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Furthering the passionate exploration of cinema that has guided her two previous LPs - 2017’s ‘Fassbinder Wunderkammer’ and 2020’s ‘I Should Have Been a Gardener’ - the Milanese guitarist/composer, Alessandra Novaga, returns to Die Schachtel with ‘The Artistic Image Is Always a Miracle’, two sides off shimmering, tense compositions – culminating as one of her most creatively ambitious and conceptually rich outings to date – freely inspired by the life and work of the Russian director Andrej Tarkovsky and the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Classically trained at the Musik Akademie in Basel, Switzerland, over the last decade Alessandra Novaga has emerged as one of the leading figures within northern Italy’s thriving new, experimental, and improvised music scene, rendering striking solo efforts, in addition to collaborations with Loren Connors, Stefano Pilia, Elliott Sharp, Nicola Ratti, Paula Matthusen, Sandro Mussida, Kid Millions, Travis Just, Francesco Gagliardi, and others. Remarkably ambitious and forward thinking, her approach to the guitar embarks upon a relentless deconstruction and rethinking of her instrument’s unique properties through distinct applications of structure, resonance, space, and tone, creating in a deeply personal and emotive music, seeking narrative and meaning within the abstractions of sound.

In 2017, with the LP, ‘Fassbinder Wunderkammer’, issued by Setola Di Maiale, Novaga embarked upon the exploration of her love of film. Having begun with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, this was followed in 2020 by Die Schachtel’s release of ‘I Should Have Been a Gardener’, a deeply intimate mediation on the life and work of Derek Jarman. Rather than focusing on a fixed point of inspiration or a single film to work from, these pieces achieve a form of abstract portraiture, distilling elements drawn from these filmmaker’s life and work into ambient networks of texture and tonality. ‘The Artistic Image Is Always a Miracle”’ freely inspired by the Russian director Andrej Tarkovsky and the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, finds Novaga radically expanding her sonic palette within this approach.

The seeds of ‘The Artistic Image Is Always a Miracle’ can be traced to a conversation that Novaga had with Alan Licht (contained in the highly regarded Common Tones: Selected interviews with artists and musicians 1995–2020, Blank Forms, 2021), relating to the connections between music and cinema, which led her to consider Andrej Tarkovsky’s use of Bach's music within a symbiotic framework: how the music illuminates the imagism of the films, and the film illuminates new dimensions of the music. Slowly developing over the subsequent years, the resulting album comprises six individual works, some of which draw directly upon pieces of Bach’s music that Tarkovsky used in his films – specifically 'Erbarme dich, Mein Gott', 'Das alte Jahr vergangen ist', and 'Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ' - while others draw upon the sensibilities and moods evoked in the imagination by the director’s films.

As a point of departure and illumination into the process and spirit that underscored the creation of the album, Novaga points toward a passage in Tarkovsky’s "Sculpting in Time”:

“Art is born and takes hold wherever there is a timeless and insatiable longing for the spiritual, for the ideal: that longing which draws people to art. Modern art has taken a wrong turn in abandoning the search for the meaning of existence in order to affirm the value of the individual for its own sake. What purports to be art begins to look like an eccentric occupation for suspect characters who maintain that any personalized action is of intrinsic value simply as a display of self-will. But in artistic creation the personality does not assert itself, it serves another, higher and communal idea.”

‘The Artistic Image Is Always a Miracle’ can be understood as a realisation of the collectivism of which Tarkovsky speaks, in the service of something far beyond the expression of self. Encountering Novaga moving into fairly uncharted waters, three of the album’s pieces incorporate the human voice we encounter the voices of others: that of the poet Arsenij Tarkovsky, the director’s father; a singer from Bach’s ‘Erbarme dich, Mein Gott’, capturing a broadcast in an underground parking lot, and Novaga’s own, rendering the melody from Bach’s “Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ”. Roughly alternating between solo excursions on guitar and bristling electroacoustic pieces, over the course of the album’s two sides Novaga weaves one of her most abstract and ambitious bodies of recordings to date, shifting between the complex tonal mediations generated by the six strings of her instrument, and phycological densities activated by the expanded pallet of sonority made possible by the tactics and approaches of musique concrète.

An immersive, deeply engaging meeting of beauty and melancholy within a labyrinth of voices and ideas, ‘The Artistic Image Is Always a Miracle’ transfigures the life and work of Andrej Tarkovski – one of the greatest auteurs in the history of cinema – into a singular, experimental statement of collective truth. Belonging to recent, ambitious stream of contemporary new music releases on Die Schachtel that’s already included Novaga’s ‘I Should Have Been a Gardener’, Stefano Pilia’s ‘Spiralis Aurea’, Jim O'Rourke & Giovanni Di Domenico’ ‘Immanent In Nervous Activity’, Claudio Rocchetti’s ‘Labirinto Verticale’, and Damāvand’s ‘As Long As You Come To My Garden’, among others, ‘The Artistic Image Is Always a Miracle’ is available on as a limited edition of 300 dark turquoise vinyl LPs released on June 21, 2024. The LP, designed by Bruno Stucchi / dinamomilano, comes with an 8-pages insert illuminated by Alessandra’s text as well as the lovely and intense photographs of Matilde Piazzi.

Returning to Die Schachtel with his fourth full-length with the label, the Genoa born, Bologna based, guitarist and electroacoustic composer, Stefano Pilia, delivers “Lacinia”, a new, immersive cycle of compositions, delving deeper into the realm of metaphysical, spiritual, and divine meaning, weaving astounding arrangements of sonority from a palette of synths, strings, brass, organ, various electroacoustic instruments, and percussion. Resting at a refined intersection of the acoustic and electroacoustic, drone, and chamber music - overwhelmingly beautiful, delicate, and bold, - “Lacinia” stands as a high-water mark in Pilia’s already remarkable and forward-looking career.

Since its founding in Milan during the early years of the new millennium, Die Schachtel has occupied a singular place in the landscape of experimental music, issuing a carefully curated body of reissues and archival releases by historically significant figures and projects like Christina Kubisch, Luciano Cilio, Marino Zuccheri, Prima Materia, Claudio Rocchi, Lino Capra Vaccina, Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza, Roland Kayn, and numerous others, balanced against bristling contemporary counterparts by the likes of Jim O'Rourke, Giovanni Di Domenico, Nicola Ratti, Luigi ArchettI, Valerio Tricoli, etc. Running like a spine through the label’s output is a deep dedication to the work of the Italian guitarist and electroacoustic composer Stefano Pilia. Now Die Schachtel returns with “Lacinia”, Pilia’s forth full-length with the label and their first release of 2024. Building on the ground of deeply personal engagement with metaphysical, spiritual, and divine meaning, explored within his previous LP with Die Schachtel, 2022’s “Spiralis Aurea”, “Lacinia” encounters the composer working in close calibration with various ensembles, including the Bologna based Ensemble Concordanze and Comunale di Bologna String Orchestra, weaving synths, strings, brass, organ, various electroacoustic instruments, and percussion into an astounding reconfiguration of immersive, contemporary minimalism that stands among Pilia’s most noteworthy releases to date. Issued by Die Schachtel in two special double vinyl editions and a CD edition, “Lacinia” features artwork by Bruno Stucchi/Dinamomilano, and is an absolute marvel that draws you in and doesn’t let go.

First emerging during the early 2000s, over the past two decades – via solo releases and numerous collations with artists like Oren Ambarchi, Valerio Tricoli, Alessandra Novaga, Z'EV, Andrea Belfi, David Grubbs, and numerous others - the Genoa born, Bologna based, guitarist and electroacoustic composer, Stefano Pilia has presented a singular voice within Italian experimental music, harnessing visceral energy and hands-on immediacy within delicately woven tapestries of sonority, each investigating the sculptural properties of sound and illuminating its relationship to space, memory, and the suspension of time. “Lacinia”, Pilia’s forth solo venture with Die Schachtel, encounters the composer reentering his longstanding practice of collaboration with various ensemble forms, including the Bologna based Ensemble Concordanze, for the albums central piece, “Lacinia Off Axis”, spinning stunning string confirmations by Pietro David Carami and Elena Maury on violin, Alessandro Savio on viola, and Mattia Cipolli on cello.

A new, important cycle of compositions by Pilia, “Lacinia” (meaning "lace" in Latin) builds upon the exploration of the metaphysical, spiritual, and divine dimensions through numbers, geometry, and the creation of tonal forms explored by 2022’s “Spiralis Aurea”, mirroring archetypal, immutable forms at the juncture of the abstract realm of mathematics and architectural structures in the physical world, expands the poetics and compositional ideas featured in its predecessor. Regraded by Pilia as both a series of individual compositions and a single work, “Lacinia” was conceived to “define a circular path (a sort of "rhizomatic lace") where the beginning and end touch, suggesting the concept of time not only as linear but also cyclical and ritualistic—an eternal return, a process of transformation where matter changes, its state changes, but without altering the invisible internal principle of mutation”, embarking upon a a series of “steps, degrees, and energetic quanta in a progression of archetypal whole numbers and transcendent creation.”

