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DJ Support: Laurent Garnier, DJ Deep, Moplen, Tedd Patterson, Hector Romero, Quentin Harris, Jamie Jones, Danny Krivit and many more

Rocco Rodamaal puts his touch to 'More' (Danism + Train feat. Toshi) and delivers a deadly touch. Following on from ’Ndisole’ and ‘Mabele’, Danism + Train continue their regular collaborations with Toshi on 'More’. The original mixes dropped in the summer as the trio continue to explore a journey through afrocentric grooves. Now Rocco Rodamaal takes things in a new direction; maintaining focus on Toshi’s etheral vocals while adding deep, driving drums and a fierce baseline. It's a real pleasure to have one of our favourite remixers back on SoSure Music. Moplen adds stunning touch to 'Mabele' from Danism + Train. Reimagining the track as only he could with some tremendous additional production and new arrangement on Toshi's vocal.

Tucked in the heart of Koreatown, Los Angeles, lies The Libra Hotel—the titular architecture of Nick Malkin's new album and site of his musical and psychogeographic exploration. Unlike most musical "site-specific" studies, Malkin remains wholly ambivalent to the documentarian approach, instead sharpening an auteur-like focus on the site as a conceptual and highly expressive backdrop. The Libra is musically explored as a space that houses a noir fragmentation of identity—the exhausted trope of a complicated protagonist walking through rain-soaked street corners and fumy neon lights—where an inner monologue is rendered in both miniature and at a cosmic scale. Casting aside stifling tropes around field recording, ambient, and improvised music, Malkin's work finds its own unique fidelity and emotional core through the assembly and reassembly of memory. Nearly every sound on the album—from frayed saxophones, lambent pianos, and dissected jazz drum kits—are multiplied, shattered, and reconstituted into shapes that adorn The Libra in a motion-blurred fog. The narrative of the Hotel suddenly appears as if out of the mist, with intersecting characters interacting within its walls by happenstance. Adminst the languid set pieces, wraith-like sonic grains gravitate around wide subbass beams that give structural form to The Libra, a narrative tension like when a scene is shot from hundreds of different perspectives: an image both luminous and veiled.

Much like Frank Sinatra's own spatial residency immortalized on "Live at The Sands," "At The Libra Hotel" showcases an exuberant view of entertainment, hospitality, and a form of masculinity, one that can quickly detourn into darkness. Knowing this, Malkin extracts a melancholic core out of The Libra locale. The flickering shadows of American decadence are shown in their ephemeral honesty, lines that trace how even in everyday life virtue is tested, sanity is tested, even reality is tested within the confines of desire, within the night. The album is draped in fleeting textures, carefully arranged with a trance-like microtonality, the faint inflections and articulations of a jazz band cascading into dissipated stillness. Voicemails about changed locations and covert eavesdropping on guests' whispered conversations provide an atmosphere of missed connection and voyeurism—a purloined letter of desire receding into a vanishing point. Like the music itself, The Hotel, a chapel perilous at the intersection of desolation row, the center of it all, yet simultaneously at the edge of town, becomes a structure between libidinous virtuality and actuality—our inevitable half-light.

Ultimately, the pensive atmosphere of "At The Libra Hotel," powerfully asserts a plea for the kinds of intimacy only possible in transient spaces. Here, memory cascades into a force that feels like something supernatural, perhaps even religious, yet always subject to the infidelity of our imagination. Here, the album opens into its primary psychodrama, the transient nature of subjectivity itself and how this becomes fractured in the tumult between our commitments and desires. Within this nocturnal space, to quote Louise Bourgeois, "you pile up associations the way you pile up bricks. Memory itself is a form of architecture."

Morikawa Seiichirou, vocals, bass
Yamagiwa Hideki, electric & classical guitar
Takahashi Ikuro, drums & percussion

je prie pour que la goutte ne tombe pas
(I pray that the drop does not fall) is the first international release by Japanese trio Chi To Shizuku. While they have released five albums and a 7” in Japan, their spectral, haunted rock songs haven’t yet reached a much wider audience overseas. With this album, then, a live recording taken at Koenji HIGH, Suginami, Tokyo on 23rd November 2021, the unique, quartz-like character of Chi To Shizuku’s music is writ large, the bleak bliss of their songs carved onto twelve-inch vinyl.
Perhaps the best-known member of Chi To Shizuku, at least for audiences with an ear turned to Japanese psychedelia, is drummer Takahashi Ikuro, known for his membership of almost every group worth a damn from that scene – Fushitsusha, Nagisa Ni Te, Ché-SHIZU, Kousokuya, High Rise, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, LSD March, the list goes on. But the core of Chi To Shizuku’s music is the collaboration between vocalist, bassist and lyricist Morikawa Seiichirou, and guitarist and arranger Yamagiwa Hideki. Morikawa is a member of long-running punk/goth group Z.O.A., and has also played with YBO , Zzzoo, and as collaborator with Takeshi and Atsuo of Boris in A/N; he’s also recently been performing with Mitsuru Tabata. Yamagiwa’s history takes in stints with Katsurei and Cock C’ Nell, and he also recently guested with la scene 裸身.

All this contextual information does relatively little, though, to prepare you for the unique vibration of Chi To Shizuku’s lustrous songs. They shimmer in the same half-light, perhaps, as Shizuka and the quieter moments of LSD March, sharing a similar poise and classicism, and there’s a tenderness and wracked poetry to Morikawa’s voice that reminds of the emotional intensities both of traditional Japanese folk, and of British folk music: on “Musuu No Nemuri No Naka De Kumo Wo Tukamu”, the combination of his singing, backed with gorgeously plangent guitar, reminds of no-one so much as it does The Pentangle or Spriguns Of Tolgus. Chi To Shizuku’s love for the ballad as form gifts their music an archaic, sometimes arcane resonance, and from what you can hear on this album, it’s clear they’re in love with graceful melancholy.

But this is not a folk album, by any means; it just shivers with the same eternal spirit. There are also hints of prog rock, and you can catch some passages of scratchy, distended free rock, on the extended spirit invocation of “Nanhito Hanhito”. je prie pour que la goutte ne tombe pas is an extraordinary album, a melancholy surprise, that reminds dedicated listeners of the seemingly bottomless well of great music to be found via the Japanese underground in its many forms. Perhaps Michel Henritzi says it best, though, in his liner notes, when he writes, “Chi To Shizuku’s music reminds us that our life is a dream that lasts only a season, and that oblivion will follow.”

Recorded at Koenji High Suginami, Tokyo, 23 November 2021
Mix & Mastering: Taku Unami, photography : Noriko Akiyama
Liner notes by Jon Dale Printed by Alan Sherry

Japanese acid pop outfit Cho Co Pa Co Cho Co Quin Quin channel the globe-trotting spirit of Haruomi Hosono’s 1970s tropical boogie on their debut album, Tradition.

Named after one of the basic rhythms of Cuban folk music and drawing on influences from across the globe, Cho Co Pa Co Cho Co Quin Quin are quite simply a world unto itself.

Comprised of three childhood friends, Daido, Yuta and So, who reconnected during the coronavirus pandemic, Cho Co Pa initially emerged as a playful way for the three 23-year-olds to pass the time. Tapping into their youthful connection, they created a sound that exudes confidence and curiosity, a homage to the masterful world of YMO’s and Happy End’s Haruomi Hosono, rooted in the trio’s own idiosyncratic experience of the present.

Recorded at home and promoted on hugely popular DIY TikTok videos, their debut album Tradition is a technicolour exercise in armchair travelling – a kind of lockdown exotica for the housebound whose nostalgic flights of fancy are laced with a sense of whimsical melancholy for the lost freedoms of youth.

Referencing everything from Afro-Cuban percussion to lo-fi beats, Buddhist spirituality to trap, each member of the band brings different musical inspirations to the table. Latin American and Middle Eastern styles sit adjacent to a fascination for the electronic music of Aphex Twin, Dorian Concept, Underworld and Daft Punk. At times, the music verges on acid pop bliss, at others, it grooves with the instrumental funk sensibility of BADBADNOTGOOD.

“In the first place, when I create a song, my goal is to transport the listener to a mysterious place,” vocalist Daido explained in a recent magazine interview. Using lyrics as another sonic texture in the composition of ideas, Cho Co Pa paint beguiling sonic postcards of far-flung moods across 12 highly original tracks.

