steel mills, and shadowy banks.

The time has come and my first solo album sees the light of day. I made the songs on it formyself.
The desire to write, experiment and play with sounds has never stopped. The artists you will hear on
this record, some are real life friends of mine and others are people with whom I have never spoken
a personal word to this day. I‘ve been friends forever with artists like Brixx, Farina Miss and of course
Mr. David A. Tobin for years. Andre Espeut and I have maintained an online friendship for a very long
time.
I hired all the other artists from the vastness of the Internet. Some of the artists didn‘t know the
parts of the other artists involved. In the end I puzzled all the pieces together and created a fine dish
with beautiful ingredients from all over the world. I know that an album like this might have a hard
time in this digital world and of course I don‘t have the marketing budget of a major release. But
time will tell and well produced music will find its ways.
Creating music has had a positive influence on my entire life, even though criticism and other
obstacles require you to build strong armor. The good news is when you grow older, many things are
no longer as important to you and you set priorities, focus more on the good things and good people
in your life. I hope you have fun with my music and my people and by listening and spinning my
record you will help to spread the good vibes.
It‘s truly a GOOD TIME FOR GOOD TIMES…

From the cold corners of the Canadian soil, Illect's Newselph returns with some fiery furnace baked heat in the form of a remix album. On If It Ain't Broke, Remix It, Newselph carries on tradition in the spirit of Hip Hop legends like Pete Rock, Erick Sermon and Buckwild in the sacred art of remixing and refixing. Like the boom baptists before him, Newselph's ear hears transmissions reserved for angels and dolphins. He takes tracks that in their original incarnations are perfectly fine, banging even, and gets all up in the inner workings of said slaps to create something entirely different. For his latest release, he mines his backyard and reworks ten tracks from his Illect labelmates. The lead single, Those Were The Days, features the UK's Kinetik and BREIS. Newselph turns breezy into bluesy, and the track morphs into a makeshift teleportation device to a simpler time when fat laces, arcade games and handwritten letters reigned supreme. The Flowers remix features Jurny Big and Brand Nubian's most recognisable voice, Sadat X. The two emcees come together to the world and the roles they play within it. Newselph's push-and-pull guitar groove would fit perfectly as the backdrop for a campfire convo filled with nostalgic stories and witty anecdotes. Things get deeper than Atlantis on Matters Of Man, where Newselph again links up with his man, Sareem Poems, and one-third of the Ugly Heroes crew, Chris Orrick. Serving up a healthy slice of adult contemporary musings, the two rhyme writers break down this thing called life with the kind of knowledge, wisdom and understanding that would make King Solomon chill. Like watery clay in the hands of Sam Wheat and Molly Jensen, Newselph scrapes and shapes a rubbery bassline, dreamy droplets of keys and pensive melodies into a reassuring ode of optimism. Other guest appearances on the album include Sivion, Sojourn, MidCentury Modern, Ozay Moore, Dre Murray, DJ Because and many more. Like the classic TV show The Wire, all the pieces matter, and the sum of parts come together seamlessly to form something more meaningful.








[h] 9. Matters of Man (Remix) [

Except from Rachid Taha, who allowed himself a few forays into the teeming, vibrant heaths of techno, no raï singer other than Cheb Malik has ever ventured into this terrain known for its abundance of sound. If you know about Malik Adouane's ancestry, this is hardly surprising. Born in Librecourt, near Lens, he comes from a union between an Italo-Celtic mother who instilled Western sounds into his ears and a father, a former miner born in Biskra (north-east Algeria), a palm grove near the desert, musically renowned for its lively diwan that could be called Saharan opera. In addition, the town is renowned for its chakhchouka, a dish called after its rich blend of various ingredients and spices. Just like Malik’s music, as he was a fan of James Brown, Barry White, classical Arabic and raï music. He had been thinking about it from the beginning, but the dream took a long time to materialize. In January 1986, many raï idols turned up in Bobigny, France, for a historic and seminal festival. In the midst of the audience, the young man, dressed in black leather, provided security for the concerts of many stars before becoming one himself. He would rub his eyes, not because he was dazzled, but because they were clouded by a nostalgia that remained him of itself. So, with his head full of sounds warmly recommended by the best DJs, he set out, a little provocatively, to position himself at the cutting edge of music with a new concept called "After raï". It combined the sweet and precious past with an almost uncontrollable creative audacity. It's a balm made in a test-tube-studio from a mix of Arabic melodies and lyrics - a kind of "Arabeat", and the arrogant modernity produced by samplers, electronic spinning, roaring bass and guitars made for house music. The pinnacle of the record is a masterful cover of Isaac Hayes' Shaft, which set dancefloors on fire in Paris, London, Ibiza and New York, and became internationally known thanks to its presence on a Paris Dernière compilation curated by French musician and DJ Béatrice Ardisson along with Claude Challe's iconic Buddha Bar series. Now, shall we dance?

The Trip is the first solo album by N'Zeng, better known as Sébastien Blanchon. It has to be said that he hid behind his (hollow) nose to sniff out the right projects (ex Le Peuple de l'Herbe, member of Entourloop). His nose is hollow, but not for the trumpet, and yet it's with this instrument that he started out. And he reinvents it, giving it a subtle place on this musical road trip we call The Trip.
A journey open to all, with no tolls and no filters, apart from the cinematic filter of this lover of original soundtracks and trip hop. Beautiful images flash before our eyes, and in our ears, the smooth voice of Charlotte Savary (Wax Tailor). An album, a very good trip for lovers of Portishead, Gorillaz, and well-felt scratches in the form of controlled skids.
He's making a name for himself as N'Zeng, with his smooth arrangements.

N'Zeng's father played trumpet with his grandfather in the Feurs brass band in the Loire department. When he arrived in Saint Etienne, young Sébastien started out with a cornet à pistons at the Conservatoire. His teacher at the time, Marcel Heyte, had won a prize in Paris at the same time as a certain Maurice André.

His father took lessons in orchestral conducting, accompanying the offspring's budding musical career, which included a course at the Festival de Cuivre in Monastier-sur-Gazeille, where he met the soloists of the Radio France orchestra. A new awareness, a new confidence: off to Lyon, not for a soccer derby, but to "beef up his game". In 1997, he was awarded a gold medal for trumpet by a unanimous jury at the Conservatoire National de Lyon.

Lyon, capital of the Gauls, was the starting point for N'Zeng, who went on to become a member of the group Le Peuple de l'Herbe. 15 years later, with several successful records to his credit, a concert in 2003 at the Transmusicales with Beth Gibbons (Portishead), and a Victoire de la Musique award, it was time for N'Zeng to move on to other things.

Arrival in the City of Light, the place where dreams come true. Nzeng's dreams are not only sonic, but also visual, for Sébastien is not only a friendly presence and a talented musician, but also a cinephile. His knowledge of music theory, acquired during his years at the conservatory, enables him to tackle music for pictures.

He created a soundtrack for the cult film Alien - The 8th Passenger, and worked with musician Rone (collaborating with Baxter Dury) and his bandmates from Le Peuple de l'Herbe, composing 2 tracks for the soundtrack of Virginie Despentes's hard-hitting film "Baise-moi". On the album "Hollywood Hustlers", with the group "Mustang Force", he pays tribute to the soundtracks of Lalo Shiffrin, Ennio Morricone... The album is also well received by the critics. He conducts the arrangements and orchestrations for the Degiheuga Orchestra, and composes the original music for the Hôtel Bellevue dance show, another success!

2019 sees the birth of "The Trip" project. On this record, no masks, but a female voice, that of Charlotte Savary (Wax Taylor), laid on a carpet of strings. With this musical voyage, trip hop takes pride of place, with a balance between the body of the instruments and the mechanics of beatmaking.

There's no getting off track on this well-balanced record, with its silky orchestrations. N'Zeng accompanies us elegantly, with his trusty trumpet as GPS, here used subtly. The album cover is a photograph taken by Sébastien Blanchon's mother, in 1973, a year when Saint Etienne was about to become French champion for the 7th time.

Mother Engine began to take form in a dilapidated garage between a sanitation center and a set of train tracks. This would be their laboratory, workshop, and recording studio where they developed a process of working that included a newfound love for sample manipulation. They collaborated with other musicians including Matt Norman (Lily & Horn Horse) and Henry Birdsey, an experimentalist, to bring their production out of the digital landscape of Ableton. Between the tape machine, the amp, the turntable, and the computer, Amiture found magic. Each song is a part of a complex sonic matrix that reflected a vision and a sound neither one could have procured alone, always centered around Whitescarver’s classically trained voice and Goupil’s gritty, tripped-out-guitar sound, merged and then steeped in the traditions of American guitar music, industrial music, and folk melody.

Sangre Voss returns with the idiosyncratic ‘Brogkl EP’ this March, marking five years of Third Place.

In the five years since his debut ‘Dance Class’ 12” on Will Hofbauer’s Third Place in 2019, London-via-Devon producer Sangre Voss has continued to melt minds and confuse dancefloors with his singular, head-turning productions. Having featured on Rhythm Section and Fabric Records, he’s also appeared on The Wire’s Below The Radar compilation series and on labels Control Freak, International Extraterrestrial Music, and more.

Here though, the label’s main gun returns with four curious and brilliant productions. ‘Smyyre Myyrgu’ leads with folky strings and stabs as chunky percussion and mystical pads unfurl throughout. ‘Ersatz Terrasse’ is a floaty slow-fast affair, sliding through bright keys, skippy drums, and otherworldly effects.

On the flip, ‘density of aha’ sees trippy, sluggish vocals and punchy drums combine, forming a bedrock for twisted, randomised synths. The title track ‘Brogkl’ turns up the heat with wonky leads, heavy low end, and wild guitar-like twangs to close out the record, ending another essential offering from the thrilling and always unique musical mind of Sangre Voss.

No Wahala Sound Orchestra is a contemporary, London-based collective with members from backgrounds as diverse as Jamaica, Ghana, Bangladesh, Poland, Trinidad, Denmark, Ireland and the UK.Gideon Coe ( 6Music) Neil Luscombe (BBC Radio 3) and Steve Barker ( BBC Radio Lancashire) have all offered their support over the years.

The music takes in elements of electronica, jazz, reggae, dub poetry, Afrobeat, classical Indian music and many other global sounds."On Gossamer Clouds" is a compilation of some key recordings over the last ten years. It features 12 tracks which vary in styles and mood, but form a coherent whole.

It all started with a crashed computer and it certainly didn’t end there. »Cinnte le Dia« is the third collaborative album by Hanno Leichtmann and Valerio Tricoli, their first entry into Ni Vu Ni Connu’s duo series that focuses on Berlin’s Echtzeitmusik scene and beyond. Having already released two joint records on the now-defunct Entr'acte label, the two musicians wanted to document a 2018 concert in Berlin, but technology failed them. Undeterred, the sound artist and percussionist and the electroacoustic composer went to the former’s Static Music Studio to record six of the eight tracks on this record straight to tape, with two additional ones being recorded during a performance at Eupen’s Meakusma festival in 2019.

After 2016’s »The Future of Discipline« saw the duo enter the studio for a one-take session with added synth-bass overdubs and 2018’s »La Casa delle Chimere« documented a live gig in Kyiv, »Cinnte le Dia« presents a synthesis of the two approaches. Mixing the album together and adding overdubs—Leichtmann with his synth-bass again, Tricoli with his trusted Revox B77—the duo combined the special energy of their performance in front of a live audience with the intimate atmosphere of a studio session between two exceptional improvisers and composers. The pieces are accordingly marked by their sonic density, but also a rhythmic intricacy that makes the album as a whole negotiate its place in music history between bass-heavy, dubbed-out club music and electroacoustic as well as musique concrète techniques.

Leichtmann worked with a mix of acoustic percussion routed through a modified looper and a granular live sampler as well as electronic drums consisting of three modular sampleplayers, a Syncussion drum synth and a bass drum module. Depending on the current set-up, the two fed this input through Tricoli’s B77 either individually or collectively to further manipulate single elements or the entire sound. What might look complicated on a tech rider sounds intuitive on record: these are two versatile musicians engaging in a play of difference and repetition, acting and reacting to each other in real-time, but also creating additional layers by inserting new elements after the fact. In a very literal way, »Cinnte le Dia« is the duo’s most refined album, yet at the same time a testament to the uncanny energy they unleash during their improvisations. It’s solemn and moody, spontaneous and driving at once. Of course a computer couldn’t handle that.

Elite Controller’ c/w ‘Softness on the Other Side’ is the second 7” single containing two of four tracks produced by transcontinental duo ‘Gruuel’, featuring James Vinciguerra and Beau Wanzer, between 2019 and 2023. The duo appear here in an expanded form with third member and Vinciguerra ‘Act Now’ collaborator Tarquin Manek, heard as multi instrumentalist jack-of-all-trades performing guitar, bass guitar, synthesiser and bass clarinet to accompany Wanzer’s hazy drum machine patterns and Vinciguerra’s mutated vocals.

The single is the first release on Elations Recordings’ ‘Deviations’ imprint, focusing on the outer realms of experimentation and fringe expression. Two subterranean, science-non-fiction snapshots capturing the spirit of the forward looking art-experimental groups of the late 1970s and early 1980s that were lumped in with the punk movement.

The a-side ‘Elite Controller’ is the more immediate of the two tracks; a paranoid fever dream of raw, psychedelic guitars underpinned by dub bass and Vinciguerra’s deranged mutant vocals; while the b-side ‘Softness on the Other Side’ takes a more self-reflective turn. A passive, spoken word cautionary telling of the dangers while searching for personal nirvana accompanied by Manek’s tortured bass clarinet impressions. Recommended for fans of Chrome, Tuxedomoon or K. Leimer’s experimental “artificial” band ‘Savant’.

Teethe is a band from Texas. The members of Teethe met while attending the University of North Texas in Denton, TX, a small college town outside of Dallas with a fertile music scene. Before forming Teethe, its core members Boone Patrello, Grahm Robinson, Madeline Dowd, and Jordan Garrett all played in various other groups in Denton, releasing music under different pseudonyms. Patrello released solo music via his Dead Sullivan moniker, while Robinson released under MAH KEE OH. Patrello and Robinson linked up with Dowd to record an album for her project, Crisman, in 2019. They all eventually moved in together, leading the group to start recording more as a whole unit, and subsequently Teethe was born. Made over the course of 2020, Teethe's eponymous debut album is a collection of songs pieced together over time - a sonic collage of fragmented recordings and half finished tracks made whole in the midst of isolation. Initially self-released in November of 2020 with little fanfare, the album's warm, lo-fi aesthetic and slow, calming songs spread by word of mouth. Roughly one year later, at the top of 2022, the band returned with "Tag", a new single that caught the attention of slowcore fans and garnered shout outs from unlikely celebrities. Tours soon followed with Charlie Martin of Hovvdy, Momma, Milly, Waveform, and They Are Gutting A Body of Water. The band continued to record their own music, releasing another single, "Lucky," in the fall of 2022, and most recently partnered with Saddle Creek for their 7” series to release their newest single, "Moon," in October of 2023. Now spread between Dallas and Austin, the Texas band has recently signed with Winspear and will be re-issuing their self-titled debut LP this winter, along with a pressing of "Tag," "Lucky," and never before released b-side "Thanks" on 7” vinyl.

