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Five albums, sixty tracks and still counting. Cool Million are back with a new album!

Ten years ago the euro soul duo Cool Million released their first album 'Going Out Tonight' on UK soul label Expansion Records. The album took the soul crowd by surprise, cause who were these guys that out of the blue, could recreated the soulful sound of the 80's hey day like no other?

The answer to that question is; Rob Hardt and Frank Ryle. One a super musician from Germany with skills you can only dream of. The other a Dj/musicfreak from Denmark with a masterplan – both of them with tons of dedication and passion for thier craft.

Thier passion and ambition have kept them in the came for a decade and they have worked with a long list of artists, some known some not, some forgotten some on their way up! The list include names such as: Jean Carne, Keni Burke, Shirley Jones, Eugene Wilde, Meli'sa Morgan, Rena Scott, Leroy Burgess, Peggi Blu, Yvonne Gage, Marc Evans, Alton McClain, Kenny Thomas, Lisa Stansfield, Tom Moulton, Joey Negro, Dimitri From Paris and John Morales, Glenn Jones, Marc Sadane, Tim Owens, Gavin Christopher, Michael Jeffries.

Cool Million tells that they feel privileged and humble when they look at the list of names they have worked with over the ten years. Futhermore they add; 'Who would have thought that two dudes from northern Europe would be able to create music with people that talented, we hope we could do it, when we started but that we actually done it, is amazing and wonderful'.

Reflecting on the first decade of Cool Million it's fair to say that Rob & Frank are two determined and ambitious gentlemen with extraordinary talent.

So what can Cool Million tell us abouth their new album? 'It's a classic Cool Million album where we work/collaborate with various artists, staying true to our original concept both in terms of genre and how we think a album works best. Having say that we think that our fans will be a little surprised with the fact that this is our slowest album to date. We believe we have more variety than ever and it's a fact that the music on the new album is slowed down in terms of more ballads and mid-tempo songs compared to our other albums'.

'The reason for this development is that we wanted to try something that was a little out of our comfort zone. Also we felt that we wanted to prove that we can do quality slow jams aswell. You could also argue that is's beause we both turned fifty this year.. haha'.

The final volume of this mammoth collection of music from Bristolian electronic music pioneer Krust is finally upon us, and like the previous parts of this collection it boasts an assemblage of music of different energies, vibes and feelings. The music contained within spans decades yet somehow refuses to be locked to one 'era' or 'style'. This is what makes this release unmissable for the hardcore fan, newcomer or completist.

'Irrational Numbers' is a meticulously curated collection of five parts, available on both vinyl and digital formats. The compilation is a treasure trove of hand-picked records and archival gems from Krust's extensive discography, thoughtfully remastered and presented anew for both devoted fans and newcomers.

'Irrational Numbers' features a dizzying array of self-released 12" cuts, exclusive unreleased VIPs and dub-plates, alongside epic major label widescreen classics. It's an unmissable journey through the sonic output of one of the UK's most distinctive and forward-looking producers.

Featured on part 5 are some groundbreaking entries into Krust's massive back catalogue. The live bass driven jazz inflected 'Second Movement' from his acclaimed 'Coded Language' LP jostles alongside the speaker smashing machine funk of 'Break Ya Neck' as well as a couple of more recent productions including the sleek and sinister 'The Portal', which is undeniably the man at his best, in full electronic stealth mode.

For longtime Krust enthusiasts, this project serves as a fond reminder of the boundless creativity and originality that flourished during the early 1990s and beyond. For those new to his work, it presents an enthralling introduction to innovative electronic music that has comfortably set the tone for generations to come. Get ready to experience the evolution of sound and immerse yourself in the visionary artistry of Krust.

Idriss D welcomes to Memento Records UK electronic mavericks Dark Globe. The famed duo consisting of Pete Diggens and Matt Frost has been releasing influential music for the last 30 years, starting off with industrial noise inspired tunes and later developing their sound into an experimental blend of breakbeats and twisted melodies, in what they call “epic pop”, taking in influences from classical English composers to hip hop grooves. Collaborations with Television’s Tom Verlaine and Boy George add to the magic of their artistic journey.

For this special EP, Idriss D has acquired the licensing rights to Dark Globe’s own Take Me To The Sound: along with the original track, two exclusive remixes are included, one from Howie B. and one by Pete and Matt themselves.

The original version, although hailing directly from the early 90s, boasts timeless vibes and flavours: marching beats, drum rolls and analog squelching synth tones make it as relevant as ever, a sophisticated Electronica piece that would fit perfectly in every club compilation these days.

Howie B’s masterful version flows with a syncopated rhythm and trippy vibe, a stripped down rendition designed for an afterhour party in a dark basement. Dark Globe’s own remix features quieter vocals with reverb splashed over the 303.

With 'Why Don't You Go Home' Fingier produces a monster Rhythm & Blues tune that will take you straight to the King and Federal R&B sound, and for the B side, 'Cocktail De Medianoche' is the perfect mix of Boogaloo and Northern Soul. Percussion, flute and horns will make this a Fingier favourite for lovers of Latin grooves and Uptempo Soul.

