Search:p drum

After four EPs of skeletal kraut-punk and slimmed down post-motorik alienage Milan’s Tv Dust are back with an entirely different beast, their proper debut ‘Transition’, an incredible collection of no-jazz, breakneck rhythms, mutant-wave, trance-funk, shredded sax jags and furious, yet mysterious assaults.

Tv Dust run a tight ship, they jam econo, with the album strongly based around the incredible interplay of drums (Sergio Tringali), bass (Filippo Aloisi) and sax/synth (newest member Gaetano Pappalardo). Shedding the use of vocals has completely freed the band up into a mutating beast, wild horses racing beside a volcano eruption, improv bursts that perfectly soundtrack the ruins of a city facing the inhuman consequences of wild expansion and dumb economics.

Transition is a no-jazz, no-panic, no-border album, born between a small bar and a basement, reworking some ideas from the first Tv Dust sessions with a new mindset, with improvisation becoming an important tool in the trio's new path that already sees releases on Occult Punk Gang, My Own Private Records, Sentiero Futuro and Maple Death.

Transition like the transformation of the group, you still get the original package of furious hypnotic grooves, shortwave radio alien funk, devo-id convulsions, jittery no-wave and Italo post-punk tradition alongside dada-jazz and freeform freakouts.

180 Gram Vinyl Melina Paxinos is a composer and saxophonist (soprano and alto) and dedicates her album "Time", to the now state of time, because time is the most precious thing we have. Here, modern Jazz meets Mediterranean flair, creating a small journey through time with the help of her expressive melodies. The band Melina Paxinos Quartet plays together since 2018 and consists of Melina Paxinos (bandleader, sax, comp.), Yiannis Papadopoulos (piano), Ntinos Manos (bass) and Dimitris Klonis (drums). As a guest musician this time she invited Andreas Polyzogopoulos, who with his lyrical playing, accompanies the band with his trumpet and flugelhorn. The last song on her album "Ta Matoklada sou Lampoun" is a composition by one of the most famous Greek rebetiko musicians Markos Vamvakaris (1905-1972), which Melina rearranged for her album, thus bringing the past, that is the cultural heritage, into the present.

180g, blue marbled vinyl. Melina Paxinos is a composer and saxophonist (soprano and alto) and dedicates her album "Time", to the now state of time, because time is the most precious thing we have. Here, modern Jazz meets Mediterranean flair, creating a small journey through time with the help of her expressive melodies. The band Melina Paxinos Quartet plays together since 2018 and consists of Melina Paxinos (bandleader, sax, comp.), Yiannis Papadopoulos (piano), Ntinos Manos (bass) and Dimitris Klonis (drums). As a guest musician this time she invited Andreas Polyzogopoulos, who with his lyrical playing, accompanies the band with his trumpet and flugelhorn. The last song on her album "Ta Matoklada sou Lampoun" is a composition by one of the most famous Greek rebetiko musicians Markos Vamvakaris (1905-1972), which Melina rearranged for her album, thus bringing the past, that is the cultural heritage, into the present.

Jules Reidy"s sublime music maps the human experience in glittering constellations of sound. The guitarist is a driver of Berlin"s fertile contemporary music scene. A wide-eyed imagination combined with technical mastery guide each work in Reidy"s extensive catalog, from solo guitar albums and collaborations with innovative peers, including recent works with claire rousay, Oren Ambarchi, Andrea Belfi and Sam Dunscombe to major commissions from JACK Quartet and Zinc & Copper. The songs of Ghost/Spirit collectively convey an astral sense of yearning and wonder, pushing towards transcendence. The album charts a deeply personal journey with love, spirituality and transformation expressed in fractal guitar figures, ethereal vocal vapors and rippling microtones. Reidy"s guitar approach unlocks the tonal and textural possibilities of the instrument from their use of alternate tunings and astute processing. The maximalist melodics of album opener "Every Day There"s a Sunset" are bolstered by rumbling bass samples from Andreas Dzialocha, Reidy"s collaborator in the duo Sun Kit. On "Satellite," cello samples from Judith Hamann stretch out through the cosmos, orbited by spiraling finger-picked guitars, while stacked trombone chords echo out into the ether. Thundering drum samples from Berlin metal mainstay Sara Neidorf push the album to ecstatic peaks on "Every Day There"s a Sunrise," fragmented rhythms breaking apart in the atmosphere. Field recordings of the Berlin S-Bahn recur throughout the album, another endless cycle of leaving and returning that shuttles beneath the album"s whirling tones. Ghost/Spirit captures the inherent power and agency in choosing to offer yourself up to the universe and let go, ego death and prayer rendered in incandescent sonics. Reidy"s inimitable skill as a guitarist, producer and composer is on full display, and when combined with the intensity of experience, the resulting album is a remarkable work of art.