« Tas Malonumas »
Lithuanian word
Def: meaning That Pleasure
Example: conversation between a young, inexperienced person and an elderly person who’s near death’s door. The old one is telling the young one how life is an unceasing search for pleasure.
Track: takes the form of a mental stroll that takes you far, far away.

« Room of Men Eaters »
Human expression of cannibalism
Def: absurd situation in which men and women eat each other in a room
Track: the contrast between the absurdity of the situation and the apparent normality of speech told by the vocoded voice of Shkema is just astonishing.

« Sarka Syrkaza »
From the future
Def: meaning “super sarcasm”
Example: one day you wake up in the morning and you feel that something within you has changed. All seems to be nonsense and you start to look at everything through the grey glasses of sarcasm. One might look enjoying oneself, but in reality this is an extremely draining state of mind.
Track: musical expression of that state of mind

« Je n’aime pas les fêtes »
World expression
Def: parties are boring
Track: Shkema remix of his friend Afrodelic is a wacky version that contrasts French lyrics talking about how disastrous parties feel with a beat that just makes you want to dance.

First vinyl edition of the album Rhetorical Islands, originally released by Giuseppe Ielasi in 2012 as a limited-edition CD on his Senufo Editions label, with recordings made in 2011 as a commission for l’Audible Festival, Paris.

The album’s ten tracks have neither titles nor accompanying text, standing for themselves as what Ielasi himself has called “isolated sound worlds”. They are nonetheless unparalleled in their plasticity, acoustic events with a rare degree of tangibility. Ielasi evokes physical objects, some of which seem to have been constructed out of paper and cardboard, others based on a mechanics of elastic materials. Of course these objects are hallucinations, and precisely because Ielasi constructs them so masterfully there’s no need for any further information. Here’s to everyone creating their very own sculptures while listening to Rhetorical Islands!

The front and back cover features 0.058, a work on paper by the artists Thomas & Renée Rapedius. They make sculptures whose form and artistic inspiration are defined by their materials. Like Ielasi’s acoustic islands, their impact derives from self-referentiality, resulting in paradoxical objects that embody both a detailed material study and a potential for free association.

Black Bones are the Belfast DJ & production duo comprising of Aaron Black & Timmy Stewart, who have been collecting and playing music for decades. They formed Black Bones to put their stamp on the edits & production world as well as play DJ sets together. An initial edit series created seven highly collectible 12''s, securing plays and plaudits from some of the worlds best DJs & record stores. This led to recording DJ mixes for Apiento's Test Pressing, Tim Sweeney's Beats In Space & recording original material for Touch Sensitive, Hoga Nord, Duca Bianco, Optimo Music & Emotional Response.

Now on Mystic Arts 02 Black Bones pay homage to early rave days, illegal parties, pirate radio culture & 90s breakbeat sounds they both still adore. A side, Find The Frequency, is a ghostly ride through breakbeats & warehouse euphoria. While the flip side, Konstant Kollision is otherworldly bass heavy music that takes in post punk & African Head Charge influences amidst washes of dubbed out delay.

Although 30 years after its birth this fundamental electronic gem called 'Reflections' has achieved cult status, it is worth remembering that it all started in 1993 in a small apartment in Waterloo, London, with the help of a mixer and a bunch of hardware synth and drum machines of hardware, with the mastodontic Oberheim OB-8 synthesizer as the main partner.

While in the UK the vast majority of kids showed a certain rejection of what came from North America in the form of electro, Kirk Degiorgio, under his alias As One, embraced it openly and incorporated it into his productions along with influences from other genres that he had already adored since he was young, such as jazz, soul or funk, thus becoming one of the true early adopters of Detroit techno in the UK.

If we look back, 'Reflections' is a challenge in itself, and even more so considering what the consumption pattern of electronic music was in the early 90s. This timeless album fits into the delicate border between being enough club to work on the dance floor, and still being musical and cerebral enough to be listened to at home. A milestone that, whether premeditated or not, Degiorgio more than achieved.

Three decades later Lapsus Records has been able to access the pre-masters extracted from the original DATs to build a special 30th anniversary edition within its Perennial series. For the occasion, this reissue not only offers the tracks included in the first edition, it also adds the songs 'The Priestess' –never released on vinyl before– and Forgotten Memory –until now unreleased and rediscovered in one of the DATs dating back to 1992 from the 'Reflexions' recording sessions. We are therefore facing the definitive edition of an album that, despite coexisting with the explosion of the rave movement, would pave the path for the UK-Detroit connection.

Reissued on vinyl for the first time, Juno Reactor’s 1997 ‘Bible of Dreams’, also newly mastered and available of
double black vinyl.
‘Bible of Dreams’ was Juno Reactor's fourth album. It had a very different sound from the group's previous albums,
and moved away from the traditional dance beats by implementing tribal influences. The band collaborated with
Amampondo, a traditional South African percussion act, on the single ‘Conga Fury’. Watkins and Amampondo went on
a five-week tour of the US, opening for Moby.
Featuring music from the film soundtracks The Matrix Reloaded, Animatrix, Mortal Kombat Annihilation and Beowulf.
Composer, producer, musician and performer Ben Watkins is an essential innovator of modern electronic music and a
pioneer of Trance. Over the course of nearly 30 years, Watkins has created a unique driving fusion of electronica,
orchestral and global music executed on an epic & symphonic scale.
Juno Reactor was formed as an art project in 1990. Ben Watkins wanted to collaborate with other artists, producing
exciting projects that were not commercially driven. He wanted to create experimental music and non-musical
soundtracks that would work with installations, art pieces, and film projects.
As well as releasing a string of influential albums as Juno Reactor, Watkins’ tracks have been placed in numerous highprofile feature films, television programmes and computer games and Ben Watkins composed large sections of the
original score for the films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, as well as composing the entire orchestral
score for Japanese anime feature film Brave Story.

Analogue Productions (Atlantic 75 Series) Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of Atlantic Records! Iconic musician and singer Ray Charles' classic 1957 album! Includes the hits "Hallelujah I Love Her So," "Ain't That Love" and "I Got a Woman" 180-gram 45 RPM double LP Mastered directly from the original master tape by Bernie Grundman Pressed at Quality Record Pressings Tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jackets with film lamination by Stoughton Printing Hybrid Mono SACD Mastered directly from the original master tape by Bernie Grundman Ray Charles' self-titled 1957 album was one of the first handful of LPs issued by Atlantic (and was later retitled Hallelujah I Love Her So). As AllMusic reviewer Bruce Elder notes, the album is weighted about three to one in favor of Charles' own compositions, with the hits "Hallelujah I Love Her So" and the pounding, soaring "Ain't That Love," which opens the LP, its raison d'etre. Charles does just as well with his interpretations of others' work, most notably the ominous, gospel-focused rendition of "Sinner's Prayer" (which offers a virtuoso piano performance, and comes courtesy of the pen of Charles' former mentor Lowell Fulson) and Henry Glover's wrenching ballad "Drown in My Own Tears," which is topped out on each verse by a gorgeous chorus. "Funny (But I Still Love You)" offers a guitar break played in such an understated fashion that it almost doesn't seem so much a part of R&B as it was usually being offered in 1957 as it does a part of Charles' early career output. The second side of the LP is even better, opening with the title track, a number that is almost too ubiquitous in its various cover versions — the original has a mix of urgency and playfulness that's absolutely bracing, and the album carries this mood forward with "Mess Around," an Ahmet Ertegun-authored piano- and sax-driven romp with Charles at his most ebullient as a singer. "This Little Girl of Mine" offers him in a surprisingly light, almost acrobatic vocal mode, while "Greenbacks" is a knowing, clever cautionary narrative that is almost a throwback to 1940s-style R&B. "Don't You Know" is as salacious a piece of R&B as one was likely to hear in 1957, and "I Got a Woman" closes the record out on a pounding, driving note. All the hallmarks of a top-notch Analogue Productions reissue are here for you to savor: Mastered directly from the original master tape by Bernie Grundman and cut at 45 RPM. Pressed on 180-gram at Quality Record Pressings and RTI, and housed in tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jackets with film lamination by Stoughton Printing.

All-Analogue Vinyl LP for the First Time in Almost 50 Years!
Mastered by Bernie Grundman from a 1-to-1 Flat Transfer of the Original Analogue Master Tapes!

Pressed on RTI's HQ-180 for the First Time Ever!

Deluxe "reversed" tip-on jacket that faithfully reproduces the original with highest-grade materials
Exclusive full-colour insert with new historical and production notes by Charles L. Granata and photos from the Sony Music Archives



This next all-analogue, HQ-180 gram LP is an impeccably performed and stunningly recorded late-period gem from The Titan of modern violinists. The Lark revisits works that helped define Heifetz in various points of his illustrious career and which highlight his crisp attacks, imaginative phrasings, and mellifluous sustained notes.

The repertoire is intriguing, combining two iconic pieces (Tomaso Antonio Vitali's Chaconne in g minor for Violin and Continuo, written in the Baroque period; and Gabriel Fauré's Violin Sonata No. 1 in A Major, Op. 13, written in the late-Romantic period) with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco's The Lark: Poem for Violin and Piano (a 20th-century modern tone poem). Although nearly two-hundred years separate their composition, these pieces complement each other beautifully: a testament to the discerning judgment of Heifetz and producer John (Jack) Pfeiffer, who helped create his albums.*

The LP was cut by Bernie Grundman from a straight 1-to-1 copy of the original session masters, meticulously created by Andreas Meyer at Swan Studios NYC. No digital processing of any kind was used. The original reverse-tip-on-style jacket and a brand new 4-page insert split the difference between the authentic, nostalgic feel of a mint original and a reissue's value proposition you've come to expect from Impex Records.

Established in 1948 by César Roldán, Discomoda is one of the earliest record labels of Venezuela and the oldest family operated label in the country. Home to one of the most complete folkloric and popular music catalogues of Venezuela, the label also invested heavily in Afro-Caribbean and tropical rhythms that became popular in the 60s and 70s.

In the 1960s and before the Salsa era truly kicked off, Venezuela had a significant dance orchestra and big band movement. Unlike local record competitors dedicated to selling foreign productions, Discomoda achieved its leading position by recording the most important national bands, including Los Megatones de Lucho, Orquesta Sonoramica and Super Combo Los Tropicales; all featured in this compilation.

Later on, surrounding the festivities for the 400th anniversary of Caracas in 1967, the word "Salsa", which had been recently coined by famed radio host Phidias Danilo Escalona, was formalized to identify an Afro-Caribbean musical style with growing popularity in Venezuela and beyond. By then, the country was among the top 20 music markets in the world, with the local label Discomoda leading the way, responsible for one out of every five records sold in the country.

With the prolonged celebrations approaching due to the 400 years of the city, Discomoda and other labels began to capitalize on this new musical style by betting on both established and new local bands, such as Nelson y sus Estrellas, Los Kenya, Principe y su Sexteto and Los Satélites. As a result, this would kick off what could be considered a golden era of Salsa in Venezuela and which lasted until the mid-70s.

As we approach the 80s and with the emergence of new musical styles and bigger multi-national record labels funded by larger pockets, a lot of the previously popular bands begin to disband or choose to leave the country. Nonetheless, a few artists, like Rodrigo Mendoza, La Renovación and Grupo Yakambu, were still pushing out quality music.

We are thrilled and honored to celebrate one of Venezuela's and, equally, Latin America's most significant record labels, and to share a slice of their enduring influence in advancing Venezuelan-made Salsa music.

Felix Machtelinckx is a singer, composer, producer and lyricist from Belgium. Featuring an array of film scores, dance soundtracks, pop, folk and electronic music, Felix's music resonates with a familiar, almost nostalgic patina, applied with a distinctly crooked touch. Through artistic collaboration, coaching and production, Felix has cut a dash in the pop and indie cult scenes of Belgium, especially with his band Tin Fingers, who are feted as one of the most promising indie acts of the moment. Night Scenes, Felix’s solo debut is, in contrast to his other work, more humble and less traditional, roughly hewn from a series of ambient soundscapes, earthy textures and playful structures. Felix’s voice, normally the flagship of his music, becomes more of a distant memory, an indistinct emotion feathered throughout the music. Many lyrics are improvised, sometimes unintelligible, conjuring haunted, uncertain undertones. Similarly, the album is innately peripatetic to the core, being created, written and recorded in Lithuania, Belgium, France, mastered in the US, and finally released in the UK. In the first instance, some of the tracks were created for the contemporary dance piece Doggy Rugburn by Brandon Lagaert of Kaiho and Peeping Tom; others were created enigmatically for a film that never surfaced; while the remainder are the product of more personal work and research. As Felix began to collect and review these disparate parts, the concept of a unified album began to evolve. With 'night' featuring as a suitably dark leitmotif, or backdrop to a series of emotionally fraught 'scenes', each track depicts a form of trauma, locked within the confines of the mind. Felix observes: "Imagine yourself in a dusty old room unable to sleep. Emotions, fears and other demons haunt your mind. This in-between state makes your mind reach for other worlds. This is Night Scenes." For the most part, Night Scenes was created using a variety of old, and rare, analogue equipment. With almost no digital editing, the record was primarily mixed through a vintage cassette desk, giving it a nostalgic character with a noisy undertone. Felix fully embraced the synergy of his emotional themes and retrograde gear, enthusing: "A lot of textures were created on an old Soviet synthesizer that causes a blackout when you hit the lowest note on the keyboard. The dysfunctionality of the synths was often used to create rhythm and texture." This unnerving ability Night Scenes has to comfort and confound the listener is summed up by Jordan Hudson, House Of Media producer, and music podcaster, when he concludes: "Some songs on the album have this sort of fleeting comfort and tonality, which dissolves into a subtle rhythmic/structural or modulated disarray the moment I settle into them - this really fits with my experience of the night .. This record is a winner, and will be something I'll listen to a lot from here on

Autumn 1904 is a post-punk indie-rock band formed in 1982 in Edinburgh, Scotland by Allan Dumbreck (keyboards) and Ross Thom (guitar). The band originally became a five-piece (Billy Bowie – bass, Keith Falconer – drums, Billy Leslie – vocals) but grew to a seven piece in early 1983 (taking on two female backing vocalists, Indira Sharma and Lisa Cameron). Autumn 1904 were part of the DIY indie-rock movement in Edinburgh in the early to mid 1980’s kicked off by The Shop Assistants, they worked alongside The Wild Indians, Finitribe (originally Gallery Macabre) and Goodbye Mr MacKenzie, often performing together or attending each other’s shows.

