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With his new album 'Cruise Control', Satin Jackets presents a perfect musical soundtrack for relaxed moments that take us away from the stresses of everyday life. The title of the album is meaningful: 'Cruise Control' stands for the feeling of switching on the autopilot, leaning back and enjoying the journey to the fullest - an atmosphere that the album unfolds.

The album is a collection of singles that have been released over the last few years and are all interwoven at their core. Because no matter where you listen to the songs, they work, images arise in your head and your feet rarely stay still. Satin Jackets remains true to himself with his album sound, as he repeatedly receives feedback from listeners who appreciate the positive mood in his songs and which always puts them in a good mood.

The songs are first created in the producer's head and then develop together with the features, who add their own touch. For Satin Jackets, 'the most important thing is this immediate feeling that it fits musically and atmospherically'. This can also come out of nowhere, as was the case with David Bay and Small Black, who got in touch with the producer and it was an instant fit.

'There are always those magical moments when a song comes out of nowhere. Once I had an idea for a chord sequence that I couldn't get out of my head, but somehow that certain something was still missing. I then spontaneously asked a bassist friend of mine if he would like to play something to it - ten minutes later we had a hook that carried the whole piece. It's these unexpected, spontaneous inspirations that make the process so exciting.'

'Cruise Control' is more than just another album from Satin Jackets. It is an invitation to enjoy the moment and surrender to the music - a soundtrack that creates a good mood and takes us on a relaxing journey. So just switch on the autopilot again, put on your headphones and let yourself go.

Ready for take off?

Satin Jackets präsentiert mit seinem neuen Album "Cruise Control" einen perfekten musikalischen Begleiter für entspannte Momente, die uns vom Alltagsstress befreien. Der Titel des Albums ist vielsagend: "Cruise Control" steht für das Gefühl, den Autopiloten einzuschalten, sich zurückzulehnen und die Reise in vollen Zügen zu genießen - eine Atmosphäre, die das Album entfaltet.

Das Album ist eine Sammlung der Singles, die über die letzten Jahre erschienen und im Kern alle miteinander verwoben sind. Denn egal, wo man die Songs hört, sie funktionieren, es entstehen Bilder im Kopf und die Füße bleiben selten still. Mit dem Albumsound bleibt Satin Jackets sich treu, denn immer wieder bekommt er die Rückmeldung von Hörer:innen, die die positive Stimmung in seinen Songs schätzen und die immer wieder für gute Laune sorgt.

So entstehen die Songs zuerst im Kopf des Produzenten und entwickeln sich im Anschluss gemeinsam mit den Features, die ihre eigene Note mit einbringen. Für Satin Jackets ist es "das Wichtigste dieses unmittelbare Gefühl, dass es musikalisch und atmosphärisch passt". Das kann auch aus dem Nichts kommen, so wie bei David Bay und Small Black, die sich bei dem Produzenten meldeten und es sofort passte.

"Es gibt immer wieder diese magischen Momente, in denen ein Song quasi aus dem Nichts entsteht. Einmal hatte ich eine Idee für eine Akkordfolge, die mir nicht aus dem Kopf ging, aber irgendwie fehlte noch das gewisse Etwas. Ich habe dann spontan einen befreundeten Bassisten gefragt, ob er etwas dazu spielen möchte - zehn Minuten später hatten wir einen Hook, der das ganze Stück getragen hat. Es sind diese unerwarteten, spontanen Eingebungen, die den Prozess so spannend machen."

"Cruise Control" ist mehr als nur ein weiteres Album von Satin Jackets. Es ist eine Einladung, den Moment zu genießen und sich der Musik hinzugeben - ein Soundtrack, der für gute Stimmung sorgt und uns auf eine entspannte Reise mitnimmt. Von daher einfach mal wieder den Autopiloten einschalten, , Kopfhörer aufsetzen und fallen lassen.

Nu-hardcore quintet, Bodyweb, are the sound of someone’s nervous system on the verge of breakdown—hyperactive, tormented and unflinchingly vulnerable. Born out of the Leeds hardcore scene, they’re a shape-shifting alloy of jagged emotion and precision chaos. What began as late-night jams between Louis Hardy (Higher Power, Big Cheese, Fate) and Ben Jones (Pest Control) eventually mutated into train_wreck_simulation, a debut EP filled with frantic breakdowns and nu-metal swag that felt like the soundtrack to a digital exorcism. The final piece of the puzzle came from Hardy’s estranged childhood friend, pq. His twisted samples and synthetic textures are haunted and disturbed, injecting cyberpunk soul into hardcore flesh. Contorting through several iterations in the following years, the band absorbed Luke Thompson (Stiff Meds) on drums, filmmaker Tom Hobson on guitar and Naomi Macleod (Empire State Bastard) on bass, and laid down their first collective offering. deadwired is due out on Flatspot Records later this year. Bodyweb's second EP is a violent thesis on connection and pain that sends Hardy’s unfiltered vocals through heaven and hell. Four overstimulating tracks run a gamut of styles and influences from Slipknot to Björk, constantly lane-switching between dizzying heaviness, ambient soundscapes and brain-burrowing hooks. Entirely self-produced, deadwired upgrades the sonic formula laid down on the last record and raises the question: what else could exist in Bodyweb’s twisted roadmap? Nothing seems impossible. What seems important, however, is retaining the rawness in a style that can often turn sterile. “We still wanted it to sound very human. It had to be well produced but not cold and lifeless.” shares Hardy. “We didn’t use a click track. All guitars were real amps with microphones. We tried to make everything as real and raw as possible, we recorded using all the same gear we use when playing live too to really capture the energy of how it feels when we jam together." ‘Deadwired’ is a snapshot of violent implosion. Four ADHD-fuelled transmissions from the edge of spiritual collapse. It drags metallic hardcore through glitched-out ambience to confront ego death, generational trauma, and the violence of being alive. On stage, Bodyweb don’t just perform, they purge. Raucous live electronics meld with digitally contorted guitars. Breakbeats meet breakdowns—no backing track in sight. Bodyweb enable a collective catharsis. Mosh, dance, dive, scream, heal. A physical therapy session screamed into the void.

Waage is at the heart of the contemporary dub techno scene and makes another fine statement with this outing on Icelandic titan Exxon's X/OZ Music. This is his fourth outing and it could be his best: 'W9' rolls with great depth and grainy dub textures that speak of a subterranean world. 'W10' is more dark and heavy like it's soundtracking a dirty factory after dark. 'W11 (feat Cold)' layers in some psychedelic swirls to frictionless beats that could roll for days and never get old. 'W12 (feat Exos)' is lighter and more airy with a playful bounce in the drums.

Das bisher unveröffentlichte Junior Murvin Album, produziert von King Jammy, erblickt endlich das Licht der Welt. Rare Singles und eine Menge bisher unveröffentlichter Tracks machen „Cool Down The Heat“ zu einem unverzichtbaren Begleiter von Junior Murvins kultigen Lee ‚Scratch‘ Perry-Aufnahmen. Zu den neu entdeckten Perlen gehört auch, dass Junior Murvin seine beiden charakteristischen Songs ‚Police and Thieves‘ und ‚Cool Out Son‘ wieder aufgreift und sie in echter Waterhouse-Manier festhält.

Within the nine carefully composed tracks of Young Bones, Mel D’s characteristic voice stands out in all its facets, varying from fragile to powerful, haunting to playful, but most of all soulful. With a voice that’s both extraordinarily clear and melancholic, Mel D is something surprisingly rare: a singer whose artistic expression goes beyond the mere use of her voice. On Young Bones, Mel D uses contemporary figures, rephrasing them into timeless formulas. Her unique musical language embodies references to genres like Indie or Alternative. In other moments, her sound leans baroque, then jazzy, soulful, and contemplative. Each song represents an ode to being connected: to the world, other people, and most of all to the beauty of music. Mel D draws her inspiration from struggles felt in the current world climate: “I have felt overwhelmed by the world we live in and its countless challenges,” said Mel D. “As if we’re all a bit directionless in our own lives.” Nevertheless, Mel D uses her musicality as a tool for resistance - using it to transform sadness and anger into creativity, and to give world-weariness a voice that seduces, comforts, and inspires. On Young Bones, Mel D sings us to a place where we might find hope - with songs rooted in concern, solidarity, humanness, and empowerment, inviting the listener to lean into those feelings. Bring the Witches Back, a hymn to witchcraft, is a quiet song that summons the return of witches with feminist urgency, for more love and magic to open ourselves towards each other and the world. Soft, a soulful song with a tender melody, gently lulls the listener into an in-between dimension, full of opportunities. Meanwhile, in the coming-of-age ballad, Slowly Growing, she raises questions about belonging and identity, pointing directly at our emotional core. Where Do You Look When It Hurts? speaks to the sensation of exhaustion and emptiness, offering musical warmth and a sense of community in moments of lethargy. Finally, listening to the album, one always feels in good company. Playfully working in folk and electro-pop elements, Mel D takes us on a ride toward love and a sense of belonging, particularly on the track We win. Young Bones was recorded in Zurich and Paris with two outstanding producers of our times: Renaud Letang, who has previously collaborated with Feist, Chilly Gonzales or Lianne La Havas, and Dino Brandão. The latter recognized Mel D’s artistic uniqueness during their first meeting, inviting her to a recording session in his studio and bringing her into the band of Swiss superstar, Faber. Mel D’s solo project was more a product of coincidence than planning, as she says, even though an undisputed talent and passion for music had always been apparent throughout her youth. During her studies in fine arts in Zurich, she founded the electronica-duo mischgewebe, and composed soundtracks for theater and movie productions, as well as for exhibitions. Long before forming her current artistic identity, she went by the nickname Mel D, in a humorous reference to the Spice Girls. Although her personality and musical language suggest thoughtfulness and a melancholy touch, Mel D acknowledges that an honest laugh is never out of place, making her sympathetic and approachable.

**ON LTD SPLATTER VINYL** First time available on vinyl! With bonus tracks and unreleased material! The Sultans formed in 2000 and were John Reis / Slasher and Tony DiPrima and at times also Andy Stamets / Black Flame (Rocket From The Crypt’s ND) and Dean Reis / Black Velvet (Mannequin Piss, Spider Fever, The Heartaches, Los Dug Dugs). Shipwrecked was the bands second album and was released only on CD in 2004.

It was hailed as a “power-pop meets ’70s punk classic” by Virtual Underground Press and “…a masterpiece of the form...essential” by the Cleveland Call And Post. This reissue is a labor of lust with maximum attention to detail in resurrecting these masters from their deteriorated, analog state. The result is a louder, thicker and even more bristling slab of triumphant rock ’n’ roll. Everything on this reissue cuts deeper and breaks the digital glass into razor sharp shards and then shits on the 1s and 0s. Treble Magazine says. “It is the perfect soundtrack to your post-breakup life: fourteen songs about heartache, shame, trying to move on, regrets and just plain old hate. (And by the by, hate has never sounded as good as this)”. Added to the original are four bonus tracks, one being a cover of The Dils “Blow Up” and another the never released “Out Of Focus”. Shipwrecked was the last record at Drag Racist (Hot Snakes, RFTC, etc) before it shuddered its doors for good.

South London live dub outfit SLICKnBOBBY return with their second dosage of deep dub and steppers sonics on this double single with Liam Bailey.

Fresh from supporting Greentea Peng at her largest London show, and playing Glastonbury and Notting Hill Carnival, the South London live dub outfit return to Touching Bass with "Dance Affi Nice/Juicy Bubble". SLICKnBOBBY and soul troubadour Liam Bailey fuse modern ragga and steppers dub with deep effect.

A compilation of the finest moments from the British punk rock pioneers Featuring "Another Girl, Another Planet", "Lovers of Today" & "Out There in the Night" "Another Girl, Another Planet", described by AllMusic as "arguably the greatest rock single ever recorded" and landing on Q Magazine's 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks Limited edition of 750 numbered copies on translucent red coloured vinyl Special View by The Only Ones is a 1979 compilation album tailored for the U.S. market, showcasing the best of the British band's early work.

Known for blending punk energy with power pop melodies and poetic lyricism, The Only Ones gained cult status in the late 1970s.

This release features standout tracks such as "Another Girl, Another Planet", "The Whole of the Law", and "No Peace for the Wicked", highlighting Peter Perrett’s distinctive vocals and the band's sharp musicianship. Special View serves as an accessible introduction to the band's unique sound, melding punk rock with romantic and introspective songwriting. Its influence can still be felt in indie and alternative rock circles today. A must-hear for fans of late-70s British rock, Special View remains a defining release in The Only Ones’ catalog. Special View is available as a limited edition of 750 numbered copies on translucent red coloured vinyl.

