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"Over the years, Ellende has released six full-length albums and three EPs. They achieved four official chart positions (Austria: #14, #21; Germany: #31, #37) with recent full-lengths, while the band has performed more than 120 international shows and reached over two million Spotify streams in the past year.

The lyrical themes have evolved alongside the music. From early reflections on misanthropy, nature, and isolation to later explorations of human nature, social criticism, war, loss, despair, and dementia. The upcoming full-length album “Zerfallˮ portrays the state of being shattered into fragments and the slow, painful process of rebuilding oneself: a confrontation with the void and ultimately a triumph over it. Shaped also by a tragic event in the life of its mastermind, Ellendeʼs work continues to fuse raw intensity with profound emotional depth."

While she was waiting for her last album 'Pripyat' to be released, Catalan composer and producer Marina Herlop was restless. She was concerned about her (by then) uncertain music career, and felt emotionally unmoored. "Some days I used to sit on the balcony of my flat to catch some sun," she explains, "I would close my eyes and start visualizing myself as a gardener, pulling out purple weeds from the soil, every bad memory or emotion I wanted to expulse being one of the plants." As the days dragged on, the fantasy deepened, and Herlop discovered that parts of the garden was withering; the energy she had been putting into the non-musical side of her life had seeped into her creative pasture and poisoned it. She knew what she needed to do to overcome the blight: plant some seeds and tend to her art to help it blossom and bloom once again. 'Nekkuja' is a place for Herlop's warmest, sweetest sentiments to rise to the surface and crack through the topsoil. She describes the record as a way for her to seek and affirm inner light, and it's undoubtedly her brightest, poppiest statement to date. The forward-thinking, experimental touches that nourished 'Pripyat' are still present, but blessed with a level of positivity that's rare to find in a scene so entranced by darkness and melancholy. Skittering fragments of ornate acoustic instrumentation provide a serene welcome to 'Busa', punctuated by precise electronic processes that shuttle the sound towards abstraction and fantasy. Herlop's voice grows over the tangle of sounds from a childish giggle into a layered, matted mantra, sounding passionate, hopeful and full of energy. The vitality spills over into 'Cosset', where she wraps powerful motifs around ricocheting beats and dramatic piano rolls. Herlop's garden opens up dramatically on 'Karada' when bucolic field recordings crack like sunlight over harp plucks and willowy vocals. Her voice seems to bend around the whooshing streams and chittering of birds as if she's singing to the manicured land itself - a utopian paradise that Herlop employs as a metaphor for the creative process. In contrast to the view that an artist is an isolated genius or an idol to be worshipped, Herlop believes that the garden helps us see the process as closer to devotion or perseverance. A gardener brings order to the wild chaos of the outdoors, collaborating with nature to arrange something vibrant and enduring. Blending familiar sounds with fanciful concepts, Herlop traces an imaginary garden, imploring us to wander and wonder. And by the album's billowing final track 'Babel', it's flowered into a flush of pruned vocal phrases and delicately groomed orchestral rushes, painted in orange, green, blue and red.

Ein weiterer außergewöhnlicher Release in der hochgelobten WaJazz-Reihe ist dem Leben und der Musik eines der berühmtesten japanischen Jazzmusiker der letzten 60+ Jahre gewidmet, dem legendären Saxophonisten Jiro Inagaki mit seiner Soul Media-Band und ihrer goldenen Ära 1968-1980. Diese ultimative Kollektion erscheint auf goldfarbigem 180g Doppelvinyl im Gatefold mit detaillierten Linernotes von Yusuke Ogawa (Universounds), Kommentaren von Jiro und exklusiven Fotos. 16 mal pures Gold aus Jazz, Jazz-Funk und Jazz-Rock, darunter eine unveröffentlichte Version des Tracks 'Express' – erstmals auf Vinyl!