In February 1984 the band performed at the John Peel Roadshow at Edinburgh University and afterwards were invited to record a BBC Radio 1 session which was broadcast three times on the Peel show. They were immediately courted by 11 major record and publishing companies. In March 1984 their song “I heard Catherine Sing” featured on the Deadbeat magazine compilation album “Deadbeat 1”. Internal tensions and health issues over the summer of 1984 held up development and caused Sharma and Cameron to leave the band.

The band first split in January 1985 with Thom, Bowie and Falconer going on to form The Crows with former members of First Priority, including future Glasgow Cathouse / Garage promoter Donald McLeod MBE. Dumbreck and Leslie reformed the band and performed throughout 1985 sometimes including Shirley Manson, then working with Goodbye Mr MacKenzie and later with Garbage. This line-up lasted until November 1985 when the band split again. Dumbreck went on to work with Scottish groups The Big Dish, Horse and Thrum. Later working extensively in music education setting up the music department at UWS where Jim Prime (Deacon Blue) and Paul McGeechan (Love and Money) became lecturing staff.

The line-up at the time of the Peel session was Dumbreck, Thom, Bowie, Falconer, Leslie and backing vocalists Indira Sharma and Lisa Cameron.

In May 2021, the original five members agreed to re-master / re-record the original material from their studio recordings for release. Work began with producer Liam McCluskey (Gun, King King, Twin Atlantic). Approaching Ian Smith in 2022 at independent record label Last Night from Glasgow for advice, he offered to release the album on the label. The final masters include Tippi from label-mates The Hedrons on vocals and a number of fresh recordings of material written in 1982-83 but never previously recorded.

Following on from their contribution to theButter SessionsCome Togethercompilation released in March this year, Melbourne'sPolitodeliver their debut EPUltraparallel.Politois the collaboration between musicians Robert Downie and Finnian Langham and dancers Arabella Frahn-Starkieand Hillary Goldsmith. The ensemble integrates improvised techno and contemporary dance to form well-considered and captivating performances. The spirit of these performances are masterfully captured on the 12" record. On the transition between mediums, the group states; "we always aim to capture the unpredictability and liveliness of our improvised performances when we record, and try to sculpt the feeling of continuous movement which is so intrinsically tied to Polito's identity."

Ultraparallelconsists of four tracks that were extracted from studio sessions, emerging organically whilst jamming. The EP's introductionHornet's Webwields mutilated samples of vocals and spoken word, paired with abrupt rhythms to forge anomalous techno. The eponymous trackUltraparallel, recorded in 2018, is a dark and brooding arrangement with a murmuring melody and an infectious recurring bassline. Polito reflects; "this track is from the first batch of studio sessions we had as Polito where our intention was to create more discrete 'tracks' which could be played by DJs, rather than the longform compositions more similar to the live performances which we had recorded up to that point."

Turning the record over,Seventh Limbembodies the music for dance nuance by infusing dub with sounds from outer-space. Polito reveals; "we wanted to explore creating something more in line with the mood of our live performances, which are typically slower and have a rather meditative atmosphere. The more relaxed tempo allows the dancers to move at a sustainable pace and gives the musicians more space to prepare and manipulate the various musical elements in real-time. The result is our first formal exploration of 'the chugger.'"Ultraparallel'sfinaleSublunaryis a playful sequence mingling electronics with an airy clarinet and saxophone.

Attuned to their audience,Politoimagines how their music will be consumed throughout the creative process. They comment "while making music in the studio, we try to transport ourselves mentally to hypothetical dancefloors the music we're making could be played on, adding moments and sounds which would excite, energise, disorient, or have some other desired somatic effect. We're also considering not just how the music sounds, but how it would 'feel' when played on large sound systems."Ultraparallelultimatelypresents a refreshing visual take on literal dance music; a considered and holistic approach to enhancing the experience of listening and moving.

From out of nowhere - if nowhere is the febrile, warped and twilit imagination of Julia McFarlane - comes Whoopee, the second album by J.McFarlane’s Reality Guest. Whoopee is an esoteric, kaleidoscopic movie in music form directed by Julia McFarlane and co-conspirator Thomas Kernot. Full of life, breakbeats and smokey vignettes on the fragile nature of interpersonal relationships, Whoopee is a stylistic evolution from everything McFarlane has done before. Surreal, beautiful in parts and replete with the aching wisdom McFarlane’s songwriting has always promised, this Reality Guest pulls back the curtain on a whole scene of naked truth. Recorded in Melbourne in bursts since the release of 2019’s Ta Da, Whoopee features a new sound palette and band member in Kernot. The duo dive deep into electronic pop tropes, mining digital synths, samples, breakbeats and deep bass grooves, largely dispensing with live instrumentation. If Ta Da took twists and turns with your expectations, offering a Dada-ist, monochromatic take on pop music, Whoopee is McFarlane’s subterranean love-sick pinks, reds, greens, purples and blues. Becoming something of a tradition, the album starts with an instrumental intro pilfered from a 90s’ spy film or cinema intro music, puffing up the listener for the heart-squeezing bathos of Full Stops. Over a bleary backdrop of walking bass lines, jazz- inflected keys and smoked-out atmosphere, McFarlane’s poetry narrates the fragile state of a relationship: “You put a full stop where I thought there’d be a comma, I want the story to continue even with all the drama.” Over a palpable pain, the narrator is revelling in the drama of a relationship, addicted to tumult and heightened emotion. On Sensory, a space age bachelor lounge pad ballad, the converse state of the previous song is explored, here the narrator is battling the numbness of being out of the drama, stuck in a sensory-deprivation tank, anaesthesized and battling to emerge from the fog. Wrong Planet explores an otherworldly pop music, hewing a bright hook out of a sense of confusion. A bona-fide, sing-along chorus bursts out of the narrator musing on the absurdity of existing in this reality. It speaks of one of Julia McFarlane’s main talents, her knack of inspecting human relationships and states with a clear perspective, like an alien visiting Earth and realising everything we are is really, really strange. Whoopee is both more accessible than previous Reality Guest work and somehow more obfuscated. Where the production on Ta Da was dry, sharp and strange, this Reality Guest is blurred, almost smeared with the effluvium of 90s+00s culture and existence. Through it all, it’s hard to deny the undeniable pull of the songs. Precious Boy carries on the lounge theme with a whole sampler of cut up sounds fading in and out of the haze as McFarlane’s voice is right up to the speaker cooing and free- associating, maybe in love or maybe in confusion... maybe they’re the same thing? Sometimes the listener is invited to just bathe in the tone of the vocal, as on Apocalypse, where the texture and timbre of the vocal is luxurious, bathing in piano tinkles and double bass throb. On lead single Slinky, a cut up beat reminiscent of Washingtonian Go-Go drum patterns leads, the song slipping through your fingers, elusive and presenting sound as pure pleasure. Closer Caviar jumps back into the broken breakbeats of a surreal funk, fuelled by the sensory pleasure of the music, a hedonistic whirl in rapture, the narrator now living life to the fullest in all its giddy heights and deep troughs. This is the album’s main character fully-actualised and in the terrible, beautiful moment.

Happy we can introduce a new addition to our catalog THINNER005, an EP called

“ & . . “

as the title tells, it’s a joint release by our friends, KOOLMFL, Sonic Weapon &. . Lemmi Ash

“& . . “ EP includes three club tracks, which been power played by Powder over these years in many different moment.

Each track can add a distinctive touch to the night, as like completing your cocktail with lemon and/or lime.

_

KOOLMFL, fka K-LINE and Sonic Weapon is our regular suspects from Nagoya, motor city of JAPAN.

Some may know them putting out a shared EP “G” before on Thinner Groove and now they back to it again.

atonbow by KOOLMFL features words of a space traveller in state of peaceful sorrow, seemingly communicating their honest thought to the loved one who might not be hearing, Can you hear me ? … Hi astronaut, at least we can :)

KOOL’s clicky drum work pass the words to the floor, and the party breaks down with sudden synth and take all of us home.

,

On track HOMIE, Sonic Weapon shows his signature fast boogie style again in a new approach with much dubbed out, ear pleasing, filtering, minimalistic, and stylistic way. The texture keeps changing but keeping the groove.

Feels like the beauty of watching a bridge getting slowly collapsing after somehow you made it to the other side.

& . .



We also want to introduce Lemmi Ash, a Swedish duo formed by Samo DJ and Martinou, newly joining the TG spectrum,

The duo previously had a release from ESP institute and each of them countless solo appearance on various releases . . .

Nonetheless, they a good long time friend and perfect fit for this release.

The duo features comfy calming ear tickling electronic sound with some kiddish, animalistic, or primitive humor in their own balance. This track Presence grooves with a leaning forward racing gamey phrase drifting around the mini synth explosion, feels like a joyful cruise during regardless the intense highway.

Bogota's ATAQUE ZERO return just over two years after their debut with their second 12" EP 'Ciudades'. They are an international band with members from Venezuela, Colombia and France who formed around the Rat Trap scene which gave the world MURO, TRAMPA and ALAMBRADA among others, all of whom share members with ATAQUE ZERO. They've stepped things up on all fronts for Ciudades and bring you five new anthems that have built on all the promises their debut EP made. The songs are passionate, angry and maybe even channelling a bit of STIFF LITTLE FINGERS as well as PELIGRO SOCIAL and LEATHERFACE this time too. Everything here is the right balance of taste and power and we can't wait to see what they come up with next.

It’s a family affair. One formed almost thirty years ago, back in the mid-nineties, when the pair joined seminal French jazz combo Olympic Grammofon. For twenty-four years they have worked together as Bumcello, each complementing the other, echoing polar opposites. The Boom in Bumcello is none other than Cyril Atef, incisive drummer, relentlessly pushing beats towards new horizons. The Cello is Vincent Ségal, cellist without blinkers and extraordinary musical alchemist. Since 1999, these two die-hard music fans, coming together for mercurial results, have released one record after the other whilst conquering the hearts of their live audiences, old regulars as well as new recruits. We have all been seduced by the way their music leapfrogs categories - these two experts are much more interested in kindred spirits than pigeonholing, and this very spirit is celebrated on more than one track of this ninth record, whose concept is original to say the least.

Everything began with an idea by Cyril Atef - a soundtrack based upon drawings penned by Marin, Vincent’s son, architect and visual artist. The musicians involved then coached their reaction to these images on a score, and the pair were charged with collating and adjusting the results. These thirteen ink drawings, in a heroic fantasy vein, constituted a matrix which was then to serve as a guide, like a roadmap through a singular and multi-faceted labyrinth. The key to this sonic fresco is in Bumcello’s image – an eclectic aesthetic twinned with a great sense of contrast. Herein lies the trademark of this entity animated by the gift of musical ubiquity, gorged on scales and rhythms, capable of a slap as much as a gentle caress. From classical music to electronics, from improvised music to sophisti-pop, everything is allowed with no preconceived ideas. They can even reclaim the traditions of others, all the better to propel them towards new horizons - this is how the very history of music has always panned out.

If you listen between the lines and look at the details, more than one piece bears witness to the moments and individuals that have impacted the criss-crossing lives of Vincent and Cyril. The track Crash is the perfect excuse to create a Jamaican-style jam with New York inflections, and we can see, in capital letters, the name Hilaire Penda, playing alongside Bumcello at the Apollo Theater in the associated drawing. This bass player from Cameroon, who died on 5th November 2018, was more than just a friend for the two Frenchmen. He was one of the family. Similarly, they give a nod to another Cameroonian, and another departed friend - singer of rock band les Têtes brûlées, Zanzibar, through the vocals of fellow countryman Zanzi. The ghost of Rémi Kolpa Kopul, emblematic voice of Radio Nova, haunts the margins of Spark Av, in a vocal sample with a smattering of effects. As for I Remember Tim, it directly honours the memory of Timothy Jerome Parker, aka The Gift Of Gab, another friend who left us in 2021. Tim is depicted in a drawing with the docks of Oakland in the background, and it’s his alter ego within Blackalicious, Chief Xcel, who remotely added his signature to the track, notably by adding the words of Lateef The Truthspeaker to brass and woodwind sounds.

These are the only additions to Bumcello’s original nucleus, all the better to create a genuine musical concoction where Vincent Taurelle is in charge of production and mixing sessions recorded live and direct. He is also invited for a twinkle on the keys (piano, synths, Wurlitzer, organ), on a handful of tracks. Already at the commands of previous opus Monster Talk, always taking care over the slightest detail, the one that makes all the difference, this pianist is now also part of the family. “Everything he brings is perfect, whether added though slight touches or through very important choices”, say the two members of a combo which today, appears to us under the guise of a trio, adding an extra dimension to a far-reaching mix, in the image of the veiled or more explicit tributes making up the cornerstones of this release.

Booker, a drawing where we see the musicians enter a club, honours James Booker, great pianist from New Orleans who has always fascinated Vincent, in a genre that is off-beat and gender defying. Her Story was created by Cyril in support of the Iranian women’s movement. Aysyen Kampe evokes, even in the original drawing, a tradition that remains impactful for Bumcello – Haitian mysticism, and Ouï Khouïette Ouï conjures up the beats of the Allaoui, a war dance from Western Algeria, one they have taken part in in the past with the help of Cheikha Rabia. They deliver a metal version, original and surprising, especially as Marin Ségal’s drawing features the Nicholas Brothers, those iconic dancers of the 30s jazz scene!

Resolutely hard to pin down, Bumcello’s beats can initially take on the structure of disjointed house, though Sangre begins like a film soundtrack, “in a Mexican style” adds Vincent, who was at the origin of this track. A delicate alap on the cello can open up onto afrobeat rhythms, a well-pitched voice can enchant, like on the amazing The City Has Eyes which has everything of a hummable pop hit. Emblematic of this manner of encompassing all music without being exclusive, Le Grand Sommeil, a direct reference to the Howard Hawks movie inspired by Raymond Chandler, a precursor of David Lynch, begins nice and smooth but ends on a wild tempo, on a drum’n’bass tip, as in the good old days of Cithéa, when this Party story began in the other century.

Six years ago, Oum Shatt released a critically acclaimed debut album that led to Song of the Year awards from Berlin Radio Eins ("Gold To Straw") and TAZ Popblog ("Power To The Women Of The Morning Shift"), as well as BBC and Arte features and appearances at SXSW, Transmusicales in France and Electric Picnic in Ireland. Now, the Berlin-based band, whose members are otherwise known from bands such as Kissogram, Fenster, Die Türen, Golden Showers and Peaches, consisting of singer and songwriter Jonas Poppe, founding member Chris Imler on drums, guitarist Richard Murphy, and Rémi Letournelle on bass and synthesizer – return with a second effort that even surpasses their debut. Building on the minimal-rock style of their debut album (Vogue Magazine), OUM SHATT weaves a mystic, at times psychedelic soundscape with meandering guitars, a wild percussive aesthetic, and Jonas Poppe’s evocative, mantra-like baritone. "Opt Out" also stands as a thematic concept album, delving into the individual's various forms of resistance against societal expectations. While drawing from obscure influences, the album remains unmistakably unique.