Marrying the organic and the electronic on rhythmically sophisticated compositions like ‘Chichibu’ and ‘Watatsumi’, it is on the album’s standout track ‘Gandhara’ that the experimental sound of Cho Co Pa comes to the fore. Referencing the ancient city of Gandhara through which Buddhism made its way from India to China, the track is a vocoder-trap-inspired, Udu drum-driven pop jam that lilts with unmistakable Balearic flair. If that’s difficult to imagine, then know simply that ‘Gandhara’ sounds like nothing else on this side of Saturn. Even Daido seemed surprised by the outcome: “I feel like we were able to create something that exceeded our abilities. That was huge!”

Hugely popular in Japan, with festival appearances lined up alongside BADBADNOTGOOD at Asagiri Jam in October, it's safe to say the success of Tradition has taken Cho Co Pa by surprise. You won’t have heard anything like it."

Riva Starr teams up with Australian duo Close Counters for a sun-soaked debut on Heist.

What do you get when you put an Italian house legend in the studio with 2 of the most talented artists from Melbourne? Have a listen to the newest release on Heist and you’ll find out. On their ‘Push your luck’ EP, Riva Starr, Close Counters and UK soul singer Andre Espeut bring a heavy dose of jazz & soul and most of all, upbeat dancefloor energy. Whether it’s the deep soulful vibe of the title track or the house meets jazz-funk energy of ‘Gearbox’, this EP brings together everything we love about house music.

‘Push your luck’ comes right in the middle of Close Counters’ world tour, just after Riva Starr’s album ‘Keep me on the dancefloor’ and is the follow up to their recent collab ‘Jinga’ on Riva Starr’s own Snatch Records. We all know Riva Starr from his 2013 Fatboy Slim collab ‘Eat sleep rave repeat’, his work with Groove Armada, and more recently his collab with Prunk on his PIV records debut album. Close Counters have already worked with Heist mainstays Fouk and had their breakthrough moment with their 2023 album ‘Soulacousta II’, which got wide support ranging from Gilles Peterson to Jyoto and Folamour.

Their ‘Push your luck’ EP kicks off with the title track featuring the silky vocals of Andre Espeut. When we first heard this song, we immediately got transported to the soulful sound of the mid 2000s led by Recloose’s unique track ‘Dust’ with Fat Freddy’s Drop singer Joe Dukie. It’s moody, stripped back, and bouncy at the same time. The lush chords, disco bassline, and vocal harmonies all make for a track that goes beyond genres and trends. This is a future classic.

‘Gearbox’ is a disco-tinged piano jam full of live elements, rolling congas and disco bleeps, where the musicality of the Close Counters boys comes in at full speed. This song takes its inspiration from the Brazilian jazz-funk of legends Marcos Valle and Azymuth, with a clear sense of modern-day dancefloors and a love for electronic noise. Also; 10/10 for creatively naming the track after the glitchy electronic sound that freaks & funks throughout the track.

On the flip, ‘Dizzy’ sees the trio go more into disco-house territory, again teaming up with Andre Espeut for a track that blends catchy vocal loops with a tight groove and lush chords. The EP finishes with a club dub of ‘Push your luck’ for those in favor of more groove and less vocals.

We’ve had Riva Starr and the Close Counters boys on our radar for a while, and they landed on Heist with the perfect combination of musicality and dancefloor power. We hope you like this release as much as we do!

As always, play it loud and share the music.

Lars & Maarten

“An amazing new project…” Tony Minvielle, Jazz FM

“A lush, heatwave-friendly piece of dancefloor innovation…” Clash Magazine


First Word Records is delighted to bring you the debut EP from Ships of the Pharaohs.


Ships of the Pharaohs are a London-based collective led by producer Last Nubian, who’s had releases in his own right on labels like CoOp Presents, Eglo Records & Touching Bass. Blending jazz, soul, bossa nova, d&b and house-influenced grooves, the band also consists of vocalist Achanté, keys player Goldbar & bassist, Dougan.

The 7-track EP kicks off with the high-energy, vitamin D-saturated lead single ‘Sun is Rising’, featuring the guest vocals of brilliant Berlin-based singer Red Bird, who appears on three tracks on this project (‘For You’ and ‘Seasons’). ‘Can’t Quit’ follows on a smooth soulful house/bruk tempo, and invites in the thought-provoking spoken word prose of AKEEM. ‘Seasons’, ‘For You’ and recent single ‘Joys’ add another element to the band’s eclectic take on fusion, leaning heavily into the bossa side of the quartet’s influences. The latter track sees Achanté’s soulful harmonies gracefully float across a warm bed of keys, percussion, guitar picks & synth strings. We take a short jazzy breather on the ‘Interlude’ cut, featuring the resplendent sax of multi-talented Norwegian artist, Bror Havnes, who also features on the outro cut ‘One’ - this one seeing the crew ride out with a sonic salute to jungle/d&b, closing this first opus from the group with the energy levels remaining high.

Tre Wright (aka Last Nubian) explains “Our debut EP is a reflection of who we are, both individually and as a collective. Drawing inspiration from jazz, jungle, bossa nova, house, r&b and the music that's shaped us, we've explored our own interpretation of these sounds and how they come together in a way that feels true to us. It gave us the space to experiment without boundaries, trust our instincts, and create something that genuinely reflects where we are creatively right now.”


Originally conceived to perform Last Nubian material live for a Touching Bass showcase at We Out Here festival in 2023, the project soon took on a life of its own, as the group effort unleashed a unique chemistry & sound of its own merit. Thereafter followed numerous sessions in a studio-converted bedroom of a Brixton flat, developing this new sound. The finishing touches were taken care of at the infamous Total Refreshment Centre in North London, resulting in the formation of captivating new original material, which appears across this first extended release.

Ships of the Pharaohs have additionally performed live across London at Brick Lane Jazz Festival, House of KOKO, Jazz on Wick Festival, Peckham Levels, 91 Living Room & GROW in Hackney. Developing their powerful stage presence has gone hand in hand with the creation of their own material.

The initial singles from this project received praise & support from a variety of DJs, press outlets & tastemakers from the worlds of jazz, soul and clubland, including Shy One (NTS), Tony Minvielle (Jazz FM), Rohan Rakhit (Worldwide FM), Somewhere Soul & Clash Magazine to name a few.


With sonics somewhat reminiscent of Acid Jazz legends Incognito, merged with the class of Nuyorican Soul, and the dynamic fluidity of 4Hero, the 4-piece have cooked up a set of style & flavours uniquely their own, fresh for modern dances, incorporating organic improvisation with more contemporary club sounds.

The Ships of the Pharaohs are about to set sail for what is sure to be an exciting journey ahead.

‘Part 1’ will be released on 12” vinyl & all digital platforms on September 18th 2026.

MĀRARA, meaning flying fish, is a musical project born in the heart of a still largely unknown Polynesian island. While Tahiti commands attention and the spotlight, Mārara remains in the shadows, ignored by tourist circuits and dominant cultural narratives. This album aims to put Mārara on the map and give voice to an island that deserves to exist in all its richness.


Through this work, we offer an immersion into our traditions, customs, legends, and myths. These stories, deeply rooted in Polynesian culture, are transformed by the environment: for example, the legends of an atoll differ from those of a mountainous island, shaped by the climate, the terrain, and the elements. MĀRARA captures this diversity and reveals its unique character.


This album is not just a musical creation: it is an act of cultural transmission and visibility. Music becomes a vehicle for identity, a voice for an unknown territory, and a bridge between past and present.


"With MĀRARA, we make our island sing so that its voice resonates beyond its horizon."

Covering Our Tracks“ ist weit mehr als ein Coveralbum: Satan Takes A Holiday interpretieren Rock- und Popklassiker von Bruce Springsteen bis Charli XCX in ihrem eigenen Mix aus Garage Rock, Punk und Indie neu.
Die schwedische Band gilt als einer der explosivsten Live-Acts Skandinaviens und spielte bereits mit KISS, The Sonics und Backyard Babies. Unterstützung und Lob erhielten sie u. a. von BBC 6 Music, Classic Rock und Iggy Pop.

Spiral code is the second album released on An’archives by the Japanese trio archeus, after 2023’s Kusōzu: Nine Death Stages, and their seventh release altogether. It’s also the most staggering evidence yet of the single-minded pursuit of group-sound explored by Keiko Higuchi (voice, drums, percussion, trombone), Shizuo Uchida (4 strings), and TOMO (hurdy gurdy). For two tracks, “awakening, beyond recurrence” and “where points and lines intersect”, they’re joined by Kiyotaka Moriuchi, an improviser who’s played with the likes of Shoko Numao and Ensemble Shippolly, on percussion and darbuka (a goblet-shaped drum played widely across South East Asia).