46 tracks on a 3-LP collection – including: Adam & The Ants, Kate Bush, The Jam, Madness, Diana Ross, Lipps Inc, Paul McCartney, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark,

Spandau Ballet, Ramones, Siouxsie And The Banshees, Odyssey, Kool & The Gang…

Swiss label Acquit welcomes back D'Funk for more of their no-frills techno. It's seductive stuff from the off with the opener 'In Your Hood' layers up mind-melting synth sequences with sleek beats. "Let's Play' is a more bulky cut with slamming drums and subtle percussive details then 'My Next Turn' pairs things back to rubbery drum loops and dubby chords that sound all gooey and gloopy. 'Glitch My Funk' picks things up with more taught kick drums that compel you to dance as the delicate cosmic vibes permeate the groove. 'Killing Me Deeply' is a nice raw analogue deep house closer that kicks like a mule.

“My introduction to “noise” came from a record shop in Lake Worth, Florida ran by a musician named Kenny 5. Kenny had left Detroit sometime in the mid nineties and had begun selling used records and CD’s from the downtown strip of this tiny southern Florida city in a humble shop sandwiched between a deli and a dog grooming business. Kenny previously was on labels like Amphetamine Reptile and timeSTEREO, and the records and videotapes that would be on repeat at his shop were a vast sonic expanse that spoke to the eclecticism of his experience as a touring musician participating and adjacent to American noise culture through the early to late 90’s. In 1998, I was eleven years old and I would order a pizza with him and watch VHS tapes of Japanese noise and deathmatch bootlegs, as well as any other sonic and subcultural rarities that far outstripped my age to comprehend (notably the RRR “Journey Into Pain” compilation and various Vanilla Tapes videos). This widecast net of information formed an introduction to a reality that did not fall deaf on me, but it took many years later for me to reorient the specific freedoms of what this dense and cathartic sound culture had imparted on my life and would continue onward to.

What does this have to do with this selection of choice recordings from the Secret Boyfriend catalog for the enmossed label? For the uninitiated, Secret Boyfriend is the long running moniker of Ryan Martin, North Carolina musician and label proprietor of the Hot Releases imprint. For over a decade from this writing I have watched Secret Boyfriend, and Hot Releases by extension as a curatorial and archival effort, embodying the multiplanal capacity that noise loosely functions from as an umbrella ideology and formalist avenue for sound creation. For anecdotal purposes, from (before) 2006 until roughly 2023 the East Coast of the United States showcased a vibrant network of eclectic regional festivals that saw wide swaths of artists addressing and negotiating the notion of what qualified “noise” from a conceptual and ideological perspective. Some festivals honed in on particularities in aesthetics and tropes, and others had a kind of “catch-all” implementation that allowed for a salvation of the sort of alienated and singular artistry that was amassing throughout these territories. While clear guidelines had been set from regional predecessors as to how noise with a capital “N” should maneuver, Secret Boyfriend is emblematic in the spirit of fluidity that was either implicitly coupled to the notion of the genre, or grew to evolve towards or devolve from.

Within Secret Boyfriend performances, I have seen and admired a mirroring from a ravenous appreciator of this culture at large back towards itself. Typical of a Secret Boyfriend set is an interchangeable narrative arc wherein blistering feedback laden scrap metal improvisations are forayed into naive ambient or “pop” songs, or skipping CDs, or mixer feedback play, or delayed Roland 707 drum workouts all at once and in a unique hegemony. Secret Boyfriend's stylistic mastery of each endeavor is at once an homage to a history of loving listening and enacting, while a brave step into the realm of actualizing the unique fluidity of his own practice. In performance and the action of network engagement, Secret Boyfriend operates a survey of that which he sought to hear and that which he cultivates around his work. His operations are mirrors, and the project (alongside his other peers) is a reflection on the ethos of his time.