Opt Out by Oum Shatt, released 26 January 2024, includes the following tracks: "Love the Way She Stands", "Madame LeSoleil LeVant", "Over the World and Out", "Investors" and more.

This version of Opt Out comes as a 1xLP.

The vinyl is pressed as a blue disc.

1961, Port Richmond, Staten Island, NYC: Five kids stumble into a community center, sent by their parents to keep them off the streets and out of trouble. A lifelong friendship is formed over their shared love of doo-wop. The kids start learning harmony and the next thing they know they're cutting records. The group begins to gain steam as they take their act to the packed clubs around New York City. But history has other plans for the boys. First, The Beatles invade America, making doo-wop yesterday's news. Then, the United States invades Vietnam and two of the five boys are sent off to the jungle. Reintroducing: The Splendids. 61 years after their initial formation, the group has reconvened to cut two truly breathtaking records. With three of the five surviving original members weaving together heartfelt harmonies, the group has regenerated themselves and enlisted the help of multi-platinum soul singer Eamon to sing lead. Eamon is no stranger to doo-wop, as he got his start in the music business touring the Northeast as a young boy with a group his father Walter formed in the 90's. With this father and son reunion on these two tracks, the listener is taken back to a time when walking down the street you might come across a gang of youth singing their hearts out on a street corner, serenading the city with their souls. The Splendids hired Los Angeles based producer and multi-instrumentalist Dan Ubick to produce the records and conjure up the retro rhythm and blues sounds of the 1960's. Frequent Eamon collaborator the Oklahoman Benj Heard was then brought on to mix and produce the vocals. Both Ubick and Heard's sonic fingerprints add texture and groove to the groups legacy on 'Cry Baby Cry' and 'Blame My Heart'. Generations have come together from coast-to-coast to take back what history took from them. Enjoy the sweet, sweet sounds of true soul. Enjoy The Splendids.

Introducing Atoll: Unleashing the Unrelenting Power of extreme Metal... Prepare for an auditory assault like never before as extreme metal band Atoll is set to unleash their bone-shattering new double Album "Human Extract/Inhuman Implants." With brutal grooves, guttural vocals, and a relentless onslaught of sonic chaos, Atoll continues to redefine the boundaries of the death metal genre. "Human Extract/Inhuman Implants" is a merciless dive into the darkest depths of the human psyche. Drawing inspiration from the macabre and the unknown, Atoll's latest offering takes listeners on a spine- chilling journey. With hauntingly atmospheric lyrics, the band delves deep into the horrors of this otherworldly experience, creating a musical narrative that will leave fans on the edge of their seats. True to their signature style, Atoll unleashes a sonic tempest upon the listener, combining relentless blast beats, blistering guitars, and soul-crushing basslines. The guttural vocals pierce through the dense wall of sound, delivering a sinister intensity that adds a chilling layer of malevolence to the composition. "Human Extract" showcases the band's exceptional musicianship and their unwavering commitment to pushing the boundaries of extreme metal. Atoll has amassed a loyal following through their relentless live performances and uncompromising dedication to their craft. Their ability to conjure an electrifying atmosphere that grips audiences, coupled with their unmatched stage presence, has earned them a reputation as one of the most formidable forces in the metal scene. With "Human Extract," Atoll proves once again why they are at the forefront of the Extreme metal movement. "We wanted to create a sonic experience that would engulf listeners in an eerie atmosphere, where the boundaries between reality and the unknown blur," says Wade Taylor the band's vocalist. "With 'Human Extract,/Inhuman Implants' we aimed to capture the essence of fear and vulnerability, delivering a musical journey that mirrors the horrors of alien abduction and the horrors of earth and man. It's an intense, cathartic exploration of the human condition." -Atollbone-shattering new Album "Human Extract." With brutal grooves, guttural vocals, and a relentless
onslaught of sonic chaos, Atoll continues to redefine the boundaries of the death metal genre. Beautiful
bloodwork petri dish colored vinyl in gatefold sleeve.

This Is The Sea is the third album by The Waterboys. Released in September 1985 and includes the classic single,The Whole of The Moon, along with other tracks, Don't Bang The Drum, The Pan Within and Old England. Considered by critics to be the finest album of their early rock-orientated sound, described as "epic" and "a defining moment" in the bands ongoing career.

This new clear vinyl edition is a companion piece to the (also) forthcoming 6CD Deluxe box set '1985', the making of the This Is The Sea album.

The format is 12" 3mm spine sleeve with silver OBI, printed insert and on 180gm clear vinyl

After the success of his first two albums, both received with critical acclaim, and his productive collaborations with Peter Greenaway, Peter Lindbergh and many others, Italian composer/multi-instrumentalist Luca D’Alberto is to release his third album entitled “In our hearts.”

A symphony in three acts that pursues his research into the perfect balance between neoclassical and electronic music forms.

Introducing the anticipated 7" re-release of the Equasions single 'It's So Hard To Say "So Long"' & 'World Of Lonliness'. A timeless soul/funk single recorded in San Antonio in 1971, revered by sweet soul collectors internationally, has now become available for the first time in over 50 years through Symphonical Records, in partnership with band leader/songwriter, Robert Williams.

This limited repress is a testament to the sound of San Antonio. The Equasions were immersed in the city's defining impression, performing alongside other local acts Royal Jestors, Sunny & The Sunliners, The Primes, Joe Jama plus many more, all of whom worked to carve out the Alamo sound, one that resonates continues to inspire today.

The 5-piece vocal group, led by Robert Williams, consisted of Vernon Shannon, James Hartfield, Ricky Cotton, and Lamar Sumter. Brackenridge High School graduates, the group were formerly known as 'The Volumes', with their first single being released on Manny Guerra's imprint, 'Garu'. Two years later, the group switched members and formed their new name, recording their single at Joey Internationals studio.

Robert remarks that both songs were written as a universal message; for no one in particular but everyone can relate to. 'It's So Hard To Say "So Long"', is a poignant sentiment to lost love, yet hope created through beautiful harmonies, whereas 'World Of Lonliness' is a psychedelic reflection of society of the era, which Robert mentions remains true today.

Mehr als vier Jahre nach dem Release ihres gefeierten letzten Albums "Somersault" ("Payseur's most nuanced songs to date" Pitchfork) meldet sich die LoFi/Dreampop-Formation Beach Fossils um den Sänger und Songwriter Dustin Payseur mit einem neuen musikalischen Lebenszeichen zurück! "The Other Side Of Life: Piano Ballads" präsentiert die beliebtesten Songs der Band im jazzigen Klavierballaden-Gewand. Das von Frontmann Dustin Payseur geleitete Projekt ist von seiner Liebe zu Künstlern wie Bill Evans, Lester Young, Chet Baker und Vince Guaraldi inspiriert. Mit einer Gruppe professionell ausgebildeter Jazzmusiker interpretiert Payseur einige seiner größten Hits aus dem Katalog der Beach Fossils neu. Auch der ehemalige Schlagzeuger Tommy Gardner konnte für die Aufnahmesessions zurückgewonnen werden. Auf "The Other Side Of Life" spielt Gardner Klavier, Saxofon und Kontrabass, während Henry Kwapis am Schlagzeug zu hören ist. Zusammen mit Payseurs melancholischem Gesang bildet sein dezentes Schlagzeugspiel den roten Faden zwischen den Originalversionen und den atemberaubenden Neuinterpretationen.

Mehr als vier Jahre nach dem Release ihres gefeierten letzten Albums "Somersault" ("Payseur's most nuanced songs to date" Pitchfork) meldet sich die LoFi/Dreampop-Formation Beach Fossils um den Sänger und Songwriter Dustin Payseur mit einem neuen musikalischen Lebenszeichen zurück! "The Other Side Of Life: Piano Ballads" präsentiert die beliebtesten Songs der Band im jazzigen Klavierballaden-Gewand. Das von Frontmann Dustin Payseur geleitete Projekt ist von seiner Liebe zu Künstlern wie Bill Evans, Lester Young, Chet Baker und Vince Guaraldi inspiriert. Mit einer Gruppe professionell ausgebildeter Jazzmusiker interpretiert Payseur einige seiner größten Hits aus dem Katalog der Beach Fossils neu. Auch der ehemalige Schlagzeuger Tommy Gardner konnte für die Aufnahmesessions zurückgewonnen werden. Auf "The Other Side Of Life" spielt Gardner Klavier, Saxofon und Kontrabass, während Henry Kwapis am Schlagzeug zu hören ist. Zusammen mit Payseurs melancholischem Gesang bildet sein dezentes Schlagzeugspiel den roten Faden zwischen den Originalversionen und den atemberaubenden Neuinterpretationen.

Perifaerye is a multi-part work of art comprising of 18 soundscapes, 36 digital drawings and 24 writings. Perifaerye is at once a record release, a book, a website; in the autumn of 2023 a series of playlists were published on billboards, linking the online soundscapes to the real-life physical realm. This publication is an artistic hybrid: a vinyl record / book combining sound, image and text.

The 18 audio works condense the sounds of the urban periphery into a sonic cartography. In Hamburg-Eidelstedt, people live in smaller detached houses and in larger apartment blocks. New housing estates have been developed recently in direct neighbourhood to the motorway, and currently in the district centre; a district where post-war housing estates and architectural remnants from a village past co-exist. Even meadows and fields, surrounded by the noise of motorways and other traffic, aeroplanes (the airport is close by) and railways (passenger and und freight trains, long distance, regional and local services). This collection of soundscapes – each a short composition on its own – presents a sonic portrait of a contemporary urban area.

In spring 2023, Jorn Ebner recorded the urban spaces of the Hamburg district of Eidelstedt. For each audio piece there is an image. The artist’s writings reflect and accompany the creative process.

For this book and record, Sebastian Kokus and Thomas Korf created a very haptic design. Each part of the whole can be experienced as a single piece: the A2-sized poster is part of the outer sleeve; the booklet presents image and text (German only); the record is visible through the holes in the inner and outer sleeves and forms part of the cover.

World Of Echo are proud to announce the long-awaited reissue, on 17th February, of the self-titled debut album by Bristol’s Movietone. Originally released in 1995 by Planet Records and reissued on CD in 2003 by The Pastels’ Geographic Music imprint, this is the first time Movietone has been reissued on vinyl. An expanded double-LP edition, it includes the extra tracks from the 2003 CD (their first two singles, and an unreleased demo of “Chance Is Her Opera”), and adds three more unearthed gems: demos of “Alkaline Eye” and “She Smiled Mandarine Like”, and an early take of “Late July”, recorded in a garden by Dave Pearce (Flying Saucer Attack) in 1993. Taken together, this is the definitive collection of music from the first phase of one of Bristol’s most remarkable groups.

Movietone was the cumulation of a series of events, explorations, and discoveries, starting at secondary school – the group’s core membership of Kate Wright, Rachel Brook, Matt Elliott and Matt Jones met at Cotham School in Bristol. As for many other groups, their early years were all about experimenting, and finding ways to ‘make do’, a DIY sensibility that would inform Movietone through their decade-long lifespan. From formative rehearsals in a shed in the garden of Brook’s family home, to recording early material to four-track in Redland Library, and on into the Whitehouse and Mr Grin’s studio sessions for their debut album, Movietone’s music fell together in a creatively unpredictable, yet conceptually rigorous manner.

By the time they released Movietone, they’d found a home with Bristol’s Planet, run by author Richard King and James Webster, who had both released their first two singles, “She Smiled Mandarine Like” and “Mono Valley”. There was other music happening around them in Bristol, too, from the Jones brothers’ avant-rock outfit Crescent (who were Movietone’s closest conspirators), through Elliott’s jungle/electronica project Third Eye Foundation, and Brook and Elliott’s membership of Flying Saucer Attack. A closely knit community, Movietone are the centre of this nestling architecture of groups.

The vision in the music, mostly, belongs to Wright, but Movietone ran in democratic creative consort. Listening back to Movietone, you can hear this democracy in action through the wildness of the music, which is balanced by the poetics of Wright’s lyrics and melodies. Full of half-captured memories and entangled abstractions, there’s an elliptical, ruminative quality to much of the writing here that shows the deep influence of the Beat Generation writers, along with a twilight environment captured in the songs that’s pure third-album Velvets, Galaxie 500, early Tindersticks, Codeine. Unpredictable interventions – the crashing glass in “Mono Valley”, the sudden explosions of “Orange Zero” – point towards the noise blowouts of My Bloody Valentine, the unpredictability of Sonic Youth; Wright’s understated vocal cadence suggest a deep, embodied understanding of John Cage’s Indeterminacy.

Movietone would go on to make three fantastic albums for Domino – Night & Day (1997), The Blossom Filled Streets (2000) and The Sand & The Stars (2003) – and their Peel Sessions were released early in 2022 by Textile. Still held in high regard by artists like Steven R. Smith, and The Pastels, whose Stephen McRobbie once described them as “one of the great unknown English groups,” it’s an absolute thrill to listen to Movietone anew – still inspired, still seductive, still magic, still mysterious.

Repress!

Get ready for an electrifying revelation as we delve into the mind-blowing credits of this extraordinary record! This record has an outrageous lineup as Moplen is let loose to brilliantly remix and reprise Loose Change’s timeless masterpiece, “Straight From the Heart. A track that emerged from the creative genius of none other than Tom Moulton, the legendary maestro behind legendary Donna Summer’s iconic hits. But that’s not all! Enter the realm of Thor Baldursson, the brilliant mastermind known for his groundbreaking concepts and awe-inspiring arrangements. Together, the three of them form a disco dream team!

Black vinyl LP. Debut album by striking experimental duo featuring Aboriginal songman Fred Leone. Mixed by Jake Miller (Björk, Arca), mastered by Alex Wharton (The Beatles, MBV). RIYL: Autechre, Arca, Björk. Yirinda means 'Now' in Butchulla language. Australian duo Yirinda combine ancient Aboriginal language with sublime modern production. Fred Leone and Samuel Pankhurst's music invokes thousands of generations of story and culture, while emerging as something entirely new. Fred is one of three Butchulla songmen - a song and language custodian for the Butchulla people from the Fraser Coast region of Queensland, including K’gari (formerly known as Fraser Island). He sings the songs on this album in the endangered Butchulla language, now spoken by only a handful of people. Samuel is an internationally acclaimed contrabassist / producer known for his kaleidoscopic harmonies and polyrhythmic mastery. Their self-titled debut album was recorded in Brisbane by Samuel, then mixed in London by Jake Miller (Björk, Arca, Yves Tumor) and mastered at Abbey Road by Alex Wharton (The Beatles, My Bloody Valentine). The album sets Fred’s powerful vocals against striking experimental soundscapes, rich with strings, horns, double bass, synthesizer, piano and percussion. Every arrangement began with Fred's voice alone and from there sounds and systems were constructed. The result is otherworldly, a timeless art music outside Western convention. Yirinda have performed at the Australian Art Music Awards, Vivid Festival, Golden Plains, Dark Mofo, Supersense and elsewhere, and been covered by ABC Radio and NME Australia. Fred has toured Europe as a member of The Black Arm Band, and as a solo artist supporting Ash Grunwald. He founded Australia’s first Aboriginal hip hop label Impossible Odds in the late 2000s. Samuel has performed with the Brodsky Quartet and is a member of the Australian Art Orchestra. He has scored extensively for contemporary dance, and his studio work covers everything from the Bluey TV show to Hiatus Kaiyote

Jakku are Per Ingvaldur Højgaard Petersen and Bárður Næs both born and raised on the Faroe Islands. On their debut EP “Fashion” they unveil their unique take on dark, spiritual electronica locked to chopped up traditional singing from the Faroes as well as other corners of the world.