Always able to scour magic from both their relationships with their instruments, and their non-idiomatic interplay, on spiral code they’ve widened their net further; the results oscillate from humid and claustrophobic blocks of noise to rivulets of tone coursing across post-volcanic landscapes, and on into simple gestures suspended in arctic space. Spiral code was recorded in a single day, on March 20 th 2025, at a studio in Koenji, Tokyo, the morning session with the original trio, and afternoon and evening session with Moriuchi – the first time archeus have played with a guest musician.

When asked about the music archeus makes together, TOMO is quick to isolate the singular characteristics of their collaboration: “we are trying to explore some new, unknown musical vocabulary every time we play. And what we are trying to achieve from every session is something unique, an interesting chemistry or, I should say, alchemical reaction among the three of us.” You can certainly hear that alchemy in the dynamic arc of their performances, the way they seem to be able to switch on a dime and push the music into unexpected terrain, all while sounding intimately archeus. “We have been playing for many years,” TOMO continues, “so I think that among three of us, we can telepathically sense, feel and understand what each of us is trying to express while we are playing.” It’s telling that guest musician Moriuchi fits so effortlessly into the archeus soundworld, able to hitch a ride on the intimate telepathy of Higuchi, Shizuo and TOMO; “I think he gave us some fresh air to our music,” the latter smiles. But that telepathy extends, even, to the name of the album itself, with all members pointing toward spiral imagery when naming the title track, whether TOMO’s evocation of Kundalini serpent imagery and Caduceus, to the spiral shape of DNA, what TOMO calls “the code of life.” It’s certainly deeply entwined music: spiral code is a helix of sound, a cylindrical coiling of possibility.

Formed in New York City in 1993 around singer, guitarist and songwriter Chris Leo, the band emerged from the same fertile underground scene that gave rise to many of the most influential post-hardcore, indie rock and emo acts of the decade. Yet while many of their contemporaries went on to achieve wider recognition, The Van Pelt chose a different path: one built on artistic independence, restless experimentation and a stubborn refusal to fit comfortably into any scene or trend.
Across two landmark albums — Stealing From Our Favorite Thieves (1996) and Sultans Of Sentiment (1997) — The Van Pelt developed a singular language that combined intricate guitar interplay, spoken-word intensity, literary lyrics and emotional depth. Their music occupied a unique space between post-hardcore urgency, indie rock invention and the introspective sensibility that would later become associated with emo, influencing generations of musicians while remaining largely outside the spotlight.
After disbanding in 1997, the band's reputation continued to grow. What began as a well-kept secret among underground music fans gradually became a touchstone for listeners searching beyond the obvious narratives of 1990s alternative rock. Reunions in 2009 and 2014, the release of the long-lost Imaginary Third, and a series of acclaimed live performances introduced their music to a new audience while reaffirming their enduring relevance.
In 2023, The Van Pelt returned with Artisans & Merchants, their first collection of new material in more than twenty-five years. Rather than revisiting old formulas, the album expanded the band's sonic vocabulary while preserving the qualities that made them unique: curiosity, intelligence, vulnerability and an unwavering commitment to following their own instincts.
Now, more than three decades after their formation, The Van Pelt are set to return in 2026 with Remain Obscure, their fifth studio album. Continuing their tradition of defying expectations, the record pushes beyond the familiar boundaries of the band's sound while embracing the same spirit that has defined them from the beginning. A band whose influence has consistently exceeded its visibility, The Van Pelt remain one of independent music's most enduring and rewarding secrets.

Clear Vinyl


Her sound remains vast and yearning, with gut-punch drums pushing through explosions of colored powder; her voice is a chrome-plated sigh, and her agile melodies soar effortlessly. - Pitchfork *BEST NEW MUSIC*
she achieves some serious cinematic grandeur. - Stereogum
Simply too sublimely crafted to ignore. - Consequence of Sound
A catchy ethereal piece of pop - Brooklyn Vegan
Rose's layered, reverb-laden vocals hit like waves of sunlight, warming her lines almost to the point of wordlessness. - Paste Magazine


"Hila. A record about loss. What persists beyond the range of ordinary perception? The place mourning keeps returning to - not quite transcendence, not quite doubt. The edge of what we can see."
Frankie Rose has spent fifteen years building one of the most quietly distinctive bodies of work in American independent music. Bursting out of the shackles of her legacy on 2024's Love As Projection, 2026's Hila builds on the muscular, dance-ready songwriting and transcendent melodies to result on Rose's most exploratory and affecting record of her career. Imbued with yearning melodies and brooding post-punk dynamics, Hila is Frankie Rose at her most impressionistic and expansive.

Self-produced at her home studio featuring collaborations with drummer Justin Welch (Elastica/Lush), Hila was recorded following extensive touring with The Jesus & Mary Chain and Swervedriver. The result is the most confident, searching music Rose has produced; muscular in its production yet emotionally vulnerable in its diffracted neon glow. A record informed by loss and the way grief mutates our senses, it's fitting that Rose channels the nuanced darkness of later Coil, at times the pounding EBM-production of Skinny Puppy and the near-spiritual alien-ness of Cocteau Twins. On Hila, the doors of perception are constantly melting, revealing the porous nature of the seen and unseen. The result is a synesthesia that flips the senses.

If Love As Projection was an outward-looking record looking to embrace the world, Hila brings the dark cosmos into inner space. Rose's love for 80s production and soaring melodies remain, they're cornerstones to her craft after all, but there's something more assured and gothic underneath the massive waves of sound. Opener Olo shimmers into a pulsating, cinematic brooder, Rose's vocal transcending and swan diving between registers in the chorus breakdowns. First single Cant Be Wrong serves as a transition from the optimistic pop of Rose's previous album, introducing a thumping 80s funk rhythm track under the soaring vocal performance. The ebullient Shadow Twin is that song's sibling, recalling major label-era Strawberry Switchblade melancholy mixed with Robin Guthrie's twinkling guitar work.

Hila blossoms darkly from here on in, blowing out into a glacial wide-screen sonic dynamic. On Rainman and the title track the listener is transported to a rain-soaked, nocturnal cityscape ridden with desire, moonlight cutting through blinds, intoxicating chasms without bounds. Rose's use of saxophone and digital synthesis recalls the nightmusic of Hats-era Blue Nile or the more ambient end of Emeralds' catalog. Indeed, in the towering synthetic cello sounds that climb into the mind on Hila, there's a distinct flavour of the instrumentals on Bowie's Low. This is musick to play in the dark, to light the way a little, just enough to trick the senses.
Leading into the strobe-filled haze, single Manifest pounds forward with a massive Industrial 4/4 beat and post-punk/goth musicality, an exercise in unlit ecstasy. For Best Of Times, the liberal saxophone passages feel like a suppressed, 80s Michael Mann soundtrack with Frankie Rose's effortless, melodic vocal performance probing, searching for connection. Navigating through the dry, iced landscape into a rising sun, closer Velvet Refrain flips the melancholy of the preceding passages. With a massive sound dripping with harmony, the clanging guitar and vocal duet feels they're sound-tracking an unexpected happy ending after bouts of darkness."

The record is largely sung in Scots language, one of Scotland’s three official languages along with Gaelic and English. “Scots gives me a way of expressing myself which is connected directly with the landscapes I love. It brings the songs alive and it is a fascinating language. The name of the record is in Scots - Forefowk means the people who came before, or ancestors. When we say ‘mind me,’ we can mean a few things- remind, remember, watch over or care for me. The record explores how tradition needs to be constantly reconnected with, built upon, looked after, and shared.”
Quinie sings with a style inspired by Scottish Traveller singers. “I began singing unaccompanied Scots Song in 2015 after hearing Scots Traveller singer Sheila Stewart on the radio. Initially I felt like I shouldn't sing these songs because I'm not a Traveller, and I saw people around me doing that in a way that made me uncomfortable. But on the other hand this music made sense to me and I felt driven to learn. Over the years I have met Traveller friends who taught me that settled people sharing these songs could contribute to raising awareness. Scottish Travellers are marginalised and discriminated against in modern Scotland, despite being custodians of so many of our important traditions. So I started to perform them and tell this story. From there I built on my repertoire and started writing my own songs”.
To develop this record, Quinie travelled across Argyll with her horse. They went on a pilgrimage of sorts through the ancient landscapes of the West of Scotland to explore the interconnected relationships between people, ancestors, animals, and place. The album’s vinyl release is accompanied by a book and film, documenting this unusual research process.
Forefowk, Mind Me was recorded in August 2024 at The Big Shed in Highland Perthshire with support from Creative Scotland. Quinie is accompanied by an ensemble of musicians: Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh (viola), Oliver Pitt (duduk, bouzouki, percussion), Harry Górski-Brown (small pipes, violin), and Stevie Jones (double bass, recording, and mixing). Each of these artists brings their own distinctive voice, bridging contemporary experimental practice with worlds of traditional and early music.