Diane Ward is singer from USA, who grew up singing Gospel in her local church. Music was always a big part of her life, and she has always had a deep interest in Rhythm & Blues and Jazz. She lived in Argentina for a couple of years, and one night Kevin saw her perform and instantly her voice blew his mind. In his words:

“She’s a proper R&B singer, she reminded me to Ruth Brown, MaryAnn Fisher or Lula Reed. She has that potent and obscure soundthat took me to those lately 50s early 60s Popcorn tracks”

With two monster tracks, calling this a ‘Double Sider’ wouldn’t be enough, both with that '60s sound we've come to expect from Fingier Records.

Grilchy Party presents another epic from Da Buze Bruvaz own Clever 1 and mysterious production wizard Lord Beatjitzu. This new adventure follows where the last one, Perverted and Drunken, left off. They have cooked up another album following the footsteps of their classic Perverted and Drunken LP. This new adventure follows where the last one left off. Introducing Master Sip, Legendary Teacher Of Bruce Lo Da First Drunken. It is illuminating one of the many chambers of their Drunken Fly Chi style, the martial arts mind states of Clever 1 and Lord Beatjitzu combining as the "Fly Chi School Of Da Drunken Artz". The duo pops the listener in the face With vicious, bloody Nunchuck Lyrics over high-velocity, swift kick-in-the-chest production. With these seasoned masters of their perspective arts, they form a powerful, unstoppable combo and truly take no prisoners in this Action-Packed sophomore foray. It's a pure Saturday morning Kung Fu sound theater where Wing Chun enters the world of Drunken Fist on Wax. Beware as you enter the Dojo and watch your step!

Pissed Jeans has never been a band that goes halfway-they're known for their feral vocals, biting lyrics, buzzsaw guitars, and unhinged live shows, and their sixth album, Half-Divorced is no exception. These songs skewer the tension between youthful optimism and the sobering realities of adulthood, and when viewed through frontman Matt Korvette's scowl, everything takes on a level of violent absurdity. Pissed Jeans' notorious acerbic sense of humor remains sharper than ever as they dismember some of the joys that contemporary adult life has to offer, from helicopter parents to stolen catalytic converters to being $62,000 in debt. On "Seatbelt Alarm Silencer," Korvette growls, "Call it a death drive but that ain't fair / Drive implies I'm headed somewhere." Korvette, Brad Fry (guitar), Randy Huth (bass), and Sean McGuinness (drums) weren't in any rush to finish Half-Divorced, which was recorded by Don Godwin at Tonal Park in Takoma Park, Maryland. "We're not the kind of band that bangs out a new record every two years," Korvette said. "Pissed Jeans is truly like an art project for us, which is what makes it so fun." This lack of restraint rages within the songs that unexpectedly veer into classic hardcore punk territory-often coming in at under two minutes long and erupting like the "butane tank explosion" Korvette sings about in "Junktime." In the last song, "Moving On," Korvette sneers, "Cheesing into my camera phone / Pretending that I'm not alone / Life's the first thing that we all postpone." One gets the sense that Pissed Jeans refuses to "postpone" life in quite the same way-life, like art, is something that happens now, not later. - Chelsea Hodson

Pissed Jeans has never been a band that goes halfway-they're known for their feral vocals, biting lyrics, buzzsaw guitars, and unhinged live shows, and their sixth album, Half-Divorced is no exception. These songs skewer the tension between youthful optimism and the sobering realities of adulthood, and when viewed through frontman Matt Korvette's scowl, everything takes on a level of violent absurdity. Pissed Jeans' notorious acerbic sense of humor remains sharper than ever as they dismember some of the joys that contemporary adult life has to offer, from helicopter parents to stolen catalytic converters to being $62,000 in debt. On "Seatbelt Alarm Silencer," Korvette growls, "Call it a death drive but that ain't fair / Drive implies I'm headed somewhere." Korvette, Brad Fry (guitar), Randy Huth (bass), and Sean McGuinness (drums) weren't in any rush to finish Half-Divorced, which was recorded by Don Godwin at Tonal Park in Takoma Park, Maryland. "We're not the kind of band that bangs out a new record every two years," Korvette said. "Pissed Jeans is truly like an art project for us, which is what makes it so fun." This lack of restraint rages within the songs that unexpectedly veer into classic hardcore punk territory-often coming in at under two minutes long and erupting like the "butane tank explosion" Korvette sings about in "Junktime." In the last song, "Moving On," Korvette sneers, "Cheesing into my camera phone / Pretending that I'm not alone / Life's the first thing that we all postpone." One gets the sense that Pissed Jeans refuses to "postpone" life in quite the same way-life, like art, is something that happens now, not later. - Chelsea Hodson

Teethe is a band from Texas. The members of Teethe met while attending the University of North Texas in Denton, TX, a small college town outside of Dallas with a fertile music scene. Before forming Teethe, its core members Boone Patrello, Grahm Robinson, Madeline Dowd, and Jordan Garrett all played in various other groups in Denton, releasing music under different pseudonyms. Patrello released solo music via his Dead Sullivan moniker, while Robinson released under MAH KEE OH. Patrello and Robinson linked up with Dowd to record an album for her project, Crisman, in 2019. They all eventually moved in together, leading the group to start recording more as a whole unit, and subsequently Teethe was born. Made over the course of 2020, Teethe's eponymous debut album is a collection of songs pieced together over time - a sonic collage of fragmented recordings and half finished tracks made whole in the midst of isolation. Initially self-released in November of 2020 with little fanfare, the album's warm, lo-fi aesthetic and slow, calming songs spread by word of mouth. Roughly one year later, at the top of 2022, the band returned with "Tag", a new single that caught the attention of slowcore fans and garnered shout outs from unlikely celebrities. Tours soon followed with Charlie Martin of Hovvdy, Momma, Milly, Waveform, and They Are Gutting A Body of Water. The band continued to record their own music, releasing another single, "Lucky," in the fall of 2022, and most recently partnered with Saddle Creek for their 7” series to release their newest single, "Moon," in October of 2023. Now spread between Dallas and Austin, the Texas band has recently signed with Winspear and will be re-issuing their self-titled debut LP this winter, along with a pressing of "Tag," "Lucky," and never before released b-side "Thanks" on 7” vinyl.