The resulting 16 tracks unfold as a series of complex sonic meditations. While deeply resonant with the minimalism of composers like Arvo Pärt, LaMonte Young, Pauline Oliveros, and Eliane Radigue, Pilia digs deep and moves far beyond the predictable tonal relationships and structures of that idiom, echoing the ancient liturgical and devotional music of composers like Gesualdo da Venosa, Monteverdi, and John Dowland, at a refined intersection of the acoustic and electroacoustic, drone, and chamber music.

Fascinatingly structured as a whole to include a number of motif returns, across which we encounter works like “Lacinia Off Axis” appearing in slightly different rendering, states, or evolutions three times, and compositions like “Eve” appearing twice in subtly different forms and arrangements - first for four oscillators, guitar and voice and then for string orchestra - as well “Maris Stella”, which similarly makes two appearances, first for horn trio, organ and percussion, and then for string orchestra, with “Lacinia” Pilia delves further into the world of chamber music than ever before, creating a deeply inward, mediative body of work the totality of which, guided by its rich string arrangements of arching, sorrowful tone, feels almost like a mass for some unproclaimed loss; simultaneously locked in the nuances of a moment, while managing to suspend time.

Perhaps most remarkable is Pilia's ability to create a remarkable sense of sonic cohesion while using such a varied number of ensembles and instrumentation. From the sprawling string arrangements delivered by Comunale di Bologna String Orchestra, under the direction of Paolo Mancini, and Ensemble Concordanze, and a flute trio (Cadux / Plectere) brilliantly played by Manuel Zurria, to pieces for sax, organ and percussion, violin duo and percussion, organ and percussion, Pilia manages to create a sense of singular, encompassing world that flows forward like a shifting stream.

Overwhelmingly beautiful, delicate, and bold, “Lacinia” is unquestionably a high-water mark in Stefano Pilia’s already remarkable, forward-looking career. Nothing short of a marvel of contemporary Minimalism that, through its shifting arrangements of harmonics, tonality, and texture draws flickering images of ancient forms of music into the present day, “Lacinia” is Issued by Die Schachtel in two special editions on double vinyl and a CD edition, featuring artwork by Bruno Stucchi/Dinamomilano. This is an immersive all-consuming listen that can’t be missed.

Returning with its final instalments, Die Schachtel's Decay Music series extends its explorations of inspired contemporary experimental efforts of the ambient, ethereal, and emotively abstract with Luigi Turra and Elio Martusciello’s “Liminale” and Sergio Armaroli and David Toop’s “And I Entered Into Sleep”, two astounding electroacoustic gestures of blurred space and time, plumbing complexity of meaning bound to sonority. Creatively groundbreaking and inspired, radically rethinking the terms of what ambient music can be perceived to be, they stand among the most striking efforts to appear within the series to date.

Reconfiguring the notion of bridge building on a multitude of terms, it feels fitting that the tenth and final installment of Die Schachtel’s Decay Music series, Sergio Armaroli and David Toop’s “And I Entered Into Sleep”, was co-created by an artist whose work featured in the first suite of LPs issued by Brian Eno’s Obscure Records in 1975, the groundwork toward which Decay Music’s own efforts nod. Since that auspicious debut, “New and Rediscovered Musical Instruments” — his split with Max Eastley — David Toop has been regarded as a pioneer in British experimental and improvised music: a sonic voyager who has continuously challenged the sources and materiality of sound through rigorously thoughtful performances, a vast catalog of recordings, and a steady flow of highly influential texts. Be it as a member of Alterations, his group breaking group with Peter Cusack, Terry Day, and Steve Beresford that ran between 1977 to 1986, or through is noteworthy work with artists like Rie Nakajima, Thurston Moore, Paul Burwell, Rhodri Davies, Lee Patterson, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Akio Suzuki, Elaine Mitchener, and numerous others, collaboration has always played a central role within Toop’s singular practice, but few can claim the sprawling sense of beauty and intimacy that’s achieved by “And I Entered Into Sleep”, his first recorded outing with Sergio Armaroli.

A composer, percussionist, vibraphonist, and multidisciplinary artist, Armaroli has been issuing radical and forward-thinking musical gestures for decades, working as one of Italy’s most noteworthy interpreters of composer’s like Giacinto Scelsi, John Cage, Franco Evangelisti, Giancarlo Schiaffini, and Walter Branchi, as both a solo performer and member of the highly regarded Rib Trio, as well as forging a singular practice as a composer, intertwining his efforts as a painter, concrete percussionist, fragmentary poet and sound artist, within a total art, rooted “within the language of jazz and improvisation” as an “extension of the concept of art”. Like Toop, Armaroli’s career has been populated by many collaborators, notably with Riccardo Sinigaglia, Alvin Curran, and Walter Prati, among others, setting the stage for a remarkable meeting between the pair.

Featuring Armaroli on vibraphone and prepared vibraphone and Toop on electronics, “And I Entered Into Sleep” is “a sonic journey, a Proustian suggestion à la Recherche, into the unconscious between electronic and acoustic sounds”. Using a bell that sounds at the beginning of Proust’s “À la Recherché du Temps Perdu”, which reappears more than 3,000 pages later — signaling a transition of phases, as well an auditory trigger of memory — as a departure point, as an association to the percussive vibraphone pulses that thread the album’s two sides, the pair weave a striking interior world of immersive psychological depth. Feeling almost subaquatic at times, like captured glimpses of rumbling, shadowy ecosystems lost within murky ambiences, before washing ashore in a series of pointillistic, highly detailed alien landscapes of the mind, each artist’s markedly different sound-sources, and treatment of the subsequent material elements, dance in abstract grace, incorporating subtle nods to minimalism, free jazz, and musique concrète within its seamless total form of sparse texture and tone.

Easily one of the most striking and memorable releases by either artist to appear in recent years, Sergio Armaroli and David Toop’s “And I Entered Into Sleep” traverses uncharted realms at the borders of literary reference, sound art, ambience and abstraction through delicately musical sounds, revealing new depths at every turn. Issued as the tenth and final album in Die Schachtel’s Decay Music series, highlighting inspired contemporary experimental efforts of the ambient, ethereal, and emotively abstract.

Swiss shapeshifter Elsa surfaces on Punctuality for the first time, marking the label’s seventh release with a debut EP that dives deep and swims sideways through an eclectic milieu of club influences.

Across the five tracks on Web Glow, there are nods to turn-of-the-century tech house, liquid D&B, broken IDM, psy-laced trance, and modern tek mutations. Subtle wubs ripple under the surface, low-end pressure coils tight, and meticulous sound design binds the tracks into a fully realized vision of Elsa’s forward-thinking sound. Enter the unfolding.

Roza Terenzi steps up to remix “Web Glow,” reanimating the track as a skeletal early-morning stepper—the mood is giving sizzling dubbed-out vocal wisps, pulsing subs, and stripped-back drums. “Groupie” notches up the BPM but keeps things fluid with aquatic atmospherix, jittering FX, and drums that skid out and under rolling basslines.

“Fortune Cookie” flashes uk-tinged tech house with shimmering shards of SFX, resplendent with stuttering kicks, glassy pads, and sultry textures. The halftime jungle-IDM stylings of “No Ads” round off the EP in a haze of fractured breaks and dubbed-out atmospherics. A murky, magnetic debut on Punctuality—Elsa sketches out a soundworld all her own. Dive in and catch it.

Jessica93, prodigal bastard of our glorious french squat scene, relocated on Born Bad : this is no picnic. Geoffroy Laporte, alone against all odds, alternates bass and guitar to build harsh loops with a drum machine spitting pre-Gulf War patterns. That’s where it gets tricky : every musical posse claims him. Grunge, sure, but Jessica doesn’t indulge in necrophilia. His circuit is punk, he doesn’t dress the part though. Cold wave, the atmosphere fits somehow, but the gear does not. The self-confident rock horde saw him playing with hair in his eyes… but he never joined the Party. Metal had something to say but sadly, nobody listened. Maybe it's time to give it a rest and let Jessica93 cook his great misery broth on her own, called « 666 tours de périph’ » (666 laps on the beltway). Witnessing Jessica93 live makes you dread that he'll get up the next morning, drive 200 miles and one nap later kick it again, when it takes us a good week to recover from the bad half of that same evening. Like so many other unknown soldiers during our very own world war of music, he patrols small venues relentlessly.



At the heart of this cultural pentacle painted by french weirdos Bryan's Magic Tears, and Carine Krinator, Jessica93 has built a sound validated by years of chosen vagrancy, birthing bands with joyously stupid monikers, in the humid jungle of small labels. Jessica93's debut album had a track celebrating Omar Little, HBO’s gay bandit from Baltimore. This story begins on the beltway, where Florence Rey, accidental copkiller turned to political icon of the 90’s. Geoffroy offers his brilliant analysis : " C’est la police qui nous tire d’ssus / C’est mon trou d’balle qui leur chie d’ssus « (Police shoots us down / my dripping asshole gets the job done).