Richmond's IRON REAGAN returns with their original lineup for the thrashing new EP, DEMONETIZATION. 6 blistering tracks clocking in at just 10 minutes, DEMONETIZATION shows the band (Tony Foresta, Ryan Parrish, Dr. Guitar, Phil Hall, and Adam Guilliams) crushing through the Punk, Hardcore, Fastcore, Thrash Metal, and more that have made IRON REAGAN a mainstay since their original 2012 demo. IRON REAGAN's most Punk lineup returns to deliver breakneck music at breakneck speeds. "Very excited to release new music with the original Iron Reagan lineup," says Foresta. "This is the first time we've released something with Paul since 2014 (Exhumed Split). This is some of our strongest/heaviest material we've done to date. Looking forward to getting back on the road with these guys and seeing everybody." Reactivated and ready to roll, IRON REAGAN promises that DEMONETIZATION is just a taste of things to come! Short: Richmond's IRON REAGAN returns with their original lineup for the thrashing new EP, DEMONETIZATION. FFO: D.R.I., Power Trip, Iron Age, The Accused, Nuclear Assault, Anthrax

Anushka Chkheidze + Robert Lippok continue their collaboration with »The Sky Was Out of Tune«. Its eight movements form a long-form ambient piece in constant flux: soundscapes emerge from electronic synthesis and layered textures, while small melodies, rhythmic patterns, metallic noises, or distortions drift through like clouds across the sky. But a sky that is out of tune is still a sky. What shifts is the register in which it speaks.

»The Sky Was Out of Tune« emerges from a live performance for »Festival of Future Nows« at Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie. Its organically tangled sounds mirror the artists’ attention to nature as a system that is never quite in equilibrium. Ecosystems lean, compensate, tip, and recover—balance, in the natural world, is not a fixed state but a perpetual negotiation. Chkheidze and Lippok take this as both subject and method. Their sounds shift weight between one another, approach resolution and then withdraw from it, hold tension without release—they find form in the unstable. »Preparing something unstable completely changed the method of how we would normally split our skills or roles,« Chkheidze says. »I think in this one looong piece you feel how much we listen to each other.«

Anushka Chkheidze + Robert Lippok continue their collaboration with »The Sky Was Out of Tune«. Its eight movements form a long-form ambient piece in constant flux: soundscapes emerge from electronic synthesis and layered textures, while small melodies, rhythmic patterns, metallic noises, or distortions drift through like clouds across the sky. But a sky that is out of tune is still a sky. What shifts is the register in which it speaks.

»The Sky Was Out of Tune« emerges from a live performance for »Festival of Future Nows« at Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie. Its organically tangled sounds mirror the artists’ attention to nature as a system that is never quite in equilibrium. Ecosystems lean, compensate, tip, and recover—balance, in the natural world, is not a fixed state but a perpetual negotiation. Chkheidze and Lippok take this as both subject and method. Their sounds shift weight between one another, approach resolution and then withdraw from it, hold tension without release—they find form in the unstable. »Preparing something unstable completely changed the method of how we would normally split our skills or roles,« Chkheidze says. »I think in this one looong piece you feel how much we listen to each other.«

From Berlin to Lagos: Jembaa Groove expand their sound on "Be A Lover"

Berlin-based outfit Jembaa Groove return with "Be A Lover", a four-track EP set for full release on 18 September via global soul imprint Agogo Records. Following two critically acclaimed albums and an intensive period of touring across Europe and the US — including a SXSW showcase and a widely acclaimed KEXP session — this latest release marks a new chapter in the band’s trajectory. Built around highlife rhythms and shaped by Afro-jazz and the more organic edges of Afrobeats, "Be A Lover" unfolds with a warm, languid and deeply soulful feel, capturing different strands of today’s multifaceted Afrofusion scene.

Here, the band strips back from a seven-piece ensemble to its two founding members, while at the same time opening outward into a deeply collaborative space. At its centre is a close creative partnership with celebrated Nigerian highlife revivalists The Cavemen., alongside contributions from London-based, Nigerian born soul artist Azekel, Lagos vocalist Tim Lyre, and Malian icon Fatoumata Diawara.

“This record has a different flavour,” says Owusu. “It’s really about collaboration — different feelings, different thoughts, different energies coming together.” While centred around the Lagos contemporary scene, the record is shaped by a wider diasporic network stretching across London, Lagos, Berlin and Amsterdam, cities producer and bass player Yannick Nolting describes as “the pillars where everything that is happening in today’s highlife and Afro-fusion scene.”

Formed in Berlin in 2020, Jembaa Groove began after a chance meeting between bassist, producer and composer Yannick Nolting and percussionist, vocalist and songwriter Eric Owusu. Drawing on their respective musical journeys — Nolting’s years working with Lusophone artists in Lisbon and Owusu’s deep roots in Ghana’s highlife tradition, including work with Pat Thomas and late highlife legend Ebo Taylor — the project quickly took shape: their debut album Susuma established a powerful, poly-rhythmic sound grounded in highlife, jazz and soul, while 2024’s "Ye Ankasa | We Ourselves" expanded that vision through collaborations with artists across Ghana and its diaspora, including UK based Ghanaian singer, rapper, percussionist, and arranger K.O.G and legendary Ghanaian highlife musician Gyedu-Blay Ambolley.

The collaborative spirit continues on "Be A Lover", most of which grew out of a meeting with sibling duo The Cavemen. at Supersonic Jazz Festival in Amsterdam in 2023, leading to a sustained exchange of ideas between Berlin and Lagos. With two acclaimed albums behind them, The Cavemen. have emerged as central figures in both Lagos’ alternative music scene and the wider contemporary highlife revival, bringing the genre to a new generation through a stripped-back, melody-driven sound. “There was some kind of magnetism towards Lagos,” says Nolting; for Owusu, who is Ghanaian but spent much of his life in Nigeria, the connection runs even deeper. “I feel lucky to be able to bring different cultures together and make something really beautiful,” he says. A key part of that process was a close working exchange between Nolting and The Cavemen.’s Kingsley Okorie, who effectively stepped into a co-producing role on three out of four of the tracks.

The one exception is opener No Pain No Gain, which features Nigerian-born, East London-based Azekel, whose smooth, R&B-leaning vocal moves through a slow-burning arrangement of bright keys, gently rising horns and atmospheric synths, anchored by Owusu’s organic percussion.

The title track Be A Lover, featuring Afro-fusion Lagos artist Tim Lyre, distills the EP’s central message into its most immediate form. Backed by syncopated percussion and a gently smouldering arrangement, Lyre’s voice moves with a laid-back, melodic ease, delivering a simple refrain: “be a lover, not a fighter.” “It’s a very simple message,” says Nolting, “It’s about showing more love, on a personal level but also more broadly… just show love.” That same sense of warmth runs throughout the record, reflecting its core idea.

On Obi, The Cavemen. take centre stage, with Kingsley Okorie leading through melancholic, plaintive vocals rooted in classic highlife. In contrast, his brother Benjamin James punctuates the track with high-pitched vocal interjections, heightening the emotional tension against a backdrop of slow, restrained instrumentation.

Waka follows with a more melodic, hook-led refrain from Eric Owusu, whose loose, almost conversational delivery creates a striking contrast with Fatoumata Diawara’s unmistakably powerful, raspy vocal. The collaboration grew out of a chance meeting while Owusu was on tour, with ideas exchanged quickly and Diawara returning a finished vocal within days. “We are so proud to have her. It’s a privilege” says Owusu. "Be A Lover" is a record shaped by connections like these — between people, scenes, and cities. “It was partly intention, partly destiny,” says Nolting. “We met these people along the way, and somehow Lagos was meant to come into our path.”