« Tas Malonumas »
Lithuanian word
Def: meaning That Pleasure
Example: conversation between a young, inexperienced person and an elderly person who’s near death’s door. The old one is telling the young one how life is an unceasing search for pleasure.
Track: takes the form of a mental stroll that takes you far, far away.

« Room of Men Eaters »
Human expression of cannibalism
Def: absurd situation in which men and women eat each other in a room
Track: the contrast between the absurdity of the situation and the apparent normality of speech told by the vocoded voice of Shkema is just astonishing.

« Sarka Syrkaza »
From the future
Def: meaning “super sarcasm”
Example: one day you wake up in the morning and you feel that something within you has changed. All seems to be nonsense and you start to look at everything through the grey glasses of sarcasm. One might look enjoying oneself, but in reality this is an extremely draining state of mind.
Track: musical expression of that state of mind

« Je n’aime pas les fêtes »
World expression
Def: parties are boring
Track: Shkema remix of his friend Afrodelic is a wacky version that contrasts French lyrics talking about how disastrous parties feel with a beat that just makes you want to dance.

Now-Again Records presents catalog-wide reissues of Latin music propellant Joe Bataan’s legendary Ghetto Records. The series concludes with Drug Story - Rare and unreleased material from Joe Bataan and his Ghetto Records vaults, including an entire side of Bataan’s neverbefore-issued Latin Funk that spans the gamut from Salsa to Soul. Drug Story was inspired by true events and ranks highest among Bataan’s finest achievements as the poet laureate of El Barrio. Ghetto Records was Joe Bataan’s way to get over on “The Man” and out of the ‘hood, a bold move by an artist looking for independence and creative control in an industry that had exploited his talents and treated him like chattel. As Bataan puts it today, “Ghetto Records was part of my journey, a stepping stone to everything else that I’ve done. I learned enough that it enabled me to get out of the box with my thinking, it showed me how to deal with adversity.” Like many dreams and schemes born of the street, this one was audacious, perhaps even reckless to a fault. Hatched from desperation yet full of hope Ghetto Records came crashing down shortly after its inception. The seven albums in its discography languished out of print - until now. These are the definitive reissues of these albums, licensed from Joe Bataan, with his oversight and input into a 16 page oversize book by Pablo Yglesias that details Bataan’s larger-than-imagination life and his little Latin label that could.

What the listener might encounter on this album goes all the way down to the sound of a neuron transmitting pain, beatitude or any one of the countless senses and impressions we feel on any one day of life. N E U R O is the debut album by CURA MACHINES, a new project by Daniel Lea whose tracks are at once scientific in their capturing of the morphing of body cells as well as the larger expanses of a poetic filmscape of the contemporary metropolis.

The name CURA MACHINES comes from a sign Lea saw on a trip to Ancona, Italy at an abandoned hospital: Prima E Dopo La Cura (Before and after the cure). The sound in between, of what was lost or found, transmuted in the heavily manipulated and pulsating synthesisers, is the restoration here. With a physically visceral mix by Ben Frost and soaring re-amped bass textures from Yair Elazar Glotman, the album is lush with trans-morphing apeggia that shudder, quack and soar into ashen sparks.

Back in the turn of the 20th century the poet Rilke posited that the suture patterns of fused skull plates could potentially be played by the then-new technology of the gramophone, with each of us having our own personal tonal source code or anthem etched onto our skulls. And with a track like 'Suture' we have such an embodied sound: the close-up exhumation of the neural brain casing, stitched and sewn together in fleeting pulses of whisper and alarm.
The individual is exposed and isolated, but not without the promise of succour.

Or one also has the soundtrack to the loneliness of a morose private eye – a pulp novel set in a future time of neurosis or washed out euphoric beauty. It is here in tracks such as 'Terminal Zone' or 'Inversion Layers', music that is blinking in celluloid frames. The plot could easily be a sci-fi, paranoid tale of brain emulation, transhumanist crimes against humanity itself. After all this is Lea's soundtrack to Los Angeles, the city of angels that has been captured in countless movies: the racing tracking shot of the 2nd Street Tunnel at night, the freeways spreading out in a glorious sprawl of lit up veins and arteries. The last track 'Zosa' marks out the boundary line that delineates between day and night, when the lunar strains wane, the tides subside and the city comes to life.