Gastr del Sol"s second album returns at last to the vinyl format - its first physical manifestation in well over a decade. Once again, a drop of the needle may ignite any number of queries, summed simply in one: What IS this music? Such is the potent energy of Crookt, Crackt, or Fly, retaining its otherworldly qualities some 32 years and countless musical movements since. Crookt, Crackt, or Fly expands upon The Serpentine Similar"s minimalist stance in unexpected ways, imposing further austerity in the soundscape but for an unpredictable expansive quantity periodically overflowing, waves of blood sluicing through the elevator doors. This is partially due to a change within the group dynamic: the departure of bassist Ken "Bundy" Brown and the arrival of a new partner for guitarist and singer David Grubbs - guitarist and sound fuckerer Jim O"Rourke. O"Rourke"s initial work with Gastr involved editing and recomposing recordings of the Grubbs-Brown-&-sometimes-John-McEntire lineup, producing an utterly outré collage of cut-ups and other types of tape processing. This became the "20 Songs Less" single, after which he was invited to play with the group. It was a time of flux; Brown recalls playing a Gastr show at the Metro around this time featuring himself, John McEntire, Grubbs and O"Rourke - and one of the pieces played was a Tortoise song! Throughout these shifts, Gastr del Sol"s music was never less than fully considered and composed, even in moments redolent with the suggestion of the random and the non-sequitur. Grubbs and O"Rourke made no attempt to replicate Serpentine"s arrangement of thick, scaly drones and hypnotic song-visions in their own partnership, finding Crookt, Crackt,"s sound instead in spiny, gamelan-like interactions between their (mostly acoustic) guitars, played precisely in and out of formation with bright, fleet-fingered abandon. O"Rourke"s fondness for field recordings and his capacity for tape manipulation intersected with Grubbs" sensibilities, edifying his evolving song style: written with increased sharpness and sly surreal humor, sung closer to silence. Halfway into "Work from Smoke", the sudden collapse of the sound-walls around us signals Crookt, Crackt"s major departure. From the thicket of guitars, a swell of drones and free-jazz squeals, made up of bass clarinet, vibraphone and organ, pulls the listener into an entirely other acoustic space. "Every Five Miles" derails in similarly tactile fashion: a guitar duet boils up thunderously, then fragments and spirals apart. As a free electric guitar part crops up, improbably holding the center, the acoustic space around it continues to disintegrate in ambient stereo. A wedding of folk music idioms to classical, improvised and modern compositional modes (including Gastr"s own formative post-punk mode), Crookt, Crackt, or Fly is a song-based reality steadily giving way to its alternative alchemies playing out within.

In the spring of 2020, Ben Cook _ a.k.a. Young Governor, Young Guv, or just Guv _ was holed up in the New Mexico high desert, his U.S. tour having been abruptly covid-cancelled during a southwest swing. He and his bandmates were living moment to moment in something called an Earthship, a solar-rigged adobe structure sustainably constructed with, among other things, recycled bottles and tires. And out there in the serene vastness, as a short ride-it-out stint turned into a nine-month sojourn, Ben was writing music, slowly, little by little, mostly at night while the others slept. By the New Year, almost in spite of himself, he had created a new album, two new albums actually, and through the ordeal he was forever changed. In a place he never expected to be, under circumstances no one could have predicted, and in the face of physical isolation, emotional desolation, and existential dread, Ben created GUV III & IV, a collection of songs dedicated and testifying to the eternal healing power of love _ how to find it in the world, in others, and most importantly, in himself.

Recently I was approached by my old friend Travis Millard to make some original music for Freedom Finger - a crazy space-shooter video game he had been developing with Jim Dirschberger and Wide Right Interactive game studio. I was able to land 6 instrumentals that pop up at various points throughout the gameplay.As the game was being rolled out, the idea arose to have me do 3 more tracks - this time fully fleshed out songs with lyrics mostly inspired by Freedom Finger's gameplay. These tracks would accompany some brand new levels that would be made available as downloadable content for the game.We have decided to release all of the music I have done for Freedom Finger as a 10" vinyl EP available through Rhymesayers Entertainment. This includes the 3 full length vocal tracks, as well as the 6 shorter beats that loop throughout the game. Some of these tracks also feature additional instrumentation from my friends and frequent collaborators, Grimace Federation.Furthermore, Jim has directed a video for the song Drums on the Wheel - featuring Freedom Finger gameplay, and some brand new visuals drawn by Travis and animated by Steven Gong.The game is an absolute blast, and I hope you enjoy this music. All relevant links below. <3Love,A.R.

Love & Rage, the brilliant 2024 debut album from London Queercore trio Shooting Daggers turned many heads with its jaw dropping depth and melody as well as blinding energy, feminist fury and angst. It has to be said that the band are not just bashing it out here. The playing is knockout and the vocals in particular are a standout. Singer Sal proving that she can do hard and fast and cool and melodic with equal aplomb. Add in some really inventive vocal arrangements and harmonies, and you have a band that is pushing that hardcore envelope big time. 2nd edition in Pink vinyl, full colour single outer sleeve, with a full colour printed inner sleeve, with an exclusive A4 poster included as well as a full download code. `Shooting Daggers may well have already made 2024's finest punk album'- Metal Hammer 'a ferocious brand of self-styled queercore punk rock that takes no prisoners' - Kerrang. 'a truly empowering album' - Noizze.

Friday Night in San Francisco is a live album by Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, and Paco de Lucía.

It was recorded live at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco,

on December 5 in 1980. The album is considered an iconic recording and was described by jazz author Walter Kolosky as
"a musical event that could be compared to the Benny Goodman Band's performance at Carnegie Hall in 1938...
it may be considered the most influential of all live acoustic guitar albums."

Al Di Meola is an acclaimed Italian American jazz fusion and Latin jazz guitarist, composer, and record producer.
He experienced a celebrated career that has spanned four decades and earned him critical accolades,
three gold albums and more than six million record sales worldwide.
Di Meola has amassed over 20 albums as a leader while collaborating on a dozen or so others.


John McLaughlin, also known as Mahavishnu, is an English guitarist, bandleader, and composer.
He is a pioneer of jazz fusion, combining elements of jazz with rock, world music,
Indian classical music, Western classical music, flamenco, and blues. He received multiple "Guitarist of the Year"
and "Best Jazz Guitarist" Awards from magazines such as Downbeat and Guitar Player and was ranked 49th in Rolling Stone
magazine's list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Jeff Beck called him "the best guitarist alive".

Paco de Lucía was a Spanish virtuoso flamenco guitarist, composer, and record producer.
He was one of the first flamenco guitarists to branch into classical and jazz. De Lucía was noted for his fast and fluent fingerstyle runs
and gained popularity outside Spain after collaborating with McLaughlin and Di Meola. Richard Chapman and
Eric Clapton described de Lucía as a "titanic figure in the world of flamenco guitar."


Friday Night in San Francisco is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on purple coloured vinyl and includes an insert.

Though Toronto rockers Hot Garbage’s signature tinge of moody, heavy psychedelia remains present on Precious Dream, their forthcoming sophomore album careens at high speeds into a darker world of searing post-punk riffs, grappling with themes of dread, loss, the resilience of the human spirit and the highs and lows of solitude. From the onset, elegant yet brutalist sonic architectures provide the scenery for an escape route, while cryptic poetic spurts act as surreal signage. By the end of the journey, we are left with a strangely pleasant void, but also with an uncontrollable urge to backtrack into the outfit’s beautiful 36-minute musical trap. True to form, prolific producer Graham Walsh (Holy Fuck, No Joy, !!!, etc.) – with whom, Hot Garbage recorded their critically-acclaimed debut full-length, RIDE – does right by the band, masterfully harnessing the four-piece’s unique brand of rock & roll, setting in motion a parallel universe where phones are not what they seem, lobotomy has its merits, lower is actually better, and tunnels stretch the very fabric of spacetime. Fans of Sonic Youth, Frankie and the Witch Fingers or Joy Division should welcome a confused stroll down this romantic if dystopian opus, for a cathartic and tender sense of resolution awaits.

Anushka's third album Ancestry comes out on BBE Music as both digital and vinyl and represents a massive hitting of the duo's potential as songwriters, musicians and performers following their well received and critically acclaimed previous releases on Brownswood and Tru Thoughts respectively. Indeed Ancestry represents their best album to date and one which befits a release on one of the UK's (and the world's) premiere independent record labels. Anushka is the collaborative name for Victoria Port and Max Wheeler. The duo first met in the vibrant club, music and arts scenes in that creativity incubating south coast town that is Brighton.

With their first single, Yes Guess, gaining support from major broadcast influencers such as Gilles Peterson they released their debut album, Broken Circuit, in 2014. With major airplay support from Mary Anne Hobbs, Annie Mac, the aforementioned Gilles Peterson and others the second album Yemaya was released in 2021. On this second record they experimented with their sound, exploring darker and more complex songs and palettes. Both albums forged Anushka's sound and production values, combining a deep respect for the UK's electronic club culture mixed with Jazz and Soul. Now, with the release of Ancestry on BBE Music, the duo has created an album that furthers their sound, their songwriting, their arrangements and their production. Victoria's songwriting for Ancestry is influenced by her love of Ella Fitzgerald, Sampha, Jimmy Cliff and Georgia Anne Muldrow.

Max's approach to the production on Ancestry is driven by his own ancestral back catalogue of music from Moodymann and Theo Parrish and further back to Larry Heard, Wu Tang Clan and the 90's electronica of Tricky, Portishead and David Holmes. It definitely bears repeating that list of influences has resulted in Ancestry being Anushka's best album yet. Releasing on BBE Music, on both digital and vinyl formats, Ancestry is an album that is a must for lovers of the highly innovative, jazz and soul fuelled club sound that is part of the UK's contemporary music scene.

Plastik People Collections dropped this one back in 2019, and it became an instant classic that soon sold out. It has since rocketed in price on the second-hand markets, so thankfully, the label is reissuing it this summer. Cultured Pearls's 'Mother Earth' is effortlessly cool garage-house with bumpy drums and expressive piano jams perfect for outdoor dancing. Night Society's 'You Turn Me On' has an authentic US edge and hot and humid groove with passionate vocal cries, then JJ Can's 'I Don't Know Why' is a dubby and low-slung deep garage sound with chopped vocals and a timeless appeal. Three vital cuts that will be huge all over again this year.

Tony Lavrutz & Scruscru join forces for this latest fiery 45 rpm on Scruniversal. First up, they also call on Mr. And-7 to get involved on 'La Malanga 25', a sunny funk jam with raw horns that bring a Mexican twist to the percussive drums and lively pianos. Marelua steps up for the flip side, 'Paragunde 45', which slows things down and burns warm and bright with Portuguese vocals and plenty of gorgeous acoustic guitar trills. Both of these are primed and ready to inject Latin flavour into any set the moment the sun comes out, so are likely to fly off the shelves.

Nottingham duo Andy Riley and Laurence Ritchie AKA Inland Knights, continue to celebrate a quarter of a century of Drop Music with a third special EP. This one features two utterly new and exclusive cuts - the first is 'Bad Situation', a brilliantly loose and soulful deep house sound with well-treated vocals, and the second is 'Some Lovin', a more raw and jacked-up cut but with magnificently elastic bass, funky riffs and old-school vocals. The steamy house throb of 'Slummin It' and twitch future tech of 'Get High' round out a fine EP from these enduring greats.

Fragments Of Reality is an ongoing series from 20/20 Visions that explores interplanetary sounds, and this seventh outing is another doozy. American artist Miles Mercer kicks off with the crunchy drums and big hits of his acid-laced electro-tech fusion, 'Voice Control.' Shaked flip the script with a funky minimal jam that's wired up with innocent sounding melodies and lush colours that feel psychoactive. Label curator Luther Vine then flips things once again with his punchy 'Take The Wheel' with its bold bassline and tight tech bounce, while London's Pach serves up 'Critical Emergency' which hits a sweet spot between trip-out cosmic synth work and kinetic drum programming. Four tasteful tools once more from this fine old label.

Mike Popov is the musician behind the I Gemin project, which was conceived as a way of working disco style and sampling into his house tracks. And the results are brilliantly effective and charming. 'Introfall (Autumn)' makes for a low-slung downtempo start, 'Come Together' brings horn-led disco house fun and 'Black Tea Groove' sinks into a fat-bottomed and dubby rhythm alive with magical synth flourishes. The blissed out 'Summer Breeze' is an escapist charmer, and the flipside features three more exquisite genre studies that have real heart and authenticity.

Mark "Shaboom" Bell's classic Mecca Funk album is best known for its standout cut 'Woman Cry' and it is that fan-fav which gets pressed up here with three fresh reworkings. The classic cut famously opens Andrew Weatherall's iconic Heavenly Social DJ mix and is ripe and ready for these bold reinterpretations from Ricardo Villalobos, DJ Sneak, and Spatial Awareness. Villalobos transforms the 1999 original into a deep, hypnotic journey full of his signature minimal textures, while Sneak delivers a bass-heavy, dub-soaked house bomb made for peak-time floors. Rounding things out, Spatial Awareness offers a respectful yet electrified remix imbued with some fresh sonic flair.