Conversely his recording practice narrows in on these moments and allows for a different kind of intimacy or alienation for the non live listener. This record of selected “pop songs” (let's call them that) is particularly poignant at a time when the culture Martin mirrors is at a strange crossroads with itself. The aforementioned festival networks necessarily change and shift. The onlookers become the artists, the artists find new horizons, and the spaces for these cycles fade into locales of a distant memory. It seems, from my perspective, that audiences currently yearn for a more bottlenecked experience, searching for some ontologically vetted manifestation of an idea, of a sound and less for an experience that functions in opposition to our collective banalities. This makes sense in the face of general global catastrophism that plagues us. We need certainty of what something is somewhere, don’t we? Noise as an idea has expanded and contracted to so many iterations of itself it is hard to tell what it even is, and it is particularly difficult to identify in the absence of solid network activations a moment to reflect on its own complexities and nuances. In the face of so much change, I argue that the language of noise culture at large has on one hand become increasingly didactic and predictable, and laughably inclusive and non linear on the other. Probably has always been this way, but now we are in the midst of a moment of extreme access and indexicality, which somehow cauterizes expansion and naivety and chance.

This record highlights the Secret Boyfriend that obscures didacticism by highlighting output that opens up for more challenging catharsis and emotive signal processing. It provides an entry to the materialism of a cultural field full of ecstatic complexity and beautiful inconsistency. In these muted moments Secret Boyfriend has given us over his career we have an argument for evolving languages that further challenge our notions of what is supposed to happen and how it is supposed to be presented. In his more song oriented expansiveness, we can punctuate the ability to think in new modalities. Listening to these recordings reminds me of the polarity of sitting in the record store as a kid and understanding that His Name Is Alive is on 4AD and (gasp!) timeSTEREO. This trite early impression that nothing is really as different as our imaginations might want them to be, and that we can do whatever we want mostly within the creative realms we work through is an important filter to look through Secret Boyfriend as a project and a vessel. If we can achieve abandon and vulnerability through our artistic endeavors, then we have a sound model for, maybe, new potentialities. If that’s too much projection, or just complete liberal bullshit, I am fine with that. Secret Boyfriend's oeuvre at best offers us moments of reprieve to ponder these complexities, or at least a moment to zone out on a drive through North Carolina Highway 54.

You have one pocket of life that you must do whatever you want to inside of. Secret Boyfriend does it affectionately, in a variety of forms, and always with deep sentimentality. These recordings are a wonderful set of songs to begin further investigation from. Thank you Ryan for allowing as many avenues as possible to continue a broad cultural exchange and conversation that intersect and refract while being the kind of artist that is brave enough to not phone in the effort.”

- Nick Klein , May 2024

"Atria" is an exceptionally deep, easy-to-play-on-repeat work from Denver-based FOANS, a continuity of heartbreaking melodic interludes and nostalgic, otherworldly softness. Originally self-released in 2014, "Atria", comprised of 9 tracks simply titled "Diorama", is a plunge into dubby textures, meditative rhythmic cadence, lamenting chords, and shimmering neon pads. While growing to become a household name, especially for fans of 100% SILK and the now sadly defunct Danish label Speaker Footage, FOANS has offered numerous beloved releases over the last decade, showing listeners who stumble across his artistic microcosm that he has his own trademark sound, one that is often very recognizable even in a crowded space; a remnant from his early years as a bedroom producer, Atria shows us that FOANS’ sound has always shimmered, has always moved through heavy emotions and uneasy silliness. It will likely continue to do so for years to come.

Perfect Location Records is honored to commit this stunning work to vinyl for the first time, with a digital remaster for digital collectors as well. The record will be packaged in a black die-cut jacket and include a download code along with a small matte print of the acrylic-on-canvas cover art by painter Andrea Willems.

Limited run of 200 physical copies.

Superb album from 2013, a Dub malian melting point from High Tone familly.
All the tunes are definitly magic !

The Gatefold sleeve is splendid, and a booklet with paintuings from Emmanuel Prost.

BIG UP !