The title of the brand new album from Brussels hybrid pop quartet FABIOLA refers to the fruit of the gigantic network known as mycelium. A fitting image to describe an album rich in luxuriant sound worlds. This unique collage of 90’s hip hop basses, vivid drums, ominous synthesizers, fields recordings and almost no-wave guitar pizzicati perfectly blends with Fab Detry’s lush vocal lines. If lyrics can express political concerns, crucifying conservatism, icons and orchestrated social division, they also hearten contemplation and a return to simplicity and nature. Fabiola’s pop is utterly smiling, even if it lacks a few teeth.

All the shades of green. Plants. Water. The absolute necessities of life. Music, too, is an absolute necessity. To capture both color and sound in a bottle to put atop a piano like a houseplant. A clock. A fern. Synesthesia. This music is meant for that. To close your eyes and see green. To drown in the color of piano. A melancholic covey that pulls hard on the heart strings musically and lyrically, brushed over with a plethora of improvisation in smooth watercolors.

With Tim Hill’s new trajectory, we are offered a fresh neuron sprawl, branching beyond lyrics in interrupted pieces of sound. He takes our reptilian brains and welds them to our unborn futures, placing us inside of his droplet. Here, we're forced to reflect out, something singular multiplies, nature brings her face in, something shifts, our speed changes, the Self refracts and what's left jumps on sustained lines that eventually arch into meditation milk. It becomes a karmic cleanse of the amygdala, a launch from normal feeling life. Tim takes the risk, committing to diving deeper into his own bottomless pool of art, gifting us with sensory treats that dilate our old perimeters. It's sky as theatre, handing out everything but answers to questions. And where do we go? Where starlight mingles. Where minds never land.

A seasoned musician in all forms, Tim Hill has toured the world as a keyboardist, guitarist, saxophonist, and drummer, with a long time stint with LA group the Allah Las, and well known acts such as Nick Waterhouse, Curtis Harding, PAINT, and others.

Red Marbled Vinyl. Play Dirty is the fourth studio album by British heavy metal band Girlschool released in 1983 and produced by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea from the hard rock band Slade. It has very polished sound, filled with keyboards, choruses andmelodies, containing covers of the Slade songs ,High & Dry" and ,Burning in the Heat" and of T.Rex's ,20th Century Boy". Drummer Denise Dufort rated the album as her favourite of all the band`s career saying it had a more mature sound to it and comparing it to Def Leppard. Girlschool are thelongest-running all-female rock band, still active after more than 40 years. During their career they travelled the world, playing in many rock and metal festivals and co-headlining or supporting important heavy metal bands. They maintain a worldwide cult following, and are an inspiration for many female rock musicians.

Red Vinyl. Play Dirty is the fourth studio album by British heavy metal band Girlschool released in 1983 and produced by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea from the hard rock band Slade. It has very polished sound, filled with keyboards, choruses andmelodies, containing covers of the Slade songs ,High & Dry" and ,Burning in the Heat" and of T.Rex's ,20th Century Boy". Drummer Denise Dufort rated the album as her favourite of all the band`s career saying it had a more mature sound to it and comparing it to Def Leppard. Girlschool are thelongest-running all-female rock band, still active after more than 40 years. During their career they travelled the world, playing in many rock and metal festivals and co-headlining or supporting important heavy metal bands. They maintain a worldwide cult following, and are an inspiration for many female rock musicians.

‘4th DIMENSION’ is the last and probably greatest album ever recorded by Italian piano Maestro Mario Rusca. This monumental music produc"on features tracks in Nonet, Quintet and Trio. Along with the faithful rhythm sec"on composed by Riccardo Fioravan" on bass and Maxx Furian on drums, on this slamming cinema"c jazz album Mario Rusca teamed up with two extraordinary wind players: legendary Flavio Boltro (of Michel Petrucciani Quintet fame) on trumpet and Gabriele Comeglio on sax alto.