Pendulum, undoubtably one of the biggest electronic bands of all time, are back with Inertia, their first album in fifteen years. Produced by Rob Swire and Owen Charles and recorded at Pendulum’s London Studio, Inertia is a rampaging, 16-track emotional maelstrom and without doubt the band’s most personal work to date. Featuring collaborations with Bullet For My Valentine, Wargasm, AWOLNATION, Scarlxrd, Joey Valence & Brae and Hybrid Minds across the album’s tracklist, Inertia began to take shape in 2020 as Rob searched for what it is to be Pendulum in its current era. Stemming from 2021’s Elemental and 2023’s Anima EPs, which were the blueprint for the band’s future, the band found their new direction. Pendulum have 3 platinum albums to their name, including renowned debut Hold Your Colour and a UK #1 and #2 for Immersion and In Silico. The drum and bass/rock band from Perth, Australia have sold over a million albums in the UK alone, as well as selling out global arena tours and playing to thousands across main stage performances from Glastonbury and Download to Reading and Leeds on top of a headline slot at Ultra Miami in spring 2025.

Leon Michels ist still und leise zu einem der gefragtesten Produzenten der Musikszene geworden.Sein unverwechselbarer Sound hat die Aufmerksamkeit des Mainstreams auf sich gezogen und inspiriert gleichzeitig weiterhin die Underground-Szene. Seit dem 2023 erschienenen Album Glorious Game von El Michels Affair & Black Thought war Michels als Produzent für andere Künstler aktiv - darunter Norah Jones' Grammy-prämiertes Visions, Clairos Grammy-nominiertes Charm, Kali Uchis' ,Moonlight" sowie Alben für seine Labelkollegen Brainstory, Derya Yildirim & Grup Simsek, Thee Heart Tones und Liam Bailey. Sein neues Album 24 Hr Sports markiert die langersehnte Rückkehr unter seinem eigenen Namen: El Michels Affair.24 Hr Sports wurde inspiriert von Mode und Grafikdesign der Sports-Illustrated-Magazine der 80er- und 90er-Jahre, MF DOOMs Special Herbs-Alben, den dort verwendeten Sample-Quellen und Gospelmusik à la Pastor T.L. Barrett. Die Summe dieser Einflüsse, gepaart mit Michels' unfehlbarem kreativen Gespür, ergibt ein Rezept für einen Instant-Klassiker - ein Werk, das zweifellos zu den meistgefeierten Veröffentlichungen des Jahres 2025 zählen wird.Der Album-Opener ,Drum Line" ist ein hymnischer, mitreißender Track mit Marschband-Schlagzeug und donnernden Bläserarrangements, die sofort alle Aufmerksamkeit auf sich ziehen und den Ton für das folgende Album setzen. 24 Hr Sports bedeutet eine deutliche Abkehr von der bisher überwiegend instrumentalen Musik im Katalog von El Michels Affair. Mit einer Vielzahl von Gesangsfeatures spiegelt das Album das schwer einzuordnende Genre seiner Musik wider.Das erste dieser Features ist ,Mágica" mit dem brasilianischen Künstler Rogê, der die ohnehin energiegeladene Nummer mit seinen fußballinspirierten Lyrics auf ein neues Level hebt. Weiter geht es von Brasilien nach Ghana: In ,Say Goodbye" feiert Florence Adooni ihre Individualität mit lässigem Selbstbewusstsein und wechselt mühelos zwischen Frafra und Englisch, besonders eingängig im Refrain: ,never gonna find a girl like me_".Labelkollege und weltbekannter Trompeter von The Roots, Dave Guy, veredelt den 70er-Jahre-Groove von ,Oakley's Car Wash" mit seinen charakteristischen Bläserlinien, bevor der Track in ein Dub-artiges Outro übergeht. Vom wilden zum sanften Klang: ,Anticipate" mit Clairo knüpft an die musikalische Chemie an, die das 2024er-Album Charm hervorgebracht hat. Clairo gleitet über die typischen EMA-Arrangements, während sie sich nach unerreichbarer Liebe sehnt - getragen von einer perfekt eingespielten Band.,Eastside" ist ein Stück, das einen Sonnenaufgang am Meer vertonen könnte - Leon Michels' Sinn für Raum und Arrangement wird hier besonders deutlich. Aus Japan ist der Suginami Children's Choir auf dem üppigen Track ,Clean The Line" zu hören - sie singen ein Lied über den Mond, die Sonne und Vögel. Danach reißt ,Cortex" mit verzerrten Gitarren und donnernden Drums die Tür auf - ein Moment purer, filmreifer Intensität in der Mitte des Albums.Leon Michels übernimmt selbst den Lead-Gesang auf ,Shining", einem Song über die Suche nach einem Freund, mit dem man die Freude eines sonnigen Tages teilen kann. Der international gefeierte Shintaro Sakamoto ist auf ,Indifference" zu hören - ein lässiger Song mit federnden Basslinien und gefühlvollen Flöten, in dem Sakamoto zwischen Gesang und gesprochener Poesie über eine vergängliche Liebe reflektiert.Das Grammy-prämierte Duo Norah Jones und Michels kommt auf ,Carry Me Away" erneut zusammen: Jones' honigsüße Stimme schwebt über einem schwer einzuordnenden, aber sofort liebenswerten Track. Michels lehnt sich hier wieder mehr in Richtung El Michels Affair-Stil, der sich klar von seinen bisherigen Produktionen für Norah Jones abhebt. ,Take My Hand" stellt den Gospel-Einfluss in den Vordergrund - mit dem Fabulous Rainbow Singers Choir im Refrain und einem Saxophon-Solo der verstorbenen Jazzlegende Rahsaan Roland Kirk.,Open Season", ein Piano-getriebener Midtempo-Track mit Gruppenrufen wie ,we want the gold, we want the gold_", könnte den perfekten Soundtrack für eine Slow-Motion-Highlight-Reel liefern. Der treffend betitelte Albumabschluss ,Victory Lap" schließlich ist ein traumhafter, euphorischer Ausklang, der dem gesamten Werk würdig ist.Am Ende spricht die Trophäe auf dem Albumcover Bände: El Michels Affair ist Champion Sound - und 24 Hr Sports macht das unmissverständlich klar.

Leon Michels ist still und leise zu einem der gefragtesten Produzenten der Musikszene geworden.Sein unverwechselbarer Sound hat die Aufmerksamkeit des Mainstreams auf sich gezogen und inspiriert gleichzeitig weiterhin die Underground-Szene. Seit dem 2023 erschienenen Album Glorious Game von El Michels Affair & Black Thought war Michels als Produzent für andere Künstler aktiv - darunter Norah Jones' Grammy-prämiertes Visions, Clairos Grammy-nominiertes Charm, Kali Uchis' ,Moonlight" sowie Alben für seine Labelkollegen Brainstory, Derya Yildirim & Grup Simsek, Thee Heart Tones und Liam Bailey. Sein neues Album 24 Hr Sports markiert die langersehnte Rückkehr unter seinem eigenen Namen: El Michels Affair.24 Hr Sports wurde inspiriert von Mode und Grafikdesign der Sports-Illustrated-Magazine der 80er- und 90er-Jahre, MF DOOMs Special Herbs-Alben, den dort verwendeten Sample-Quellen und Gospelmusik à la Pastor T.L. Barrett. Die Summe dieser Einflüsse, gepaart mit Michels' unfehlbarem kreativen Gespür, ergibt ein Rezept für einen Instant-Klassiker - ein Werk, das zweifellos zu den meistgefeierten Veröffentlichungen des Jahres 2025 zählen wird.Der Album-Opener ,Drum Line" ist ein hymnischer, mitreißender Track mit Marschband-Schlagzeug und donnernden Bläserarrangements, die sofort alle Aufmerksamkeit auf sich ziehen und den Ton für das folgende Album setzen. 24 Hr Sports bedeutet eine deutliche Abkehr von der bisher überwiegend instrumentalen Musik im Katalog von El Michels Affair. Mit einer Vielzahl von Gesangsfeatures spiegelt das Album das schwer einzuordnende Genre seiner Musik wider.Das erste dieser Features ist ,Mágica" mit dem brasilianischen Künstler Rogê, der die ohnehin energiegeladene Nummer mit seinen fußballinspirierten Lyrics auf ein neues Level hebt. Weiter geht es von Brasilien nach Ghana: In ,Say Goodbye" feiert Florence Adooni ihre Individualität mit lässigem Selbstbewusstsein und wechselt mühelos zwischen Frafra und Englisch, besonders eingängig im Refrain: ,never gonna find a girl like me_".Labelkollege und weltbekannter Trompeter von The Roots, Dave Guy, veredelt den 70er-Jahre-Groove von ,Oakley's Car Wash" mit seinen charakteristischen Bläserlinien, bevor der Track in ein Dub-artiges Outro übergeht. Vom wilden zum sanften Klang: ,Anticipate" mit Clairo knüpft an die musikalische Chemie an, die das 2024er-Album Charm hervorgebracht hat. Clairo gleitet über die typischen EMA-Arrangements, während sie sich nach unerreichbarer Liebe sehnt - getragen von einer perfekt eingespielten Band.,Eastside" ist ein Stück, das einen Sonnenaufgang am Meer vertonen könnte - Leon Michels' Sinn für Raum und Arrangement wird hier besonders deutlich. Aus Japan ist der Suginami Children's Choir auf dem üppigen Track ,Clean The Line" zu hören - sie singen ein Lied über den Mond, die Sonne und Vögel. Danach reißt ,Cortex" mit verzerrten Gitarren und donnernden Drums die Tür auf - ein Moment purer, filmreifer Intensität in der Mitte des Albums.Leon Michels übernimmt selbst den Lead-Gesang auf ,Shining", einem Song über die Suche nach einem Freund, mit dem man die Freude eines sonnigen Tages teilen kann. Der international gefeierte Shintaro Sakamoto ist auf ,Indifference" zu hören - ein lässiger Song mit federnden Basslinien und gefühlvollen Flöten, in dem Sakamoto zwischen Gesang und gesprochener Poesie über eine vergängliche Liebe reflektiert.Das Grammy-prämierte Duo Norah Jones und Michels kommt auf ,Carry Me Away" erneut zusammen: Jones' honigsüße Stimme schwebt über einem schwer einzuordnenden, aber sofort liebenswerten Track. Michels lehnt sich hier wieder mehr in Richtung El Michels Affair-Stil, der sich klar von seinen bisherigen Produktionen für Norah Jones abhebt. ,Take My Hand" stellt den Gospel-Einfluss in den Vordergrund - mit dem Fabulous Rainbow Singers Choir im Refrain und einem Saxophon-Solo der verstorbenen Jazzlegende Rahsaan Roland Kirk.,Open Season", ein Piano-getriebener Midtempo-Track mit Gruppenrufen wie ,we want the gold, we want the gold_", könnte den perfekten Soundtrack für eine Slow-Motion-Highlight-Reel liefern. Der treffend betitelte Albumabschluss ,Victory Lap" schließlich ist ein traumhafter, euphorischer Ausklang, der dem gesamten Werk würdig ist.Am Ende spricht die Trophäe auf dem Albumcover Bände: El Michels Affair ist Champion Sound - und 24 Hr Sports macht das unmissverständlich klar.

Mit seinem neuen Album Who Is The Sky? schlägt David Byrne ein weiteres spannendes Kapitel seiner künstlerischen Laufbahn auf. Nach dem weltweiten Erfolg von American Utopia - gefeiert als Album, Broadway-Show und HBO-Film - richtet Byrne nun den Blick nach innen: Was bedeutet es, kreativ zu sein? Was ist Liebe? Was ist unser Platz in der Welt? Gemeinsam mit dem Grammy-prämierten Produzenten Kid Harpoon (Harry Styles, Miley Cyrus) und dem New Yorker Kammerensemble Ghost Train Orchestra ist ein Werk entstanden, das persönliche Geschichten mit orchestraler Klangvielfalt und popmusikalischem Feinsinn verbindet. Gäste wie Hayley Williams (Paramore), St. Vincent und Tom Skinner (The Smile) verleihen dem Album zusätzliche Tiefe. Songs wie "My Apartment Is My Friend", "She Explains Things to Me" oder "I Met the Buddha at a Downtown Party" erzählen Alltagsbeobachtungen mit Witz, Menschlichkeit und einem Hauch Absurdität. Byrne gelingt es wie kaum jemand anderem, komplexe Gedanken in eingängige Musik zu verpacken und so stets zugänglich zu bleiben. Who Is The Sky? ist verspielt, tiefsinnig und durch und durch Byrne: voller Fragen, Überraschungen und Momente echter Verbundenheit. Ein Album, das zum Zuhören, Nachdenken und Tanzen einlädt, ein orchestraler, verspielter und tiefgründiger Blick auf das Menschsein selbst.