2026 Repress

Portugal's Dextro returns for second EP of stylish deep techno on Mutual Rytm with ‘Planets And Stars’. Dextro’s tunes have long been a staple of Mutual Rytm label head SHDW's sets, with the esteemed veteran previously landing on the label with his ‘Covil Dos Abutres’ EP last year. His return with ‘Planets And Stars’ features a selection of his most requested IDs from recent times, with the Portuguese DJ/producers featuring as a longstanding favourite within the European underground since the 90s through his stripped-back, economical sound that is rooted in masterful design and intuitive grooves. He is a true studio craftsman, whether going deep or more destructive, and that range is on show here as he makes a splash for his sophomore outing. SHDW notes, “‘Planets And Stars’ feels like his most refined and focused work to date. It also further strengthens our relationship, rooted in a shared vision and values around music and how it should be presented.” The EP kicks off with the heavyweight ‘1000 Places’, a track that will rattle walls as eerie synth whispers and sonar blips snake through the mix. ‘Industria Acéfala’ is just as hypnotic with a deep blend of rolling bass and rooted kicks, while unsettling tension comes in the one-note synth loops and scratchy texture. ‘Planets and Stars’ provides an intergalactic trip with cosmic dust, conscious spoken words and an infinite horizon that has you gazing off into the distance. The all-consuming ‘Perpendicular’ is shadowy with impish motifs darting about the mix as watery droplets fall into cavernous kicks. ‘Winter Letter’ is the final 12”cut and is perfectly deep, linear techno with gorgeous ambient details that turn your thoughts inwards. Three digital bonuses expand the trip: ‘Torresmos com Pão’ is unsettling and sparse, ‘Historia da Vida’ ramps up the tension with oversized hi-hats and rising synth turbulence and finally ‘Ghost Particles’ has shimmering bell sounds evoking a spooky moon-lit church in the dead of night.

Still hot on the heels of compiling the first volume of the Italian Dancefloor Outsiders, and moved by the urge to explore new musical landscapes and discover sounds produced in subsequent years, we decided to continue our quest of tracking an alternative map of what was happen- ing in the Italian electronic music scene. This second volume takes inspiration from the concept of “Mezzanotte Mezzogiorno” (literally “from Midnight to Midday”), a term first used for a now legendary party held in 1992 at Club Imperi- ale in Tirrenia, Tuscany. The owner of the club, Roberto Pannocchia, was eager to attract a different kind of audience to his venue and so decided to extend the closing time until midday, well beyond the Italian law limits. But as Imperiale was a members club, he was allowed to do it, and he already knew that this act would forever shape the Italian club scene. "Mezzanotte Mezzogiorno" was then used to describe long dancing marathons that lasted for the whole weekend, spread across clubs, after-parties and more off-the-grid open air venues but, most of all, became the symbol of an era. The music ranged from slow, pitched-down landscapes to epic techno progressions, filling both feverishly packed big rooms and colourful chillout zones. A parabola of musical move- ments related to specific genres was born, reaching its peak and then fading towards the end of the millenium.

“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 compositions recorded here are a product of work with computers in synthetic speech, song and vocal sounds and were created between 1972 and 1975. The music was realized on two different computer music systems and takes advantage of, and attempts to extend and explore their features. The system employed to realize speech songs was created at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for research in synthetic speech and speech communication. Since the system was not designed for musical purposes, its limitations were severe and its musical use a great (and often rewarding) challenge. The system used for In Celebration and The Story of Our Lives was designed with the expressed purpose of creating synthetic musical voices, and was therefore much better suited to the task at hand. As with any high technology project, there was extensive collaboration in the production of the works.

The works on this disk are called computer music because the sounds were created numerically in a computer before reaching magnetic tape and loudspeakers. The computer did not compose the music. However, it was only used as a sound synthesis and analysis medium. In order to hear the sounds which are represented in the computer as successions of numbers it was necessary to attach a digital-to-analogue converter to the computer. The converter transformed the succession of numbers into a fluctuating voltage which was recorded directly on to audio tape.

The technique used to create the synthetic voices is called speech synthesis-by-analysis. For this method of speech synthesis, only those words, phrases and sentences which have been spoken into the computer previously (via an analogue-to-digital converter) may be synthesized. First the digitally-recorded speech is analyzed by programs which extract the attributes (parameters) of the speech for short time segments (.01 sec.). From these parameters the speech may be recreated in a form which resembles the original recording very closely. But for musical purposes the parameters are most often altered before synthesis. It is possible, for example, to change the natural pitch contour of the speech into a melodic line or to change the speech speed without altering the natural pitch level.

The variety of musical patterns which may be created from the analytic parameters is limited only by the composer's imagination. Most of the speech sounds on the recording were created by changing the pitch and duration attributes of the original on resynthesis, but for a few, the resonances (the formants) of the speech were altered as well. The voice of the book in The Story of Our Lives was created by replacing the program which simulates the sound of the human vocal cords with one consisting of 64 sine tones glissandoing at different rates. All the textures in which more than one voice is heard were obtained by mixing the synthetic voices together digitally.

Silver Vinyl
Simon Popp is back on Squama with his fourth album Trio.
At its heart, Trio is a work about collaboration, playfulness and unification. It is music as a means of coming together, a sonic equivalent to the Japanese philosophy of Kintsugi, in which broken ceramics are repaired with a visible golden lacquer. Rather than hiding the breaks, Kintsugi embraces them, making them part of the story, a form of delicate transformation. Popp and his collaborators Flurin Mück and Sebastian Wolfgruber take a similar approach: three distinct drummers, three different temperaments, three personal styles. Fused together into a single expressive instrument.
The album is a celebration of timbre, texture, and touch, its sound palette drawn from across continents and traditions. Human beings at all points of time, across all cultures and continents have used music to celebrate, mourn, worship and bond. Along with our voices, creating rhythm with our bodies. Clapping, stomping, hitting with sticks. A celebration of rhythm as both a shared human memory and an audible expression of close bonds.
Trio is a reflection of the beauty of imperfection and the timeless pull of rhythm as a shared human force. The cracks are not hidden. They are filled with gold.

There is a pivotal scene in “August in the Water” (dir. Sōgo Ishii, 1995) where the surface of a pool turns into a stone wall. The water that gave the protagonist's life its meaning becomes a threat. As you fall through this stone wall, you appear in a set of underwater coral-reef corridors, and one of the most beautiful musical themes begins to play: Aquatic Ambience, composed by David Wise for Donkey Kong Country (1994). It's a theme that represents the weightless vibe of your new deep-sea life, where you go about your mundane errands, collecting bananas while driving on a swordfish, or, as HerzMayhem put it: "Poor monkey... always swimming, never going anywhere..."

Synthetic Water Music is the second of three compilations, following Synthetic Bird Music and timed to mappa's 10th anniversary. As with the birds, it gathers friends of the label, artists who have released with mappa or played our shows. Most of the music is new, made to measure for this compilation, much of it from Central and Eastern European hands. Birds and water mix well, so please feel invited to play them together, creating your own environments.

Where the birds were in one flock, water is dispersed across four chapters. You live your life as a droppity drop: vapour in the heavens, condensing in clouds, falling into a swamp, trickling into the deepest sea.

Tlālōcān (Cassette 1, Side A)
A place of eternal spring, of aquatic energy that nourishes everything and allows all things to bloom. Bubbly and splishy-sploshy, it is full of dripping sounds and moist caverns (“Emerald Pool” by Pauline Anna Strom), a landscape filled with living fountains (“Oh, to be a Fountain” by Eva Sajanová) and winding streams that flow through the area, forming part of its organic architecture. It is also a paradise reserved for those whose deaths were water-related, where the aquatic and terrestrial beings live in symbiosis and perspectives shift rapidly, from observing a single droplet (Shakali, Lau Nau) to dew (Feronia Wennborg & Lucy Duncombe) and on to flowing currents (Visible Cloaks) that gradually transform into river music (Ursula K. Le Guin & Todd Barton).

Nephelora (Cassette 1, Side B)
A celestial anti-gravity sound world made of evaporation, steam and the formation of clouds, as if looking at “The Sky At The Bottom of the Well” (by Natalia Beylis) or at “The Cloud That Never Rains” (by Henrique Vaz).

If a cloud never rains,
it is not a cloud at all, but a veil that parches the earth with its gaze.
It generates only its own shadow —
a looming mass of suspended longing,
a sky that hoards but never yields,
a reservoir that swallows every river and returns nothing but echoes.

The water in this world is often invisible but sometimes all the more present, as Bint Mbareh describes it: “Recently been obsessed with invisible waters because I come from a place where you have to imagine the water is there even though you cannot see a river, a sea, usually no rain, so water is in the air, the voice and the imaginal realm, drought is imagined to be negotiable.”