As far as the choruses are concerned, Nicole4a Tiberini, Mar"na Rossi and Alice Macchi, from Maestro Rusca’s ensemble music courses at the Civica di Jazz School, provide inspired and swinging backing vocals. The cherry on the cake, the element that gives to ‘4th DIMENSION’ a pulsa"ng and swinging’ drive, is the par"cipa"on on the album of Marco Fadda, one of Italy’s leading percussion players.

This heterogeneous ensemble has shaped, during 5 days of intense studio recordings, an absolute masterpiece full of swinging rhythms along with a few magical in"mate moments. In his 65 years career, Italian piano legend Mario Rusca has shared the stage and recording studios with luminaries such as Chet Baker, Cur"s Fuller, Gerry Mulligan, Lou Donaldson, Art Farmer, Lee Konitz, Dusko Gojkovic, Enrico Rava, Tullio De Piscopo, Kenny Clarke, Stan Getz, Toots Thielemans, Gianni Basso, Pepper Adams, Steve Lacy and Tony Sco4 (with whom he formed an indissoluble partnership).

Being accompanied in this album by extraordinary musicians, Rusca chooses to flow in a repertoire that, like in his most recent records for Mono Jazz, bridges between original pieces and revisited standards from the American Jazz Songbook, approached with unprecedented sensi"vity and depth.

The journey of ‘4th DIMENSION’ is an extraordinary cinema"c musical voyage across various styles ranging from Bop, Hard Bop, Cool, Funk and La"n Jazz. ‘4th DIMENSION’ is a perfect follow up to the interna"onally acclaimed Easy Tempo legacy! In these 13 tracks, “il Maestro” embraces and enhances a ‘cinema"c’ component in his music - an a4ribute he has long cul"vated through original soundtracks and library albums recorded for diverse cult Italian labels.

This, as we were saying, is achieved through the addi"on of percussionist Marco Fadda, who introduces a series of rhythmic nuances across several tracks, and of the extraordinary female vocal trio reminiscent of I Cantori Moderni of Alessandro Alessandroni & Edda Dell'Orso, used in the tradi"on of Italian composers of ‘60s and ‘70s film music.

This natural progression reflects Italy's history, where jazz musicians have long been involved in soundtracks and film scoring since the late ‘50s. Italian jazz has integrated this approach into its composi"on and arranging styles, as demonstrated in the first 10 volumes of the Easy Tempo series. A spirit and tradi"on that Rusca's ‘4th DIMENSION’ record con"nues. Listening to some of the tracks on the record evokes the legendary works created for cinema by Piero Umiliani, Piero Piccioni, Lelio Lu4azzi, Armando Trovajoli, Gianni Ferrio and others.

Swedish talent Dold drops nuanced techno cuts on 10" via SHDW's Mutual Rytm X.

Stockholm-based Patrik Eriksson, aka Dold, is a cultured producer known for crafting hypnotic loops with a minimalist, emotive touch-bridging underground dancefloors and introspective listening.

As a DJ, producer, and co-founder of Arsenik, Dold has championed raw, unembellished techno since 2015. His releases on Key and Fuse blend Detroit techno's legacy with IDM's intricacy and ambient's ethereal tones, creating a style that is both timeless and forward-thinking. Whether it's crafting tapestry's recorded via hardware in the studio or performing live, Dold continues to innovate, honouring techno's roots while exploring its future, and his talent is on full display across his label debut on Mutual Rytm X.

'Grainy' opens the EP and showcases Dold's ability to craft deep and loopy techno with a stripped-back, emotive
edge. It's deft but enthralling, with innovative synths rising and falling through the minimal drums. 'Surface' is another compelling deep cut with hurried drum funk and subtle synth pulses, adding a futuristic edge to the groove. The fantastic 'Blush' brings smears of warm synth and machine soul to a dynamic dub techno rhythm that bends the
past with the present. Digital bonus cuts 'Dub at Heart (Club Version)' and 'Dub at Heart (Sofa Version)' offer
contrasting perspectives of the same track, with the first aiming directly for peak-time sessions, while the latter closes the package on a laid-back tip.