JayWood - the nom de plume of Jeremy Haywood-Smith - is embracing new pastures having moved his music-making from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Montreal, and his new album Leo Negro chimes with a different tone as it looks to reconnect the self and grapple with one's identity. Marking a moment of meaningful change where controlled chaos takes the lead, it philosophises on what it truly means to be an experimentalist building a multi-faceted world where genre is infinite through sounds braver, more playful, and truthful than he's dared deliver before. Despite its astute sampling with layers of twists and turns, Leo Negro doesn't showboat but roars in the presence of vulnerability as it considers one's absolutes as a way of navigating the identity crisis. "Always looking for attention, I admit it, I can't help it, I'm a Leo," he reasons between vintage hip-hop scrubs on `Pistachios,' recalling a childhood need to be the centre of attention then stepping out of the spotlight as a grown-up. "Leos are confident and sure about themselves, but this record isn't that; so really, when translated, the title inspires `black confidence.' It's an uncomfortable, weird, and surreal term which bends the truth and embodies everything within." Experimenting in both life and music, Leo Negro and its first cut, `Big Tings' (feat. California, art-pop duo Tune-Yards) couldn't be further from 2023's Grow On EP and the previous year's slick LP Slingshot. Moving with flow akin to D'Angelo with Toro Y Moi textures, its twinkling intro of whirling synth and playful approach circles back to Jeremy's adolescence when he'd reverse, slow down, and speed up his favourite songs through the media player on his computer. Encouraged by his musical squad Will Grierson, Arthur Antony, Brett Ticzon, and enlisting his stylist and thrifter friends to capture the Leo Negro aesthetic, JayWood's big `in' for 2025 is collaboration, with the tight-knit crew of likeminded musical colleagues captured in session photo grins beaming from his Instagram grid. Nominated for Canada's coveted Polaris Music Prize, it'd be easy to be the cowardly lion; to rinse and repeat what's worked up to this point. But for JayWood, leaning into his natural `what if?' curiosity to make up his own rules as he goes along ("I never really knew what they were to begin with") and venture into honesty's unsafe space to seek comfort, confidence and make even greater connections, really is the only option. After all, he can't help it; he's a Leo.

Brbko, one of the UK underground’s most enigmatic artists, shares his debut album ‘BRAK VS. BRAK’ via acclaimed label Scenic Route. The release is accompanied by new focus track ‘JOGA 07’ a bold, introspective moment marking a turning point in the project’s emotional arc.

BRAK VS. BRAK is a genre-fluid meditation on life, death, and duality, using the afterlife as a metaphor for ego, rebirth, and reflection. Its title nods to an episode of Samurai Jack, where the hero confronts a darker version of himself, a fitting metaphor for Brbko’s own exploration of internal conflict. “It’s about realizing that your demons aren’t always from outside,” he says. “Sometimes they’re of your own making.”

Written across Manchester, Lewisham, Paris, and New York, the album moves through raw vulnerability and surreal visions. It opens with ‘BONSAM 2’ a raw intro tackling power, appropriation, and immortality, before ‘POWER OF 6’ reflects on clout and connection. The title track pits Brbko against his own shadow, while ‘BUZZ LIGHTYEAR’ distills ego and isolation into a dreamy freestyle. ‘DARK CLARITY’ offers bittersweet closure through minimalist production and vivid intimacy. The mood shifts with ‘JOGA 07’, where faith and lightness emerge as redemption.

Manchester-born and Lewisham-based, Brbko has quietly shaped UK underground music: from pirate radio and stage curation to collaborations with Alice Glass, Zed Bias, and Andrew Aged. GQ calls him “an essential part of underground music,” while Dazed praises him as “a stir in the contemporary grime scene.”

With ‘BRAK VS. BRAK’, Brbko delivers his most personal and expansive work to date.

Die aus Marokko stammende und in L.A. lebende Singer-Songwriterin, Ami Taf Ra veröffentlicht ihr Debütalbum „The Prophet And The Madman“ Ende August auf Brainfeeder!

Inspiriert von Khalil Gibrans bahnbrechendem Werk, „Der Prophet“, wurde das Album von Ami Taf Ra vom legendären Saxophonisten und Komponisten Kamasi Washington produziert, mit dem sie häufig zusammenarbeitet. „The Prophet And The Madman“ ist eine zu eine Reise über elf Tracks, an denen unter anderem Ryan Porter, Miles Mosley, Brandon Coleman, Tony Austin, Taylor Graves, Cameron Graves, Ronald Bruner Jr., Allakoi Peete, Kahlil Cummings und Kamasi Washington beteiligt sind. Die LP ist ein kühnes Statement einer Sängerin, die in den Traditionen arabischer Größen wie Fairuz, Umm Kulthum und Warda verwurzelt ist und sich dennoch furchtlos auf neues klangliches Terrain begibt. Es ist ein Album, das nicht nach Antworten, sondern nach Präsenz sucht - eine Hingabe an die Reise, nicht an das Ziel.

Im Laufe ihrer Karriere hat Ami Taf Ra auf Bühnen in aller Welt gestanden und das Publikum in Dänemark, der Türkei, Marokko, Belgien, Israel, dem Libanon und Jordanien begeistert. Sie ist auf angesehenen Festivals wie dem South East Jazz Festival und dem Haarlem Jazz Festival in den Niederlanden aufgetreten, ebenso wie mit dem niederländischen Royal Metropole Orchestra in der königlichen Konzerthalle der Niederlande, dem weltbekannten Concertgebouw, und dem Dutch Blazers Ensemble. Ami Taf Ra war mit Kamasi Washington auf ausgedehnten Tourneen unterwegs und trat gemeinsam an namhaften Orten und auf Festivals in den Vereinigten Staaten auf, darunter City Winery in Boston, das Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival und die Just Jazz Concert Series in der Mr. Musichead Gallery in Los Angeles. Darüber hinaus ist sie mit einer Vielzahl von Musiker:innen aufgetreten, darunter Posaunist Ryan Porter, Saxophonist Rickey Washington, Perkussionist Kahlil Cummings, Bassist Ben Williams, Schlagzeuger Jonathan Pinson und Pianist Jamael Dean.

Emerging from the shadows of a small apartment in Chicago’s South Side Pilsen neighborhood in 1999, Winterlight was produced and mixed by Daniel Thompson over the course of three years, from 1999 to 2002. It’s an intimate and evocative album that captures a pivotal chapter in Thompson’s life and echoes the spirit of a formative era in the underground music scene.
Thompson’s journey began in the heat of Houston, Texas, where his love for sound quickly became an obsession. By the late ’90s, he was among the first DJs in Houston to champion the sound of Chicago house, often driving long distances from Texas to Chicago in search of records, inspiration, and connection. These trips—equal parts pilgrimage and education—eventually led him to relocate to Chicago, where his artistic vision would fully take shape. Winterlight is the direct result of that move. Crafted over several years, the album embodies a raw, hands-on approach to production, built from analog synths, outboard gear, and hours of meticulous layering. Thompson leaned on tools like the Kurzweil K2000, SE-1, Juno-106, and classic processors such as the DP4 and TC Electronic units, shaping each track with
care and intention.
Blending atmospheric textures with hypnotic rhythm and subtle experimental flourishes, Winterlight captures the sound of an artist deeply engaged with his tools and surroundings. His extensive vinyl collection—over 3,000 records—served as both palette and inspiration, with carefully chosen samples lending further depth and narrative to the music. Now set for release across all digital platforms and as a limited double 12" vinyl edition through Berlin’s Word & Sound, Winterlight invites listeners into a soundscape that is both immersive and personal. More than just an album, it is a sonic document of a moment in time—rich in tone, memory, and intent. For those willing to listen deeply, Winterlight offers a rare window into the underground spirit of the early 2000s and the inner world of a producer finding his voice.

Ben Pest and ARA-U unite for the next release on No Static / Automatic. Kaos Sympatic EP started life with the pair recording jams of various vintage studio kit, including an EMS VCS3, Roland VP330 and an Orgon Systems prototype known only as the “Silver Box”, which developed into full tracks over subsequent sessions. Ben Pest has been busy releasing high grade club tracks including collabs with Radioactive Man and Kursa for Asking For Trouble and Love Love Records last year, and with solo EPs dropping on Cultivated Electronics and Posh End music. Here he links with NS/A boss ARA-U, turning out some of their headiest material to date.

The EP kicks off with ‘Err Hello’, it’s wholly discordant, lairy, and unapologetically weird. ‘‘Get A Grip’ drifts in with hallucinatory wafts of sound over a warped riff, building into a granular, distorted headfuck of a hoover-bass moment. This one will make the subs rattle on the right side of distortion. On the B Side title track ‘Kaos Sympatic’ gets stuck in with a big broken beat and guttural sub that transforms into a techno drop to drive this track home. Finishing up, ‘Slapback’ serves up a cut of high energy electro funk, coming off like classic ERP on heat. Limited edition purple vinyl.

World Of Echo announces the reissue of two remastered albums by Japanese guitarist and songwriter Naoki Zushi, 1988’s Paradise, and 2005’s III. Two classics of Japanese psychedelia, both Paradise and III were originally released on Org Records, the imprint of Shinji Shibayama of acid-folk group Nagisa Ni Te, with whom Zushi has guested on second guitar for decades. Both intimate and expansive, rich with revelatory songwriting and blasted, sky-scouring guitar, these reissues return these albums to print for the first time since the 2000s. It’s the first time III has been officially released on vinyl, with an extra, previously unreleased track, “Under The June Moonlight.”

Recorded in Kyoto’s Townhouse Studios in mid 1987 and released in limited-to-500 vinyl pressing in 1988, Paradise emerged from a scene in Kansai, Japan that was embracing the idiosyncracies of 1970s singer-songwriters, the soaring solos of early seventies psychedelia, and the DIY impulse of 1980s post-punk. While Zushi’s musical history stretched back to the early eighties – he was a founding member of Jojo Hiroshige’s noise outfit Hijokaidan – he found his feet with groups like Hallelujahs, whose dream-pop collection Niku O Kuraite Chikai Wo Tateyo was recently reissued by Black Editions, and Idiot O’Clock.

Paradise appeared two years after that Hallelujahs album and share much the same membership – Zushi’s backing band on several of the songs includes Shibayama on drums and Ken-Ichi Takayama (aka Idiot) on electric guitar, though just as often, Zushi plays all the instruments himself. The coordinates here are wide-reaching – you can hear the volume and intensity of Neil Young & Crazy Horse (on “Hallelujah: Left Side” and “Paradise: Midday”), the slow-motion magic of Galaxie 500, the idiosyncratic spirit of The Only Ones, all mixed up with tender guitar miniatures and stumbling garage-psych-pop moves.

Seven years later, after the transitional album Phenomenal Luciferin, Zushi released III. Perhaps his masterpiece, it’s already been bootlegged on vinyl, but this reissue is the real deal. The album was recorded at Studio Nemu over seven years, and sees Zushi backed by Shibayama (bass) and Masako Takeda (drums), his erstwhile bandmates in Nagisa Ni Te. By this stage, Zushi had started to really stretch out, and many of the songs on III swoon languorously, taking their sweet time to say what they need to say. It’s rich with lovely, melancholy songs, in a similar realm to bandmates Nagisa Ni Te, of course, but you can also hear traces of everything from Syd Barrett’s The Madcap Laughs, through seventies private press loner folk, to the slow-burn meanderings of the likes of early Low or Damon & Naomi.

When interviewed by Shibayama in the mid-nineties, Zushi said of Paradise, “it was a sort of collection of songs that had meant something to me up to that point… it was my paradise. I wanted to create paradise.” That’s something Zushi achieves on both of these albums – visionary Japanese psychedelia, en route to paradise. - Jon Dale







g Under The June Moonlight vinyl only bonus track

“'Lyceum' is a fountainhead of unqualified greatness. It’s a strange, sad sound harking back to old school tunesmanship – Aztec Camera, ‘Rattlesnakes’, prime-time Felt – but the whole affair is permeated with a resonant, almost tearful quality. ‘Lyceum’ is reminiscent of Galaxie 500’s ‘Today’ in that it sounds like it cost less than a round of drinks to produce. But the lo fi sound merely enhances the misty glazed-pop sound and raises the hallelujah choruses to the forefront. Rather than drowning them in production mush. Don’t pass it by”.
– Bob Stanley, Melody Maker 1989
Hailing from the suburbs of Glasgow, this five-piece are best known for their three starry-eyed albums on the renowned Sarah Records - this being an expanded version of their first (an eight-track 10” at the time).
By the tail end of the 1980s the independent music scene in the UK was turning its back on the polish and over-indulgence of the mid-80s with its gated drums and wallpaper production. And those who weren’t stretching the boundaries of sonic innovation had tuned back to the post-punk ethos of ramshackle charm and zealous melody, even dousing the spirit with some political fervour once more. Influences were more likely to be Television and the Television Personalities than MTV.
The Orchids and The Sea Urchins were the first two bands to release 7” singles on the Sarah label having previously begun their recording existence on a shared flexi disc in 1987 (The Sea Urchins went on to become Delta, whose classic album ‘Slippin' Out’ from 2000 will be the second release on Circuitry). The Scottish five-piece released ‘I’ve Got a Habit’ and ‘Underneath the Window, Underneath the Sink’ as EPs before really finding their feet with ‘Lyceum’; the tracks, remastered from the original Toad Hall tapes are included on this reissue as are the three songs from the ‘What Will We Do Next?’ 7” (this collection closes with the frazzled stretch that is ‘Yawn’). 'Lyceum' was originally released in August 1989.
The album opens with ‘It’s Only Obvious’ and its gloriously youthful chorus of “who needs tomorrow when all I need, all I needed was you”. James Hackett somehow appears both forthright and rejected, something that one of their musical heroes The Go-Betweens also had down to a fine art. It barely takes a breath until midway through side two where ‘Hold On’ (sounding suspiciously like an unlikely objective) descends into the intro of ‘Blue Light’, the counted-in ‘1, 2, 3, 4’ whispered like the most hopelessly dejected rally. If that sounds depressing it isn’t. This record by The Orchids was a spirited source of comfort for an 18 year old at the time and still shudders with the best type of melancholy, one that’s spirited not indulgent. If you’re not familiar with the band’s charm, this is where you should begin.
'Lyceum' is released on double black vinyl by new label Circuitry.