Maybe your demands of punk are a little too high. Maybe they're a little too exacting - you know what you want, but you don't know how to get it. Maybe you've got an itch that's needed scratching since you first heard '(I'm) Stranded' (sounds like a doctor needs to look at that, mind). Maybe all or none of these things are true and you're just in search of three or four chords and some righteous snot. Reader, you have come to the right place. Split System came sauntering out of Melbourne back in 2022 with a self-titled 7" and a debut LP (the sensibly-titled 'Vol. I'), and as a listener of exquisite taste, one or both of those items will have carved out their own spaces within easy access of your record player. With members of acer-than-ace garage punkas Stiff Richards and Speed Week among their number, not to mention the redoubtable Jackson Reid Briggs, they deal in a gloriously back-to-basics take on punk that's part Undertones, part Royal Headache and part Chris Bailey - all hooks and glory, all the time. They're so much more than the sum of their parts and they make this shit sound effortless. Well, here's an update for you: they're back! Second album (the equally-sensibly-titled 'Vol. II') is now upon us, and a thoroughly tremendous follow-up it is too. As soon as opener 'The Wheel' slams into your speakers, it's clear that they've lost none of the pep or power that made their debut such an essential listen; if anything they're even more raucous and revved-up than before. Yep, that's jargon for 'they rule hard', and let me add here that you could listen to this album 100 times in a row or simply try inserting dynamite sticks with lit fuses into your ear canal; either way, your poor little mind is gonna blow. It's an album made entirely of bangers (still on that explosion metaphor, are we?) - the concise questioning of 'End of the Night' is as pure a punk rock nugget as you could ever wish to uncover, and 'The Drain' is just energy distilled to a perfect series of hooks - with a passion for rock'n'roll in its most scintillating form. Just listen to it. That's all you need to do. Your demands have been met - here's your new favourite record.

Peace Okezie, das Genie hinter Master Peace, nimmt kein Blatt vor den Mund. Er muss die Dinge aussprechen und verkörpert den Satz: "Wenn du es sagen willst, dann sag es einfach." Obwohl er nie unvorsichtig oder unsympathisch mit seinen Worten umgeht, ist dieser Satz eine Bestätigung, die ihn antreibt.

Seine Energie ist auf Augenhöhe mit der eigenwilligen, überschäumenden und vor allem extrem guten Musik, die er macht. Bei Master Peace geht es darum, die Menschen in seine verrückte, wunderbare und kakophonische Welt einzuladen. Er zieht Hörer an, die sich nach Rebellion und Abweichung von der Norm sehnen. Mit seinem Debütalbum "How To Make A Master Peace" verschiebt Master Peace die Parameter des Genres mehr denn je. Peace lässt seine Inspirationen spielen, indem er die Generationen der britischen Musik, die ihn groß gemacht haben, in seinen Sound integriert. "I Might Be Fake" hat die Dringlichkeit von "Giddy Stratospheres" von den Long Blondes aus dem Jahr 2005, gemischt mit der Spacigkeit des Klaxons-Katalogs der späten Nullerjahre. "Shangaladang" ist eine Ode an Peace' Black-Music-Inspirationen, mit einer Anspielung auf Skepta; hier passt er den Text "I've got my hood mates and white niggas" aus dem 2016er Song "Man" des Rappers an seine rauere, The Clash-artige Melodie an.



Der raue Künstler wird bereits als neue Stimme des britischen Indie gefeiert und war bei den AIM Awards 2023 als "One To Watch" nominiert. Das 11-Track-Album ist eine Mischung aus der alternativen Musik, mit der der Brite aufgewachsen ist, von Arctic Monkeys & Friendly Fires bis hin zu Gorillaz.

Few artists have done as much as Heinrich Dressel to rekindle the genre of soundtracks. Even fewer are as capable as the Italian at writing such silver screen scores. Yet, Valerio Lombardozzi is much more than just one style. He has shown this time and time again, doing so once more with The Obscure Cities. Works of fiction, rather than film, are the fount of inspiration with tracks drawing on the likes of J.G. Ballard, Francois Schuiten, Benoit Peeters and Valerio Mattioli. The listener is transported to worlds of Dressel’s own making, landscapes of melody, textures of bass punctuated by drums. “Galatograd” opens. From understated beginnings, the track expands into a symphony of strings as columns of warmth descend. Tempos rise for “Eden Olympia”. A different tone is set. Juddering arpeggios and clean snares are elevated by bright and hopeful keys that sparkle with an enthusiasm and innocence. Deep unctuous bass gives way to gliding notes for “Remoria”. A piece where melodies and memories melt in the morning dawn. “Mylos” is the last visit of the EP. Delicate, almost fragile, notes are buttressed by drum patterns in this hazy dreamlike finale.

Repress! Official reissue of the Austrian prog-psych masterpiece. An indescribable trip influenced by Pink Floyd, Soft Machine and Procol Harum, but greater than the sum of its parts. All vocals in English. “6 stars” – Hans Pokora Paternoster, that UFO of a rock album released unceremoniously on a custom-pressed CBS Austria long player in 1972, is the stuff of legend. It’s been known to the rock collecting elite since the 1980s, when it was first rediscovered, and it quickly became one of those rock records, the records you hear about only if you know someone who knows someone with a copy, much like Damon’s Song of a Gypsy. Paternoster is a terrifying album, a collection of songs that traverses the sublime, and thus necessitates a bowel-loosening acceptance of beauty too complicated to merely admire, bowing under the weight of a tremendous atmosphere, accentuated by Gothic organs and scorching fuzz guitar, punctuated by wailing vocals detailing visceral, Bosch-like images, and carried by enveloping bass and syncopated, mixed-well-too-loud-and-thankfully-so drums.