Amsterdam-based keyboardist, producer, arranger and DJ Soul Supreme reached out to NYC drummer Jay Mumford in 2021 to lay the down groove on his re-imagining of Q-Tip and J-Dilla's "Let's Ride". That paved the way for future collaborations: a cover of A Tribe Called Quest's "Award Tour (We Gettin' Down)" and two tunes on Soul Supreme's Poetic Justice LP. But when the pair began doing brief covers of their favorite funk, jazz and hip-hop tunes on Instagram just for fun, followers of both musicians - and often, the covered artists themselves - began to take note. Two of those 20+ covers were particularly well-received, and the duo decided to answer the peoples' call for a 7" release with the songs pushed to their full potential. Similar to "Award Tour" and "Let's Ride", a hip-hop classic and a fan favorite are pushed to their full potential here. This installment goes coast to coast and explores Digable Planets' "9th Wonder" (the "East" side) and People Under the Stairs' (PUTS) "Crown Ones" (the "West" side).

The iconic synth intro of "9th Wonder" makes way for Jay's thunderous ode to a slowed down Clyde Stubblefield groove. Sure to be a favorite with DJs, Jay eventually detours into a syncopated New Orleans funk break, before getting back to the groove for Soul Supreme's funky wah wah clavinet work. Throughout, the arrangement expands beyond both that of the original and all of its DNA. The addition of cascading horns (featuring a trumpet solo by Lourens van der Zwaag) and a second, more aggressive break from Jay bring it back full circle, completing a modern update of a classic that manages to pay homage to '70s jazz-funk, breakbeats and '90s hip-hop - all while staying both modern and raw.

Diehard PUTS fans will recognize Soul Supreme's catchy Rhodes line as soon as the needle drops, but Jay's heavy funk groove quickly separates it from the original and takes it from hip-hop cover to heavy funk tune. Soul Supreme's Rhodes solo pushes it far beyond the confines of instrumental funk as the groove intensifies, while his chops as an arranger are on full display: his horn parts - featuring van der Zwaag, trombonist Olav Schloorlemmer and Job Chajes' Contra-Alto Clarinet that channels The Headhunters - counter his synth melodies in a discussion that completes the record as a heavy slice of uncut jazz-funk.

After two pandemically conditioned ‘reaction’ albums - Yay! (2023) and Neigh!! (2024) - a few non-album singles and a compilation album, a downsized and sleek Motorpsycho is back where we all know and love them, with an epic, sprawling double album, filled to the brim with inventive, organic and ecstatic rock-based music. Rejoyce Psychonaut! This eponymously titled, 11 song work, has exactly as much variety & diversity, accord and discord, as one expects from a band that has released a few albums before, and that these days must be regarded as an institution in European rock. From concise 3min-something pop-rockers, to 20mins plus progressive epics, via acoustic intimacies and psychedelic wig-outs, this is concentrated Motorpsychosis: commenced Rebis, countdown initiated. Ever closer. Ever sharper... Since the traditional 3 or 4 piece rock band seems to be a dying breed these days, and MP always was a band in flux anyway, a new pragmatic era has begun in the Psychoverse. The band has, in what one might call alchemical terms, been ‘dissolved and purified’, and is by now again reduced to the core two founding members HMR & BS. This is nothing new, it has happened a few times before, but these days they are also the owners and creators of the record company NFGS, which is now the hub of all recorded band activity, and Motorpsycho marks the final severance of existing ties to other labels for the first time in 35 years. If ‘freedom is free of the need to be free’, this is it. Yikes! The minimalist title of the album is then not just easy to remember, it’s also a statement: a new era has begun in the Psychoverse, a state of affairs reflected in execution and details as well as title, if not perhaps, in ambition or size: “Senex psittacus negligit ferulam” *. This is a time of new beginnings for a band that has spent two years consolidating and reseting before charging ahead anew on a new path, trumpets blaring (...and trumpets don’t come much more blaring in the Psychoverse than with this grandiloquent hyperbole. Good fun! ). New day rising indeed. The core band was adroitly helped by a gaggle of greats from all over the Scandinavian musical landscape on these recordings: drummers Ingvald Vassbø and Olaf Olsen, string arranger/violinist Mari Persen, vocalist Thea Grant, and - as usual - honorary psycho, brother Reine Fiske, were all fellow travellers on this musical journey. Motorpsycho was co-produced by the band and Deathprod, and mixed by Andrew Scheps. Motorpsycho are not the best at what they do, they’re the only ones that do what they do. NFGS2025 *: “Senex psittacus negligit ferulam,” or “An old parrot doesn’t mind the stick.”