Japan’s electronic music scene has always stood out as uniquely distinctive. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a wave of underground projects, bands, and independent labels—primarily based in Tokyo and Osaka—began crafting their own sound. Inspired by the post-punk, new wave, and experimental movements emerging from Europe and North America, these artists embraced a DIY ethic, using whatever technology they had access to in order to forge something entirely their own.

This movement, often referred to as the "Nippon-wave" scene, remained largely hidden from the outside world. Many of its releases—on cassette tapes, flexi-discs, and privately pressed vinyl—were never distributed beyond Japan’s borders, making them rare treasures for the few who managed to discover them. “Nihon No Wave” presents a selection of these long-overlooked recordings, making them accessible to listeners beyond Japan for the first time.

After the success of the first volume, “Nihon No Wave 2” continues to unearth the hidden history of Japan’s underground electronic scene from the ’80s. This second installment digs even deeper into the archives, showcasing more rare tracks from obscure artists who operated on the fringes of Japan’s independent music world.

Like its predecessor, “Nihon No Wave 2” captures the raw energy and experimental spirit of the "Nippon-wave" era—where lo-fi synths, minimal rhythms, and post-punk aesthetics converged into a uniquely Japanese take on global sounds. Many of these recordings, originally released on cassette compilations or small-run vinyl with no international reach, have remained virtually unknown outside Japan.

Pickle Darling has always existed just outside of the periphery. In a heightened time of fast music, algorithmic consumption and rapid virality, Lukas Mayo (they/them) has remained focused on the album. Their discography is a reflection of their creative evolution, and they deliberately look for ways to push sonic boundaries from release to release. Since debuting with Bigness in 2019 followed by Cosmonaut in 2021, Mayo has curated a catalog that is deeply personal and strangely tactile, where tiny, unexpected details_an off-kilter loop, a whispered aside, the warmth of an old Casio_become as crucial as melody itself. Their 2023 LP Laundromat was a precise and polished expansion of that world, a record that felt like it had been carefully placed behind glass. Their forthcoming fourth album, Battlebots, by contrast, is unruly and full of static: a collection of songs that feel like they could only ever exist on scratched CD-Rs passed between friends. Self-recorded in their home studio in Christchurch, New Zealand, it finds Mayo taking a scalpel to their own songwriting. Songs were stretched, chopped, reversed. Some ideas started as "unlistenable garbage" before morphing into something unexpectedly beautiful. If a song felt too straightforward, Mayo had to mess it up. That friction of old and new, organic and digital, melody and noise is what drives Battlebots. Drawing inspiration from a strange, scattered lineage: Four Tet's Rounds, The Books, Neneh Cherry's Broken Politics, The Wrens' Three types of reading ambiguity, but also the emotional directness of 2000s pop like Madonna's Ray of Light and Robyn's Body Talk, the result is an album that feels like a glitch in the system, pushing against past constraints while embracing the weird, beautiful mess of making something new.

Schwefelgelb show their diversity in an impressive manner. A vibrant record with a very positive
aura, which makes you want to dance with a smile. Minimalistic and clearly arranged, showing each
element's full potential. Unfolding dance music's power with no distraction.

"Ay" is all about its irresistible groove, which is smooth but yet punchy. A compelling opener which
reminds Leftfield House.

"Randseiter" is an intriguing Techno track balancing stomping EBM rhythm and playful syncopic
melody patterns.

With "Sie Lacht" we turn to a cheerful and uplifting combination of subtle Jungle rhythms, prominent
bass and quirky lead, undoubtedly referencing UK Bass music.

If you're out for some rumble you'll find it in JANEIN's remix of "Ay". Despite its Industrial darkness
it's not too shy to implement melodic parts. A haunting mix of pumping kick and funky stab
sequences.
There isn't really a box for Danny Daze's remix of "Sie Lacht". This digital bonus track is full of
creative surprises.

"Marginale" will be released 5th of September on n-PLEX, 140 g colored vinyl including download
code.

Wenn es darum geht, seinem eigenen Meister zu folgen, haben die PSYCHIC ILLS aus New York das seit ihren Anfängen 2003 perfektioniert. In den frühen Jahren gab es einige Veröffentlichungen bei Social Registry, und die Band verbrachte seitdem viel Zeit auf der Straße und kollaborierte mit so unterschiedlichen Künstlern wie Gibby Haynes von den BUTTHOLE SURFERS und Sonic Boom (SPACEMEN 3 / SPECTRUM). 2011 machte sich ,Hazed Dream", die erste Platte für Sacred Bones, über verdrehte Synthesizer her und wurde zu einer Platte sonnenverbrannten Psych Pops voller warmer Töne und Blues Songwriting. 2012 erledigte die Band zwei komplette US-Touren inklusive eines Stops auf dem Austin Psych Fest und einen Trip nach China. PSYCHIC ILLS nahmen ,One Track Mind", ihr viertes komplettes Album, im Herbst 2012 auf. Das Album wartet mit Kollaboration und Produktion von Neil Michael Hagerty von ROYAL TRUX und THE HOWLING HEX auf. ,One Track Mind" ist das direkteste Rockalbum, das die PSYCHIC ILLS jemals aufgenommen haben.

The latest by Andrew Clinco's acid punk alias VR SEX takes its title from an architectural phrase but more importantly refers to the warped, wicked underworld the songs both chronicle and condemn. Donning the moniker Noel Skum - an acerbic anagram of Elon Musk - Clinco vents his scorn for and fascination with the seedy, surreal margins of low-life Los Angeles, doomed to dead ends of vanity, lust, and technology. Although initially launched as an outlet for "heavier sounds" beyond Clinco's duties in new wave fantasists Drab Majesty, the project has ripened into a compelling exercise in world building, weaving themes of gritty city neofuturist sleaze within a framework of driving, distorted guitars and cathode-blasted synths. Echoes of Chrome, Wire, Minimal Man, and Sisters Of Mercy ripple through the collection but ultimately Rough Dimension charts its own twisted vision of "our unforgiving reality." Written and demoed across two weeks alone in a Marseille flat using his prized 1980's Gibson "Invader" and a laptop, Clinco then took the tracks to Strange Weather studios in Brooklyn to record with Ben Greenberg (Uniform, The Men) who helmed 2019's debut, Human Traffic Jam. The results are notably ripping, refined, and riveting. Riffs in alternate tunings chug and churn over mid-tempo drums punctuated by spikes of sci-fi electronics while the vocals swagger and spit venom ("where we walk is also where we shit / but if we bark at our reflections are we hypocrites? / impulses bleed right into our seed / where hate culminates the apple rotted on the tree"). It's a bristling mix of the melodic and the macabre, absurdist observations of fast living and desperate measures, the clock of youth ticking towards midnight as dreams unravel in Babylon. VR SEX's specialty is making these cautionary tales of psychic decay and tainted love a thrill rather than a drag. There's a sunglasses at night glamor to Clinco's choruses and solos, a wit to his black leather judgements ("what is the answer / to cancerous people / walking in my line of sight?"). The music's milieu tends towards parasites and predators but its mood skews refreshingly accelerated and amused, cruising the strip with a cigarette, watching goths and limousines crawl in gridlock beneath digital billboards. The Rough Dimension may be a cesspool, but it's home.

In the smoggy orange light of a new millennium, the young Deb Demure would take the bus, once a week, from his home in crumbling Hollywood to his grandmother's apartment, nestled in the pastel pristineness of Beverly Hills. During these visits, Deb couldn't help but notice the disconnect between the glow of his grandmother's temple, and the downtrodden, alienated figures that populated the seats of the mass transit that took him there. Week after week, he would observe these characters: fading B-movie starlets, leisure-suited alcoholics and forgotten civil servants. But one fateful commute home, as the twilight waned to the purple Los Angeles night, he realized these figures were not as lost as they appeared - there was a nobility in their failure, reflective of the dignity of the city's vanishing golden era. They were survivors, in need of a voice: a spokesperson for every color of hope and hopelessness, transcendent of gender and time; Drab Majesty became Deb's musical podium for this undertaking. Raised in a music-centric household, Deb would find the time to teach himself to play his father's right-handed guitar upside down and left-handed; an unorthodox fashion from where his earliest understanding of chords and harmony were conceived. Exploring the bins of discarded vinyl in his neighborhood thrift stores, his toolkit expanded with the subterranean sonic gems of the recent past. Influences range from the virtuosic arpeggiated guitar work of Felt's Maurice Deebank and the grittier pop progressions of Red Lorry Yellow Lorry's Chris Reed as well as Steve Severin from Siouxsie and The Banshees. He also studied the harmonic oscillations and utilization of the occult power of vibratory frequency present in New Age sounds of Greek artist, IASOS. In terms of orchestration, he consciously culls from the seaside maximalism of Martin Dupont and mechanized grooves of early Depeche Mode. Like a dualistic pendulum, his vocals swing from a preistly baritone to a choir boy's falsetto reflecting the sepulchral ambiance of church visits with his grandmother. Currently the drummer for Los Angeles lo-fi rock ensemble Marriages and having honed an unorthodox home recording style, Deb sources his sounds from a repository of "mid-fi" synthesizers and other lesser-quality instruments. Following the release of his debut cassette EP, "Unarian Dances", he also shared a split 12" with synth pop forefathers, Eleven Pond. During the Spring of 2015, Drab Majesty signed with Dais Records and released his first single, Unknown to the I, as a introduction for his first initial foray into the album format, romantically titled Careless. Written over the course of 2 years, "Careless" is a compendium of songs that have outlasted a malicious burglary of his studio, his struggles with substance addiction, and most recently, the death of his beloved grandmother.

Back from the undead in the fresh (because we believe in upgrades & afterlifes!) is this new pressing of the first of all Gastr del Sol records, The Serpentine Similar. It is one of several distinct initiators of a definitive musical drift in the 1990s, and a drift all of its own, to boot! At the time, this album was largely heard within an underground whose boundaries were clearly defined - but if today"s sound-pool of "commercial" music is deeper and wider than it was back then, it is without a doubt due to the cracking open of certain doors of perception by Gastr del Sol, alongside their esteemed others. The year was 1992. After a bruising run of tour dates the year before, the final lineup of Bastro, a power-trio of David Grubbs, Ken (Bundy) Brown and John McEntire, retired, exhausted. Shortly thereafter, they were rebirthed, sans drums, via a new set of ideas composed in the cut-down configuration of Grubbs on guitars, keyboards and vocals and Brown on bass. Playing in duo format opened up sound and intention, leaving the need for speed (and the stock in rock) out, while letting in an expanse of brooding, droning acoustic space that highlighted the songs" serpentine shapes. This was something so radically different as to require a new calling card: henceforth, Gastr del Sol. Signing to Teen Beat, Gastr del Sol completed The Serpentine Similar in late 1992 for release the following year (the DC reissue came in "97). In the final rendering, Serpentine"s roof-rent, white-sky execution was attenuated with several percussion appearances from the prodigal John McEntire. Over the next five years, his cameo presence was a constant in Gastr del Sol"s steadily-evolving tradition of significant breaks from tradition at every turn. There would be an even more significant tradition-breaker onboard for all this; following the release of The Serpentine Similar, Jim O"Rourke joined Grubbs in Gastr as Brown exited (to focus on Tortoise, with McEntire et al). For the new Gastr duo, a world of new directions in music awaited, the future became the past, and the music of Gastr del Sol emerged from the thin air, then returned there. Now, The Serpentine Similar has been returned to vinyl from the temporal streams of contemporary music listening, a glorious rematerializing of all its spatial details on LP for the first time in 20 years.

Forming in 2014, Fury established themselves quickly, releasing both a demo on Washington, D.C.'s Mosher Delight Records and the "Kingdom Come" EP on Boston's Triple B Records in the same calendar year. They built on the melodic legacy of Orange County by way of heavy, rhythmic, start-stop guitars and Stith's wordy and referential lyrics. Then, in 2016, came their debut LP on Triple B Records, "Paramount," which was met with respect from the hardcore community and praise from outsider critics."Failed Entertainment" documents the work, both personal and creative, undertaken since the release of "Paramount," a period of time marked by as many difficulties as successes. Stith said, "I've asked myself `Why have I done this?' and `Why do I continue to do this?' more times in the last two years than the rest of my life combined." Those eternal, existential questions form the thematic foundation of the new songs, which look past the superficial concerns about status and popularity that preoccupy so many musicians, focusing instead on life's inevitable, inescapable problems and the ways in which they can be compounded by the banal realities of art-making _ the isolation of being on tour, the pressure of being expected to somehow transform that universal angst into nice, catchy songs that provide simple lessons.