If you are a death metal fan, GRACELESS shouldn’t need an introduction. Three full lengths and two split EPs have granted the Dutch ensemble a respectable reputation across the globe. Closer to home, the four piece has played countless live shows since their 2016 inception. The rock solid line up -unchanged since day one- has delivered ferocious, high energy live performances at Eindhoven Metal Meeting, Into the Grave, Party San Metal Open Air, Ruhrpott Metal Meeting, Stonehenge, SDF2021 and many more festivals and clubs. Joining forces with LISTENABLE RECORDS in 2023 is the next thundering milestone for GRACELESS. Tirelessly working on their fourth full-length, the next chapter for GRACELESS will be another step deeper into the abyss that started with Shadowlands (2018), via Where Vultures Know Your Name (2020), to Chants from Purgatory (2022). For fans of DEATH, ASPHYX, GOREFEST, BOLT THROWER, AMON AMARTH, BLOODBATH

The Glass Hours are American songwriters Brad Armstrong and Megan Barbera. Their music blurs between Sunday afternoon country-folk and the Golden Age of the 1970s. With the exception of Sue Westcott on fiddle (Chet Atkins, Tom Jones), the album was written, performed, recorded and produced by Brad and Megan in Brad's home studio in Red Hook, New York.

Like much of the work they've done in their respective solo careers, the new album dances between this and that, drinking from the same wells as Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, Tom Waits and Lucinda Williams. The songs go where they want to go; Brad and Megan simply try to stay out of the way. Although it is nearly impossible, in this new world of niche artistry, not to pick a genre camp and pitch a tent, The Glass Hours seem intent on trying. Yet, there is a thread that ties the whole thing together: the constant tension and tapestry of their voices harmonizing. Every song on 'The Glass Hours' was written with the idea of this harmony and interaction, point and counterpoint. Two voices trying to come together as one.

Elvis Presley was not only the first but also the greatest star of the rock’n’roll era. His energetic, genre-blurring recordings have retained their appeal for more than half a century, and will do so forever. Elvis has often been criticised for the movies he made, particularly later in his Hollywood career where they became formulaic, and he was often typecast in romantic musical dramas. However, the quality of his music is not in question, and after his 1956 cinematic debut featuring the title song Love Me Tender, Loving You followed in 1957. The latter film featured some great rock’n’roll songs, but most notably the sentimental love song Have I Told You Lately That I Love You? Almost seven decades later, the music of his early years, some of the greatest rock’n’roll love songs ever produced, still stands as his monument.

The "Economix" EP is a cherished item among collectors, embodying a golden era of rave. Released in 1992, it's oftencompared to other iconic EPs of the time, like 2-X-Treme's 'X-tremity EP' The tracks "Loop" and "Panic" particularly stand out for many.

"Loop" garners attention for its sampling of The S.O.S. Band and Alexander O'Neal's "The Finest", while "Panic" is notable for its two distinct samples: one from Hijack's "TheBadman Is Robbin'" and another from MC Duke and DJ Leader1's "I'm Riffin".

This hand stamped run of white label red vinyl represses catersto the enduring demand among the oldskool rave aficionados. Each track on the EP showcases a blend of hardcore, jungle,and house vibes, contributing to its revered status within the oldskool rave community.

For a long time, the music of Congo-born Bony Bikaye had to be sought in the purgatory of "world music", where diamonds in the rough cohabited with bland nightmares of white dudes who froze rumba like fish sticks. Worse, they did put it on the menu, when so many longed to move on. Take Bikaye, who grew up listening to modern european music, digs Krautrock, struggles with tradition, obviously looking for trouble in the genre. In Brussels, he recorded a few albums with CY1 (Loizillon/Micheli), and brilliant defectors from Aksak Maboul, produced by Hector Zazou. Now it's up to french trio TONN3RR3 to take up the torch and build this project that proudly brags: "It's a bomb". Thought up at home by Guillaume Gilles (compo/keyboards), the album was finished at One Two Pass It studio, with Olivier Viadero and Gae"lle Salomon on percussion, Yoann Dubaud (machines & bass) and Guillaume Loizillon (synth of CY1 fame, and matchmaker of this affair). It's a deeply musical record, crafted by no-attitude reference players with nothing left to prove, and you can hear it. Floats well above the fray. "Keba na butu", beware. Indeed : beyond the simple pleasures of soukouss, or the rumba guitar riff that spins like a merry-go-round that skipped technical inspection, lie lush orchestrations. Freestyle, synthetic : something old, something new, something what-the- fuck-is-that-now. There's straight, there's syncopated, there's 808 and knee-jerk inducing bass patterns_with a vision. BIKAY3 plays his voice more than ever. His crazy vibrato has improved like hard liquor over the years. In "Zela" and "Balobi" in particular, he puts it to good use with flamboyant, Screamin' Jay Hawkins-style antics. He can also resort to pure storytelling : "La fore^t et les dieux", is a French-spoken excursion into the wild, moving along in grasslands of synths and percussion with TONN3RR3. A tale of gods and spirits, plain and simple. Nicole Mitchell brings the occasional flute in "Akei" for this trip in the bush of ghosts where lingala and kikongo rub with English and French. They saved "It's a bomb" for the end, a bastardized rumba, with rimshots that slap like a cool hand on willing skin. We're living in a golden age of reissues coming out in droves and satisfying our desire to catch up on our neighbors' musical heritage, but let's not miss the boat : it's now or never to listen to the music of the living. - Halory Goerger