A previous album was haunted by bedbugs, this one is essentially about love, a delicious scourge just as hard to eradicate. Two black diamonds peek out of the LP : ’’La colline du crack’’, heartbreak song about the ultimate temptation of violent delights, located on crackhead central in Paris. The brilliant chorus, ‘Take my hand and come with me to Crack Hill’ will put an end to the rumours, almost everything was really false. And Bébé Requin, alternative obituary that’ll make you shiver, where our nice couple states ‘’on kiffe la drogue dure et les ptits chiens’ (‘we love hard drugs and little dogs’). And that is the reason we face the wall of sound jostled by unnecessary shoulder thrusts: those nice fat chunks of charcoal poetry, hidden under light sarcasm.



The rest of the record demonstrates the know-how acquired in loop-by-loop construction of ruins that are pleasant to squat in together. There’s your classic doom delicatessen, with bits of heavy metal inside, crafted with the manic care typical of hard wankers. Arthur Satàn, who produced and mixed the album at home in Bordeaux, helped him get his head out of the reverb safe house. And Jessica93 took the opportunity to switch to the dark side of the language : french at last. Worth the wait ! Sing along : « nique sa mère / nique sa grosse mère » (translate that yourself).

Ska was the name given to the music that came out of Jamaica between 1961/66.Based on the American R&B and Doo Wop records that the Sound Systems in Kingston Town used to play.But the American records style started to mellow out while the Jamaicans preferred a more upbeat sound.So the Sound System boss's became record producers to cater for this demand.Sir 'Coxonne'Dodd and Duke Reid led the way putting the top musicians on the island in the studio to make music,its subtle twist that had an emphasis placed on the offbeat made the music unmistakably Jamaican.
W.I.R.L Records(West India Records Limited) was set up by the Jamaican politician Edward Seaga in the late 1950's.He had supervised the recording of an album of Ethnic Jamaican music and needed an outlet for its eventual release.In 1962 the year of Jamaican Independence ,Seaga became a member of Parliament, representing the Jamaican Labour Party and then decided to sell the label to Bryon Lee,the sale led to a name change from W.I.R.L to Dynamic Sounds.
We have compiled some of the best SCORCHING SKA SOUNDS that came out of W.I.R.L vaults...and it still sounds as fresh today as the day it was recorded...hope you enjoy the set

In syrupy slow pursuit of a strong 2023 debut, Yungwebster's somnolent sequel is bolstered by pitch-perfect production from Space Afrika and Nathan Melja, who vaporise the rapper's auto-tuned post-Future drawl with euphoric orchestral drones, brittle micro-trap beats and weightless pads.

Over a decade ago at this point, Future released 'Codeine Crazy', the decelerated finale of 'Monster', one of his best-loved mixtapes. The track neatly summarised themes the Atlanta rapper had been circling for years at that point, layering his slurred, lean-dizzy rhymes over producer TM88's rubbery, melancholy synths. "Take all my problems and drink out the bottle," he moaned robotically, using the track's minor key bounce to represent the crushing delirium that followed fame and its tasting menu of intoxicants. It's still Future's high water mark creatively, and its traces can be observed in a full spectrum of contemporary sounds, from 6LACK's downtrodden, self-aware R&B to Lil Uzi Vert's feverish trap. But it's Yungwebster who's taken the haze to its logical conclusion, reimagining the Magic City-sculpted bumps as hypnagogic Actavis- 'n Xanax-hued ambient music. You could argue it was bound to happen - the more you sip, the slower it gets - and plays as a cracked mirror to cloud rap's long-smoked hybrid of Southern psychedelia and post-OutKast eccentricity.

Webster's opiated POV is clearer than ever before on 'II'. Just peep the cracks in his voice on the Space Afrika-produced opener 'Skyfall' as he coughs and splutters over watery samples, booming subs and SA's patented collage of soundtrack-ready strings and sirens. Presented at regular speed and in chipmunked form, it sets the pace for an album that, like its predecessor, constantly fucks with the timeline, pitching the whole master into doubletime or slowing it down to a crawl to present a curved, inebriated narrative rather than a straight line. Even without the tempo switches, Webster singles out beats that accent his warbled rhymes that sound as if they'll fall apart at any moment. French DJ and producer Nathan Melja backs 'Disheveled' with Black Ark-styled oscillations and airlock'd echoes, filtering the bassline until it almost disappears entirely; with room to breathe, Webster's able to take the lead - you might not be able to pick out the words, not entirely at least, but you get the message.

In fact it's Webster's voice that's the revelation on 'II' - with a coherent mix from producer tnotsobad, the nuances and fluttering tonalities emerge more vividly than they have before. It makes the flip between the regular speed and fast on 'Txts Red on iMessage' a textural decision, the different pace shifting the warbled cadences so Webster's voice becomes far more important than the additional elements. And on the album's Space Afrika-produced eight-minute centerpiece 'Crochet / I Swear', Webster's mumbled bio-mechanical whines create a much-needed foil for the decelerated boom-clack and suspended save room ambience. We get to encounter a personality here, not just an aesthetic, so as the album moves into its twilit fourth side, the beatless, voice-led somniferousness of 'YA SA' and ululating 'Phone' come off like a descent into tranquillised sedation. Rap has rarely sounded so chimeric.

Returning with its final instalments, Die Schachtel's Decay Music series extends its explorations of inspired contemporary experimental efforts of the ambient, ethereal, and emotively abstract with Luigi Turra and Elio Martusciello’s “Liminale” and Sergio Armaroli and David Toop’s “And I Entered Into Sleep”, two astounding electroacoustic gestures of blurred space and time, plumbing complexity of meaning bound to sonority. Creatively groundbreaking and inspired, radically rethinking the terms of what ambient music can be perceived to be, they stand among the most striking efforts to appear within the series to date.

An aural bridge between two distinct generations of Italian experimental musicians, “Liminale” is the debut collaborative outing from the creative partnership of Luigi Turra and Elio Martusciello. Active within the context for roughly two decades, Turra (b. 1975) is a reductionist/electroacoustic composer, noted from his tense deployment of concrete and acoustic sources — particularly small sounds and noises — whose work threads the balance between silence, tactile auditory perception, and aleatoric music. Martusciello (b. 1959), on the other hand, is a musician and composer working across the fields of acousmatic and electroacoustic composition, sound installation, multi-media and audiovisual art, and computer music improvisation, who is widely celebrated for both his solo efforts and his collaborations with Eugene Chadbourne, Mike Cooper, Alvin Curran, Chris Cutler, Rhodri Davies, Iancu Dumitrescu, Michel Godard, Tim Hodgkinson, Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris, Jérôme Noetinger, Tony Oxley, Evan Parker, Z'EV, and others.

A single, nearly 40 minute work, extending across the two sides of the LP, “Liminale” — as its title eludes — is an exploration of the liminal through sonic means: “places that exist on the threshold, transitional spaces suspended between a before and an after, between the real and the evanescent” conceiving the soundscape as “a liminal place, a space to be inhabited without the certainty of where it leads.” Unfurling like a labyrinth navigated in darkness, the piece’s first half is marked by sparseness and restraint, as slow-paced guitar tones and harmonics thread silences and resonant ambience within a sprawling sense of space, delicately populated by tiny sounds, fleeting punctuations drawn from undeterminable sources, vocal utterances, and the unexpected appearance of intoxicating piano tones.

As “Liminale” progresses into its second half, Turra and Martusciello enter a more densely populated notion of the in between. No less defined by the presence of space and mystery, discreet textures rustle and writhe within passages of pure concrete abstraction and a fragmented, stretched sense of musicality: long-tones, metallic pulses, minimal vibrations, processed vocalizations, guitar harmonics, and deconstructed piano melodies, buried in spectral, gauzy hazes drifting from beyond arm’s reach within an imagistic and immersive landscape of profoundly meditative scope, where each sonic element flirts the line between emergence and disappearance.

Intimate, fragile, and achingly beautiful, “Liminale”, Luigi Turra and Elio Martusciello’s debut collaboration, is a masterstroke in sound-craft and composition, revealing the potency of meaning locked within transitional spaces and the undefined, and imbuing silence with monumental gravity and weight. Mastered for vinyl by Giuseppe Ielasi, and taking electroacoustic minimalism to an etherial extreme, “Liminale” is issued as the ninth entry in Die Schachtel’s Decay Music series, highlighting inspired contemporary experimental efforts of the ambient, ethereal, and emotively abstract.