Nestled away in the UKs quiet, picturesque east coast town of Ipswich, the lads in Basement are conflicted between the comfort of the beautiful familiar and the allure of escape. This duality pervades the band's existence. As frontman Andrew Fisher's gravelly yowl skips and stretches over driving rhythms and poignant guitar melodies, its clear Basement expertly walk the line between the contrasts of heartrending pop and gruff post-hardcore. When working through a slow-burning mid-tempo or pounding out driving punk, Basement has a quiet layer of jagged desperation weaving songs together under the smooth melodic surface. Much like a coming of age, the songs are toiling, torn and bursting at the seams.

Als er 2011 von Scion angesprochen wurde, um ein Album für die Musik-Promotion-Abteilung der Automarke aufzunehmen, konnte sich Reigning Sound Frontmann Greg Cartwright nicht weigern - trotz oder geraden wegen der prekären Existenz seiner Band zu dieser Zeit. "Mehrere Besetzungswechsel hatten sich ergeben. Die Ursprungsbesetzung, das "Memphis-Quartett", war längst aufgelöst, und ich dachte über die Möglichkeit nach den Namen Reigning Sound zurückzulassen", so Cartwright. "Ich hatte beschlossen eine Pause einzulegen, um an Produktionen für andere Leute zu arbeiten und Songs zu schreiben für The Parting Gifts, meine Zusammenarbeit mit Coco Hames." Aber plötzlich hatte Reigning Sound dieses Toyota Angebot auf dem Tisch, und es gab keine Band. Neben Cartwright war die eine Konstante der letzten drei Reigning Sound Jahre Keyboarder Dave Amels, der ansonsten in der Brooklyn-Soul-Combo The Jay Vons Schwarzarbeit machte. Etwa zur gleichen Zeit war Dan Auerbach von den Black Keys nach Nashville gezogen und kümmerte sich dort in seinem Privatstudio darum, dem Gitarrensound der Parting Gifts Platte den letzten Schliff zu verpassen. "Dan war begierig darauf, etwas im neuen Studio zur Vorbereitung auf eine bevorstehende Sitzung mit Dr. John zu tun, und bot er mir etwas Studiozeit sowie seine Produktionsunterstützung an. Da saß ich nun ohne Band in einem Nashville-Studio, die Uhr tickte. Ich rief in Brooklyn an und The Jay Vons sagten ja. Ich rief Scion an und bat um drei Flugtickets und Hotelzimmer. In wenigen Stunden war die Band auf dem Weg nach Nashville. In zwei Tagen nahmen wir fünf Songs auf. Ich habe diese fünf mit drei Outtakes der vorherigen Reigning Sound LP "Love and Curses" mit Lance Wille am Schlagzeug und Dave Gay am Bass kombiniert.", erzählt Cartwright und fügt hinzu: "Greg + The Jay Vons ist die bis heute gültige Reigning Sound Besetzung." Nach der Veröffentlichung von "Abdication...." brachten Reigning Sound 2014 die beliebte "Shattered" LP raus. Cartwright war zudem seitdem ausgiebig mit den reformierten Oblivians auf Tour.

Through the album trilogy Misanthropical House, Algorithm and Blues and Research and Destroy, The Good The Bad and The Zugly have limped their way through midlife crises and pubescent antics. Loud-mouthed and bitter, we have embraced our fate as mediocre losers on the narrow and winding Scandirock path. Haunted by a constant bad conscience over the outcome of our miserable lives, which in addition to bitterness, have resulted in substance abuse, pettiness, greed, spiritual lethargy, bastard offspring, excessive self-confidence, understated self-awareness, and of course - bodily decay. In breif; A urinal without a drain. The question has always been nagging: Why us? Why have we, since the dawn of time, been made to curse the day we were born? Well, the truth shall set you free, as they say.

Limited pink vinyl. Through the album trilogy Misanthropical House, Algorithm and Blues and Research and Destroy, The Good The Bad and The Zugly have limped their way through midlife crises and pubescent antics. Loud-mouthed and bitter, we have embraced our fate as mediocre losers on the narrow and winding Scandirock path. Haunted by a constant bad conscience over the outcome of our miserable lives, which in addition to bitterness, have resulted in substance abuse, pettiness, greed, spiritual lethargy, bastard offspring, excessive self-confidence, understated self-awareness, and of course - bodily decay. In breif; A urinal without a drain. The question has always been nagging: Why us? Why have we, since the dawn of time, been made to curse the day we were born? Well, the truth shall set you free, as they say.

Renowned DJ, Producer and House music aficionado, Giles Smith, returns to Eglo Records with his highly anticipated ‘I Can Change Your Life’ EP. A deep and soulful outing, that nods to the classic House sounds of Chicago, New York and Detroit. Evoking the spirit of late-night underground parties, the record captures the essence of House music’s soulful pulse.
Title track - I Can Change Your Life - features the immaculate tones of singer LaAriel. Who elevates the track into a bouncing, soul filled, bop, certified to get your dance floor moving correctly. Smith also delivers a deeper, teckier, jazzed out dub mix on the flip, alongside Paulo’s Keys, a prescription style instrumental track that mixes the rough with the smooth.
Previously known as one half the legendary Secretsundaze, this EP marks a new chapter for Giles Smith. Already a highly respected figure, his expansive knowledge, paired with his deep passion for DJ’ing and love of clubland make him an ever more important figure within dance music culture. His evolution, passion and dedication is evident and can be heard in the fabric of this essential EP.

Johnny Davis and Reggie Hudson were American songwriters stationed at a G.I. base in Germany when they composed "Expand Your Mind”, a
song they originally wrote for Marvin Gaye but decided to put out on their own. Davis and Hudson stayed on in Germany where their music
careers flourished.

Johnny Davis, who handled the lead vocals, became one of the real voices of Milli Vanilli years later. Recorded in 1985, featured here is the original 12" version of "Expand Your Mind" including the original instrumental version.

A hard-hitting slab of electro-boogie released on the legendary Street Level label in 1985, Lemuria’s Thunder In Your Love was written and
produced by Phil Valentine, who also provides the gritty lead vocals, and features backing from members of the influential Italo-American post-
disco outfits B. B. & Q. Band and Change, including New York session aces Leslie Ming (drums), Timmy Allen (bass) and guitarists Kevin
Robinson and Ira Siegel, whose impressive fret work powers this highly addictive track. This is a must-have for collectors of funky sounds and
rare groove from the mid-1980s.

RM, der als Leader der größten K-Pop-Gruppe BTS bekannt ist, veröffentlicht nun nach seinem Debütalbum
“Indigo“ sein zweites Soloalbum mit dem Titel ”Right Place, Wrong Person”.
Das Album ist zum ersten Mal auch als Vinyl erhältlich und beinhaltet: Schwarze 12” Vinyl, Outer-Sleeve,
Inner-Sleeve, Fotobuch (32 Seiten), Fotokarte (2 Stück) und Lyric-Poster.
Maße: 316 x 316 x 5 mm

Blah Blah Blah is the 1996 debut album by Brooklyn-based hip hop duo Blahzay Blahzay, composed of DJ P.F. Cuttin' and rapper Outloud. Their big breakthrough was the single "Danger", which was issued as the lead single of their 1996 album Blah Blah Blah. The single contains many samples, including Beastie Boys and Q-Tip "Get It Together", Gwen McCrae "Rockin' Chair", and Jeru The Damaja "Come Clean". It reached #4 on the Billboard Hip Hop Chart and #46 on the Billboard Hot 100. The tracks "Pain I Feel", "Good Cop/Bad Cop" and "Danger, Pt. 2" also gained traction. The album featured guest performances by Dark Man, Smoothe Da Hustler and Trigga Tha Gambla.

Originally out as a free Net-7inch on Jahtari in 2008 to pay respects at the shrine of arcade machine fighting games, these undying hiphop-infused martial arts Dubs by disrupt are finally reaching their intended destination: white blood-splattered 7inch vinyl (attention: not actual blood!).

"Samurai Showdown" (which eventually became Solo Banton's classic "Kung Fu Master", from his Music Addict EP in 2010) is taking place at sunrise, of course, when two master swordsmen are matching blades in a battle to the death. Can the wave-cutting technique of the Jahtari-school prevail?

The B-side is the meditation after the battle, mentally re-creating the epic struggle move by move and in slow motion...
So draw your Katana and prepare for beats as sharp as a battle sword, deadly moves of Ninja swiftness and basslines coming straight from the six paths of hell.

In the smoggy orange light of a new millennium, the young Deb Demure would take the bus, once a week, from his home in crumbling Hollywood to his grandmother's apartment, nestled in the pastel pristineness of Beverly Hills. During these visits, Deb couldn't help but notice the disconnect between the glow of his grandmother's temple, and the downtrodden, alienated figures that populated the seats of the mass transit that took him there. Week after week, he would observe these characters: fading B-movie starlets, leisure-suited alcoholics and forgotten civil servants. But one fateful commute home, as the twilight waned to the purple Los Angeles night, he realized these figures were not as lost as they appeared - there was a nobility in their failure, reflective of the dignity of the city's vanishing golden era. They were survivors, in need of a voice: a spokesperson for every color of hope and hopelessness, transcendent of gender and time; Drab Majesty became Deb's musical podium for this undertaking. Raised in a music-centric household, Deb would find the time to teach himself to play his father's right-handed guitar upside down and left-handed; an unorthodox fashion from where his earliest understanding of chords and harmony were conceived. Exploring the bins of discarded vinyl in his neighborhood thrift stores, his toolkit expanded with the subterranean sonic gems of the recent past. Influences range from the virtuosic arpeggiated guitar work of Felt's Maurice Deebank and the grittier pop progressions of Red Lorry Yellow Lorry's Chris Reed as well as Steve Severin from Siouxsie and The Banshees. He also studied the harmonic oscillations and utilization of the occult power of vibratory frequency present in New Age sounds of Greek artist, IASOS. In terms of orchestration, he consciously culls from the seaside maximalism of Martin Dupont and mechanized grooves of early Depeche Mode. Like a dualistic pendulum, his vocals swing from a preistly baritone to a choir boy's falsetto reflecting the sepulchral ambiance of church visits with his grandmother. Currently the drummer for Los Angeles lo-fi rock ensemble Marriages and having honed an unorthodox home recording style, Deb sources his sounds from a repository of "mid-fi" synthesizers and other lesser-quality instruments. Following the release of his debut cassette EP, "Unarian Dances", he also shared a split 12" with synth pop forefathers, Eleven Pond. During the Spring of 2015, Drab Majesty signed with Dais Records and released his first single, Unknown to the I, as a introduction for his first initial foray into the album format, romantically titled Careless. Written over the course of 2 years, "Careless" is a compendium of songs that have outlasted a malicious burglary of his studio, his struggles with substance addiction, and most recently, the death of his beloved grandmother.

Second part of second album! Originating from Normandy, France, psychedelic noise-pop quartet You Said Strange presents a unique blend of indie rock that incorporates elements of psych pop-rock, shoegaze, and proto-grunge. Thousand Shadows volume 2, a second chapter was needed to highlight the many shadows that still linger everywhere. The shadows that linger on the borders, hiding the violence of the fights for them. The shadows that time has on the relationships and their persistence, because the shadows move. Plato's cave, modern version, would be the one of toxic relationships, antidepressants and the acceptance of the regression of freedom and/or the vision of a dying world... Between shoegaze, noise pop and psychedelic rock, You Said Strange absorbs its time to incant a music in which melancholy, love and the search for plenitude meet. The band recorded their first album, Salvation Prayer, in 2018 in Portland (USA), with Peter G. Holmstrom from The Dandy Warhols, which saw release via Fuzz Club Recirds. In 2022, the band shared their LP Thousand Shadows Vol. 1. Mythomaniac kings, the Mediterranean, the colors of mourning _ these are the detailed subjects, described against a backdrop of psychedelic pop, proto grunge, and shoegaze. The first part of a powerful, reverberant, melodious second album, drawing its inspiration and production stem from encounters during their 2022 European and North American tours, between Normandy, New York, and Oregon. Most recently, You Said Strange shared the second part of their sophomore release, a follow-up to Vol. 1 entitled Thousand Shadows Vol. 2.

Bernadette Price, wife of the late, legendary Sean Price, steps into the spotlight with her solo debut album, A Widow’s Cry. This deeply personal project features hard-hitting production from some of hip-hop’s finest producers, including Khrysis, Da Beatminerz, Stu Bangas, and more.
A Widow’s Cry not only honors Sean Price’s legacy but amplifies it, featuring collaborations with fellow Boot Camp Clik members Smif-N-Wessun, Ruste Juxx, Rockness Monsta, along with a rare, never-before-heard verse from Sean Price himself—a true gem for longtime fans.
More than just a tribute, this album is Bernadette Price’s bold statement that she’s here and ready to make her mark.