Hip-hop legend Rakim is breaking new ground with his upcoming studio album, G.O.D.'S NETWORK (REB7RTH), by flexing his skills both on the mic and behind the boards. Widely lauded as the best lyricist of all time, The God MC himself is blessing the culture with the next step in his historic career.

“I feel like the battery in my back has been reenergized,” Rakim said about his new album, which arrives nearly four decades after the release of his classic debut with Eric B., Paid In Full. Since then, he’s continued to shape the landscape and culture of hip-hop as we know it, inspiring rising artists with his hype live shows and incredible studio albums. And while he’s produced some of his previous work—notably “Don’t Sweat the Technique,” “Juice (Know The Ledge),” and “Paid In Full”—this feels like new territory for the 18th Letter, whose production and scratching talents are nothing short of remarkable.

G.O.D.'S NETWORK (REB7RTH) is proof that Rakim is truly one of the most special artists we’ve known not just in hip-hop, but all of music. You can tell he feels that level of praise when speaking about the genesis of the album. “Having the ability to showcase my talents behind the boards coupled with the elite lyricism the world already knows and gives me infinite praise for alongside some of the best talents to ever do it is truly a blessing and for that I am humbled,” he said.

Rakim is more than an official triple-threat as an artist, because he’s also showing off skills as a curator. On this album’s seven tracks, he enlists a who’s-who of top hip-hop talent, including the dearly departed Nipsey Hussle, Fred the Godson, DMX, and Prodigy (of Mobb Deep). Rakim also linked with many of his contemporaries, such as Snoop Dogg, Method Man, KXNG Crooked, B.G., and Kool G. Rap, among others.

The album’s first single, “Be Ill,” is the perfect introduction, as it pairs Rakim’s raw rhymes and head-nodding production with slick guest features from Kurupt and Masta Killa. Elsewhere, Rakim slows it down for the soulful “Love Is The Message,” which features Nipsey Hussle, Planet Asia, Louis King, Snoop Dogg, Sally Green, Kobe Honeycutt, and the LA Grand Choir. And then there’s the chest-thumping “International,” a straight-up slapper with hard-hitting rhymes from Kool G. Rap, Tristate, and Joell Ortiz.

For fans of hip-hop, and especially of Rakim’s storied discography, there is so much to love on this record. You can hear his hunger as an emcee and producer on every track, as well as his desire to collaborate with so many respected artists. Despite having decades in the game and many classics to his name, it feels like Rakim is just getting started.

While the world awaits the July 26th release date, fans can catch Rakim performing live throughout the US from now until the end of year in support of G.O.D.S Network (REB7RTH). In addition to debuting new material, he’ll be performing all the classics from his beloved catalog.

Hip-hop legend Rakim is breaking new ground with his upcoming studio album, G.O.D.'S NETWORK (REB7RTH), by flexing his skills both on the mic and behind the boards. Widely lauded as the best lyricist of all time, The God MC himself is blessing the culture with the next step in his historic career.

“I feel like the battery in my back has been reenergized,” Rakim said about his new album, which arrives nearly four decades after the release of his classic debut with Eric B., Paid In Full. Since then, he’s continued to shape the landscape and culture of hip-hop as we know it, inspiring rising artists with his hype live shows and incredible studio albums. And while he’s produced some of his previous work—notably “Don’t Sweat the Technique,” “Juice (Know The Ledge),” and “Paid In Full”—this feels like new territory for the 18th Letter, whose production and scratching talents are nothing short of remarkable.

G.O.D.'S NETWORK (REB7RTH) is proof that Rakim is truly one of the most special artists we’ve known not just in hip-hop, but all of music. You can tell he feels that level of praise when speaking about the genesis of the album. “Having the ability to showcase my talents behind the boards coupled with the elite lyricism the world already knows and gives me infinite praise for alongside some of the best talents to ever do it is truly a blessing and for that I am humbled,” he said.