Emily A. Sprague's Cloud Time traces an audio-spiritual journey through time and place, recorded across a long-awaited debut tour of Japan in the fall of 2024. Compiled from environmental improvisations captured in and for the moment, material at once welcoming, responsive, and inimitable, the album distills a voyage guided by psychic wayfaring, unbound presence, and activating performance for a reciprocal exchange with space, listener, and each fully engaged instant. The Japanese tour documented on Cloud Time held an almost mythic significance for Sprague, taking on properties of her own sonic white whale. After many near-departures and dropped plans to play in the country, "the empty spaces of cancelled trips and forgotten music turned into strange little misty spirits that I felt followed by," she says. "When I began preparing for the tour, I couldn't shake a sense that the invitation to Japan was more about opening myself up to this new place instead of bringing something into it tightly under my control. Improvisation has always been such a pillar in my music practice, and I really wanted to meet the country, spaces and people through that process." To amplify these intuitive whispers on-stage, Sprague reimagined her time-tested live rig, designed to be as free from error as possible, as a looser, more flexible set up that would allow her to interface with what was essentially a blank sonic canvas every night. Each performance became a collaboration between environment and instinct, Sprague processing the events, energies, and emotions informing the evening through her new sound ecosystem, and projecting an entirely present and unique version of herself to each open-eared and hearted crowd. "It was very much more than just an act of playing for me, but a total experience of time and place," she says. The seven long-form pieces that plot the course of Cloud Time, excerpted from over eight hours of recordings archived on the artist's on-stage recorder and generously shared on the album with no additional mixing and only minimal editing, invite listeners to become still in these deep-rooted moments of presence as the album moves from city to city, venue to venue. Cloud Time chronicles material recorded at each tour stop, Sprague selecting and sequencing the album around mood-based storytelling more so than linear chronology. "I tried to make the whole album flow in the way that any one of the complete live performances did," she explains, "while also keeping the spirit of the whole thing as a journey." The result is equal parts travelog, love letter, and impressionistic collage channeled from the potent ferment of a now encased in the glowing amber of memory. Intrinsically inspired by kankyo ongaku, an environmental music philosophy, known both in and widely outside of Japan that tunes into the similarly expansive ethos as Pauline Oliveros' deep listening practice and posits the listener as composer, Cloud Time is ambient music that seems to be listening right back, grounded in heartfelt synthesized frequencies that abundantly hold and heal. Pieces like "Nagoya," "Tokyo 1," and the ten minute "Matsumoto" in particular hum with the atomic resonance of gently tended landscapes, offering space for tuning way in and dropping far out from perspectives that stifle and bind. Cloud Time is an invitation to embrace each moment as both fleeting and eternal, floating by with nothing to grasp onto and absolutely everything to gain. The exercise in acceptance and letting go that Sprague practiced throughout the tour deeply impacted her understanding of self as both a guest and venerable performer. "The process of loving wherever I am, being present and focusing on a clear channel of communication for mind and emotion, rooted so deeply in respect for the space, those within it, and myself, ended up being profoundly healing," she says. "My vision and hope is that this album can be released as a gift back to anyone who either was or wasn't there. A cloud time of life passing by." Emily A. Sprague's Cloud Time will be released Friday, October 10th in vinyl, Japanese import CD (via Plancha), and digital editions.

Als Villagerrr sind Mark Allen Scotts geduldige Songs faszinierend und unverkennbar vom Mittleren Westen geprägt. Auf seinem neuesten Album ,Tear Your Heart Out" fängt der produktive Künstler aus Ohio ruhige, alltägliche Erlebnisse ein und verleiht ihnen eine entwaffnende emotionale Klarheit. Es ist ein Album für lange Autofahrten im Sonnenlicht und für kleine Stadtfeste. Das Album ist vollgepackt mit zu Hause aufgenommenen Songs aus dem Bereich des geschmackvollen Indie-Rock mit dezentem Twang und festigt Scotts Stellung als unverzichtbare Stimme neben der aufstrebenden Welle seiner Kollegen und Kollaborateure. Ursprünglich 2024 von Darling Recordings veröffentlicht, wurde ,Tear Your Heart Out" begeistert aufgenommen und erfolgte auf einer Welle der Begeisterung, die zu einer Handvoll ausverkaufter Kassettenauflagen, Tourneen mit Real Estate, Horse Jumper of Love und Momma und zuletzt einen Plattenvertrag bei Winspear, dem in LA ansässigen Label, das bereits die Durchbruchsalben von Slow Pulp, Barrie und Wishy veröffentlicht hat. Das Label wird die LP zum ersten Mal auf Vinyl veröffentlichen.

Als Villagerrr sind Mark Allen Scotts geduldige Songs faszinierend und unverkennbar vom Mittleren Westen geprägt. Auf seinem neuesten Album ,Tear Your Heart Out" fängt der produktive Künstler aus Ohio ruhige, alltägliche Erlebnisse ein und verleiht ihnen eine entwaffnende emotionale Klarheit. Es ist ein Album für lange Autofahrten im Sonnenlicht und für kleine Stadtfeste. Das Album ist vollgepackt mit zu Hause aufgenommenen Songs aus dem Bereich des geschmackvollen Indie-Rock mit dezentem Twang und festigt Scotts Stellung als unverzichtbare Stimme neben der aufstrebenden Welle seiner Kollegen und Kollaborateure. Ursprünglich 2024 von Darling Recordings veröffentlicht, wurde ,Tear Your Heart Out" begeistert aufgenommen und erfolgte auf einer Welle der Begeisterung, die zu einer Handvoll ausverkaufter Kassettenauflagen, Tourneen mit Real Estate, Horse Jumper of Love und Momma und zuletzt einen Plattenvertrag bei Winspear, dem in LA ansässigen Label, das bereits die Durchbruchsalben von Slow Pulp, Barrie und Wishy veröffentlicht hat. Das Label wird die LP zum ersten Mal auf Vinyl veröffentlichen.

Als Villagerrr sind Mark Allen Scotts geduldige Songs faszinierend und unverkennbar vom Mittleren Westen geprägt. Auf seinem neuesten Album ,Tear Your Heart Out" fängt der produktive Künstler aus Ohio ruhige, alltägliche Erlebnisse ein und verleiht ihnen eine entwaffnende emotionale Klarheit. Es ist ein Album für lange Autofahrten im Sonnenlicht und für kleine Stadtfeste. Das Album ist vollgepackt mit zu Hause aufgenommenen Songs aus dem Bereich des geschmackvollen Indie-Rock mit dezentem Twang und festigt Scotts Stellung als unverzichtbare Stimme neben der aufstrebenden Welle seiner Kollegen und Kollaborateure. Ursprünglich 2024 von Darling Recordings veröffentlicht, wurde ,Tear Your Heart Out" begeistert aufgenommen und erfolgte auf einer Welle der Begeisterung, die zu einer Handvoll ausverkaufter Kassettenauflagen, Tourneen mit Real Estate, Horse Jumper of Love und Momma und zuletzt einen Plattenvertrag bei Winspear, dem in LA ansässigen Label, das bereits die Durchbruchsalben von Slow Pulp, Barrie und Wishy veröffentlicht hat. Das Label wird die LP zum ersten Mal auf Vinyl veröffentlichen.

Building their own bizarre universe out of Portland, Oregon, The Macks announce their new album "Bonanza" (DevilDuck Records). The news of the album rolls out in the form of two new singles and videos: "Dually of Man" and "The Modern Grape". Described by the band as "a collection of miscellaneous rock that could only have been crafted by this dedicated and bull-headedly sincere troupe of desperate artists," The Macks are coming unglued but are fully in their pocket. Founded in 2015 in Portland, Oregon, The Macks are brothers Josef (drums) and Ben Windheim (guitar), Sam Fulwiler (vocals), Jacob Michael Perris (keys) and Aidan Harrison (bass).

Here to dazzle you by the power of the disco ball, Lack of Afro is your friendly neighbourhood ‘Love Dealer’. Two years on from the funk & soul rebirth of ‘Square One’, powered by the ubiquitous ‘Loving Arms’ featuring Greg Blackman, Lack of Afro aka Adam Gibbons is now close to two decades deep in the game with soundtrack credits galore and online streams doing calculator-busting numbers. With extensive touring taking ‘Love Dealer’ up and down the country this Autumn, Gibbons’ ninth studio album is all for "the thrill of seeing people on a dancefloor, all collectively locked into a track that you've produced - there’s nothing like it!”.


‘Love Dealer’ is the authentic modern disco experience, packing a stacked sole’s worth of club beats full of stardusted sing-alongs, style-outs and French touch-style cool. Despite being “written during one of the longest winters in living memory”, ‘Love Dealer’, featuring some co-production from fellow South Coast dancefloor scholar Flevans (and influenced by producer du jour Barry Can’t Swim), exudes warmth and will make you sweat when its highs take effect.


Entering the scene with the radiance of ‘Make It Shine’ featuring Greg Blackman, washing over the airwaves of BBC 6 Music and Radio 2 and taking up a 10-week residency on the Jazz FM playlist, Gibbons and his crack line-up of discotheque players are your go-to team when you can’t wait for the weekend to begin, as subtle as they are straight down to business. ‘Love Dealer’ offers you nothing but the best in sparkling string symphonies, the hippest guitar licks, samples of those invited beyond the velvet rope and struts soaked in night fever.