Los Angeles trio Faetooth sophomore album Labyrinthine is a deeply felt exploration of emotional weight: grief, memory, uncertainty, and the quiet work of growing around your own wounds. Following the band's 2022 debut Remnants of the Vessel, which introduced the band’s signature blend of heaviness and mysticism, Labyrinthine pushes further inward. True to its name, the album winds through a maze of feeling and form, where meaning is never handed over easily. It’s rooted in self-discovery through disorientation, the idea that understanding comes not from escape, but from getting lost. Ari May (guitars and vocals), Jenna Garcia (bass and vocals), and Rah Kanan (drums) manage to stay grounded in the immediate in parallel with fantasy themes of the band's namesake. Labyrinthine holds space for this contradiction; tenderness and intensity, restraint and release. The band's self-branded “fairy doom” sound fits between shoegaze, doom, and grunge. It isn’t just texture; it’s a framework for navigating the unsaid. Like the myth that inspired its title, Labyrinthine doesn’t end in victory, but in confrontation—not with escape, but with the Minotaur. Only here, the Minotaur isn’t a monster. It’s something quiet and more familiar: unresolved feelings, old memories, and sadness that refuse to stay buried. The album winds like a maze, sometimes heavy, sometimes hushed, always intentional. Faetooth isn’t chasing catharsis. They’re creating space to reflect, to feel, and maybe to get a little lost along the way.
Artist quote: "White Noise" emerged from a diary entry, and is a relentless and intense reflection on inner turmoil. We’re often drawn to the familiar, even when we don’t realize we’re reaching out for it. It is an emotional upheaval, carrying harsh truths that weigh heavily on the heart. Guitarist, Ari May mentions, “Performing the song always takes me back to a specific place, even if just for a moment.”
“Riffs and melodies brimming with loneliness and longing… this band’s incantations affect my mood the whole day after listening.” — The Sleeping Shaman
“Bringing otherworldly hazy doom goodness… dreamy clean vocals, echoing harsh vocals, entrancing riffs, meditative shoegaze melodies.” — Nine Circles
“Slow, lumbering behemoths of great weight… couched in a melancholy atmosphere and explosions of crushing heaviness.” - Where Strides The Behemoth

Los Angeles trio Faetooth sophomore album Labyrinthine is a deeply felt exploration of emotional weight: grief, memory, uncertainty, and the quiet work of growing around your own wounds. Following the band's 2022 debut Remnants of the Vessel, which introduced the band’s signature blend of heaviness and mysticism, Labyrinthine pushes further inward. True to its name, the album winds through a maze of feeling and form, where meaning is never handed over easily. It’s rooted in self-discovery through disorientation, the idea that understanding comes not from escape, but from getting lost. Ari May (guitars and vocals), Jenna Garcia (bass and vocals), and Rah Kanan (drums) manage to stay grounded in the immediate in parallel with fantasy themes of the band's namesake. Labyrinthine holds space for this contradiction; tenderness and intensity, restraint and release. The band's self-branded “fairy doom” sound fits between shoegaze, doom, and grunge. It isn’t just texture; it’s a framework for navigating the unsaid. Like the myth that inspired its title, Labyrinthine doesn’t end in victory, but in confrontation—not with escape, but with the Minotaur. Only here, the Minotaur isn’t a monster. It’s something quiet and more familiar: unresolved feelings, old memories, and sadness that refuse to stay buried. The album winds like a maze, sometimes heavy, sometimes hushed, always intentional. Faetooth isn’t chasing catharsis. They’re creating space to reflect, to feel, and maybe to get a little lost along the way.
Artist quote: "White Noise" emerged from a diary entry, and is a relentless and intense reflection on inner turmoil. We’re often drawn to the familiar, even when we don’t realize we’re reaching out for it. It is an emotional upheaval, carrying harsh truths that weigh heavily on the heart. Guitarist, Ari May mentions, “Performing the song always takes me back to a specific place, even if just for a moment.”
“Riffs and melodies brimming with loneliness and longing… this band’s incantations affect my mood the whole day after listening.” — The Sleeping Shaman
“Bringing otherworldly hazy doom goodness… dreamy clean vocals, echoing harsh vocals, entrancing riffs, meditative shoegaze melodies.” — Nine Circles
“Slow, lumbering behemoths of great weight… couched in a melancholy atmosphere and explosions of crushing heaviness.” - Where Strides The Behemoth

Los Angeles trio Faetooth sophomore album Labyrinthine is a deeply felt exploration of emotional weight: grief, memory, uncertainty, and the quiet work of growing around your own wounds. Following the band's 2022 debut Remnants of the Vessel, which introduced the band’s signature blend of heaviness and mysticism, Labyrinthine pushes further inward. True to its name, the album winds through a maze of feeling and form, where meaning is never handed over easily. It’s rooted in self-discovery through disorientation, the idea that understanding comes not from escape, but from getting lost. Ari May (guitars and vocals), Jenna Garcia (bass and vocals), and Rah Kanan (drums) manage to stay grounded in the immediate in parallel with fantasy themes of the band's namesake. Labyrinthine holds space for this contradiction; tenderness and intensity, restraint and release. The band's self-branded “fairy doom” sound fits between shoegaze, doom, and grunge. It isn’t just texture; it’s a framework for navigating the unsaid. Like the myth that inspired its title, Labyrinthine doesn’t end in victory, but in confrontation—not with escape, but with the Minotaur. Only here, the Minotaur isn’t a monster. It’s something quiet and more familiar: unresolved feelings, old memories, and sadness that refuse to stay buried. The album winds like a maze, sometimes heavy, sometimes hushed, always intentional. Faetooth isn’t chasing catharsis. They’re creating space to reflect, to feel, and maybe to get a little lost along the way.
Artist quote: "White Noise" emerged from a diary entry, and is a relentless and intense reflection on inner turmoil. We’re often drawn to the familiar, even when we don’t realize we’re reaching out for it. It is an emotional upheaval, carrying harsh truths that weigh heavily on the heart. Guitarist, Ari May mentions, “Performing the song always takes me back to a specific place, even if just for a moment.”
“Riffs and melodies brimming with loneliness and longing… this band’s incantations affect my mood the whole day after listening.” — The Sleeping Shaman
“Bringing otherworldly hazy doom goodness… dreamy clean vocals, echoing harsh vocals, entrancing riffs, meditative shoegaze melodies.” — Nine Circles
“Slow, lumbering behemoths of great weight… couched in a melancholy atmosphere and explosions of crushing heaviness.” - Where Strides The Behemoth

The album introduced a lush, complex dream world that the singer, composer, and producer created and inhabited largely on her own. She produced all the songs, and wrote and performed everything on the self-released collection outside of a re-imagined cover of Pink Floyd’s “Green is the Colour” and 2 other tracks (“The Time,” “Give It Back To You”), which started as instrumentals written by Survive’s Kyle Dixon (who composed the Stranger Things soundtrack with his bandmate Michael Stein), to which Ainsworth wrote melodies and added lyrics. Ainsworth, who’s relocated to Los Angeles from Toronto since 2017’s Darling of the Afterglow, explains that the collection revealed itself to her “as a play taking place in Mother Nature’s vanishing home,” aka Phantom Forest, and that she’s singing from 3 perspectives: herself, Mother Nature, and Greek Chorus. For instance, of the album’s opener, “Diamonds Cutting Diamonds,” she explains: “The Greek Chorus sets the scene, narrating and offering direction on how to enter Phantom Forest. It’s my hope that the listener will imagine the narration to be directed to them as well, as they begin the journey of the album.” You’ll get a sense of this from the collection’s edenic cover art and the playful, pastoral video for the album’s first single, “Can You Find Her Place.” Its inspiration came from Ainsworth’s love for Italian Renaissance painter Botticelli’s 15-century masterpiece “Primavera,” an allegorical representation of the burgeoning fertility of the earth in spring. She notes: “The video features the Greek gods of the painting in a choreographed Baroque style dance.” Keeping with the personal feel of the collection, her sister Abby Ainsworth directed the clip. In line with the classical and historical depths of Phantom Forest, Ainsworth, who holds a Masters Degree in film scoring composition from NYU and studied composition as an undergrad at McGill, notes that although the album might be considered pop, she approached it as an orchestrator. “Even if I’m dealing purely with synths,” she says, “The songs are like a score, each one an evolving journey. I love to use strings so I’ve included my string arrangements on ‘Tell Me I Exist’ and ‘Can You Find Her Place.’ I recorded live musicians on drums, bass, and guitar on ‘Edge of the Throne,’ ‘The Time,’ and ‘Floating Dream,’ and wove those live elements into my programmed elements.” Phantom Forest is a beautiful, vast collection that mixes the historical and the hands on, with hooks about the apocalypse and people obsessively using face-recognition software to see what paintings their face match with, in search of some kind of connection. It’s a journey that holds up to close listening (and lyric reading) and to dance floors, but that can also exist on a purely emotional plane. In all cases, it asks that you listen, and take some kind of action.

"Laurel Hell" ist ein Soundtrack zur Transformation. Eine Landkarte für den Ort, an dem Verletzlichkeit und Widerstandsfähigkeit, Trauer und Freude, Fehler und Transzendenz in unserer Menschlichkeit Platz finden und als würdig angesehen werden können - um letztendlich anerkannt und geliebt zu werden. "I accept it all," verspricht MITSKI. "I forgive it all." Auf "Laurel Hell" festigt MITSKI ihren Ruf als Künstlerin, die die Kraft besitzt, unsere wildesten und zwiespältigsten Erfahrungen in ein heilendes Elixier zu verwandeln. "I wrote what I needed to hear. As I've always done." Nach der Veröffentlichung von "Be The Cowboy", einem der meistgelobten Alben des Jahres 2018, das von Outlets wie Pitchfork (u.a.) zum Album des Jahres gekürt wurde, stieg MITSKI vom Kultliebling zum Indie-Star auf. Mit spürbaren Folgen: Die Schinderei des Tourlebens und die Fallstricke die mit der erhöhten Sichtbarkeit einhergingen, beeinflussten ihre Musik ebenso wie ihren Geist, die sich in der ersten Single "Working For The Knife" niederschlägt. Ein Song, wie ein Prüfstein für das Gesamtgefühl von "Laurel Hell": "I start the day lying and end with the truth / That I'm dying for the knife." "Be The Cowboy" wurde von weiblicher Stärke und Trotz angetrieben, lebte jedoch von seinem Spiel mit Masken. Wie der Berglorbeer bzw. die "laurel hell", nach dem das neue Album benannt ist, kann die öffentliche Wahrnehmung, wie das berauschende Prisma des Internets, eine verlockende Fassade bieten, hinter der sich eine tödliche Falle verbirgt. Die sich immer enger zieht, je mehr man sich anstrengt. "I got to a point, where I just knew that if I kept going this way, I would numb myself to completion." Erschöpft von diesem verzerrten Spiegel und unserer Sucht nach falschen Binaritäten, begann MITSKI, Songs zu schreiben, die die Masken abstreifen und die komplexen und oft widersprüchlichen Realitäten dahinter offenbaren. MITSKI dazu: "I needed love songs about real relationships that are not power struggles to be won or lost. I needed songs that could help me forgive both others and myself. I make mistakes all the time. I don't want to put on a front where I'm a role model, but I'm also not a bad person. I needed to create this space mostly for myself where I sat in that gray area." Die daraus entstanden Songs verkörpern genau diesen Raum. Wie die zweite Single des Albums, "The Only Heartbreaker", die gemeinsam mit Dan Wilson geschrieben wurde und der erste Song dieser Art in ihrer Diskografie ist. "The Only Heartbreaker" verbindet treibenden 80er-Pop mit einem trügerisch einfachen Text, dessen aufrichtiger Refrain ins Ironische kippt, sobald dieser "the person always messing up in the relationship, the designated Bad Guy who gets the blame," beschreibt und sich zugleich fragt, ob "the reason you're always the one making mistakes is because you're the only one trying." MITSKI schrieb viele Songs für "Laurel Hell" während und teilweise vor 2018. Das Album wurde allerdings erst im Mai 2021 final abgemischt. Es ist die längste Zeitspanne, die MITSKI jemals für ein Album gebraucht hat und für die Musikerin inmitten einer radikal veränderten Welt endete. MITSKI nahm "Laurel Hell" mit ihrem langjährigen Produzenten Patrick Hyland in der Zeit der Isolation während der Pandemie auf, als einige der Songs "slowly took on new forms and meanings, like seed to flower." Das Album als Ganzes entwickelte sich "to be more uptempo and dance-y. I needed to create something that was also a pep talk" erklärt MITSKI. Die Spannung, die zwischen ihren raffinierten, aber wehmütigen Texten und dem sprudelnden Pop-Sound der 1980er Jahre entsteht, ist eine dringend benötigte Infusion in Zeiten wie diesen und das Werk einer reifen wie unwiderstehlichen Künstlerin, die auch zu fröhlich ansteckenden Dance-Beats immer noch etwas Profundes beizutragen hat.

Teppana Jänis was born in the village of Uuksujärvi in Suistamo on 21 June 1850. After becoming blind in the late 19th century, he went house to house, supporting himself by playing the kantele, a traditional Finnish and Karelian plucked string instrument belonging to the southeast Baltic box zither family. He performed at dances and in schools, and also participated in the Suistamo kantele and runosong competitions in 1911.