Rakim is more than an official triple-threat as an artist, because he’s also showing off skills as a curator. On this album’s seven tracks, he enlists a who’s-who of top hip-hop talent, including the dearly departed Nipsey Hussle, Fred the Godson, DMX, and Prodigy (of Mobb Deep). Rakim also linked with many of his contemporaries, such as Snoop Dogg, Method Man, KXNG Crooked, B.G., and Kool G. Rap, among others.

The album’s first single, “Be Ill,” is the perfect introduction, as it pairs Rakim’s raw rhymes and head-nodding production with slick guest features from Kurupt and Masta Killa. Elsewhere, Rakim slows it down for the soulful “Love Is The Message,” which features Nipsey Hussle, Planet Asia, Louis King, Snoop Dogg, Sally Green, Kobe Honeycutt, and the LA Grand Choir. And then there’s the chest-thumping “International,” a straight-up slapper with hard-hitting rhymes from Kool G. Rap, Tristate, and Joell Ortiz.

For fans of hip-hop, and especially of Rakim’s storied discography, there is so much to love on this record. You can hear his hunger as an emcee and producer on every track, as well as his desire to collaborate with so many respected artists. Despite having decades in the game and many classics to his name, it feels like Rakim is just getting started.

While the world awaits the July 26th release date, fans can catch Rakim performing live throughout the US from now until the end of year in support of G.O.D.S Network (REB7RTH). In addition to debuting new material, he’ll be performing all the classics from his beloved catalog.

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"“adedemola,” the self-titled album from Fireboy DML, is a deeply personal statement, representing the culmination of years of artistic growth and self-discovery. More than just a collection of songs, it serves as a mirror reflecting the artist's journey through love, loss, and self-actualization. The creative process behind the album was anything but straightforward; it involved navigating the complexities of life, facing personal challenges, and enduring the pain of losing close friends. Yet, it was through these difficult experiences that Fireboy DML found clarity and purpose.

Inspired by love in its many forms—self-love, familial love, and romantic relationships—”adedemola” delves into the emotional depths that define human connection. Fireboy DML explores the importance of cherishing what truly matters, moving beyond the superficial pursuits that often distract from the blessings of family, health, and genuine relationships. In a world that feels increasingly divided, “adedemola” is a call to return to the basics: to embrace love, positivity, and the simple joys of life.

The album stands as the truest expression of the artist's identity yet, embodying the vulnerability and authenticity that fans have come to cherish. It's an invitation to sing, dance, and love with abandon, reminding us all of the power of love to heal and unite."

Classy & well executed Techno twists on these legendary Hip Hop tracks. In high demand on Bandcamp & now on limited edition vinyl

Twisted Records is delighted to announce a different kind of collaborative mini album by two musicians highly esteemed for decades in the electronic music scene, Simon Posford and Raja Ram. 

‘Improvisations for Piano & Flute’ is, as the title suggests, a series of fully improvised compositions by the two legendary musicians. The 44-minute flow of this album is more contemplative and analog in nature than anything in the pair’s previous output in their three decades of collaborative work, yet equally mesmerising and consciousness-expanding.
 
In the early 1990s, Simon Posford was working as an engineer at Butterfly Studios when he first met Raja Ram, an Australian conservatory-trained jazz flautist who had been in the 60s/70s band Quintessence and who was at the time of their meeting part of the electronic music group known as The Infinity Project. After collaborating on many of the latter band’s productions, Posford and Raj (as he is affectionately known) in 1996 created the first track under the project name Shpongle, Rumours of Vapours. 
 
Less dance-focused and more atmospheric than their previous electronica tracks, this was the first of many creations under the Shpongle moniker, included on their now iconic first album Are You Shpongled? in 1998. Since then, they have produced six albums and performed elaborate live sets with an 17-member band around the world, including three sold-out shows at the iconic Red Rocks theatre in Colorado and three sold-out appearances at The Roundhouse in London.

This album is a significant departure from their usual output in its focus on the interplay of Raj’s lyrical flute playing and Simon’s noodling at the piano, with almost imperceptible synthesized atmospheric support that seamlessly unites analog and digital realities. 