Double A-side ‘Walls Start Rockin’ and ‘Heart & Soul’ guide the album’s glamour-and-groove, while ‘Love Saves The Day’ and ‘Plain to See’ dramatically take to the podium in a shimmer of pure peak 70s theatre. ‘Keeping Me Strong’ is the synergy of disco chic and the sound of a global advertising tie-in with Dyson, ahead of Gibbons taking a slightly Moroder/Cerrone-ish detour on ‘Idolising People Like Madlib’. “'Love Dealer' is aimed unequivocally at the dancefloor" says Adam. "As an artist, I wanted to push myself in a slightly new direction - more into the land of disco and a four to the floor sound. 'Love Dealer' is quintessentially an upbeat record, full of joy, optimism and hope for the future”. Seek your inner ‘Love Dealer’, kink your ‘fro and let your funk flag fly.
















n B7. 14 Your Love (feat. Jonah Hitchens) BONUS TRACK














n B7. 14 Your Love (feat. Jonah Hitchens) BONUS TRACK














n B7. 14 Your Love (feat. Jonah Hitchens) [BONUS TRACK]














[n] B7. 14 Your Love (feat. Jonah Hitchens) [BONUS TRACK]














[n] B7. 14 Your Love (feat. Jonah Hitchens) [BONUS TRACK]














[n] B7. 14 Your Love (feat. Jonah Hitchens) [BONUS TRACK]

Zelienople frontman Matt Christensen returns to Miasmah with Constant Green - a record of reverberant country inspired songs that puts the weight somewhere between Johnny Cash and Slowdive. Matt pours out his soul through flashes of life - small and large. His voice roaming over the guitars in a way which feels like a floating poetic deluge.

Appearing fresh from last years Zelienople album Hold You Up, Matt has made a very personal record that arrives as perfectly as it could be. It is full of beautiful sparse moments that capture the feeling of time standing still while simultaneously flashing in front of your eyes. As a child of the 70ies, growing up with country influenced AM rock on the radio, riding around in cars without seatbelts, Matt creates this nostalgic feeling of free riding through the city streets at dusk : a dream world where one can see green as a symbol for humanity and optimism. Not to say the album doesn't have it's share of darkness. Christensen always lingers deep in melancholy, driving his fears and anxieties out through music.

Visions of being able to move anywhere, picking his mother up from jail, family matters, change, the small things in life - all outtakes from what he sings about. Although it's hard to pick up on unless you really listen, as his ramblings can at one moment be fully clear while in the next drowned or muffled - becoming a mere meditative element to the music. Steady collaborators Brian Harding and Eric Eleazer from Zelienople accompanies on pedal steel and keys to further fill the sound into a warm dream, following in the footsteps of Matt ́s previous Miasmah album Honeymoons (2016). That said, while Honeymoons used drum machines and vast open spaces, Constant Green is another step closer towards the classic singer-songwriter folklore. Timeless gold from an artist that never stops creating.

Marking more than three decades of one of the most influential albums of all time, five-time GRAMMY® Award-winning band Green Day releases a new colored vinyl. Dookie’s influence remains downright inescapable. It has sold a staggering 20 million copies worldwide and stands out as "the first punk album to be certified Diamond by the RIAA for North American sales in excess of 10 million.” Out of four 1995 GRAMMY® Award nominations, it notably garnered “Best Alternative Album.”Rolling Stone touted it on the “500 Greatest Albums of AllTime” and Pitchfork retrospectively christened it “one of the greatest teenage wasteland albums of any generation.” The Daily Beast remarked on “How Green Day’s Dookie Defined the 1990s and Changed Music Forever.”Speaking to its sustained impact, it has generated billions of streams to date. To put it in perspective, Dookie has lived through five presidential administrations, Y2K, social media, a global pandemic, and the birth of countless acolytes.

Followed by the first release last year Chinese label Motivation, curated by B.ai, comes back with its second V.A. featuring Ilkay Yeler, J6, SMEV and NAE. The vinyl attributes in progressive house, electro house and electro.

Opening track “Destiny” ‘s morphing main motif gets kept in check by a steady pulse of snappy bass. Enigmatical vocal samples add to the ambiguous atmosphere, so the sets of twinkling mallets J6 sleekly includes, bring a touch of subtle lightness.

A-2 Ilkay Yeler’s sound is fueled by endless nights of groove, and on “Frontliner” this translates to a hypnotic trip into the deep end. Underneath its dreamlike current of silky chords a steady bass riff propels everything forward, allowing a restless arp to zone in and out.

Flipping to the side B, Sev’s Miami-inspired 808 patterns have “Clearing The Fog” come out of the gates swinging. Bright flutes and big basslines provide this slab of machine funk with a tapestry of melody, and fluorescent synth solos top it off.

Nay ends affairs on a melancholic note with “Silent River”. The leads sound like they ran through an eighties wave pedal chain, and as pondering chords and choirs work their way in, a Juno 6 bass adds extra depth. Still firmly directed at the club, the track escapes easy classification - and suitably closes a diverse yet coherent EP.

Best known for his cinematic jungle excursions, Seb Uncles returns to Livity Sound for a second extended release of introspective electronics with a strong influence from mystical sources.

As Eusebeia, Uncles has developed a strong, independent presence in modern electronic music defined by a prolific run of deep-diving, breakbeat-driven albums and EPs. In 2022 he released Cosmos on Livity Sound, a mini-album that zoomed out to a more reflective strain of electronica shaped by atmospheric synth lines in the hauntological vein of Ghost Box, Pye Corner Audio et al.

The Wyrding Way finds Uncles delving even deeper into this area of his output, keeping drums to a bare minimum and focusing instead on powerful melodic lines. There are still considered soundsystem moments that connect with Livity's long-standing sonic focus, not least the subtle dub inflection of EP centrepiece 'By The Light Of The Moon'. Elsewhere Uncles leaves the melodic parts unaccompanied, letting the phrasing and emotional pull of the title track tell its own story.

Balancing light and dark elements and drawing inspiration from personal experiences and perspectives, combined with spiritual and existential observations, Uncles capitalises on the evocative streak in his studio practice to deliver a timeless, immersive experience unlike anything else in his considerable back catalogue.
Livity Sound is a label set up by Peverelist in 2011 as a vehicle for a raw and exploratory strain of UK techno, rooted in the heritage of UK dance music and sound system culture. It has since become one of the UK's foremost protagonists for cutting edge underground electronic music.

DEVO’s Hardcore documents the group’s beginning as pre-punk outcasts in the fertile Akron, Ohio, underground rock scene. Spawned at the nearby college of Kent State, site of the infamous May 4 Massacre, DEVO formed as a conceptual art project armed with the radical philosophy of de-evolution. Brothers Mothersbaugh (Mark, Bob and Jim) and Brothers Casale (Jerry and Bob) along with drummer Alan Myers soon whipped up an otherworldly brand of “devolved blues” that could hold its own alongside the beatnik groove of 15-60-75 (a.k.a. The Numbers Band) or the primal rock poetry of The Bizarros. Recorded on various four-track machines and in tiny studios, basements and garages between 1974-1977, Hardcore reveals their strikingly clear vision: rock ’n’ roll stripped bare of its collective cool and jerked back into propaganda fit for post-modern man. It’s no surprise that these transmissions would soon catch the eye and ear of Brian Eno, who later produced their landmark 1978 debut album. Noisy synth, strangled guitar chops and a primitive rhythmic thud power the early DEVO sound. Threaded beneath it all are lyrical themes of post-McCarthy paranoia, middle-class ephemera and DEVO’s long-running topic of choice: sex, or lack thereof. Few moments in pop music history can match the grinding, pent-up energy of “Mongoloid” and the spastic bounce and sputter of “Jocko Homo” (two anthems presented in their earlier and superior versions here). Cult favorites like “Mechanical Man” and “Auto-Modown” make Volume 1 essential listening. Superior Viaduct and Booji Boy Records are proud to present DEVO’s Hardcore to a new generation of spuds, lovingly packaged with Moshe Brakha’s stunning cover photography. As David Bowie said in 1977, DEVO is indeed “the band of the future.”

Explosive madness from one of the UK underground rave music scenes unsung heroes, Warlock - under his Hooverian Blur moniker, debuting on the label with a heavyweight set of bangers!

He’s the type of guy who rocks up to the shop with two bags of tunes and gets stuck right in - never takes long to get the system pumping & people moving! We were very excited when he dropped a folder of demos over last year, and had to bite his arm off so we could get them out there as soon as possible!

Huge love to all support for the shop, label, and the recent move & opening of our late night bar in New Cross - it’s turning out to be a really special place, and perfect new HQ for us and our community.

Large ups Benton, Dawl, Dwarde, Emerald, Nia Archives, Pete Canon, Sully on the early support of this one. Not forgetting Antek, Borai, Drumskull, LMajor, Mani Festo, Uncle G, WNCL & all that like it breakbeat heavy!”