Jakku have labelled it Kingodub after a primeval form of hymn singing which is still practiced on the isles. Expect deep, heavy beats with ancient marching and chanting

Opaque white vinyl in printed innersleeve, includes Bonus 7". A Welsh rock trio with a predilection for delivering stadium-sized riffs with shoegazey vistas and dreamy post-punk riffage, The Joy Formidable return with their new album 'Into The Blue', to be released August 20th 2021. Taking a cue from bands like Yeah Yeah Yeahs, My Bloody Valentine, and Arcade Fire, the trio have continued to push their expansive sound on previous studio albums, from the breakthrough debut 'The Big Roar' (2011), through to the last studio album 'AAARTH' (2018), whilst always maintaining the hook-driven indie rock foundation laid down on their debut EP 'A Balloon Called Moaning' (2009). Currently the band split their time between their native Wales and the closest thing they could find in the U.S, "In the middle of nowhere" Utah, where they recorded the new album 'Into The Blue', which is being released worldwide this summer. March 26 brings us the first single in the campaign, title track 'Into The Blue'; we invite you to hear a band that reflected on where they've been, and where they needed to go for their next chapter. "Into the Blue is about opening your eyes to beauty & love again. Making it to the other side. Whilst not conceived as a metaphor for the times we all live in now, it certainly turned out that way" - Ritzy, Rhydian & Matt - The Joy Formidable

In the beginning was a half-truth, the truth was of war and the half-truth was post-war. Fancying the pretensions of its cultural superiority, a continent chose to hide the truth behind ridiculous jargon and the soothing distance of offshored ?????????. Europe wished itself beyond war because it thought the privilege of peace a birthright, just as it refused to understand that post-war was a euphemism for interbellum. Then the truth has set us free.

The delusion was discarded and war was revealed as an inconceivable horror. Almost immediately it turned familiar and virtually comfortable. Novelty songs of drones gutting tanks became a laughing matter and the burning tanks, their crew inside, entertainment. Consequently, a plurality of people started to collectively dream of new stages of the righteous kind of carnage. This happened within weeks.

Our imagination has swollen to the point of loss of consciousness, compounded by the narrative form long in the sways of atrophy. All of this raises the question of to what degree were the years of peace culturally squandered. The art of the previous age prided itself on self-awareness, today we fail to even notice that we no longer recognize ourselves. But we have arrived where we started and our issues were not too complex for expression.

Since no art form generates action, the most appropriate art for a culture on the edge of extinction is one that simulates pain. In these times we shouldn't produce any other music, none but this, intended to prevent our silence from being misinterpreted.

2023 Repress

Maston’s Darkland is a breezy collection of the material from the Tulips sessions that didn’t make it on to the original LP. Originally a digital-only release for those in the know in the autumn of 2018, after re-issuing Tulips in 2020 it made too much sense for Be With to give Darkland a vinyl release.

Like Tulips, Darkland was recorded mostly in Hoorn, in the Netherlands, between 2015-2017 during downtime from Frank’s touring duties with Jacco Gardner’s band. Bits were also done in Los Angeles on some extended trips back home.

The collection plays like an alternate view of Maston’s instant modern classic Tulips; a companion piece to the LP proper with similar mixture of shorter themes and more full length tracks. As Frank Maston explains: “I think Darkland is the shadow of Tulips in a way… what it might’ve been in a different universe. But the heart of Tulips beats in these songs as well and they evoke the same memories and feelings for me. I see my process playing out across these songs - lots of experimentation and trying out new techniques and sounds and just sort of going for it.”

Frank goes on: “It was all from the same pool of material, like 30+ ideas. I was making a lot of little demos… some would be more fleshed out and become songs and others would just be a cool riff and not go anywhere. When I started trying to form it all into an LP I went through all the sessions and ideas and collected the ones I thought were the most fleshed out and cohesive together as a whole. There were a fair amount of songs that were finished and in hindsight really should have been on Tulips (like what would’ve been the title track). And the rest of these songs are either very early versions of tunes that ended up on Tulips or some cool ideas that just ended up being dead ends. It definitely shows how wide my net was in the beginning before I narrowed the record down stylistically.”

Darkland opens with its ornate 39 second title-track before striding into “Tulips”, that full-length title-track that never was. It’s a real head-nod, percussive-rich electric piano stunner that would’ve been a comfortable standout on the album proper. But now this “downlifting” gem is given ample room to shine on this record.

The funky organ-led bass and drums workout “Immaculate Conception” will keep your neck gently snapping while MPC fiends go reaching for their sampler. And that’s gospel. “Love Theme No 3” cuts a breathtakingly stylish vibra-slapped swathe through the middle of the opening side before we’re startled by the pronounced bass and twinkling percussion of “The Owl In Daylight”. Charming digi-drums underpin the wonky synth (quiet-)banger “Innovative Patterns” which has a lovely melodic switch-up in the final third before the tempo (and hairs on your neck) rise on the faintly creepy yet imminently groovy “Osiris”. The gorgeously soft-focus “Groove Experiment No 3” closes out the first half in slow-mo wonderment.

The lushly melancholic “Raincloud” ushers in side B before the emotionally-stirring “Phonic” taps at the door, coming on like the long lost sister to Pet Sounds’ “Let’s Go Away For A While”. Next up, the swooning beauty “Love Theme No 2” keenly sways in front of you, growing ever more insistent and hypnotic. The too-short “Italian Summer” conjures the same flirtatious imagery as the title hints at whilst “Endless” is a fascinating “piano-pella” alternative version to “Rain Dance” from Tulips. “Wonder Theme” has a nostalgic, exotic 60s swing and album closer “Willow” is a hushed, campfire folk gem. The gently circular strumming is just magical.

Speaking to Aquarium Drunkard back in 2019 about the sessions that became Tulips, Frank noted: “I was really surprised by the lack of sunlight during my first winter in Holland, so I would call it Darkland which then became the name of the first demo I wrote during that time. It was also the working title of the record when I first started writing. Some are full songs that didn’t make the cut (including what would have been the title track), some are just ideas that I never finished.”

Whilst we were working on Darkland’s vinyl release Frank explained more specifically about the music that didn’t make it on to Tulips: “When I was putting together the tracklisting for Tulips I was already thinking that whatever didn’t make it onto the LP would be cool to release eventually somehow. The response to Tulips has been so passionate over the years that it’s nice to be able to offer another piece of that world. And for me personally it’s amazing to have more of my work out there in the world. Most common bit of feedback was that many of these songs should have been on Tulips. The odd friend says it’s much better than Tulips.”

Just like Tulips before it, Simon Francis’s vinyl mastering for Darkland has been cut at 45rpm so you can trip out to this as well at a woozy 33 1/3. The artwork too has been designed by Frank himself as a literal visual continuation of the Tulips cover.

We couldn’t possibly say whether Darkland is better than Tulips, and luckily we don’t have to decide.

The music of Atlanta trio Omni has always swung fast and hit hard. And Souvenir, their fourth album and second for Sub Pop, packs their biggest punch yet. Inactive during the majority of the pandemic-the longest downtime in their history-they approached this recording with lots of pent-up energy. Guitarist Frankie Broyles, singer/bassist Philip Frobos, and drummer Chris Yonker converted their creative fuel into sharp, driving songs that land immediately, sporting chopping riffs, staccato beats, and wiry melodies. Why does Souvenir sound so sharp? Because each track is a compact unit that stands on its own, reflecting the time and place in which it was created. That's why Omni called the album Souvenir: it's a collection of audio objects, a stash of musical miniatures. Think of it as a family photo album, a binder of rare playing cards, a shoebox holding precious gems. Take "Plastic Pyramid," the first song Omni wrote after coming out of lockdown. Filled with twists and turns, it's a journey unto itself, charged by clanging chords, spinning rhythm, and Frobos trading lines with Izzy Glaudini of Automatic, with whom Omni toured with last fall. (Glaudini sings on two other Souvenir tracks, the first guest vocalist the band has collaborated with). Or take opener "Exacto," a slicing web of intertwined guitar and bass. Its razor-fine notes and syncopated beats perfectly match pointillist Frobos lyrics such as "Exacto, de facto, concise, quite right"-a line that could well be an Omni mantra. The precision and clarity of Souvenir comes from some new Omni developments. For one, this is their first album with Yonker as their full-time drummer, and his forceful playing adds exclamation points to every pointed moment on Souvenir. In addition, the trio worked with Atlanta-based engineer Kristofer Sampson for the first time. Sampson pushed the band to a higher degree of power, with Frobos's vocals more upfront in his pulsing mix and the rest of the music leaping out of the speakers. You might notice that Frobos' singing is a bit more emotional and even nostalgic this time around. In crafting his vocals, he was inspired by the early college radio rock of formative favorites like REM, the Cure, and Big Audio Dynamite-the kind of bands whose melodies could have been top 40 hits in an alternative universe. The lyrics on Souvenir are also by turns funny, absurd, and even cryptic. A wry humor has always coursed through Omni's songs, and this time, it comes in shades of both dark and light. In "Granite Kiss," an "astronomical" love story concludes with the hope that "we can decay together," while in "PG," a romantic walk in the park includes a rose-colored mugging. Immediacy rushes throughout every moment of Souvenir, making it the band's most powerful album to date. Omni has truly crafted a musical keepsake-a set of songs that you'll want to keep close, an aural memento you'll cherish for the rest of time.

You just moved to the big city, you end up at a party where you don't know anyone and someone walks up to you and asks: "Hey, are you alone here?". That is exactly the feeling that Porcelain id describes on their debut album Bibi:1, short for the Arabic pet name Habibi. Porcelain id is the pseudonym under which Hubert Tuyishime (they/them/their) has been unleashing unique songs since 2020.

The album - inspired by their move from a quiet provincial town to Antwerp - is the soundtrack to walking into city traffic during rush hour and trusting to get out of the chaos in one piece. It is an ode to exciting encounters with complete strangers and to the friends you can come home to afterwards. A story about being a stranger in a city you've romanticized for so long, the rejection that comes with it, and the false nostalgia with which you look back on it all later on.

At first hearing, the completely English-language Bibi:1 may seem like a brusque farewell to the autobiographical intimacy and lo-fi singer-songwriter music on the previously released EPs Mango and Reprise, and especially on songs like Vlaanderen. But to Porcelain id it feels like an organic evolution. One towards more abstraction, experimentation and electronics, but never detached, and still building on the core of Porcelain id.

The new sound is the result of an intense collaboration with producer and partner in crime Youniss Ahamad, who, despite their different musical backgrounds, immediately felt challenged after Porcelain id's legendary elevator pitch: 'I want to make something that is situated between Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Yeezus by Kanye West'.

Together they drew the blueprint for Bibi:1 in Youniss' home studio. Track by track, without looking back. A sporadic, but rigid process that added to the intensity of the album. In the studio, the songs were taken to a higher level. The two invited a pack of talented friends and young musicians to the studio to add parts, a stark contrast to the solitary approach of previous EPs. Aram Abgaryan (recording engineer/synths/vocals), Nard Houdmeyers (guitar), Tim Caramin (drums), David Idrisov (bass), Alban Sarens (sax) and Emma Hessels (vocals) came by. Aram Santy was at the controls during the mixing sessions.

The result sounds like the ultimate symbiosis of Porcelain id and Youniss. Lofi, but ambitious. Fragile, but rough. Poppy, but disruptive. Sometimes challenging. Then welcoming again. Sometimes even danceable. Each song forms a small vignette that is part of a diverse, but coherent unity. Adam Coming Home and Low Poly are closest to the melancholy of Porcelain id's earlier work, while Lights! strikes a new path. First single Man Down, on the other hand, is inspired by the Antwerp students who drown every year and sounds like a wandering nightly stroll through the city. For Brilliant, David Idrisov was asked to 'play bass as if Chet Baker were not a trumpet player, but a bass player', a bizarre assignment that he accomplished with verve. And Cellophane flirts with emo trap and was sung with raspberries between the teeth, to simulate the effect of grills.

East Los Angeles quartet Levitation Room’s floaty, cosmic songs are always a trip. Since forming nearly a decade ago, they’ve self-produced dizzying, otherworldly music that’s connected with fellow travelers in the hallucinogenic world of outré rock music. Led by singer and guitarist Julian Porte along with founding members Gabriel Fernandez (lead guitar) and Johnathan Martin (percussion), the band has enchanted live audiences at Desert Daze and on tour with like-minded groups Post Animal and Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. The band’s vivid sound has found them placed on popular playlists like Modern Psychedelia and the legendary superproducer’s Danger Mouse Jukebox. Their 2015 debut, “Friends,” has surpassed 18 million streams. Joined by new member Kevin Perez (bass) in 2021, Levitation Room have continued to expand their colorful, unearthly sound, a process that has culminated with the vibrant new album Strange Weather. Collaborating with former Brian Jonestown Massacre keyboardist Rob Campanella, Jason Kick (Mild High Club), and Black Crowes’ Joel Robinow, Levitation Room take a new step in their story and vision with Strange Weather. The record’s lyrical narratives—about love in the park, life in the city, and the fact that “The world today is such an illusion”—are appropriately steeped in ’60s sonics and a dreamy, lo-fi atmosphere. It’s spacey, celestial guitar music for escaping into, and “it feels just like heaven.” Join Levitation Room on their new voyage.

East Los Angeles quartet Levitation Room’s floaty, cosmic songs are always a trip. Since forming nearly a decade ago, they’ve self-produced dizzying, otherworldly music that’s connected with fellow travelers in the hallucinogenic world of outré rock music. Led by singer and guitarist Julian Porte along with founding members Gabriel Fernandez (lead guitar) and Johnathan Martin (percussion), the band has enchanted live audiences at Desert Daze and on tour with like-minded groups Post Animal and Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. The band’s vivid sound has found them placed on popular playlists like Modern Psychedelia and the legendary superproducer’s Danger Mouse Jukebox. Their 2015 debut, “Friends,” has surpassed 18 million streams. Joined by new member Kevin Perez (bass) in 2021, Levitation Room have continued to expand their colorful, unearthly sound, a process that has culminated with the vibrant new album Strange Weather. Collaborating with former Brian Jonestown Massacre keyboardist Rob Campanella, Jason Kick (Mild High Club), and Black Crowes’ Joel Robinow, Levitation Room take a new step in their story and vision with Strange Weather. The record’s lyrical narratives—about love in the park, life in the city, and the fact that “The world today is such an illusion”—are appropriately steeped in ’60s sonics and a dreamy, lo-fi atmosphere. It’s spacey, celestial guitar music for escaping into, and “it feels just like heaven.” Join Levitation Room on their new voyage.