Žaboglach Zha-bo-glahch (Cassette 2, Side A)
A fusion of Scottish lochs and Slovak ponds: a misty, foul-smelling, swampy realm, the kind of place that swallowed Artax from The NeverEnding Story. Stagnant waters full of decay become a blooming habitat for sirens (“thereby losing the weightless delight of being swept along with it” by Adam Badí Donoval) and beings straddling the line between fauna and flora, inventing their own communication systems (“Water-lily phase” by Action Pyramid).

R'lyeh (Cassette 2, Side B)
A brooding sunken city at the bottom of the ocean. It’s a journey to get there. Let this chapter guide you, from the shore down to the depths, to the gates of an unexplored world that is inherently dark, unfathomable, and beyond the limits of human perception: starting with seasickness ("Seasick" by Nikolaienko), passing through a classic Poe-esque maelstrom ("Flurry at the Whirl-pull" by Atte Elias Kantonen), a gateway into the darkness and emptiness of the ocean floor, and finally traversing the city itself (“last waves of 2025” by Jules Reidy).
But what is pulling you to a place like this that only a few explore and even fewer leave? Maybe “the darkness that water can contain, the expanse of things we don't know and that can trigger fear instincts even as we try to rationalise them and think we are in control of the rest of nature” (“supercritical fluids” by Diane Barbé).

Dive in and surface wherever you like. Always swimming, never going anywhere. Just don’t forget to take water breaks.

P.S. Birds, then water, can you guess what comes next? Synthetic Soil Music, an elegy for insects and worms? Synthetic Glaciers, or maybe Pollinators? Which sounds would you miss the most if they disappeared? Or what if the third one never comes at all, and somebody, or something, makes Synthetic mappa Music instead. Don't you worry, with the right training data, it can all be replicated, better than the real thing.

Time Heals Everything is the fifth studio album from Blu and Exile, a duo that first connected in 2007 and has spent nearly two decades refining a chemistry that continues to evolve. The ten-track LP follows 2024’s Love (the) Ominous World and leans deeper into their core strengths: soul-forward production, incisive writing, and left-field choices that feel instinctive rather than experimental.
The album opens with “Soul Unusual,” a mission statement that builds on the lineage of “Soul Provider” and “Soul Amazing,” reframed through Blu’s present-day perspective. “The word special comes to mind,” Blu explains. “This is my perspective of those songs now.” Exile adds that the record went through multiple iterations before landing in its final form. “Once I changed the beat, it really came together for me, and his words hit differently,” he says, setting the tone for a project rooted in refinement and intention.
“Crumbs” pairs Blu with Rome Streetz and ICECOLDBISHOP on a golden era-inspired backdrop, taking aim at the ‘crumbs’ people are expected to accept from corrupt systems of power. The track underscores one of the album’s central themes: clarity through experience, and the perspective that comes with time.
Time Heals Everything finds Blu and Exile honoring their foundation while continuing to push forward, proving once again that soul and risk-taking can coexist without compromise. “We took a different approach with the direction while still staying true to the culture our music has built with our fan base,” Blu says. In 2026, that culture remains alive, evolving, and resonant as ever.

British composer Simon Goff interprets space, both within ourselves and the objects that surround us with Interior Realms - vol.1; a wondrous, contemplative work of electronic chamber music.

The idea first came from the philosophical idea underpinning the book Interior Realms, published by Theatrum Mundi in 2021. In it, a collection of essays reflects upon architecture’s influence on the human spirit. It challenges us to think not only about music as space, but also about how architecture can shape our ideas of composition. It also asks us to think about how space can make us experience music internally differently.

Interior Realms, the album, inhabits this idea and creates a dreamlike, atmospheric arch between its outer and inner parts. Joyous, immense and light-filled compositions sits side by side with the almost pure silence and introspect of its inner core. Goff wanted to create parallel compositional voices, performing them in various locations, each offering its own sonic character, unique spatial sounds, and reverb. Together with his long-time collaborator, Lynn Wright, the album was recorded in the Großer Wasserspeicher, Berlin's oldest water tower, and at the Grunewaldkirche, a location known amongst others from being the birthplace of many great works by artists such as Nils Frahm, Dustin O´Halloran and more. Cellist Anne Müller appears alongside Goff’s violin and viola on several pieces as they improvised and interacted with each other in the resonance of the space.

In addition to his own endeavors, Simon composes primarily for film and has collaborated with Hildur Guðnadóttir, Jóhann Jóhannsson and Peter Broderick among others. His collaborators has left an inspiring mark on him, all while standing firmly on his own feet with grand intention and results as heard on this absolutely brilliant atmospheric work.

Mighty Music is proud to announce the release of "Electrifyed", the brand-new studio album from NWOBHM pioneers TYGERS OF PAN TANG. The album finds the legendary British metal act returning to a heavier and more aggressive sound while retaining the melodic identity that has defined the band throughout its celebrated career. ""The heavier, the better" that was our mantra throughout the writing and recording of "Electrifyed"", singer Jack Meille comments about the writing process of the record. "We wanted to rediscover the pleasure of being driven by the powerful force of a heavy riff without losing that melodic touch all great Tygers songs have". Written with a clear artistic vision from the outset, "Electrifyed" draws inspiration from the raw energy of the band's early years, particularly their landmark debut album "Wild Cat", while showcasing the chemistry and creativity of the current line-up. The result is a collection of songs built around powerful riffs, memorable melodies and a renewed commitment to the heavy metal traditions the band helped establish. The album also introduces guitarist John Footitt on record for the first time. Joining founding member Robb Weir, Jack Meille, drummer Craig Ellis and bassist Huw Holding, Footitts guitar skills fit the album's muscular and contemporary sound. To achieve the sonic impact envisioned by the band, Tygers of Pan Tang worked closely with producer and musician Marco Angioni, a longtime friend and collaborator who helped translate the group's ambitions into a cohesive and powerful final product. The album artwork was once again entrusted to Andy Pilkington of Very Metal Art, whose striking cover concept perfectly captures the spirit and energy of "Electrifyed".

Transparent Orange w/ blue splatter vinyl. Mighty Music is proud to announce the release of "Electrifyed", the brand-new studio album from NWOBHM pioneers TYGERS OF PAN TANG. The album finds the legendary British metal act returning to a heavier and more aggressive sound while retaining the melodic identity that has defined the band throughout its celebrated career. ""The heavier, the better" that was our mantra throughout the writing and recording of "Electrifyed"", singer Jack Meille comments about the writing process of the record. "We wanted to rediscover the pleasure of being driven by the powerful force of a heavy riff without losing that melodic touch all great Tygers songs have". Written with a clear artistic vision from the outset, "Electrifyed" draws inspiration from the raw energy of the band's early years, particularly their landmark debut album "Wild Cat", while showcasing the chemistry and creativity of the current line-up. The result is a collection of songs built around powerful riffs, memorable melodies and a renewed commitment to the heavy metal traditions the band helped establish. The album also introduces guitarist John Footitt on record for the first time. Joining founding member Robb Weir, Jack Meille, drummer Craig Ellis and bassist Huw Holding, Footitts guitar skills fit the album's muscular and contemporary sound. To achieve the sonic impact envisioned by the band, Tygers of Pan Tang worked closely with producer and musician Marco Angioni, a longtime friend and collaborator who helped translate the group's ambitions into a cohesive and powerful final product. The album artwork was once again entrusted to Andy Pilkington of Very Metal Art, whose striking cover concept perfectly captures the spirit and energy of "Electrifyed".