Planet Wax Team
(Dexta, Lewis, D-Lo, Lis, Jenn, Roman, Errol, Castro, Lauren, Josh, Max & Chano)

‘When The 2000s Clashed: Machine Music For A New Millenium’ is the story of how, 25 years ago, a new form of electronic music – known as electroclash - reignited a tired clubland and gave the indie scene and mainstream pop a shot in the arm in the process. Over this 3LP highlights set, carefully curated from the 5CD box of the same name (also released, 3rd October) the collection showcases the back-to-basics electronic beats that heralded in a new generation of exciting and innovative new artists - Hot Chip, Peaches, LCD Soundystem, and Ladytron, to name a handful. It also shows how the sound and attitude of electroclash plugged into the decade’s cutting-edge indie bands, (Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party), and became intrinsic to the way chart pop would sound in the first decade of the 2000s (Kylie, Goldfrapp).

The collection also shows how the scene’s underground DIY ethos evolved and inspired the next generation of electronic buccaneers (Simian Mobile Disco, Justice Vs. Simian). ‘When The 2000s Clashed’ brings together a dazzling, diverse selection of artists, producers and remixers from right across the 2000s zeitgeist – from The Chemical Brothers and Daft Punk, from M.I.A. to Soulwax and many points in-between. For good measure, there’s also one side of LP3 given over to the original post punk and electronic sounds (including Kraftwerk, The Human League and Cabaret Voltaire) who’d played such a big influence on the electroclash sound. ‘

When The 2000s Clashed’ was compiled and sequenced for Demon / Edsel by Jonny Slut, founder of London’s electroclash citadel Nag Nag Nag. Established in 2002, in a small Soho venue called Ghetto, ‘Nag’ quickly became THE hottest club, first in London and then in the whole world. A glorious mess and hedonists’ hotspot, a night at ‘Nag Nag Nag’ (if you could get in!) saw the capital’s club kids, students and creatives rub up alongside names from the fashion and music worlds - Björk, Pet Shop Boys, Kate Moss, Boy George, Alexander McQueen, and Pam Hogg were among the regulars. Madonna visited, so did John Peel, Yoko Ono asked to perform and did, Throbbing Gristle’s Chris and Cosey DJ’d, so did Marc Almond, and Too Many DJ’s.

Justin Timberlake was refused entry (too many bodyguards)… even Cilla Black was spotted getting down! Jonny shares these reminisces – and many more - in the collection’s sleevenotes. Named after the 1979 Cabaret Voltaire classic, ‘Nag, Nag, Nag’ became the first place to hear the seemingly endless flow of thrilling new tunes coming from every direction during that decade of dance. Many of them are included on this collection.

Forgotten Paradise is a new vinyl series from Western Lore, focussed on exploring the full breakbeat hardcore &
Jungle Tekno tempo range through a collection of 12” singles & EPs

After an under the radar, vinyl only bootleg 12” kicked off the series in 2024 (and flew out so rapidly on Bandcamp, none of the ltd run of copies made it to retail), L own, the producer behind the record returns to the series for the first of a two part long player showcasing the depths of his sound.

Deep, musical, textural & blissed out jungle tekno wizardry across a range of tempos.

MJ Lenderman writes songs that are amorphous and elastic, rising to fill the venue they"re in, generous to accommodate the number of players on stage, less concerned with replicating the studio version than they are with meeting the crowd where they"re at. On And the Wind (Live and Loose!), the Asheville-based Lenderman handles most of the playing, but with The Wind, it"s a multi-headed beast. This live album is culled from sold-out summer 2023 shows on a brief headline run during what some might call a wild-*ss couple of months. It captures a near-euphoric moment in time - dizzying and exhausting and, most of all, having some real true-blue f**king fun with your best friends. It"s 90s college rock meets Americana hootenanny, an electrifying piece of the MJ Lenderman lore that needs to be experienced live with a light beer in-hand - but in the interim, And the Wind (Live and Loose!) does its best to commit the scene to tape.

Almost fifteen years since the release of her self-titled debut LP on Mr Bongo, reggae’s orator of love Hollie Cook is returning to the label for Shy Girl, her fifth studio album and her most authentic yet. Woven with tight grooves, beautiful vocals and catchy melodies, Shy Girl hears singer and songwriter Hollie Cook revel in her contemporary lovers rock sound, more confident and open to vulnerability than ever before.

A sun-drenched exploration of love in all its guises, Shy Girl tells stories of the magical and the melancholy, the heart-lifting and heart-breaking, across 12 luscious, analogue reggae compositions - the culmination of a soft-hued and instantly recognisable “tropical pop” sound that Cook has made her own.

Put together across three years and four cities – from LA and NYC, to Vejer de la Frontera in Spain and Cook’s hometown London – Shy Girl was written with long-time collaborators, The General Roots Band, and features a contribution from legendary dub MC Horseman, who lends his voice to the album’s first single ‘Night Night’.

The album opens with the title track ‘Shy Girl’, a buoyant and elastic slice of lovers rock that was written in a moment of spontaneous intuition, and bubbles with a charisma and positivity that Cook radiates. “I’m not a natural show-off,” Cook explains. “The Shy Girl theme is me. It’s just about being my most vulnerable self and being as true to the music that Iove as possible.” It is this honesty which shines throughout, from the chugging deep dub of ‘Frontline’, complete with raking electric guitar lines, to the bittersweet roots ballad ‘We Share Love’, which closes out the album.

It's clear to see that Cook’s songwriting draws on a lifetime of musical influences and inspirations. From her father, Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook’s record collection and touring with post-punk icon Ari Up’s The Slits, to her love for strong female-led pop music and the bassweight of London’s sound system culture. Enamoured with the music of Janet Kay and Phyllis Dillon, Shy Girl represents a homecoming and a coming-of-age for Hollie Cook, distilling and refining a shimmering reggae sound that will capture your heart, as it first captured hers.

Almost fifteen years since the release of her self-titled debut LP on Mr Bongo, reggae’s orator of love Hollie Cook is returning to the label for Shy Girl, her fifth studio album and her most authentic yet. Woven with tight grooves, beautiful vocals and catchy melodies, Shy Girl hears singer and songwriter Hollie Cook revel in her contemporary lovers rock sound, more confident and open to vulnerability than ever before.

A sun-drenched exploration of love in all its guises, Shy Girl tells stories of the magical and the melancholy, the heart-lifting and heart-breaking, across 12 luscious, analogue reggae compositions - the culmination of a soft-hued and instantly recognisable “tropical pop” sound that Cook has made her own.

Put together across three years and four cities – from LA and NYC, to Vejer de la Frontera in Spain and Cook’s hometown London – Shy Girl was written with long-time collaborators, The General Roots Band, and features a contribution from legendary dub MC Horseman, who lends his voice to the album’s first single ‘Night Night’.

The album opens with the title track ‘Shy Girl’, a buoyant and elastic slice of lovers rock that was written in a moment of spontaneous intuition, and bubbles with a charisma and positivity that Cook radiates. “I’m not a natural show-off,” Cook explains. “The Shy Girl theme is me. It’s just about being my most vulnerable self and being as true to the music that Iove as possible.” It is this honesty which shines throughout, from the chugging deep dub of ‘Frontline’, complete with raking electric guitar lines, to the bittersweet roots ballad ‘We Share Love’, which closes out the album.

It's clear to see that Cook’s songwriting draws on a lifetime of musical influences and inspirations. From her father, Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook’s record collection and touring with post-punk icon Ari Up’s The Slits, to her love for strong female-led pop music and the bassweight of London’s sound system culture. Enamoured with the music of Janet Kay and Phyllis Dillon, Shy Girl represents a homecoming and a coming-of-age for Hollie Cook, distilling and refining a shimmering reggae sound that will capture your heart, as it first captured hers.

At the end of 2024, Elder looked back on an unusual period in their now near 20-year career. A few years ago, the band had dropped their most progressive record yet, 2022"s highly acclaimed Innate Passage, followed by the usual heavy touring schedule (including a 24-show arena tour supporting Tool). The band had then taken a year long sabbatical to recharge their creative batteries, which instead of rest culminated in the release of multiple albums by side-projects. Convening in winter of that year for a 2 week songwriting session at Big Snuff Studio in Berlin, the band set a goal of knocking off the rust and putting together some ideas for the next record. While combing through an archive of old sketches, they hit upon an outline of a song from somewhere between 2020"s Omens and its successor Innate Passage, abandoned then for reasons now inscrutable. Picking up the pieces with fresh ears, Elder fleshed out a new version of the track, which is firmly rooted between those two albums but with an identity of its own. Building on the song"s ending, a swirling tower of synthesizers, chugging guitars and almost tribal drumming was constructed in the course of lengthy in-studio jams. Liminality/Dream State Return can be seen as a bridge between eras in Elder"s creative universe; one foot is planted in the highly melodic and sometimes alternative/grunge tinged riffing of Omens, the other in Innate Passage"s dreamy prog soundscapes, and its head in the clouds looking toward Elder"s upcoming LP 7. The vinyl version comes as a one-sided, 180 gr. translucent LP with etching on the B side (including download).