This 2024 recording showcases original artists who continue to captivate audiences with their exceptional music and require our support. Darryl Howard, the vocalist and songwriter of Nu’rons, takes on the lead vocals, while Emanuel Campbell, also a member of Nu’rons, contributes to the lyrics. The 45rpm vinyl includes two versions of “Outside Looking In”: an extended version and a full radio edit.

The band members are: - Darryl Howard (vocals) - Eugene Williams (guitar) - Teddy Jackson (bass) - Lucious Frierson (keyboards) - Danny Kelly (drums) Written by Emanuel M. Campbell. Some of you may recognise my esteemed friend Eugene Williams from the Williams Brothers, who played guitar on “Outside Looking In.” This 45 is a previously unreleased gem that is now available for purchase on our website 15 Demos (£25 inc worldwide shipping) 300 issues (£18 inc uk shipping / £21 inc worldwide shipping)

A special ‘Submerge” 12” EP featuring a bunch of reworks of this pivotal track from Apta's forthcoming ‘The Pool’ album on Castles in Space.

Kicking things off, Apta's own rework of the original sees the shadowy textures and droning wall-of-sound backdrop turned into a static-strewn dreamland of a piece, underpinned by a flickering guitar riff, cracked snare drums and fuzzed-out Odyssey strokes before launching into the euphoric half-time vocal refrain.

The follow-up sees Clay Pipe boss, illustrator and musician step into her Hardy Tree guise for a beautifully hypnotic waft of wistful folk-tinged electronics and shimmering ambient textures. It's warmly nostalgic, and packed full of all the feel of a lovely Clay Pipe release.

Following on from that, modular wizard Polypores takes pieces of the original and stretches them into an organic swell of texture and movement, warping the low basses and flickering modular plinks (and / or plonks) into a beautiful, undulating wall.

Flip over and It's none other than the brilliant Pye Corner Audio, providing an organically blooming suite of saturated percussion and woozy drifting oscillators, in peak PCA fashion. There are few artists that can do as much as with little as Martin Jenkins can, and hearing his audio sunshine underpinning the vocal line is breathtaking.

It's good to get the ears nice and soothed too before the aural assault and hypnotic spirit-cleansing heft of the legendary Gnod. Dubby throbbing bass and cavernous reverb tear the original into shards and piece it together as a churning, industrial powerhouse before shooting the rest into the endless reaches of space.

Closing things out on a space theme is the ideal way to do things too, with Field Lines Cartographer's remix taking things waaay into the outer reaches. Grounding bass churns and stellar synth sweeps float below the modulated vocal line, resulting in a perfectly crafted drone, rich in melody but untethered to the earth.

After appearing with Archie Shepp at the landmark Pan-African Cultural festival in Algiers in 1969, African-American trumpeter-cornetist Clifford Thornton recorded a set of his own compositions in Paris later that year. The result was Ketchaoua, an important political and spiritual as well as musical statement that reflected the inspiration that he took from Islam. Indeed, the title of the album refers to the awe-inspiring mosque in Algiers.
Clifford Thornton’s superb band comprised his compatriots, saxophonists Archie Shepp and Arthur Jones, drummer Sunny Murray, trombonist Grachan Moncur III, pianist Dave Burrell, and bassist Earl Freeman, as well as French bassist Beb Guérin. Together they brought energy and ingenuity to the leader’s compositions, which were characterized by vivid atmospheres, exploratory, mysterious sounds and haunting themes. And the song titles conveyed an important social and cultural message. Pieces such as ‘Brotherhood’ pointed to the sense of unity and kinship that African-American artists felt with the citizens they encountered on their journey to North Africa and Europe.
This newly remastered deluxe edition of Ketchaoua provides an opportunity to hear one of the major entries in Clifford Thornton’s relatively small yet nonetheless highly impressive discography. It is an album that marks him out as a figure in the avant- garde movement of the late 60s and early 70s who deserves far wider recognition.