These improvisations were recorded in Posford’s living room instead of the usual studio because the musicians found that it provided more of the desired ambience. With a synthesizer placed atop an antique Bluthner piano, either Raj or Simon would begin playing and the other would join in - nothing prepared, decided, or arranged: just live, in-the-moment inspiration. This spontaneity infuses each track with such magnetic energy that the listener is inevitably drawn into each note, phrase, and piece. 
 
The whole album is supremely chill and introspective, with a grand arc to the storyline of 8 tracks that Shpongle fans will recognize from the dynamic duo’s internationally prized discography.  

‘Improvisations for Piano & Flute’ is a salve for the soul, providing an atmospheric antidote to the relentless stress and fast pace of our increasingly complex world - a great way to kick back, tune in, and refresh.

Written and recorded in a firestorm of creativity during the mastering phase of Lukah's upcoming double LP with Real Bad Man, Permanent Blackface is a monstrous vignette displaying the true power of Lukah's songwriting and the technical brilliance of his team. The album flashes before you like a lightning strike illuminating a barren cityscape.

Introducing himself as Mr. Blackface, Lukah identifies the true artist's responsibility to hold a mirror to the listener in order to confront and disarm taboos. In both content and music, the record balances vulgarity and introspection, the horror of silence, and the comfort of colossal, discordant sound. Over 12 songs the celestial, often blood-soaked color palette of soul and R&B that gave emotional weight to Why Look Up and Raw Extractions has been scraped away like a charred skeleton. With a small cast of voices consisting entirely of Lukah's immediate family, and production duties handled in-house by WALZ, Deener, Hollow Sol, Cities Aviv, SB11, and Lukah himself, the record has the intimacy of a theater production. The only voices present are Lukah, joined by his mother providing scat vocals, and his grandfather discussing the Jungian self-hatred of the colonial project and its terrifying repercussions for contemporary Black Amer-icans, with a fitting invocation of Dr. Frankenstein's monster. The beats here are reminiscent of noir, 78rpm swing and big band, evoking the underlying horror of a pre-Civil Rights movement America, where segregational binaries invert-ed folk tales through the white terror of ghosts, the black "spook", and mythic themes of fate and free will. The whip-lash of shifting perspectives keeps your head on a swivel in way only Lukah's superior pen can elucidate. Will it trigger anger that first voice you hear on Permanent Blackface is Judy Garland singing "Sweet Chariot"? But isn't this just Lukah speaking through her, announcing he's got "The Southin his mouth"? As the internet endlessly debates intention and appropriation in our artistic history, the insignificance of this small sample is put into perspective: another white pebble in a black ocean of Lukah's creation. "If the sun don't shine today / pray the sun come out tomorrow...pray the sun pierce through the sorrow"

The album introduces an unnamed character beset by disposition. As the story's scope increases, the gaze of the mir-ror shifts. How would white society feel if historical roles were reversed? How does a presumed white listener experi-ence the trauma of interacting with police?

Schwarzes Vinyl mit weißem Splatter, limitiert auf 500 Exemplare. Gatefold. Inkl. 2 Bonustracks. Erstmals auf Vinyl gepresst erhältlich - das vierte Studioalbum der Metalcore Band aus Cleveland, ursprünglich 2007 via Nuclear Blast erschienen. Kommt mit zwei Bonustracks, die bislang nur digital und auf der Japan-Version des Albums erhältlich waren. Der Titel-Track des Albums erschien auf dem Soundtrack des Videospiels "Saint's Row 2".

`Dope Music On Vinyl’ cue up their next release, pairing up some classic West
Coast hip hop with some even more classic Disco grooves. “Going Out With A
Fifth” is a boom bap rendition of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony with a sprinkling of
boys from the Hill. On the flipside, Dr. Dre’s stepbrother, Warren steps up to knock it
out of the park with some backing from René & Angela