In the summers of 1916 and 1917, the young folk music researcher Armas Otto Väisänen (1890-1969) made collecting trips to Border Karelia. His aim was to collect kantele tunes, laments and shepherd melodies, which were confusingly few in the archives. The 1916 trip was financed by the Finnish Literature Society, who provided a phonograph for recording purposes. In 1917, the trip was financed by the Kalevala Society and the recording was carried out using a parlograph. During these two summers, Väisänen recorded kantele players in the parishes of Suojärvi, Korpiselkä, Suistamo, Tuupovaara, Kitee and Impilahti. Väisänen met Teppana Jänis in both summers and transcribed 22 kantele melodies from him. He recorded 14 of these on wax cylinders.

This LP, titled simply 'Teppana Jänis' fuses and intertwines the original raw cylinder recordings with replayed pieces by Kantele player and researcher Arja Kastinen together with the now late Finnish folk musician Taito Hoffrén, taking into account the additional information and notes found in Väisänen's sheet music manuscripts. Warm thanks to the Finnish Literature Society for permission to use the archive recordings, to Risto Blomster for his invaluable assistance, and to the Karelian Cultural Foundation.

In truth, singing is not all that different from acting. Performing a song is very similar to playing a role in a theatrical production. A singer's delivery — the way they interpret and emphasize certain parts of a song — is much like what an actor does with their character.

That's why we often find singers who go on to gain popularity as performers — some on stage, but more often on the silver screen (film).

These are called 'singing stars' — vocalists who are also featured actors, usually given roles specially created to suit their primary strength: singing.

Among them, a few have become even more famous for their acting talents, which sometimes surpass their singing ability. However, the number who manage to do this successfully is very small. Oslan Husein is lucky enough to be counted among that small number. As his fame as a singer began to rise sharply, he also began his film career as an actor. It's true that he had previously appeared in a film, but only as an extra, alongside the orchestra he performed with.

Following that, he appeared in several other films, including Detik-detik Berbahaya, 1000 Langkah, Kasih Tak Sampai, Hadiah 2.000.000,-, Maut Menjelang Magrib, and Antara Timur dan Barat. Six films over a span of just about 2.5 years — quite an impressive achievement.

Over time, a number of songs that Oslan had performed in his films began to accumulate. Together with a few additional songs — also from films — there were eventually enough to compile into one long-playing (LP) record.

And so, accompanied by Jack Lemmers — who, for this project, created special arrangements and musical treatments unlike the usual (for example, the use of four guitars at once) — Oslan carried out the recordings at Irama studios.

By releasing this LP of songs from the silver screen, Irama took an exciting step forward and opened many new possibilities in its history. Because the world of recorded music and the world of film, wherever they are in the world, are like siblings — and they work best when they collaborate, shoulder to shoulder, in harmony.

Smith & Liddle from the North of England breathe new life into the sounds of classic music eras heard in their debut 7inch single release "Piece of You" b/w "Minute Ago" from their upcoming debut album. Smith & Liddle's music is a glimpse into the sounds of Laurel Canyon and echoes the ways in which musicians of the 60s & 70s started to change direction as the years progressed. Reflecting the duos wide music tastes and even wider record collection, the music you can expect from their own output weaves between Soft Rock, West Coast soul and 60s beat, offering an ultimately wide appealing and joyful collection of songs and sounds to be enjoyed.

Techno pioneers Chris Liebing and Speedy J (aka Jochem Paap) reunite as Collabs 3000 for their 2025 EP, a brand new four-track release and their first new studio material together in nearly two decades.

Channeling the raw, improvisational energy of their recently revived Collabs 3000 live sets, these tracks build on the legacy of their acclaimed collaboration with a fresh, future-facing edge. The EP precedes the full remastered reissue of the electronic techno masterpiece, Metalism, out 14th November 2025, and celebrates a partnership that helped to define the sound of early '00s Techno.

pressed on a strictly limited vinyl run of 500 copies worldwide and released via NovaMute.

Leon Michels ist still und leise zu einem der gefragtesten Produzenten der Musikszene geworden. Sein unverwechselbarer Sound hat die Aufmerksamkeit des Mainstreams auf sich gezogen und inspiriert gleichzeitig weiterhin die Underground-Szene. Seit dem 2023 erschienenen Album Glorious Game von El Michels Affair & Black Thought war Michels als Produzent für andere Künstler aktiv - darunter Norah Jones' Grammy-prämiertes Visions, Clairos Grammy-nominiertes Charm, Kali Uchis' ,Moonlight" sowie Alben für seine Labelkollegen Brainstory, Derya Yildirim & Grup Simsek, Thee Heart Tones und Liam Bailey. Sein neues Album 24 Hr Sports markiert die langersehnte Rückkehr unter seinem eigenen Namen: El Michels Affair.24 Hr Sports wurde inspiriert von Mode und Grafikdesign der Sports-Illustrated-Magazine der 80er- und 90er-Jahre, MF DOOMs Special Herbs-Alben, den dort verwendeten Sample-Quellen und Gospelmusik à la Pastor T.L. Barrett. Die Summe dieser Einflüsse, gepaart mit Michels' unfehlbarem kreativen Gespür, ergibt ein Rezept für einen Instant-Klassiker - ein Werk, das zweifellos zu den meistgefeierten Veröffentlichungen des Jahres 2025 zählen wird.Der Album-Opener ,Drum Line" ist ein hymnischer, mitreißender Track mit Marschband-Schlagzeug und donnernden Bläserarrangements, die sofort alle Aufmerksamkeit auf sich ziehen und den Ton für das folgende Album setzen. 24 Hr Sports bedeutet eine deutliche Abkehr von der bisher überwiegend instrumentalen Musik im Katalog von El Michels Affair. Mit einer Vielzahl von Gesangsfeatures spiegelt das Album das schwer einzuordnende Genre seiner Musik wider.Das erste dieser Features ist ,Mágica" mit dem brasilianischen Künstler Rogê, der die ohnehin energiegeladene Nummer mit seinen fußballinspirierten Lyrics auf ein neues Level hebt. Weiter geht es von Brasilien nach Ghana: In ,Say Goodbye" feiert Florence Adooni ihre Individualität mit lässigem Selbstbewusstsein und wechselt mühelos zwischen Frafra und Englisch, besonders eingängig im Refrain: ,never gonna find a girl like me_".Labelkollege und weltbekannter Trompeter von The Roots, Dave Guy, veredelt den 70er-Jahre-Groove von ,Oakley's Car Wash" mit seinen charakteristischen Bläserlinien, bevor der Track in ein Dub-artiges Outro übergeht. Vom wilden zum sanften Klang: ,Anticipate" mit Clairo knüpft an die musikalische Chemie an, die das 2024er-Album Charm hervorgebracht hat. Clairo gleitet über die typischen EMA-Arrangements, während sie sich nach unerreichbarer Liebe sehnt - getragen von einer perfekt eingespielten Band.,Eastside" ist ein Stück, das einen Sonnenaufgang am Meer vertonen könnte - Leon Michels' Sinn für Raum und Arrangement wird hier besonders deutlich. Aus Japan ist der Suginami Children's Choir auf dem üppigen Track ,Clean The Line" zu hören - sie singen ein Lied über den Mond, die Sonne und Vögel. Danach reißt ,Cortex" mit verzerrten Gitarren und donnernden Drums die Tür auf - ein Moment purer, filmreifer Intensität in der Mitte des Albums.Leon Michels übernimmt selbst den Lead-Gesang auf ,Shining", einem Song über die Suche nach einem Freund, mit dem man die Freude eines sonnigen Tages teilen kann. Der international gefeierte Shintaro Sakamoto ist auf ,Indifference" zu hören - ein lässiger Song mit federnden Basslinien und gefühlvollen Flöten, in dem Sakamoto zwischen Gesang und gesprochener Poesie über eine vergängliche Liebe reflektiert.Das Grammy-prämierte Duo Norah Jones und Michels kommt auf ,Carry Me Away" erneut zusammen: Jones' honigsüße Stimme schwebt über einem schwer einzuordnenden, aber sofort liebenswerten Track. Michels lehnt sich hier wieder mehr in Richtung El Michels Affair-Stil, der sich klar von seinen bisherigen Produktionen für Norah Jones abhebt. ,Take My Hand" stellt den Gospel-Einfluss in den Vordergrund - mit dem Fabulous Rainbow Singers Choir im Refrain und einem Saxophon-Solo der verstorbenen Jazzlegende Rahsaan Roland Kirk.,Open Season", ein Piano-getriebener Midtempo-Track mit Gruppenrufen wie ,we want the gold, we want the gold_", könnte den perfekten Soundtrack für eine Slow-Motion-Highlight-Reel liefern. Der treffend betitelte Albumabschluss ,Victory Lap" schließlich ist ein traumhafter, euphorischer Ausklang, der dem gesamten Werk würdig ist.Am Ende spricht die Trophäe auf dem Albumcover Bände: El Michels Affair ist Champion Sound - und 24 Hr Sports macht das unmissverständlich klar.

Let’s Start Again – A Collaboration between Mikekon & BTA (Byron The Aquarius), connected whilst Byron was touring Australia in 2023. Mike threw an intimate afterparty for Byron after his Nature’s Calling festival tour and got talking about Music, DJing and Life.
They threw some beats around to feel out and Byron began laying some lush keys, and within hours the magic was made. The project was left to cool off a little while and the two picked it up and polished it (Hence the title “Lets Start Again” before setting the date for a mid 2025 release via Mother Tongue distribution.

WIP Music is proud to have this as their first vinyl release under the label, further emphasising its desire to share timeless electronic music.

Nick Bike hops aboard his groove machine once again here for another superb run out, this time with his Italian mate Stan Brega on Chosen Spokes. 'Big Bizniss' gets going with a super cool and laid back downtempo, disco and funky fusion. Lavish horns, cowbells, sultry chords and effortlessly vibey vocals all make it an instantly lovable and hip-swinging summer classic. Flip it over and you'll find 'Forever & Ever', which is an epic, cosmic, Balearic, ambient and blissed out cover of a David Bowie mega-hit. Proggy guitars draw out the me option and make it a perfect end of the night tune to send people home teary-eyed but euphoric.

Editions Mego presents Bosko, landing exactly 30 years after the initial General Magic flights into the fantastic; the legendary first Mego release, a collaboration with Pita whereby all sounds were harnessed from the buzzing, drinking, humming sounds of fridges MEGO 001 General Magic & Pita and a 12” with Elin called Die Mondlandung (The Moon Landing) MEGO 002 which embarked on a minimal techno template so austere and strange it was one of the historic progenitors of austere and wonky rhythms alongside Sakho and other European explorers.

The initial return of the playful and mystical Austrian outfit General Magic came with the 20th year anniversary vinyl reissue of their classic debut Frantz eMEGO 010. A record so audacious and playful it still baffles as much as it entertains. At some point whilst working on this reissue GM’s Ramon Bauer and Andi Pieper were spurred on to rummage around with ideas and tools once more and after more than two decades of inactivity sonic sorcery was conjured once again. Live shows in honour of Peter Rehberg were performed in Vienna and London. Softbop, a limited risograph collaboration with Tina Frank came with the first new recordings as a digital download came out discreetly online. The first full length album following Rechenkönig in 2000 MEGO 032 “Nein Aber Ja” released in 2023 on Finlay Shakespeare’s GOTO Records on CD and cassette. An ongoing series of mix tapes online further highlights their interests encapsulating a new found angle on electronic mayhem. All of these elements retain the wildly eclectic and ecstatic glow that only they can harness and hand out to an unprepared world.

Now, we have General Magic’s second official full length comeback recording, Bosko. The new album is initially notable prior to the needle hitting the wax or the cursor identifying a track due to the artwork. Made by long term collaborator Tina Frank, this is Frank’s first analogue artwork, with a painting of a happy/nervous machine thing hovering in a landscape of no discernible identity. It’s quasi science fiction hovering amongst the potential for fun. Suited to the music? Natürlich.

Bosko sees Bauer and Pieper update and reframe their original investigations with a fresh supply of head scratching, heart racing tunes that hit the inexplicable with a wild mesh of drums, pianos, synthetic voices and all manner of immaterial sonic play. Startling sonics shock the ears on Club Duchamp which sounds like a conversation between synthetic adult ants in an environment still in development. Elfer features vocals supplied by a female-ish voice who, whilst grappling melody, has trouble executing a firm identity. Noorenhalt catapults along a mainframe of syncopation so unwieldy it feels like the voice, which is utterly alien, provides the only comfort. Seite 5 inhabits a fuzzy zone where a synthetic Horn of Jericho type ambience competes with rhythms never quite sure of who they are. Rise of the Ombré raises the spectral dread. Is this Science Fact? Absolutely nothing within Bosko is predictable.

The amount of change in the miasma of existence and the things we touch in order to make things has shifted so exponentially we are at the point where minds are starting to glaze over. All of this makes the return of the always original, always surprising, always fresh and exciting General Magic totally in tune with the artificial intelligent apocalyptic age we currently inhabit. The tools may have changed but the wonderfully warped gaze of Bosko offers a fresh new vision of perplexing funk and robotic punk.

2019 Repress !

Featuring Sim Simmer on the A Side in a cheesy electek track - "Get a little fizzee"/ On the B "The vinyl tune" - a message of hope for all you vinyl headz out there and "sounds of the intergalactic undeground" a space bass number which actually includes samples from real live aliens!!!!