LA-based producer Real Bad Man and Michigan rapper Willie the Kid release their new collaborative album, Midnight, via the producer’s own Real Bad Man Records label. The album, which marks the producer’s second collaborative project of the year following Dear Psilocybin with ZelooperZ, includes guest appearances from UK rapper Sonnyjim, New York’s Lord Sko and frequent RBM collaborator Boldy James, who will be releasing his own Real Bad Man-produced album in May.

The album came together naturally for the pair, letting each new song inform the identity of the project as a whole. Speaking about how they identified that central theme of the album, Willie says, “I think where Adam and I agreed upon is that the stand out records were all themes for the night, late night drive, after hours dinners, shopping, private rooftop hotel suites, it’s a thinking album, a cruising album preferably enjoyed at night…midnight””

Midnight marks the early stages of what’s shaping up to be a prolific run of collaborations for Real Bad Man in 2025. His second album of the year builds off of the momentum he sparked last month with his first full-length album with ZelooperZ, Dear Psilocybin, which The FADER called “clear-eyed and focused in its own fantastical way”. Working as a duo with the dynamic lyricism of Willie the Kid after the psychedelic sounds of Dear Psilocybin, Real Bad Man returns to the essential underground beatmaking that he first emerged onto the scene with through his On High Alert series. His crackling, lo-fi production pairs perfectly with Willie’s gritty delivery, laying a foundation for the longtime lyrical stylist who has worked alongside some of the genre’s modern heroes including Nas, Lil Wayne, The Alchemist, Roc Marciano, Curren$y and more.

Listen to Midnight above, see below for more details on Midnight and stay tuned for more from Real Bad Man coming soon

“Electronic / Funk Yacht Rock testament to the carefree teen spirit of the 80s”

In 1985, a young and ambitious Britt Cobble, fresh out of school, ventured to Florida to have his debut solo album Maiden Voyage mastered by none other than reggae legend Touter Harvey, known for his work with Bob Marley. The result is Spinnaker – Maiden Voyage, an Electronic / Funk Yacht Rock album infused with the carefree teen spirit of the 80s.

Anchored by its central motto, “Love the coast, it’s there for you,” the album captures the essence of youthful exploration and the allure of the open sea. With slick production and an undeniable air of nostalgia, Spinnaker invites listeners to escape into a world of sun-soaked coastlines and endless horizons. Britt elevates yacht rock to new heights, serving as both a testament to youthful ambition and a celebration of the era’s smooth, coastal vibes.

Belgian singer-songwriter Emma Hessels releases her debut EP 'Constant Distance' on October 24 via Unday Records. With a voice that lingers long after the song has ended and lyrics that feel like pages torn from a diary, Hessels has quickly carved out her place in the Belgian scene. She was named laureate of Sound Track in 2023, went on to play intimate yet arresting sets at Ancienne Belgique, Botanique, and the prestigious Cirque Royal, and appeared at Best Kept Secret this summer.

Milestones that signaled the arrival of a singular new voice in folk and soul.

'Constant Distance' gathers six songs bound by a recurring undercurrent: the presence of distance in its many forms - absence, longing, loneliness, the fear of loss, but also the desire for belonging. The songs weren't conceived around a single theme, but when brought together, a pattern revealed itself. Loss implies distance, longing implies distance, even love can. Yet the EP closes on 'Breaking', a gospel-tinged anthem of connection and alignment, written during a women's writer's retreat where community and music became inseparable.

Musically, 'Constant Distance' moves between folk and soul, carrying the feel of modern blues and occasionally leaning into gospel's call-and-response. The atmosphere is warm and nostalgic, drawing inspiration from Laura Marling, Damien Rice and Big Thief as much as from Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone and Richie Havens. Emma's voice remains the constant thread: soulful, unforced, quietly commanding. "I hope my songs can be like a warm blanket, something that keeps you company, that makes you feel a little less alone."

Though written solo on guitar, often during long train rides, the songs expanded into layered productions through collaboration with Aram Santy, Nard Houdmeyers and Fender Mackenson Rooms, with additional contributions such as Marthe van Droogenbroeck's evocative trumpet. Recorded over two intense days at Studio Beertje, the EP captures both intimacy and expansiveness. The result is music that carries the weight of Emma's fears and questions, but also the joy of collective creation.

With 'Constant Distance', Emma Hessels doesn't just deliver a debut - she opens a world where fragility and strength coexist, and where music becomes a way of closing the gap between people.

Because of the large demand for a vinyl reissue of THE OCEAN's first instrumental studio album "Fogdiver" (2003), Pelagic Records now brings you a limited edition repress of the original, which has been sold out in 2004 and then again in 2011 - including new artwork by Martin Kvamme (who designed the covers of all following THE OCEAN albums). "Fogdiver" was the band's first proper studio album - over two decades have passed since its release and yet the songs still sound surprisingly fresh and exciting. This may be due to the fact that most of the songs on "Fogdiver" were newer at the time than most of the tracks that ended up on 2006's ,AEOLIAN" album: ,The chronology of our early albums is misleading", comments the band: "When we decided to do an instrumental debut album, we wrote all brand new tracks for it, although we had already written most of the material for the consecutive "Fluxion" and "Aeolian" albums - but this material didn't work without vocals, so we decided to hold it back and release our newest mterial first". The band decided to keep the rough yet powerful sound of the original recordings, which took place at the band's Oceanland basement catacombs in Berlin-Kreuzberg, an old aluminum factory where panels for submarines were manufactured during world war II.

Because of the large demand for a vinyl reissue of THE OCEAN's first instrumental studio album "Fogdiver" (2003), Pelagic Records now brings you a limited edition repress of the original, which has been sold out in 2004 and then again in 2011 - including new artwork by Martin Kvamme (who designed the covers of all following THE OCEAN albums). "Fogdiver" was the band's first proper studio album - over two decades have passed since its release and yet the songs still sound surprisingly fresh and exciting. This may be due to the fact that most of the songs on "Fogdiver" were newer at the time than most of the tracks that ended up on 2006's ,AEOLIAN" album: ,The chronology of our early albums is misleading", comments the band: "When we decided to do an instrumental debut album, we wrote all brand new tracks for it, although we had already written most of the material for the consecutive "Fluxion" and "Aeolian" albums - but this material didn't work without vocals, so we decided to hold it back and release our newest mterial first". The band decided to keep the rough yet powerful sound of the original recordings, which took place at the band's Oceanland basement catacombs in Berlin-Kreuzberg, an old aluminum factory where panels for submarines were manufactured during world war II.

After his 2024 album The Spirit Continues, Tilman returns with Altered Spaces, a tightly focused four-track EP that distills his signature sound into a concise, club-ready format.

Opening track Make My Body Move sets the tone with soulful vocals, warm piano stabs, a rolling bassline and a breezy Balearic vibe. The Last Resort deepens the mood, layering pads, organ hits and shimmering strings over a steady, driving groove. Rounding out the EP are two reimagined cuts from The Spirit Continues. Dance Department (Spirit Mix) smooths out the rougher edges of the original, adding organ stabs and a more melodic sensibility.

Need It (Dance Dub) transforms the track into a softer, dub-tinged version - hypnotic, restrained and full of subtle movement. Altered Spaces is classic Tilman: warm, understated house music that's rich in detail and groove - made for dancers and deep listeners alike.

The Pitch is a quartet made up of Boris Baltschun, Koen Nutters, Michael Thieke and Morten Joh. Founded in Berlin in 2009, they play a hypnotic form of structured improvisation full of acoustic exploration and electronic intervention. On Neutral Star, The Pitch are joined by Australian guitarist/composer extraordinaire Julia Reidy for a record of star gazing electro-acoustic jazz.

Reidy's playing and compositional technique between Takoma-style fingerpicking and Glenn Branca'esque microtonality, perfectly complements the loose improvisational framework The Pitch is providing. Endless ≠ Limitless, a recent piece by Reidy and Joh, is transformed from a washed-out/obscured tape delay composition into a colorful, meandering ensemble piece with a swarming character - blooming with intrigue for the patient ear. The B-side strikes a more gentle tone: the 24-minute Neutral Star begins with a siren-like overtone whose drone-like flowing slowly morphs into a deterritorial modality with jazzy undertone. Accompanied by constant eruptions of vibraphone, clarinet, electronics and double bass punctuation – while permanently questioned by Reidy's drippingly pearly steel guitar work. Slowly evolving into new territories through the expansive instrumentation and keen listening between the players.

The fact that Neutral Star was recorded in one take (by Rabih Beaini in his Morphine Raum studio/venue) in front of a live audience and without overdubs is hard to believe, even for the trained ear. The recording appears to be too multilayered for a single snapshot, with its compositional structures constantly shifting and moving against themselves, counterintuitively and anti-cyclically. Reidy´s playing has been described as "unstable harmonic territory, and the collaboration with The Pitch interprets this concept brilliantly - adding further non-places to the territory. And the listener, however, is never left alone in the process of tectonic shifts - at least as long as their listening is attentive and contemplative at once.