Jess By The Lake’s fully analog sophomore album out in September Jess By The Lake’s highly anticipated second full-length album, HUMAN, will be released on September 11th via Svart Records. Jasmin Lempinen, the former vocalist of Jess And The Ancient Ones, is now focusing on her solo career and has this to say about the upcoming album. “This album is an analog counterattack and a celebration of live band music. It’s a statement against everything that modern society seems to be churning out from every nook and cranny: disposable, soulless, plastic, mindless output meant to be swallowed without question. The album is a carefully crafted work of art from start to finish and a tribute to both its creators and its listeners. In making it, we’ve strived for the best possible performance and sound quality that we were capable of at the moment of recording. And in that moment, we truly lived and channelled all our energy into it, which we hope will also reach the listeners. It unashamedly pays homage to the past, to the traditions of rock music.” The band began working on the album in 2019, when the first songs were written, and it was recorded live on magnetic tape in the summer of 2023 at the legendary Höyrybaari in Lapinlahti, Finland. The recording was handled by Tommi Saikkonen and the band’s guitarist Sampo Leksis, who also mixed the album. The old railway company’s log warehouse resonated beautifully, and at times the tape also picked up the rumbling of a train on the tracks right behind where the band was playing. However, making the album took time due to changing life circumstances and new additions to the family. Keeping the album entirely analog has also delayed the process

Jess By The Lake’s fully analog sophomore album out in September Jess By The Lake’s highly anticipated second full-length album, HUMAN, will be released on September 11th via Svart Records. Jasmin Lempinen, the former vocalist of Jess And The Ancient Ones, is now focusing on her solo career and has this to say about the upcoming album. “This album is an analog counterattack and a celebration of live band music. It’s a statement against everything that modern society seems to be churning out from every nook and cranny: disposable, soulless, plastic, mindless output meant to be swallowed without question. The album is a carefully crafted work of art from start to finish and a tribute to both its creators and its listeners. In making it, we’ve strived for the best possible performance and sound quality that we were capable of at the moment of recording. And in that moment, we truly lived and channelled all our energy into it, which we hope will also reach the listeners. It unashamedly pays homage to the past, to the traditions of rock music.” The band began working on the album in 2019, when the first songs were written, and it was recorded live on magnetic tape in the summer of 2023 at the legendary Höyrybaari in Lapinlahti, Finland. The recording was handled by Tommi Saikkonen and the band’s guitarist Sampo Leksis, who also mixed the album. The old railway company’s log warehouse resonated beautifully, and at times the tape also picked up the rumbling of a train on the tracks right behind where the band was playing. However, making the album took time due to changing life circumstances and new additions to the family. Keeping the album entirely analog has also delayed the process

Released in 1971, Maggot Brain stands as the towering masterpiece in Funkadelic’s groundbreaking catalog. Initially misunderstood upon release, the album is now widely regarded as one of the most influential records of all time. Anchored by Eddie Hazel’s otherworldly guitar performance on the legendary title track and featuring enduring favorites like “Can You Get To That,” Maggot Brain redefined the possibilities of funk, rock, and psychedelic music.


For this definitive 2026 reissue, the album was mastered directly from analog tape, preserving the raw power, depth, and atmosphere of the original recordings with extraordinary detail. A longtime holy grail for collectors, Maggot Brain receives the fully analog treatment it has long deserved.

If you’re as obsessed with unfairly unheralded bands as we are, bringing out a proper, well-deserved official re-release to change that course is always an honor. Case in point, Jackpot Records proudly announce GANDALF’s 1969 self-titled release as one of our proudest moments. Working alongside band member Peter Sando from the original master tapes, it is time for the rest of the uninitiated to catch up with this beautifully crafted haunting psych-pop record (fans of THE LEFT BANKE, KALEIDOSCOPE, THE MILLENNIUM, and THE ZOMBIES, take note!). Recorded at Century Sound in Manhattan with Grammy-winning producer Brooks Arthur (who engineered Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” and Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl”), the production of the album was created on the spot in the studio with arrangements being thrown about and the incredibly haunted vocals being recorded directly from the band’s PA using a Binson Echorec to make this innovative sound (Pink Floyd later used the same echo unit to great effect). Add to that sitars, vibes, B3 organs, harpsichord, minor tragic guitar chords, and bass drones aplenty, and you’ve got the recipe for an album that bears listening to with eyes closed, music cranked, mind open. So get in on the beauty of this record, and as Sando says on the liner notes: “Put the needle in the groove, sit back, and take the trip with GANDALF.” Enough said.

Mit „Everglow" veröffentlichen Lifespark. ihr Debütalbum - einen Longplayer, der modernen Alternative Rock und Post-Hardcore mit atmosphärischer Tiefe und internationalem Anspruch verbindet. Die Band aus Koblenz hat sich mit starken Singles und intensiver Live-Präsenz bereits europaweit einen Namen gemacht.

Für Sänger David Lukacs markiert „Everglow" einen echten Neuanfang. „Everglow eröffnet uns zum ersten Mal die Möglichkeit, unsere Vision von Lifespark auf einer deutlich größeren Skala zu leben", sagt er. Er beschreibt das Album als eine Art Lifespark 3.0: Nach den Anfangsjahren zwischen 2018 und 2022 - geprägt von Corona, Besetzungswechseln und ersten kleinen Shows - festigte sich von 2023 bis 2025 das heutige Line-up, mit erster großer Support-Tour, erster eigener Headline-Tour und der Debüt-EP. Mit den „Everglow"-Singles beginnt 2026 die nächste Stufe - mit dem klaren Ziel, Lifespark. auf die ersten großen Festivalbühnen zu bringen.

Nach Support-Shows für We Came As Romans, Our Last Night, Hands Like Houses, Escape The Fate und Rain City Drive hat sich die Band eine stetig wachsende internationale Fanbase erspielt und sich europaweit als vielversprechender Newcomer etabliert. 2026 setzen sie diesen Weg konsequent fort – unter anderem als Support für Acres auf großer Europa-Tour im Herbst 2026 mit Stopps in Großbritannien, Deutschland, Österreich und weiteren Ländern.

„Everglow" ist weit mehr als ein Debüt. Es ist das geschlossene Statement einer Band mit klarer künstlerischer Vision: Musik zu schaffen, die verbindet, Kraft spendet und lange nachhallt - und die Menschen für einen Abend zusammenbringt, ganz gleich, woher sie kommen. Zwischen Verletzlichkeit und Stärke entsteht ein Sound, der ehrlich, packend und bereit für die nächsten großen Bühnen ist.

There is an important difference between "mature" club vibes (leather porkpie hats) and "adult" club vibes (a post-ego-death experience of the world through the eyes of an Eames chair). Extrawelt's Jamborghini EP exemplifies the latter in ways that extend beyond sophisticated wordplay*. Well beyond.

Sophisticated electro-techno hybrids occupy an incredibly dangerous space. One false move and you corner listeners into an unsolicited conversation about "gain staging." The four tracks on the vinyl EP thread the needle in thrilling fashion, and then use that needle to stab at the sweet spot between sentient cell tower admin software vibes and the kind of architecture hot people like.

And with the digital exclusives, we've once again saved you from the depths of "bonus beats" hell by supplying three tracks that are as good as anything that has ever been pressed to vinyl. If your knee-jerk reaction is to doubt this, we would simply point out you haven't even heard them yet, and here you are talking shit. Go push your hateful agenda somewhere else.

Extrawelt are fast becoming a Turbo Recordings staple, and don't think the globalist EDM cabal hasn't taken notice. Jamborghini has already received heavy DJ support from Jumpin' Josh Junior, Monoburglar, Now or Never, Tiga, Never Say Never, Rumpled Glory, Moment of Truth, and the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce.

*Our best guess is that the title is meant to evoke a Lamborghini you can have a musical "jam session" in, and not the striking metallic purple Diablo SE30 driven by Jamiroquai frontman Jay Kay in the 1996 video for "Cosmic Girl."

Released in 1971, Maggot Brain stands as the towering masterpiece in Funkadelic’s groundbreaking catalog. Initially misunderstood upon release, the album is now widely regarded as one of the most influential records of all time. Anchored by Eddie Hazel’s otherworldly guitar performance on the legendary title track and featuring enduring favorites like “Can You Get To That,” Maggot Brain redefined the possibilities of funk, rock, and psychedelic music.


For this definitive 2026 reissue, the album was mastered directly from analog tape, preserving the raw power, depth, and atmosphere of the original recordings with extraordinary detail. A longtime holy grail for collectors, Maggot Brain receives the fully analog treatment it has long deserved.

Dj Ultramars hasn't released many tracks altogether, and since 2024 he is again too busy to release everybody else's music on his label to find the time to compose more music, but many of his previous tracks are still relevant today, still pleasing party audiences in as much as when first released, and it's been too many years that those tunes have been proposed new on vinyl, so time for a recut & repress.
Here we have:

A1: Cab Carlco, the biggest hit of Dj Utramars, originally released on Mars Picture 1 (1999) as well as Toolbox Killerz 25 (2015), so 11 years since its last (limited) release !
Very uplifiting / very "in your face" kind of track, always & eversince so efficient on the dancefloor.
A2: Ennui (voicemix), originally released on Mars Picture 2 (2003), 23 years ago! (what a round number...). A track that will hypnotize you with its female vocals playing with the echo, yet runnin steady on a heavy deep bass & enough arrangements to not get bored of it: every Mars Assault is designed as a record to DJ as much as a record to listen to.
This track is cut in 45rpm to keep optimal quality until the end of the side.

We had to put some of the best two tracks of Dj Ultramars on the music side since the flip side is a laser etched side ! After we had released the two first picture discs, our current pressing partner was giving the possibility for a laser etched record, so here is the Mars Picture 3 ! See the picture of B-side above.