Apple Cores is the latest full-length album from New York tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, "one of the fiercest sounds in jazz today" (The Guardian) with a "penchant for unbound exploration" (Pitchfork). Informed by the rhythms and textures of hip-hop and funk while remaining rooted in jazz, Apple Cores was recorded with Chad Taylor (drums/mbira) and Josh Werner (bass/guitar) over the course of two intense, entirely improvised sessions. The album takes its name and intention from the column that poet and jazz theorist Amiri Baraka wrote for DownBeat in the 1960s. In addition to Baraka, the influence of another jazz giant looms mightily over Apple Cores: trumpeter and multi-instrumentalist, Don Cherry. In a testament to Cherry"s influence over the music that the trio is playing, Lewis designed each song title as a cryptogram of sorts, making subtle references to Cherry"s life and music. Apple Cores further cements Lewis as one of the provocative and prolific musical voices of his generation. It follows his breakthrough with JazzTimes" Album of the Year Jesup Wagon (2021), a dreamlike mosaic of gospel, folk-blues, and catcalling brass bands inspired by inventor George Washington Carver, and Eye Of I (2023), his joyous and exploratory debut for ANTI-.

Seit der Veröffentlichung ihres gefeierten Debüts "Versions of Modern Performance" 2022 (u. a. mit Höchstwertung um US-Rolling Stone) hat sich vieles für Nora Cheng, Penelope Lowenstein und Gigi Reece verändert. Im Herbst desselben Jahres zog die junge Band von Chicago in die Ostküstenmetropole, wo Penelope und Nora an der New York University ihr Studium begannen und das erste Mal überhaupt Musik außerhalb des elterlichen Zuhauses schrieben. Der Einfluss der neuen Umgebung macht sich unmittelbar im Sound bemerkbar. Zugleich wendet sich der Blick in Zeiten beispielloser Veränderungen nach innen. Im Januar 2024 kehrten Horsegirl nach Chicago zurück, um die neuen Songs aufzunehmen. Im "The Loft" Studio stellten sich dort ein Fokus und eine Intimität ein, wie sie wohl nur entstehen können, wenn es schlicht zu kalt ist, das Gebäude zu verlassen. Cate Le Bon führte die Band derweil in neue, helle und klare Sound-Gefilde, die Raum und Textur gegenüber den dichten Soundflächen des Debüts in den Vordergrund rücken und das charakteristische Songwriting von Horsegirl betonen. Dazu zählt auch der erstmalige Einsatz von Violinen, Synths und Gamelan. Die Leadsingle "2468" ist ein Beispiel für die offenkundige Experimentierlust auf "Phonetics On and On". Mit seinen Raincoats-artigen Streichern und energischen Drums verdreht einem der Song in seinem fortlaufenden Crescendo immer mehr den Kopf. Das dazugehörige Video stammt von der Schriftstellerin und Regisseurin Eliza Callahan und wurde von Alexa West choreographiert. Es ist schwer vorstellbar, dass Songs wie die auf "Phonetics On and On" augenblicklich von irgendwem anderes stammen könnten als von diesem Trio bester Freundinnen. Nora, Penelope und Gigi schreiben mit ungefilterter Aufrichtigkeit über Szenen ihrer Jugend als Momentaufnahmen des Lebens. Die Liebe zueinander ist dabei in jedem Augenblick spürbar und resoniert durch und durch im Zusammenspiel auf ihrem zweiten Album. Horsegirl gründeten sich 2019 in der umtriebigen DIY-Szene Chicagos. Die damals 17- und 18-jährigen Schülerinnen zählen Yo La Tengo und Pavement zu ihren erklärten Vorbildern. Ihr Debüt, auf dem Steve Shelley und Lee Ranaldo als Gäste zu hören sind, nahm die Band in Steve Albinis Studio mit John Agnello (Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr.) auf. Zuletzt tourten Horsegirl u. a. mit The Breeders.

Emotional Response is proud to welcome renowned multi-instrumentalist Alan Briand aka Shelter, to the label with a striking new EP that delves deep into the realms of modern Digi-Dub.

Over a myriad of releases Shelter’s dextrous ability to straddle genres, from ambient, Balearic, improvisation and most recently a series of acid ragas, releasing on an impressive roster of today’s electronic labels including Antinote, Growing Bin, International Feel, Séance Centre and his own Protopost imprint.