Analogue Productions (Atlantic 75 Series) Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of Atlantic Records! Iconic musician and singer Ray Charles' classic 1957 album! Includes the hits "Hallelujah I Love Her So," "Ain't That Love" and "I Got a Woman" 180-gram 45 RPM double LP Mastered directly from the original master tape by Bernie Grundman Pressed at Quality Record Pressings Tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jackets with film lamination by Stoughton Printing Hybrid Mono SACD Mastered directly from the original master tape by Bernie Grundman Ray Charles' self-titled 1957 album was one of the first handful of LPs issued by Atlantic (and was later retitled Hallelujah I Love Her So). As AllMusic reviewer Bruce Elder notes, the album is weighted about three to one in favor of Charles' own compositions, with the hits "Hallelujah I Love Her So" and the pounding, soaring "Ain't That Love," which opens the LP, its raison d'etre. Charles does just as well with his interpretations of others' work, most notably the ominous, gospel-focused rendition of "Sinner's Prayer" (which offers a virtuoso piano performance, and comes courtesy of the pen of Charles' former mentor Lowell Fulson) and Henry Glover's wrenching ballad "Drown in My Own Tears," which is topped out on each verse by a gorgeous chorus. "Funny (But I Still Love You)" offers a guitar break played in such an understated fashion that it almost doesn't seem so much a part of R&B as it was usually being offered in 1957 as it does a part of Charles' early career output. The second side of the LP is even better, opening with the title track, a number that is almost too ubiquitous in its various cover versions — the original has a mix of urgency and playfulness that's absolutely bracing, and the album carries this mood forward with "Mess Around," an Ahmet Ertegun-authored piano- and sax-driven romp with Charles at his most ebullient as a singer. "This Little Girl of Mine" offers him in a surprisingly light, almost acrobatic vocal mode, while "Greenbacks" is a knowing, clever cautionary narrative that is almost a throwback to 1940s-style R&B. "Don't You Know" is as salacious a piece of R&B as one was likely to hear in 1957, and "I Got a Woman" closes the record out on a pounding, driving note. All the hallmarks of a top-notch Analogue Productions reissue are here for you to savor: Mastered directly from the original master tape by Bernie Grundman and cut at 45 RPM. Pressed on 180-gram at Quality Record Pressings and RTI, and housed in tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jackets with film lamination by Stoughton Printing.

REPRESS!!

4 new dub plates from the Lee Perry Upsetter cannon.

All are previously and all exclusive to Pressure Sounds!

Side one is taken up with two mouth watering cuts of 'Keep on moving' both cuts are bass heavy, echo drenched sound system friendly mixes.

The second cut was mixed at King Tubby's studio and features all the dynamics associated with his style... Sparse sounds over clattering drums.

With the passing of time, Tubby's mixes are actually better than ever.



The two cuts on the flip are further explorations of 'Mr Music' and 'Police and Thieves'. Stern stuff that takes it to the edge.

More genius from Mr. Perry!!!

We will have a limited amount of the 200 only silk screen printed sleeves!

Released in 1960, Giant Steps was a watershed album for John Coltrane, solidifying the saxophone legend's reputation as one of the most influential and innovative musicians in jazz history, as well as delivering jazz to an increasingly mainstream audience, while garnering significant critical acclaim.

Although this was John Coltrane's debut for Atlantic, he was concurrently performing and recording with Miles Davis. Within the space of less than three weeks, Coltrane would complete his work with Davis and company on another genre-defining disc, Kind of Blue, before commencing his efforts on this one.

Coltrane (tenor sax) is flanked here by essentially two different trios. Recording commenced in early May of 1959 with a pair of sessions that featured Tommy Flanagan (piano) and Art Taylor (drums), as well as Paul Chambers — who was the only bandmember other than Coltrane to have performed on every date. When recording resumed in December of that year, Wynton Kelly (piano) and Jimmy Cobb (drums) were instated — replicating the alternate non-Bill Evans lineup featured on "Freddie the Freeloader" on Kind of Blue, sans Miles Davis of course. At the heart of these recordings, however, is the laser-beam focus of Coltrane's tenor solos.

All seven pieces issued on the original Giant Steps are Coltrane compositions. He was, in essence, beginning to rewrite the jazz canon with material that would be centered on solos — enabling the solo to become infinitely more compelling. This would culminate in a frenetic performance style using melodic phrasing that noted jazz journalist Ira Gitler accurately dubbed "sheets of sound."

The Giant Steps chord progression consists of a distinctive set of chords that create key centers a major third apart. Jazz musicians ever since have used it as a practice piece, its difficult chord changes presenting a "kind of ultimate harmonic challenge", and serving as a gateway into modern jazz improvisation. Several pieces on this album went on to become jazz standards, most prominently "Naima" and "Giant Steps."

The Penguin Guide to Jazz selected this album as part of its suggested "Core Collection" calling it "Trane's first genuinely iconic record." In 2003, the album was ranked No. 102 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, 103 in a 2012 revised list, and 232 in a 2020 revised list.