200 copies limited in this laser etched pressing.
Cut with Hervé @ dK mastering

Released in 1971, Maggot Brain stands as the towering masterpiece in Funkadelic’s groundbreaking catalog. Initially misunderstood upon release, the album is now widely regarded as one of the most influential records of all time. Anchored by Eddie Hazel’s otherworldly guitar performance on the legendary title track and featuring enduring favorites like “Can You Get To That,” Maggot Brain redefined the possibilities of funk, rock, and psychedelic music.


For this definitive 2026 reissue, the album was mastered directly from analog tape, preserving the raw power, depth, and atmosphere of the original recordings with extraordinary detail. A longtime holy grail for collectors, Maggot Brain receives the fully analog treatment it has long deserved.

Dj Dial-On gets the call, we need more jams! This is the follow up to ‘Lil’ Mo b/w Take A Dip’ released back in 2021. The Montreal native DJ, producer & plumber sets you up with all the fittings needed to make the connection. Club music from working hands for all hours of the night.
We are also greatly honoured to include a remix from one of our favourite players on the scene. A great DJ/Producer & provider of incredible music via Safe Distro, Århus’ own C.K. It’s a wonderfully evocative version that will keep any dance floor bouncing
Skillfully mixed by Gabriel Rei, Mastered by Cristobal Urbina, Design by KG, pressed by Mother Tongue in Verona… it’s a beautiful thing!

While the sterile “professionalism” of some heavy bands can be like a clinical drone strike, Texas-based Judiciary feels personal. Like close combat with a knife. And it’s all in their chemistry. Judiciary is an amalgamation of four guys raised in the intersection of metal and hardcore—all devoted to pushing their craft further. Across two esteemed LPs, the band has proven their worth as a crucial entity in the crowded heavy music scene by evolving their sound further and further with each release. And now with the band’s latest Stalagmite Angels, due on September 4th via the venerable Closed Casket Activities, Judiciary can further showcase their status as a crucial, one-of-a-kind part of the evolution of hardcore in 2026. Life changes can bring about chaos and seismic shifts, but if Stalagmite Angels is any indication, then it’s all for the better. In the wake of the release of Judiciary’s second LP Flesh + Blood, the band called upon Juan Vazquez to pick up guitar duties, thereby changing the internal framework of the band for good, and unknowingly for the better. It’s this pivot in personnel that resulted in the band’s latest EP. “The goal with this EP was a hard reset, but we also wanted to chill the f— out a bit, have fun, and do something that felt true to the four of us,” recalls drummer Austin Looney. “We wanted time to reconfigure things and let the music come naturally–temper this new mindset that we've adopted post-Flesh + Blood.” Judiciary’s greatest strength lies in their musical singularity. Though Stalagmite Angels represents the collision of influences from across well-worn territories like metallic hardcore, death metal, black metal, d-beat and more, it’s the Lubbock-born band’s approach that makes it distinctly their own. Stalagmite Angels is a wholly new document that resembles a horde of bands ranging from Hatebreed to Carcass to Slayer to Iron Age, yet never aping any single band nor even revealing any single influence. It’s all familiar but none of it is specific. “90s hardcore and hardcore in general is always gonna be our natural inclination, but it manifests with different elements not only from song to song but within each song,” says vocalist Jake Collinson emphatically, who learned guitar specifically to help with writing new material. “Whether that’s Dying Breed or Cannibal Corpse or Crowbar or Machine Head or any number of other influences that any one of us may have, it all manifests in our work, and through our individual and collective lenses. With this EP, we transformed those ideas into the Judiciary approach.” Stalagmite Angels is an EP about anger at the world, belief in yourself, and how harnessing both in the pursuit of growth is necessary to achieve. But furthermore, it’s a concept record that envisions a subterranean world in both a literal and metaphorical sense—where hidden beauty lurks in the shadows (and in the eye of the beholder) and where triumph manifests in the ability to rise from the depths and into the world above.

Doomcrusher fuse stomping industrial riffs, uncompromising gutturals and uplifting hooks - modern core with electronic depth and metal roots.

In the crucible of the apocalypticatmosphere that envelops our world, Doomerusher was forged. Born out of the deepest desire to be the harbinger of change, the band emerged with a resolute mission: to defy the impending doom that looms on the horizon. Founded by Andy Posdziech (Any Given Day), Jean Bormann (Rage), Marv Kinkel & Rob Lee, Doomcrusher's sound is a powerful fusion of stomping and heavy mid-tempo industrial riffs, seamlessly intertwined with uncompromising gutturals that resolve into unfolding and uplifting hooks. The band's sound is further enriched by sophisticated electronic elements, adding depth and complexity to their musical tapestry. The ambition is clear - to redefine modern core music while staying true to the roots of the metal genre. Their music is not merely an auditory experience; it's a journey through the realms of sound, a deliberate exploration of the boundaries of heavy music. Doomcrusher stands as a defiant force against the inevitable, a rebellion that crushes the darkness of doom with an unwavering belief in the transformative power of music. DOOMCRUSHER BIO SHORT: Forged in the apocalyptic atmosphere, Doomcrusher blends stomping industrial riffs with guttural vocals and uplifting hooks. Their music, a deliberate exploration of heavy soundscapes enriched by electronic elements, redefines modern core while honoring metal roots- a defiant force against impending doom

On her debut album Switchbacks, Nashville-based artist Hannah Cole finds inspiration in the image of the switchbacks – sinuous twists in the road that obscure what's ahead. For a young artist making her way in the music industry, it's a powerful image: we can't really know what's ahead for us but – as Cole has learned – you should honk your horn to tell the world you're coming, and otherwise just enjoy the ride. Melding shoegaze and alternative rock with infectious pop melodies and strains of 90s nostalgia, Switchbacks is a commentary on the pursuit of success and how to protect the pure joy and love that lives at our core.

Across the ten tracks of Switchbacks, Cole swings her gaze at many unsettling aspects of the scramble toward success. Lead single "MMA" explores the ugly side of the music industry through the image of Las Vegas. On the brightly off-kilter "Give," she sings, "I feel like I've become an actor, / A TV pastor / climbing up a topless ladder," explaining that "the pursuit of success can feel like buying lottery tickets all the time for money that you'll never see." "Mechanical Bull" seethes with rage as Cole grapples with being seen as just the "girlfriend" in music settings and not being perceived as an equal to her partner, while on "Pitcher," she's paralysed in the face of wanting to achieve perfection. Later, she shrugs off the need to impress on "100 Bucks," reminding herself that she's enough for the people she loves.

Switchbacks is not only a finely-crafted debut album but also a deeply human artifact, tracing an arc that blazes like a comet to the height of ambition and then leaves you in the shimmer of self-acceptance and contentment. "Success is a moment that comes and goes," Cole concludes, "but I think the joy and experience that comes with making music is something I can take with me forever."

The second volume of this (already) cult series of British proto-metal compilation albums. Every artist on here was a regional band in their local underground scene of the late 1960s/early 1970s. The main thing that differentiates this series to any other, is the fact that none of the artists included had any kind of commercial release during their existence (apart from Fusion Farm, who self-released an extremely rare private press LP titled 'Rush Job' in 1971). All the artists were discovered after extremely lengthy searches of old music magazines, local newspapers, concert posters, government agencies.... By any means possible! It was a lot of work, but the results speak for themselves. The one thing that joins all these bands together (apart from being exclusively British), was their desire to play as loud and heavy as possible. This was a magical era in rock music, where Black Sabbath were the undisputed kings, but the industry simply didn't want to recognise the countless other band that existed in their gloomy wake. All of the recordings on Yeah Man, It's Bloody Heavy! are taken from demos, whether originating from crusty old 1/4 inch tapes, dusty acetate discs or third generation cassette tapes. Basically, whatever format was available. As a result, sound quality varies, though we did our utmost to get these precious artefacts sounding as killer as possible. For instance, Bonehead were close friends of Led Zeppelin. Their guitarist/vocalist Paul Lockey had previously played with Robert Plant and John Bonham in the Band Of Joy. Their track, 'Free To Escape', was actually an audition tape for Atlantic Records, which had been instigated by Robert himself. Unfortunately, the band broke up not long after the recording. So, their recording is top notch, whereas others were taken from rehearsal tapes (such as Fusion Farms' - Keys To Hell). But the main thing is, there's a spirit that unites them all. Sit back, roll up a fat one and let your mind be blown by the obnoxious sounds and sheer weight of vintage gravity that is: 'Yeah Man, It's Bloody Heavy! Vol 2'.