Remastered and first worldwide release (previously only limited availability in Iceland) Since first bursting onto the global punk scene in 2018, Icelandic trio GRÓA have thrilled audiences across the world by fully embracing an unruly freedom. Made up of sisters Hrafnhildur Einars Maríudóttir (aka Hrabba, age 22) and Karólína Einars Maríudóttir (aka Karó, age 20) and their childhood friend Fríða Björg Pétursdóttir (also 22), the Reykjavík-bred band merge elements of post-punk and noise-rock and art-pop with absolute abandon, arriving at an explosive yet magnificently arranged sound unlike any other. A local favorite, the Icelandic government has recently been sponsoring worldwide travel to share GRÓA with the rest of the world and in 2023 they have played shows around the world including in UK, Western and Eastern Europe as well as USA dates including Washington DC, Seattle, Chicago and New York City. They have recently recorded an in studio performance at KEXP which will be broadcast worldwide in January 2024 and more worldwide touring is planned for early 2024 to support the vinyl and CD releases. Listing iconoclasts like Sonic Youth, PJ Harvey, and Bikini Kill among their longtime inspirations, the Icelandic punk band GRÓA pursued their experimental impulses with more intensity and confidence on Í Glimmerheimi, matching the album’s shapeshifting sound with a surrealist but emotionally potent form of lyrical storytelling. “It’s about a girl who’s trying to escape the world she’s stuck in—this glitter world that looks so good on the surface, but it’s not where she’s meant to be,” says Karó in discussing the album’s concept. “There’s a song called ‘Jetpackstelpan,’ or ‘Jetpack Girl,’ where she leaves the world on a jetpack and flies away to the moon, and she’s never coming back again.” Opening on the kaleidoscopic rhythms and rowdy call-and-response vocals of “Fullkomið” (“Perfect”), Í Glimmerheimi brings that narrative to frenetic and dazzling life, ultimately closing out on “Skrímslið er að ná þér” (“The monster is getting you”): a serpentine and strangely mesmerizing epic whose swirling textures, otherworldly vocals, and sparse yet complex guitar tones illuminate the immense scope and depth of GRÓA’s artistry.

London soul star Jordan Mackampa returns with a new album titled Welcome Home, Kid! out 16 February 2024 via AWAL. This new music sees Jordan come back to his love of R&B, soul, funk and gospel with references to Dru Hill and Blackstreet, producing a new sound that nods to his earlier soundcloud works and the nostalgia of his childhood. It's brazen and bold and presents an incredibly assured artist that is no longer afraid to show off their Blackness, queerness, or sexual expression in all their forms. Getting to this place has taken Jordan decades of growth, patience & gruelling lessons to reach this state and now he can stand in his Blackness proudly. This album tells the story of how he got to this place of self-worth and the stories of the varying complex but beautiful perspectives about the Black experience. He is open and honest about sex, intimacy, imposter syndrome and how he navigates healthy love, toxic heartbreak, friendships and forgiveness. The core theme of this record is introspection with Jordan explaining, “This was a big theme for me in writing a lot of these songs because no one else has lived life in my shoes, I really had to take other peoples’ opinions & stories out of the writing and put myself at the forefront of everything. Which in turn, made me put the guitar down more and stand centre stage naked in a way. This new album for me feels even more personal now - I use more self language of “I” over “we” because all of these stories are about me and my life in even more depth than the first record touched upon, whilst covering more bases either through my own first person story telling of something current I’m dealing with or a past situation I’m using music to heal through. The debut was me figuring out shit, this album is me putting the last puzzle piece on the board.”

East Los Angeles quartet Levitation Room’s floaty, cosmic songs are always a trip. Since forming nearly a decade ago, they’ve self-produced dizzying, otherworldly music that’s connected with fellow travelers in the hallucinogenic world of outré rock music. Led by singer and guitarist Julian Porte along with founding members Gabriel Fernandez (lead guitar) and Johnathan Martin (percussion), the band has enchanted live audiences at Desert Daze and on tour with like-minded groups Post Animal and Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. The band’s vivid sound has found them placed on popular playlists like Modern Psychedelia and the legendary superproducer’s Danger Mouse Jukebox. Their 2015 debut, “Friends,” has surpassed 18 million streams. Joined by new member Kevin Perez (bass) in 2021, Levitation Room have continued to expand their colorful, unearthly sound, a process that has culminated with the vibrant new album Strange Weather. Collaborating with former Brian Jonestown Massacre keyboardist Rob Campanella, Jason Kick (Mild High Club), and Black Crowes’ Joel Robinow, Levitation Room take a new step in their story and vision with Strange Weather. The record’s lyrical narratives—about love in the park, life in the city, and the fact that “The world today is such an illusion”—are appropriately steeped in ’60s sonics and a dreamy, lo-fi atmosphere. It’s spacey, celestial guitar music for escaping into, and “it feels just like heaven.” Join Levitation Room on their new voyage.

Mutagenicos (in English, "Mutagens...agents of change) were formed at the end of 2008, their base of operations being the wine region of Spain, Logroño in La Rioja. Influenced by traditional garage, surf and rockn´roll, but with their feet firmly planted in the present. Their brilliant, long-delayed, new album is finally out! They started as a quintet playing mainly instrumental songs, but little by little, both the formation and the compositions, have been undergoing mutations, making way for other musical genres with a greater number of sung songs, although always there remains room for instrumentals. For more than 3 years the band had stabilized as a trio: Santi Pequeno (bass) Pablo Magariños (drums and vocals) Alfredo Roto (guitar and vocals). But as they are irresistible to change, Miguel Aguas has joined, contributing percussion, synths, choruses, and much-needed height! But what has never, and will never, change is the is the fundamental driver of the band: fun above all. Which is what rock´n´roll is supposed to be, right?

Clear Vinyl

Blue Lake is the musical moniker of American born, Copenhagen based multidisciplinary artist and musician Jason Dungan, who signs to the Tonal Union imprint for the release of his new longform album ‘Sun Arcs’. It follows 2022’s release ‘Stikling’, earning a nomination for ‘Album of the Year’ at the Danish Music Awards plus warm praise from The Hum blog and musicians and DJs alike including Jack Rollo (Time is Away/NTS) and Carla dal Forno. A self taught player, Dungan began freely experimenting with self-built multi-string instruments, preferring to build his own hybrid 48-string zither and working in the realms of left-field ambient music, off kilter folk and improvised acoustic minimalism.

The starting point of ‘Sun Arcs’ saw Jason travel for a week alone to Andersabo, a cabin set in the idyllic Swedish woods just outside of Unnaryd, known also as the music project, festival and residency space which has been run by Dungan since 2016, hosting artists like Sofie Birch, Johan Carøe and Ellen Arkbro. Whilst writing 1-2 pieces per day, a conscious decision was made to leave behind everyday distractions and shut out the outside world to instead focus on the natural passage of time as Dungan recalls: “My only sense of time came from these daily walks out in the woods with my dog, and an awareness of the sun’s path as it moved across the sky each day.”

The album’s immersive world unfolds with the opener ‘Dallas’, an ode to his home state and a musical synthesis of these two disparate spaces (Texas and Denmark), the touchstones of Dungan’s life. A folk-esque single acoustic builds to a flowing arrangement of clarinets, organ and cello drones coupled with percussion. ‘Green-Yellow Field’ chimes in as the first of two solo oriented zither recordings twinned with the dreamlike title track ‘Sun Arcs’, both densely rich as cascading and overlapping harmonic tones resound. ‘Bloom’ emerges with a krautrock psyche before an eruption of cello drones, slide guitar and free-ranging zither playing, ushering in the anticipation of spring. With half of the recordings conceived in Andersabo, Jason returned to Copenhagen to form the album's centre piece ‘Rain Cycle’ which features a tempered Roland drum machine alongside shifting zither improvisations. ‘Writing’ explores the shimmering harp-like qualities of sweeping playing figurations with Dungan mapping out adjusted tuning “zones” on the zither for unconventional but creatively liberating effects. ‘Fur’ captures the feeling of openness and the momentum of time, seeing Dungan perform waves of solo clarinet, often in one takes and embellished with textural drones, a zither solo, and layers of guitar. ‘Wavelength’ the album's closer is fondly inspired by the film works of Michael Snow and Don Cherry’s seminal live album ‘Blue Lake’ (1974), as it builds out from a drone-generated zither chord and features an alto recorder solo. Dungan found a deep connection to Cherry’s stripped back performance ethos, focusing on the core beauty of minimal instrumentation creating a genre-less meeting between folk and jazz. A dialogue is formed between the solo and the bandlike performances, interlinked in a geographical duality with all finding a sense of commonplace as musical sketches of visited landscapes. The bountiful instrumentation ebbs and flows as further layers emerge with Dungan constructing his material much like an artist would, recording and reviewing, adding and subtracting.

Musically it portrays a form of double life led by an American-identifying person living in Scandinavia, and a new found presence in Denmark, seeking out underdeveloped marshlands and barren stretches of beach adrift from other rhythms and distractions. Highlighting their individual and potent importance Dungan concludes: “Both places feel like “me”, I think on some level the music is always some kind of self-portrait.” ‘Sun Arcs’ depicts the intricate balance of nature’s cycles and the paths outlined by the seasons, from a winter dormancy to a warm sun drenched scene. The album scales new glorying heights and further defines Dungan’s musical narrative, inhabiting a unique space in left-field, improvised and experimental music, borning his most accomplished compositions to date. A singular and visionary expression, drawing on an array of instruments and sound worlds with a renewed sense of joy and discovery.

The album's rich tapestry was mixed by Jeff Zeigler (Laraaji, Mary Lattimore, Kurt Vile /Steve Gunn) and mastered by Stephan Mathieu (Kali Malone, KMRU, Félicia Atkinson).

The story of Astral Bakers is an obvious one. Four experienced musicians get together in the same room, and make music as if it were the first time. Some say acoustic rock, others say soft grunge. Songs in English, halfway between Big Thief, Supertramp and an unplugged Nirvana concert. Initially, Sage (formerly of Revolver), Theodora, Nico Lockhart and Zoé Hochberg know each other from having collaborated together on other tours and records. All have worked with artists as varied as Clara Luciani, November Ultra, Woodkid, Pomme and Revolver. Together, they crave something different: epiphanies and presence, friendship and purity. No demos, no re-recording: just circular listening, between two guitars (Sage and Nicolas) that converse with each other, a bass (Theodora) that holds time, and soft drums (Zoé)thatenfoldthewhole.Selected by Spotify for their RADAR program, and already acclaimed by critics,this10-trackdebutalbum,writteninalivesetting,isalreadymakingitsmarkonthe 2024 indie landscape.

“I like to work with a variety of instruments and set ups,” says Mark Van Hoen, sometimes known as Locust or Autocreation but here working under his own name on the excellent Plan For A Miracle, his first physical release of solo music since 2018’s Invisible Threads. ”Sometimes it’s literally in my studio, with all the hardware electronics available. Sometimes the laptop, using software instruments. Some of the tracks on this record were recorded in the desert (Joshua Tree) using a 4-track tape machine and small modular synthesiser set up. Each track was recorded in different location using different instruments, which accounts for the distinction between each piece. It’s also about my own reaction to my environment, and what’s going on in my life at the time.”

The Croydon-born Van Hoen started musical life in the early 1990s, signing for R&S records in 1993 but developing his own, myriad and distinctive style across a range of releases on Touch, Editions Mego and other labels, using a battery of instruments, including analogue synthesizers and taking a number of different approaches to recording, rather than ploughing a single sonic furrow. He has worked on a number of collaborations, including with Nick Holton and Neil Halstead of Slowdive, under the moniker of Black Hearted Brother - their Stars Are Our Home was released in 2013. “I have known Neil Halstead since 1992,” says Van Hoen. “He shared a house with me for a couple of years, and the music I was making and listening to along with clubs I was attending had an influence particularly on Pygmalion, the final Slowdive album on Creation.”

Each track on Plan For A Miracle does indeed sound like a world unto itself, a mini-environment, a weather condition, an ecosystem created for the moment. It’s a collection of tracks recorded over the past few years, released on Bandcamp - despite his apparent absence, Van Hoen works constantly. Opener “Climates”, in its exquisite limpidity, feels like a homage to Brian Eno, one of his most formative influences in his teen years, commencing with Music For Films, which he bought in 1979. “This Is For Them”, feels like a ghostlike throwback to early drum & bass or electronica, reminiscent of his own, earliest outings. “There have been a number of requests from labels to make some more music like my very early releases on R&S,” says Van Hoen. “This is part of ‘letting go’ and realising that there’s nothing less creative about going back to those styles again.”

“Pencil Of Spheres” is something else again, a magnificent, imaginary glass structure, shimmering, refracting, without visible means of suspension, a thing of impossible beauty. “Electric Lights” evokes an abandoned fairground, its lights still pulsating, its music lingering. “The Underpass”, meanwhile, insofar as it reminds of anything at all, is faintly reminiscent of Cluster or Neu’s! West German ambience, the urban mundane rendered magical, the sodium lights, the whitewashed walls. The reverberant, faintly oriental chimes of “Insight” transport us yet again, burgeoning and intensifying.

The landscapes, the skyscapes rendered on Plan For A Miracle feel unpopulated as a rule - but when he does introduce vocal elements, Van Hoen has a history of doing so to spectacular effect - think of “Real Love” from 1998’s Playing With Time, the seductive intonation of its title recurring throughout like a series of massive holograms, echoing, stuttering, breaking up, surging. Here, there are just the faintest of vocals, barely distinct, disquieting. “There’s been a bit of a game changer in recent times,” explains Van Hoen. “AI software that enables you to extract vocals and instrument parts from virtually any recording. That means sampling individual parts from existing sources is no longer limited to the original mix exposing certain parts soloed. The vocal parts I use are from multiple sources and often pitch shifted altered rhythmically and melodically.“ There’s further vocal chatter on “I Really Do”, proceeding at a faster pace as if giving chase, or being pursued - distant, enigmatic. “The Music”, meanwhile, its beat tolling, lost in its own fog of static, features a curious intonation, like the ghost of a lost Walker Brother.