Undeniable music perfection deserves definitive sound and top-notch packaging. This reissue was mastered directly from the original master tape by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound and cut at 45 RPM. Pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Quality Record Pressings, and housed in tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jackets with film lamination by Stoughton Printing.

Overall, Giant Steps is not only a critical triumph but also a defining moment in John Coltrane's career. Its innovative compositions, masterful performances, and profound influence on jazz make it an essential entry in Coltrane's discography and a timeless masterpiece in the history of the genre.

When not knocking it out of the park with his garage alias Instinct, James Burnham is somehow also managing to find time to revert to his original Burnski moniker and the minimal and tech sounds with which he first made his name. On this latest 12" via his own Constant Sound label, 'Boom' is a rude boy jam for sure - the filthy bass and low-end wobble are accompanied by ragga vocals up top.

'Toxic' is a more straight-up tech pumper with slinky hi-hat designs, smart filters and bass-driven drums. As always with this powerhouse, the subtle production details really elevate this one into a standout cut.

Jesse James returns to the Soul Junction roster with a new 45 that features his own unique interpretation of a classic song that is backed with one of the more popular songs from his 1990 “Looking Back” album now brought to you for the first time as a 45 release.

Beginning with the A-side, “Everybody’s Talking At Me” which is Jesse’s unique cover of the folk rock singer Fred Neil’s penned song “Everybody’s Talkin’”. Which although recorded by Neil originally, was made internationally famous by Harry Nilsson when used as part of the theme score for the acclaimed United Artists 1969 film “Midnight Cowboy”. The song has been much covered in the style of a ballad but Jesse’s version recorded under the production skills of close friend Willie Hoskins (Wilhos Productions and Boola Boola Records) is a great up-tempo piano driven version of the song. “Everybody’s Talking At Me” is yet another find from the unissued tapes from the self- financed sessions that Jesse recorded at the Searra Sound Studios in Berkley C.A during 1971 that also has brought us SJ543 “(The Girl In) Clinton Park” and SJ544 “If A Man Ever Loved A Woman (Baby I Love You)”.

While the b-side, features the much, admired modern soul favourite “You’re More Than A Friend Of Mine” which first gained a release on the 1990 ‘Looking Back’ album (Gunsmoke Records). “You’re More Than A Friend Of Mine” was up to that point a previously unissued mid 70’s recording produced by the late song writer /producer Ron Carson. Carson the original owner of the San Francisco Soul Clock Records label remains highly respected for his work with the hit group, ‘The Whispers’ (both on Soul Clock and some of their later Janus recordings). Carson had produced and co-wrote Jesse’s 1975, 20th Century Records release “If You Want A Love Affair/I Never Meant To Love Her” now regarded worldwide as Jesse’s signature song. Carson had a follow up release in the can, which never came to fruition due to Jesse and 20th Century parting company for the second time. Carson by then had moved on and was heavily involved in the production of the Janus distributed blackploitation album “Black Fist” for Happy Fox records. “Black Fist” was a various artists compilation which also featured the Jesse James composition “The Same Thing Happens (Part1 & 2)”. The shelved, proposed 20th Century follow up release would have been “Your More Than A Friend of Mine/I Don’t Want It To End” recorded during 1976. Carson had pitched the idea of a song in a similar vein to the Jackson Sisters 1973 Prophesy Records release “(Why Can’t We Be) More Than Friends” to the songs original songwriting team William Peele Jr and Warren Sams. They duly obliged, coming up with the aforementioned “Your More Than A Friend Of Mine”. Warren Sams along with his half-sister Christine Adams Tripp and their friend Rachel Sanders were none other than the respected vocal trio “Water & Power” who recorded the acclaimed 1975 album of the same name for Fantasy Records and a solitary 45 “Mr Weatherman/If You Don’t Want Me”.

Following his 2021 debut on the reverse label with Retreat Ites EP and a spot on the Molten Mirrors compilation, Jurango is back on Livity Sound with another four tracks of low-slung soundsystem pressure.

On An Amorphous Mass EP Jurango presents a particularly focused sound which draws on halftime D&B, dancehall and broken techno all filtered through the meditative pulse of low tempo club music. The measured pace of the tracks doesn’t detract from their weight, whether it manifests in the heavy roll of murky opener ‘Big Saver’, ‘Inner Seam’s mutant dembow rhythm or the heady breakbeat chops of the title track. The stripped-back subs and fractured percussion of ‘Muni Ce Boa’ close the record in potent yet understated style, proving minimal music doesn’t have to compromise on impact for the dance.

Livity Sound is a label set up by Peverelist in 2011 as a vehicle for a raw and exploratory strain of UK techno, rooted in the heritage of UK dance music and sound system culture. It has since become one of the UK's foremost protagonists for cutting edge underground electronic music.

Part of The Optic Sevens 5.0 Reissue Series.
Limited to 500 copies worldwide. Pressed on Blue Vinyl. Includes poster.
Brand New Remastered Versions.
The June Brides debut single originally released in 1984 on The Pink Label.
Both tracks are from fresh transfers from the master tapes which were then remastered by Jason Mitchell at LOUD Mastering in Taunton in early 2021.
The June Brides are true innovators, hailing from the first wave of British indie, with fans that include Manic Street Preachers (who covered their song “The Instrumental” as a tribute) , Morrissey and Belle and Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch.
They have always been regarded as pioneers, and one of the most beloved of the bands that formed the original UK independent music scene, which has since been tagged as C86.