“Oh damn I got fired suddenly, replaced by a hydraulic pump with life long guarantee”.

The undefinable Kaboom Karavan returns to the dusty Belgian roads with a total Fiasko! - or a full blown disaster if you will (seen from a minimalist perspective), although one that might be the antidote to the sterilised and scattered world that increasingly surrounds us. Fiasko! represents a musical chaos that feels both ecstatic, fun, as well as deeply melancholic. Like an overwhelming moment where the world seems to touch you on all senses. This is music for a new underground of black tie workers raising up to the dullness of societal norms by connecting to their inner child. It’s protest music towards the new normal, where the rules are thrown out of the window and unpredictable sense of joy prevails. Shortly said, Fiasko! Is contemporary exotica made by a madman with too much time on his hands.

As usual, Kaboom Karavan releases contains a conglomerate of strange, mostly home made instrumentation, which will be too long to list here. To shorten it down… Bram Bosteels himself, the captain of the ship, plays all kinds of acoustic instruments, guitars, electronics and uses his voice. Additionally we have Bart Maris on trumpet, tuba and trombone. Stefaan Smagghe plays violin and sarangi. Lastly we have Raphael de Cock on such typical instruments as igir, jadagan and uillean pipes. All that remains to be said is: Bring your neighbour, let yourself loose and have some fun. Listen to Fiasko!

Visionary producer and one half of pioneering electronic duo The Chemical Brothers, Tom Rowlands returns to Phantasy with ‘We Are Nothing / All Night’, the first solo dancefloor material since his last appearance on Erol Alkan’s storied London label in 2013 with ‘Through Me / Nothing But Pleasure’.

Once again, Rowlands delivers a double A-side single in order to commit two progressive new productions to wax. Heavily road-tested across the world in Chemical Brothers DJ sets, the sprawling arrangement of ‘We Are Nothing’ trips through a decades-long obsession and subversion of house music and psychedelia alike. Imaginatively sampling Canadian outsider artist Bill Bissett, Rowlands uses the poet’s existential phrasing as the foundation for a rising slalom of acid catharsis, peppered with snatches of soul, analogue freakouts, and all-encompassing groove.

‘All Night’, meanwhile, finds a different, perhaps unexpected rhythm. Here, Rowlands’ unmatched studio instincts deviate in a different direction entirely, employing a searing tempo to embrace the analogue experimentation at the heart of his work, as well as an appreciation for electronic music’s willingness to barrel ever-forward; the result is a worthy head spinner from both label and artist alike.

Tom Rowlands will play a rare solo DJ set at Glastonbury's Stonebridge Bar on Friday 27th June, as part of Bugged Out's 30th Anniversary celebrations.

Erik K Skodvin summons his alter ego Svarte Greiner for a dive into the dark, wintery Swedish forest with the score to the psychological thriller/horror film “From Darkness” (orig: Ur Mörkret).

The film is director Philip W. Da Silva's debut and is set largely at night, deep in a Swedish nature reserve where mining used to take place. Loss, mental health and Nordic mythology come together in a story that revolves around the search for a missing woman. The score follows an eclectic and atmospherical path throughout the narrative with an uneasy underlaying vibe; although one with occasional points of refuge in the otherwise vast darkness. There is a gloomy, barely tangible sound of Nordic folk tradition buried in the music, even if it comes across in a different, more abstract way, where the various instruments are often used more as sound sources that are improvised (and abused) into becoming their own element. Skodvin performed and recorded the majority himself. In addition, he commissioned free improviser Axel Dörner to participate with his unique, custom-built electro-acoustic interface, which, along with Claudio Puntin's processed reeds and additional electronics, has been built into the elaborate backdrops to create an entire world that balances on the border between the approachable and the elusive - not unlike the journey of the protagonists. Skodvin's partner in Deaf Center, Otto A Totland, appears on piano in the stand out piece “What have you become?”.

The result is a harrowing yet deeply melancholic journey through the human psyche. One that echoes through the dark forests, cabins and lost mines of the desolate Swedish woodlands.

“It is presumed that as humans mined ore in the 1800s, they had many mishaps and dug too deep, leading them to assume they had unleashed some evil spirit that was guarding the ore. She was referred to as "Cave Wraith". It was said that she employed darkness to lure miners to their deaths. They prohibited villagers from visiting during the darkest months of the year. Some used sacrifices to subdue the evil entity.”

The vinyl is released in an edition of 150 numbered copies, with screenprinted artwork on black cardboard inside a screenprinted PVC sleeve, incl. Riso-printed insert with liner notes by Mike Lazarev, 180g vinyl.

Produced by longtime collaborator Simon Dine, MKII captures a band reinvigorated, delivering their most confident and dynamic work to date. Sullivan"s sharp, incisive lyrics drivethe album"s freshsound and renewed energy. Frontman and founder Billy Sullivan sets the scene for the album by saying: "It sounds refreshed and confident, ballsy but doesn"t mind showing a softer side and being reflective too. For me it"s not a continuation of The Spitfires back catalogue, it"s very much the start of a new chapter. I"m incredibly proud, after all these years, to be talking about a new body of work which excitesme and inspires me more than ever." From the high-octane political pop of "The Great Divide!" to the moody intensity of "I"ll Never" and the reflective, Parisian- tinged "Grateful", MKII is a bold statement: The Spitfires are back-and stronger than ever.

Produced by longtime collaborator Simon Dine, MKII captures a band reinvigorated, delivering their most confident and dynamic work to date. Sullivan"s sharp, incisive lyrics drivethe album"s freshsound and renewed energy. Frontman and founder Billy Sullivan sets the scene for the album by saying: "It sounds refreshed and confident, ballsy but doesn"t mind showing a softer side and being reflective too. For me it"s not a continuation of The Spitfires back catalogue, it"s very much the start of a new chapter. I"m incredibly proud, after all these years, to be talking about a new body of work which excitesme and inspires me more than ever." From the high-octane political pop of "The Great Divide!" to the moody intensity of "I"ll Never" and the reflective, Parisian- tinged "Grateful", MKII is a bold statement: The Spitfires are back-and stronger than ever.

Remastered using pure analogue components only, from the master tapes through to the cutting head.

Ornette Coleman, who died in June 2015 from cardiac arrest, must be counted as one of the most influential musicians in the jazz genre. His importance does not only lie in his ground-breaking recordings in the late Fifties and early Sixties, but lies more significantly in the educational effect of his work – in the fact that he always went beyond himself to the very end.

Just a little more than a month after his ground-breaking release "Free Jazz", Coleman recorded the present album, in which he perhaps distanced himself somewhat from the conceptual idea, but still guided his quartet to ever more richness of detail and creativity. "Ornette!" was the first recording with bass-player Scott LaFaro and Coleman, and the difference in approach between LaFaro and Charlie Haden is noticeable from the very first note of "W.R.U.". His playing is more direct and agile, and one can hear how he drives Coleman and Don Cherry actively onwards and more aggressively than Haden’s warm, languid phrasing.

The tracks, with titles that are taken from the works of Sigmund Freud, are all gems and serve as a wonderful starting point for the musicians’ improvisations. By now, Coleman felt himself comfortable in lengthy pieces, and neither he nor his fellow musicians had trouble in filling out time, never once lacking for new ideas. Ed Blackwell deserves a special mention – he shows himself here at his very best. "Ornette!" is a superb release and an absolute must for all fans of Coleman and creative, improvised music in general.

Hard Times welcomes back Alex Arnout and his BLACK LOGIC project, following their recent ‘Pull Up’ EP with a second installment of new music from collective - The Illusions EP.

Hailing from West Yorkshire, Arnout spent his formative years on the Hard Times dancefloors, absorbing the beats and vibes that would later shape his own productions. His journey with the label reignited when he was invited to remix Michael Watford’s classic 'Love Change Over' and Steve Silk Hurley’s fresh hit 'All I Need'. Now, he returns with something truly special.

“Black Logic was born out of the pandemic,” says Arnout. “I wanted to move away from drum machines and synths, getting back to sampling jazz and the deep house sounds of the ‘90s - taking inspiration from artists like Bugs in the Attic, Jazzanova, and Ernest Saint Laurent.”

What began as a solo project soon evolved into a collective effort. Bassist and guitarist Alan Riggs, a former member of Delta 5, joined the sessions, bringing warmth and groove to the productions. Vocalists Tempo O’Neil, Anthony Beckford, Mariana Orsho, and Sophie Barker added their distinct voices, completing the vision

Across four tracks, The Illusions EP pulls us deeper into Black Logic’s rich, live-wired universe. The title track pairs Tempo O’Neil’s vocal with a grooving, low-slung bassline, whilst “Dusty” drifts in on brushed snares and ghostly Rhodes, its saxophone lines curling through the mix like smoke. “Chasing Daze,” analog synth shimmer and Tempo’s velvet tones, is a track suspended between head-nod groove and astral lift.

The curtain falls with “Disco Down,” a jubilant ensemble of Hammond organ, flute, guitar, bongos, and horns locking into joyous conversation.