Sadly, the album’s title is in reference to a personal tragedy on Van Hoen’s part - the loss of his wife. Titles such as “I Won’t Give Up”, which faintly reminds of another Eno masterpiece, Another Green World, in its nautical hurly-bury, or the pastoral strains of “Mrs Who”, heavily clouded with sadness, seem to allude to this. “In fact the record was recorded entirely before she passed away,” says Van Hoen, “most of it before she even became very ill. The title was given to the album when it started to look like she wasn’t going to make it beyond a few months. It was something Osho said - “plan for a miracle” - so it was a statement of hope. Unfortunately it was not to be.” Although the album is non-thematic, non-specific in its atmospheres, sound paintings, elegant structures it most certainly stands as a magnificent monument to Osho’s memory.

-David Stubbs.

The latest release on An’archives, Suikyō, documents a first-time meeting between three Japanese improvisers: Takashi Masubuchi on guitar and harmonica; Ayami Suzuki on voice and electronics; and Tomo on hurdy-gurdy. Recorded at Permian on the 29th of January, 2023, it’s a stunning, forty-minute long improvisation of rare artistic sympathy. Notably, it was the first time the trio had performed together, though Masubuchi and Suzuki have prior form as a duo; on the evening itself, the trio performance was preceded by solo sets from Suzuki and Tomo, which served as a kind of introduction, of sorts, to the broader aesthetic visions of two of the musicians on Suikyō.

Masubuchi, Suzuki and Tomo make for a fascinating trio, not only due to the shared musical sympathy that’s clear from their performance, but also due to their histories, and the way these dovetail on the music you hear on Suikyō. Masubuchi has recorded a number of stunning solo albums for guitar and has also improvised with a number of musicians: you can hear his responsiveness and thoughtful playing on albums alongside Suzuki, Taku Sugimoto, Straytone, Shizuo Uchida, Takahiro Kawaguchi, and more. Suzuki’s work for voice has been documented on several solo cassette releases, and in consort with Tetuzi Akiyama, Rob Noyes, Leo Okagawa, Aidan Baker and Tobias Humble. And Tomo’s music can be heard on a small clutch of solo CDs, as a member of Tetragrammaton and Archeus, and in collaboration with Junzo Suzuki.

The way their instrumental voices meld together on Suikyō, though, is evidence of a capacity both to draw from these histories, and to take these collective knowledges to new places. And sometimes, unexpectedly old places: Masubuchi notes that his guitar on this set took him back to the rock and blues he used to play, perhaps in earlier groups like Pelktopia, which he suggests contributes to “the psychedelic mood” of Suikyō. Tomo’s hurdy gurdy matches this by pulling drones out of the air or allowing melodies to slowly morph and envelop the listener – their development, at times, reminds me of troubadour music from Occitanie.

Suzuki’s presence is equally compelling and curious. Her voice is an eternally flexible instrument, and whether it sits unadorned within the soundworld magic’d into space by Masubuchi and Tomo, or slips between the cracks thanks to subtle use of electronic effects, it has a quality about it that is both otherworldly – at times, the voice soars and pirouettes – and thoroughly, deeply grounded, of this earth, a most human and intimate encounter. There is a lovely consort between Suzuki and Tomo, the voice and hurdy-gurdy shadowing each other: as Tomo notes, “the hurdy gurdy has been an instrument played to accompany singing since the Middle Ages.” For Suzuki, the performance was “psychedelic and hedonistic in a good way,” but it wasn’t simply given in to that experience: “we were at the same time looking at it from an objective point of view.”

That feels like the right way to approach Suikyō: as a performance that both sets the mind and ears spinning, but with a careful, thoughtful, and considerate objectivity to its moment-by-moment development. It’s also incredibly gorgeous. As a first encounter, it’s surprising in both its comfort and its challenge: and as Masubuchi says, the playing together feels just the way it had to be: “instinctive, unintentional, and inevitable.”

A snapshot in time...Where all the madness began... Sandwell District. In the summer of 2004 David Sumner (Function), then living in his native New York City, was over in Europe playing some shows. When passing through Berlin to play the old Tresor location at Potsdamer Platz, he stayed with long term friend and collaborator, Karl O'Connor (Regis). One afternoon the two head over to Hardwax and T++ puts on a copy of Sleeparchive Elephant Island. After months of discussions regarding the flavor of the moment ''Minimal'', everything changed in that instant...They looked at each other and said ''now this changes everything!'' Finally, a way forward! Later that night at Tresor - as Function is playing, Regis is behind him organizing a mic...As Dave mixes Regis Guiltless with Elephant Island, Karl starts singing a punk cover version of Buddy Holly Peggy Sue over his set. It's all there in that one moment! Sandwell District. Dave goes back to New York inspired. He sees there's no information on the record apart from an email address. So, he gets in touch...He gets a reply from Roger, the two hit it off and organize the first ever Sleeparchive remix - Regis Asbestos (Sleeparchive Remix). On the B-side comes a cut-up version of Karl and Dave's Portion Reform classic Closing In, where they collaborate with Detroit Underground's Kero to form Re:Group. Adding deep 808 rhythms combined with Kero's signature Max MSP IDM madness, Left provides the perfect counterpart that made this EP the instant classic it became 18 years ago. Now, remastered in all its glory, sounding fresh, massive and better than ever - available on BandCamp for the first time - Infrastructure presents; Regis Asbestos (Sleeparchive Remix) b/w Re:Group Left.

Artisjok Records is happy to announce the first release of XL Regular's album, "Store Duties". Hailing from the city of Rome, XL Regular is a young and innovative producer who seamlessly weaves together a tapestry of musical genres, including jazz, broken beat, house, and soul, into a mixed journey experience. The foundation of XL Regular's identity is grounded in a profound love for percussions and grooves. Drawing inspiration from global percussion traditions, XL Regular weaves intricate rhythms that form the backbone of his tracks. The result is a sound that is both dancefloor-friendly and artistically rich, showcasing his abilities producing over a broad spectrum of electronic music genres. You'll notice a rich fusion of traditional and contemporary influences. The jazz elements add a layer of sophistication and intricacy to the compositions, while the broken beat rhythms create a dynamic and ever-evolving sound. This blend is skilfully infused with the groove-inducing essence of house music and the timeless emotive power of soul. In the vast realm of the internet, where connections are not often strong and sometimes superficial, XL and AliA discovered each other in the world of music. It all began with a simple online exchange, a connection that would evolve into a profound friendship and a transformative journey into life inside and outside the music industry. "The album for me is an occasion to fullfill the need to express myself throughout every style of music I want to produce, without forcing myself into genres, something that felt natural for a label like Artisjok" - XL Regular

A counterculture movement united by an expansive, experimental and deeply soulful sensibility, Japan’s rebel protest music challenged the status quo and changed the country’s music industry in the process.
The birth of Japan’s nascent acid folk scene was rooted in the messy and invigorating political climate of the late 1960s. It is a story of Dadaists, communists, pharmacists and cult leaders, led by a young generation of upstart students, artists and dreamers hellbent on turning their world upside down.

Born on the campuses of Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, and centred around newly formed independent label and left-wing stronghold URC, this uniquely Japanese form of folk expression provided an outlet for musicians who were tired of aping Western sounds and instead found ways to sing in Japanese and integrate traditional forms in new ways.

At the forefront of this movement was Yellow Magic Orchestra’s Haroumi Hosono, a polymath innovator whose band Happy End released the first Japanese language rock album, and whose influence would go on to be felt across Japanese music for decades. Alongside, and informed by the Kansai scene’s Takashi Nishioka and Happy End collaborator Ken Narita, they experimented with cadences and accents of the Japanese language to open the door for others to experiment with their own forms of psychedelic folk too.

Some, like Nishioka, were more inspired by Dadaism than drugs, while others, like Kazuhisa Okubo, would ultimately find work as a chemist, having founded two further folk groups that flirted with varying levels of success. Obstinately uncommercial, relentlessly creative, the music featured on Time Capsule’s Nippon Acid Folk represents a broad church of influences.

Perhaps the wildest addition to this congregation however was Hiroki Tamaki, a classically-trained violinist and committed iconoclast, whose synth-prog odysseys hinted at his obsession with the divine. Subsumed by the teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, he penned an album in praise of the infamous religious leader of which two superbly mind-bending tracks are featured on this compilation.

Charting the decade from 1970 to 1980 as the dreams of political and spiritual liberation seeded in the ‘60s turned to dust, Nippon Acid Folk surveys a little explored corner of Japanese music history, but one which ultimately laid the foundations for an independent music industry, launching the careers of Hosono and others in the process.

Nippon Acid Folk 1970-1980 is pressed on 12” vinyl and represents the start of Time Capsule’s deep dive into Japan’s rich history of folk and psychedelic soul music.

toechter is an all-female trio operating from Berlin. toechter’s 2nd full-length album »Epic Wonder« sees its classically trained members blend elaborate string arrangements with ethereal indie pop and delicate rhythms. Katrine Grarup Elbo, Lisa Marie Vogel and Marie-Claire Schlameus exclusively use analogue sound sources (such as violin, viola, cello, and their voices), which were then electronically processed.

Named after the Greek god of the wind, toechters 2022 album »Zephyr« exhaled deeply with concurrently invigorating and confusing sounds. »Epic Wonder«, their second album, was created in the spring and summer of 2023. Playing with forms and contours, the music sounds like the awakening of something new. One seems to be listening to an ongoing conversation, an exchange about what music could be, where it wants to go and how it contributes to our view of life. It all rests on a simple premise:

»Every sound you hear in our universe comes from us. The string trio is the core of toechter, the starting point of all our work.«

Those looking for new worlds of sound can find them in the work of this classically- trained musicians. Whether they add voices or percussive instruments, sample the sounds, or manipulate them electronically; ultimately they are exploring the string trio's place in a world shaped by the digital.

»Prelude« opens the album, seemingly a conversation, yet not only between humans. We catch the word ›love‹ which soon morphs into pure sound images, while a violin theme tentatively takes over. Is it the dawning of a new day? The chorus of sound transforms into a fascinating rhythmic figure, creating a club-like experience that fades out in delicate structures. A perpetual transformation.

According to toechter, »Epic Wonder« is all about making connections. Connections between people, animals, plants, fungi, rocks, soils, oceans, ice caps, stars, and planets. One imagines oneself in a folk-pop song of the 60s, or even blown around by Morricone's desert wind:

»The world as we see it is in desperate need for a deeper understanding; for compassion, for empathy. We have to understand that we are all part of the same organism. Epic Wonder is a dream, a wish, a longing for kinship between all species that share the world - all that is alive.«

The acoustic throbbing and knocking in »Sea Of Serenity« makes you think of encounters with mythical creatures or planetary oceanography; and out of the mechanically clacking groove of »Shift Souls« a gentle, but steady movement awakens with voices that seem to sound from the depths of the sea. Everything is in flux, floating in and out of dimensions and elements.

The album ends with »Mercury«, spherically elegant and almost science fiction-like. Here, a pizzicato melody leads us back to the baroque, simultaneously representing a detail of intertwined sonic worlds, while the steady, housy baseline develops its driving theme.

»Creating the music for the album, we allowed ourselves to waft away with the aspiration that connections are possible. Sometimes dwelling on subtle, yet marveling phenomena like the evening fog covering a valley on Midsummer, sometimes on grandiose splendors like the genesis of mountains or the birth of a child - letting interactions and encounters with other beings float through the musical universe as drips of emotional perceptivity.«

For the visual manifestation of »Epic Wonder«, toechter has engaged with Finish up-and-coming lens-based artist Aino Kontinen. Her work will grace both the cover art of the album and accompany the first single and video as an ephemeral tale in motion.

Back in Your Life was released in 1979 under the Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers moniker, but only half the album featured the backup band. The other half of the album features Richman as a solo artist. The Modern Lovers were formed by Richman and included Leroy Radcliffe on guitar, Asa Brebner on bass and Denotra ‘D’ Sharpe on drums. Occasionally, they were joined by Richman’s friend and The Real Kids’ band leader John Felice.

Back in Your Life is available on black vinyl.

The Sex featuring members of Mercenary God and No Suicide. A mixture of different elements with a rock substrate for an uncategorized result. Another Post-Punk gem from the 80's Italian North-Eastern scene.

My adventure buddies? The silent, enigmatic Patti, former singer of the mysterious No Suicide, and the young, faithful Chris, a passionate Police fan, we met on the battlefield and he immediately became my brother. For him, learning to play the bass was a way to get close to Sting, in other words, just one step below Paradise. Patti instead played keyboards as an extension of her mysterious and glacial presence, so still and distant that the audience sometimes wondered if she was real. And then there was my fixation for the drum machine, a futuristic device which could transform the drumming sweat into an invisible, yet physical, dreamlike pulsation. A particular combination of characters and a special astral conjunction, that’s what you need to get a nucleus source of sonic emotions, and in some ways this is what we were. You could clearly feel it during the concerts. When at the end of ‘81 My Mercenary God lost their drummer and had to disband, I felt clearly that the music had already changed.

Our old 70’s rock ‘n’ roll sound was no longer representative of the day. We were like some sort of yesterday’s newspaper. Thus I Sex was born (later The Sex). According to Freudian thought that sees sexual instinct as the driving force behind every (creative or destructive) human act. And in fact we immediately started creating, destroying, assembling and deconstructing our sound. Suddenly “tomorrow became now”. It was an outburst of creative independence in the form of homemade cassettes put together with makeshift tools, at least until the arrival of the legendary 4 track recorder. I was 19 years old, Chris was only 17. Nothing more than kids after all. Yet we were already veterans, veterans of a lost war. Wise, naive, disillusioned dreamers, everything and the opposite of everything. But, above all, we were totally devoted to our creative delirium up to the point of losing touch with reality, crossing limits, breaking down barriers and almost bordering on madness. Perhaps we were just too involved, especially if in relationship with what we could receive in return. We always spread our energies as if there was no future. We unconsciously felt that we had to live in the moment, now or never, and in retrospect it really was like that, and this is why these songs exist now. Songs created with the intent to tell an inner universe that is, now as then, far from any convention.

Fabled jazz-rock group Soft Machine present this heartfelt tribute to one of the greats of British jazz - trumpeter Harry Beckett - covering his stunning “The Dew at Dawn” on this limited edition 7” vinyl, with a cover of a classic Softs tune on the B side.

This is the second 7” in My Only Desire Records’ Brit Jazz 45s series, which sees some of their favourite contemporary jazz acts each making brand new studio recordings of two classic compositions from the golden era of ‘60s and ‘70s British jazz.

Now led by guitar master John Etheridge, an original Soft Machine member since the mid-‘70s and Canterbury scene veteran saxophonist Theo Travis, the band has undergone some recent lineup changes with bassist Fred Thelonious Baker (a former Harry Beckett bandmate) joining for 2023’s ‘Other Doors’ album. This is also the first recording with drummer Asaf Sirkis, who has replaced the late British jazz legend John Marshall.