After making waves on Emotional Response's All Trades compilations with his standout track "The Four Knights Dub," Briand returns to further explore his passion for digital dub and UK roots. Across four tracks, all recorded live, he merges sound design, found sounds, and world music with seismic basslines, creating a truly immersive sonic experience.

The rise of Digital Dub is often traced to the groundbreaking "Under Me Sleng Teng" by Prince Jammy / Wayne Smith, but it was the UK's later reversioning – adding electronic drums to roots and steppers rhythms – that gave birth to the unique sound of Digi-Dub.

Shelter pays homage to this tradition, drawing inspiration from the likes of Alpha & Omega, Bush Chemist, and Jonah Dan. His process is as raw as it is innovative: building an analog setup with a MIDI sequencer, DCO synth, live vocals, and sound effects fed through Boss pedals. Digital drums from the KPR77 and DD10 are layered in, with everything mixed live to tape, no overdubs, capturing the raw, live energy of the performance.

This EP must be experienced as a whole – a continuous live set of steppers 4/4 rhythms, cryptic titles (a nod to chess tactics) that acts as rewinds, paying tribute to dub classics of the past.

DOVS are the duo of Vienna’s Johannes Auvinen, aka Tin Man, and Mexico City’s Gabo Barranco, aka AAAA. Psychic Geography is their second album together, but it differs considerably from both their respective solo work and their 2019 debut LP together, Silent Cities: Where that album’s hardware-based acid kept its gaze focused squarely on the dancefloor, Psychic Geography is a strictly ambient affair.

The album has its roots in a trio of beatless tracks that peppered Silent Cities; this time, the duo decided to try making an entire album with no drums. “It opened up the chance to make a different, more narrative style of music with more complex structures,” Auvinen says. Ambiguity and uncertainty are key watchwords for their music, which moves with eerie, liquid grace. Untethered from 4/4 kicks, their music drifts and morphs; familiar acid sequences give way to surprising shifts in tone and mood. And with no drums to distract the ear, the seeming simplicity of their silvery synth lines opens up to reveal remarkable depth and dynamism.

Barranco and Auvinen recorded the album together in the studio utilizing machines like the Roland TB-303, Juno G, Prophet 5, Elektron Octatrack MKII, Make Noise DPO and René, Mutable Clouds, Roland SH-101, Behringer TD3, and Sherman Filterbank. Listen on good speakers or headphones, and you can tell: Their gear yields a tonal richness that recalls the ambient and cosmic music of decades earlier. You can practically feel the heat from their circuits warming the air.

The meaning behind the name DOVS is as ambiguous as the duo’s music. (Dig, if you will, the picture of Picasso’s dove of peace—or, perhaps, the outline of a bird pressed into a small white pill.) But Psychic Geography needs little explanation. DOVS’ album is a collection of mental maps of imaginary places. Set your coordinates for the mirage on the horizon and prepare to dissolve.

"With their dulcet fusion of ‘60s French ye-ye pop, slinky Studio One reggae, and liminal Brazilian tropicalia, Claude Fontaine’s songs embody the best kept dreams of a globally connected world. The second album from the Los Angeles artist reflects the dream of creating the soundtrack for this utopia by the sea.

Released on Innovative Leisure, La Mer is a mesmerizing portal. It’s impossible for it to exist outside of the modern moment, but it floats on the gilded dust of the past. At times, Fontaine channels Jane Birkin as backed by Jorge Ben. Francois Hardy locked into sonic reverie with Mulatu Astatke, or Margo Guryan making lovers rock.

None of this is a happy accident. For her second opus, Fontaine assembled some of the most gifted musicians of the last five decades. First and foremost is her co-writer and producer, the multi-platinum Grammy-Award winning Lester Mendez, whose resume includes everyone from Grace Jones and Baaba Maal to Shakira and Nelly Furtado.

As with Fontaine’s self-titled first album, the legendary Tony Chin appears on guitar, bringing the orphic tones expected from someone who has played with some of the greatest reggae musicians of all-time (King Tubby, Dennis Brown, Lee Perry, Jackie Mittoo, Max Romeo, Sly & Robbie). On bass, there’s Ronnie McQueen, one of the co-founders of Steel Pulse. Sergio Mendes’ percussionist, Gibi Dos Santos, supplies propulsive locomotion. So does Ziggy Marley’s drummer, Rock Deadrick. And that’s just the abridged list of storied instrumentalists who appear on La Mer."