Etheridge and Travis’ unique arrangement has upped the tempo of the “The Dew at Dawn” (originally released on Ogun Records in 1975) pushing the Caribbean-infused groove to the fore. Beckett’s joyful theme - first played on Etheridge’s guitar and then picked up by Travis’ mesmeric soprano saxophone - evokes the sun rising over the misty Hackney marshes and the hope of a better future. The track is underpinned by Baker’s nimble bass guitar and Sirkis’ scattering drums, with Etheridge’s superb soloing honed over a stellar five-decade career.

Wild Child is an American indie pop band from Austin, Texas formed in 2010. The band consists of Kelsey Wilson (lead vocals and violin), Alexander Beggins (lead vocals and baritone ukulele), Sadie Wolfe (cello), Tyler Osmond (bass), Matt Bradshaw (keyboard and trumpet), Cody Ackors (guitar and trombone), and Tom Myers (drums). Their second album, The Runaround, was released on October 8, 2013 via The Noise Company and produced by Ben Kweller. "The Runaround has the ability to instill energy into the listener, as the poppy-folk charm is irresistible. (...) Wild Child created a very well-executed LP, and accomplished their goal of staying out of a restrictive style of music. Even though each cut is different from the all the others in terms of style, instruments used or theme, together they form a cohesive album." Theaquarian

'“Nobody Move!”, so says Philippe Doray and his Asociaux Associés (the Antisocial Associates)! Having dynamited the end of the 70s with two radical albums – Ramasse-Miettes Nucléaires in 1976 & Nouveaux Modes Industriels in 1978, both reissued by Souffle Continu – Doray still hadn’t finished singing. Throughout the next decade he began his Composant compositeur which would document the “second period”, as he calls it, of his Asociaux Associés.

The record includes new schizo-electro songs which make the most of his association with Laurence Garcette, who also plays all sorts of keyboards. A prolongation of the first period of the Asociaux Associés, the duo updates Doray’s poetry: in reaction to the current overcast atmosphere, here are some hallucinatory fantasies to the rhythm of an infernal circle dance (« Le petit géant ») or an ecstatic waltz (“Bombés fluo”) or even coded messages stuffed into bottles and thrown into space (“Secoue le flipeur”, “Choc d’amour”).

On the bonus CD there are further iconoclastic examples: rare recordings (unpublished or even “inaudible”) of the Asociaux Associés but also by Crash, a duo that Doray formed with Thierry Müller (Ilitch, Ruth). At the controls of their experiment- bending machine the musicians multiply the possibilities: peripheral rock, arias in orbit, broken swing, industrial mantras and other joyful falsities. Enough to make you lose your mind? No... as Philippe Doray promised: it is the “jackpot qui frissonne” (the shivering jackpot) which is there to excite.'

Lovely Is Today (Edit) by Eddie Harris b/w September 13 (Edit) by Deodato | Galaxy Sound Co. — GSC4540, test pressing | Hot off the presses via the always-on-point @galaxy_sound_company crew. This will mark number 40 in the GSC45 series. Every release has been stellar, elevating it to the rarified “buy-it-on-site” status. If you love hip-hop, broken beats & top-class edits, anything w/ their stamp on it — you know it’s going to be top notch. They’ve got a bottomless discography full of that good ish, & here comes another addition to the cannon in the form of a pair of glorious jazz-funk nuggets.

Side A is an edit of “Lovely Is Today” by Eddie Harris, which is taken from his brilliant 68 soul-jazz LP “Plug Me In”. Chicagoan Harris pioneered the usage of amplified electric Varitone saxophones. It features a stellar line-up: Ron Carter (bass), Haywood Henry (baritone sax), Jodie Christian (piano), Garnet Brown (trombone), James Bossy (trumpet), Grady Tate & Richard Smith on drums, &, of course, Harris on tenor sax. Here the edit trims off the intro noise & extends the breaks recalling hip-hop songs it sampled: “2 Deep” by Gang Starr, “Intro” by Mobb Deep, “It Ain’t Hard To Tell (The Stink Mix)” by Nas, “What’s My Name Yo?” by MC Lyte, among others.

Side B is an edit of “September 13” by Deodato, taken from his self-titled jazz-funk 73 LP. Deodato, aka Eumir Deodato De Almeida, is a Brazilian artist known for his range of production work for Kool & The Gang to Björk, as well as TV & film scores & collabs w/ Milton Nascimento, Ithamara Koorax & Marcos Valle. Heads will know this one as the source for heaters like “In The House” by Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, “Park Joint” by Camp Lo, “Epoca” by Gotan Project, “Don’t U Know” by DJ Rels aka Madlib & “Track 13” on Beat CD #2 by J Dilla.

Groningen band The Vices makes a tasteful mix of indie pop, surf and garage rock. The foursome led by
frontman Floris van Luijtelaar shows that they have a great sense of catchy melodies. The debut album
‘Looking For Faces’ is the next milestone in the career of the group, which received a kick-start soon after its
formation with shows as support act for YUNGBLUD, on ESNS and during the Popronde.
They have also completed their first foreign tour, with performances in England, Germany and France,
among others.

Very limited vinyl pressing, 500 copies, housed in a full colour sleeve & printed inner sleeve & download. CD in a 4 panel digipack with a 4 page lyric booklet. New Heavy Sounds are always on the lookout for new bands that are looking to push the boundaries of what is considered as inhabiting the ‘heavy’ or ‘metal’ spectrum’. Stuff that pricks up the ears, a bold new voice within a maelstrom of genres and sub-genres. We believe we have found such a band. New York-based GUHTS (pronounced ‘guts’) declare themselves to be an ‘avant-garde post-metal project, delivering larger than life sounds through, deeply emotional music’. We are thrilled to be able to deliver that statement in the form of their debut album ‘Regeneration’. By their own admission, GUHTS' musical style is influenced not only by iconic metal bands like Gojira, Cult of Luna, YOB and Deftones, but more unconventional acts like Bjork, Subrosa, Isis, Julie Christmas, and even PJ Harvey. It’s undoubtedly heavy, with a strong feminist streak, it’s cathartic and weighty, a formidable debut for such a new band. Founded in 2020 as a passion project by Scott Prater (Witchkiss), and Amber Burns (Witchkiss) and then Dan Shaneyfelt (Black Mountain Hunger), GUHTS became its members’ main focus following the release of their first EP 'Blood Feather' which itself received rave reviews from the likes of Decibel Magazine, Invisible Oranges, The Obelisk, Cvlt Nation, and more. Brian Clemens Sleaping Dreaming) & Daniel Martinez (Nefariant) joined GUHTS in 2022 and the band swiftly started booking tours and making plans to record 'Regeneration'. Since then GUHTS have been steadily making a name for themselves with their powerful live performances., sharing stages with the likes of Yob, Cave in, Marissa Nadler, plus appearances at the Maryland Doom Fest, Crucial Fest and Ohio Doomed and Stoned Fest. ‘Regeneration’ is set to cement their status as one of the coolest and most interesting bands on the scene. Of the album, vocalist Amber says. "Regeneration" symbolizes the power of self-renewal, often overlooked. Embracing it means shedding old layers and welcoming new beginnings. Without this, life stagnates and is “sustaining”. Through regeneration, change becomes empowering, allowing new facets to emerge. It's a courageous, transformative process, inspiring others to overcome fear and embrace change. The album embodies the human spirit's resilience and capacity for growth. Musically ‘Regeneration’ is a powerful and intense series of songs, topped off by some seriously powerhouse and expressive vocal performances. It’s slow-moving chords, moving like sheets through sludge. High guitar lines above, ranging from piercing and shimmering to nasty. Drums pound but not without groove. There are strings, pianos and synths widening the palette. Atmospheric sludge, Metalgaze, maybe, but there’s also that link to the New York Noise lineage from The Velvets and Sonic Youth, becoming a type of post-hardcore in the process, while gaining a connection to metal partly due to the sheer heaviness. A raft of creative experimentation that pushes beyond the realm of post-metal. And then of course, the very first thing that hits you is Amber Gardner's unbelievable, hypnotising vocals - as scary as a banshee while also intimate and persuasive. Amber means it for sure and almost dominates the proceedings. Her lyrics are eclectic, thoughtful. Immersed in women's narratives frombooks like "Women Who Run With the Wolves" or works like "On Our Best Behavior" by Elise Loehnen. Amber advocates stepping beyond comfort zones, believing it's transformative for individuals and vital for Earth's future. Hokey occult rock it is not. In short ‘Regeneration’ is a bold and startling debut, that will reward and enthral listeners the deeper they delve into its many layers.

ESP Institute artist Bartellow, one third of the project Tambien and otherwise known in the Contemporary Classical sphere as Beni Brachtel, returns to the label with his second full-length release, Noosphere. While currently heading the SVS label and residency series out of Munich, Beni’s resume expands well beyond electronic music to include immersive sound installations such as The Adven- ture Of The Empty House (solo live performance across seven floors of Walter Henn’s Deckelbau building), a slew of compositions for the Bavarian State Opera (for which he doubled as conductor), and a prolific career of over twenty-five theater scores for institutions such as the Münchner Kammerspiele, Schauspiel Basel, Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin, Berliner Ensemble, Schauspiel Köln, Schaus- piel Graz and with directors Ersan Mondtag, Alexander Eisenach, Jessica Glause and Tobias Staab among others.

Noosphere is a compendium excerpting from theatrical scores WUT (Elfriede Jelinek, at Schauspielhaus Köln, directed by Ersan Mondtag, 2020), Ödipus and Antigone (Maxim Gorki Theatre Berlin, directed by Ersan Mondtag, 2017), Der Zauberberg (Thomas Mann, Schauspiel Graz, directed by Alexander Eisenach, 2017), Hass Tryptichon (Sybille Berg, Wiener Festwochen / Maxim Gorki Theatre, directed by Ersan Mondtag, 2019), Wonderland Ave. (Sibylle Berg, Schauspielhaus Köln, directed by Ersan Mondtag, 2018), Die Verdammten (after Visconti ́s film, Schauspielhaus Köln, directed by Ersan Mondtag, 2019) and Roi Ubu (Alfred Jarry, Theater Neumarkt, Zurich, directed by Alexander Eisenach, 2018).

The work traverses homages, infusing everything from Baroque to Impressionism, and while these types of references are certainly built into the canon of Theatre as a discipline, here we gather histor- ic layers in an even wider net. Under the self-referential thumb of Contemporary Classical music, this sort of "hindsight" approach has been largely avoided, however, in today’s all-access arena, the constant stream of historic causal-chained events has opened a delta where anything is possible. This defines Bartellow’s stance among his colleagues as well as his cultural position as a composer.

Beni considers beauty a fleeting objective in the arts, that expression is often expected to follow notions of Destructivism or the unfulfilled. Art will pore over wounds, collective angst, mourn- ing a loss of natural habitat or a fear of technological invasion, yet there is a bitter irreverence for the friction or salvation in beauty itself. Acknowledging this subjectivity — what one audience considers superficial pleasure may be deeply profound to another — he leans into musical instinct as if composing via divine conduit.

Noosphere conjures a array of suspense, ecstasy, melancholy, and dread, but in isolating the work from its theatrical component, Brachtel directs our focus toward formal qualities, clearing unim- peded space to conceive fresh narratives and examine dynamism and interconnectivity. In sympathy with often difficult theatre pieces, the passages can be dark and transgressive, but more importantly they remain relative to Brachtel’s circumstances at their time of creation. The title Noosphere speaks to the evolution of human thought and knowledge, opening a door to subjective points-of-view. For example, Nexus II On The Beach refers to both Roberto Musci’s Water Messages On Desert Sand as well as the film Bladerunner, invoking the image of an android enjoying the sunset, but whether or not this abstraction may be considered beautiful depends the listener’s cumulative life experience and perspective.

This is hybrid chamber music, augmented by electro-acoustic layers, juxtaposing various periods and successively processing their residual themes into a trans-generational rendering of “now.”

Studio One was founded by Clement "Coxsone" Dodd1 in 1954, and the first recordings were cut in 1963 on Brentford Road in Kingston.1[2] Amongst its earliest records were "Easy Snappin" by Theophilus Beckford, backed by Clue J & His Blues Blasters, and "This Man is Back" by trombonist Don Drummond. Dodd had previously issued music on a series of other labels, including World Disc, and had run Sir Coxsone the Downbeat, one of the largest and most reputable sound systems in the Kingston ghettos.
In the early 1960s, the house band providing backing for the vocalists were the Skatalites[3] (1964–65), whose members (including Roland Alphonso, Don Drummond, Tommy McCook, Jackie Mittoo, Lester Sterling and Lloyd Brevett) were recruited from the Kingston jazz scene by Dodd. The Skatalites split up in 1965 after Drummond was jailed for murder, and Dodd formed new house band the Soul Brothers (1965–66), later named the Soul Vendors (1967) and Sound Dimension (1967-). From 1965 to 1968 they played 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., 5 days a week, 12 rhythms a day (about 60 rhythms a week) with Jackie Mittoo as music director, Brian Atkinson (1965–1968) on bass, Hux Brown on guitar, Harry Haughton (guitar), Joe Isaacs on drums (1966–1968), Denzel Laing on percussion, and on horns (some initially and some throughout): Roland Alphonso, Dennis 'Ska' Campbell, Bobby Ellis, Lester Sterling, among others on horns during the era of Rock Steady. Headley Bennett, Ernest Ranglin, Vin Gordon and Leroy Sibbles were included among a fluid line-up, to record tracks directed by Jackie Mittoo at Studio One from 1966-1968.
During the night hours at Studio One from 1965-1968, singers like Bob Marley, Burning Spear, The Heptones, The Ethiopians, Ken Boothe, Rita Marley, Marcia Griffiths, Judy Mowatt, Alton Ellis, Delroy Wilson, Bunny Wailer[4] and Johnny Nash, among others, would put on headphones to sing lyrics to original tracks recorded by the Soul Brothers earlier each day. These seminal recordings included "Real Rock" (by Sound Dimension), "Heavy Rock", "Jamaica Underground", "Wakie Wakie", "Lemon Tree", "Hot Shot", "I'm Still In Love With You", "Dancing Mood", and "Creation Rebel".
Jackie Mittoo, Joe Isaacs, and Brian Atkinson left Studio One in 1968, recorded drums and bass for Desmond Dekker's and Toots' biggest hits at other Kingston studios, then moved to Canada. Hux Brown stayed in Jamaica to record on the soundtrack The Harder They Come, The Harder They Fall, and toured in Nigeria with Toots and the Maytals and Fela Kuti. The Soul Brothers (a.k.a. Sound Dimension) formed the basis of reggae music in the late 1960s, being versioned and re-versioned time after time over decades by musicians like Shaggy, Sean Paul, Snoop Lion, The Clash, String Cheese Incident, UB40, Sublime, and countless other Billboard originals and remakes trying to emulate their original Rock Steady sound at Coxsone's Studio One.
The label and studio were closed when Dodd relocated to New York City in the 1980s.