Cam aka Cam the Wizard is a Canadian MC from Edmonton, Alberta. Gram, aka Graham Murawsky, better known as Factor Chandelier, is a Canadian producer from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and owner of Side Roads Records. G.A.M. aka Giovanni Allen Marks, aka Subtitle, is an MC/producer hailing from Los Angeles, California. He is affiliated with the legendary Project Blowed Crew and one half of Lab Waste, with partner Thavius Beck.

Soul Jazz Records’ 200% Dynamite! set the benchmark for reggae meets funk compilations that has never been bettered. Out of print for over 15 years this new 2023 edition with new tracks and is being released in a one-off limited-edition heavyweight special-edition coloured vinyl pressing + download code exclusively for Record Store Day 2023.
Jam-packed with reggae tunes that crossed-over to become dancefloor hits such as Tenor Saw’s sound boy anthem ‘Ring the Alarm,’ K.C. White’s classic cut of the seminal ‘No, No, No’ and Augustus Pablo’s ‘Rockers Rock’, 200% Dynamite explores the links between reggae, jazz, funk and soul.
Carrying on perfectly from 100% Dynamite, this second compilation continues to trace the history of Jamaican reggae and the influence of American styles such as funk and jazz had on this music.
Featured here are serious funk and rocksteady tunes from the likes of The Skatalites and Johnny Osbourne through to Jamaican jazz from masters such as Tommy McCook and Byron Lee, as well as some serious dub from the likes of Augustus Pablo, King Tubby and Jackie Mittoo.
New bonus tracks on this new 2023 edition include seminal dancehall party cuts Sister Nancy’s ‘One Two’ and Chaka Demus and Pliers’ ‘Murder She Wrote’, alongside classic soul to reggae covers including cuts of Marlena Shaw’s ‘Women of the Ghetto’ and Odyssey’s ‘Don’t Tell Me Tell Her’.






‘Once again, Soul Jazz goes digging through the reggae vaults and produces another sterling compilation. If you’re looking for a primer on the music of the island, you could do worse than buying every one of the records in this superb compilation series.’ All Music
‘In Soul Jazz’s outstanding Dynamite! series 200% is the head-turner. The label has its finger on the pulse of the now just as surely as it does on that of the past.’ Pitchfork
‘Soul Jazz Records ‘Dynamite’ series has quickly become a
rewarding guide to reggae’s most infectious back pages. Every home
needs some Dynamite.’ Irish Times
‘Soul Jazz Records’ long-running series
of highly-regarded reggae albums.’
Rough Trade

Anyone who takes their old-skool hip-hop seriously knows Main Source were the real deal, and their 1991 album Breaking Atoms remains one of the greatest albums in the genre. While there was an eventual follow-up in 1994, hip-hop folklore has often spoken of their shelved 1992 LP The Science.

Bar the odd bootleg single or demo here and there, the album has never been heard but now a major missing piece in the story of early 90s rap is being put back into its rightful place, as P-Vine present the first ever release of The Science, cut from the group's own master tapes and guaranteed to be a new favourite for anyone who values the golden age of beats and rhymes.

Felix Machtelinckx is a singer, composer, producer and lyricist from Belgium. Featuring an array of film scores, dance soundtracks, pop, folk and electronic music, Felix's music resonates with a familiar, almost nostalgic patina, applied with a distinctly crooked touch. Through artistic collaboration, coaching and production, Felix has cut a dash in the pop and indie cult scenes of Belgium, especially with his band Tin Fingers, who are feted as one of the most promising indie acts of the moment. Night Scenes, Felix’s solo debut is, in contrast to his other work, more humble and less traditional, roughly hewn from a series of ambient soundscapes, earthy textures and playful structures. Felix’s voice, normally the flagship of his music, becomes more of a distant memory, an indistinct emotion feathered throughout the music. Many lyrics are improvised, sometimes unintelligible, conjuring haunted, uncertain undertones. Similarly, the album is innately peripatetic to the core, being created, written and recorded in Lithuania, Belgium, France, mastered in the US, and finally released in the UK. In the first instance, some of the tracks were created for the contemporary dance piece Doggy Rugburn by Brandon Lagaert of Kaiho and Peeping Tom; others were created enigmatically for a film that never surfaced; while the remainder are the product of more personal work and research. As Felix began to collect and review these disparate parts, the concept of a unified album began to evolve. With 'night' featuring as a suitably dark leitmotif, or backdrop to a series of emotionally fraught 'scenes', each track depicts a form of trauma, locked within the confines of the mind. Felix observes: "Imagine yourself in a dusty old room unable to sleep. Emotions, fears and other demons haunt your mind. This in-between state makes your mind reach for other worlds. This is Night Scenes." For the most part, Night Scenes was created using a variety of old, and rare, analogue equipment. With almost no digital editing, the record was primarily mixed through a vintage cassette desk, giving it a nostalgic character with a noisy undertone. Felix fully embraced the synergy of his emotional themes and retrograde gear, enthusing: "A lot of textures were created on an old Soviet synthesizer that causes a blackout when you hit the lowest note on the keyboard. The dysfunctionality of the synths was often used to create rhythm and texture." This unnerving ability Night Scenes has to comfort and confound the listener is summed up by Jordan Hudson, House Of Media producer, and music podcaster, when he concludes: "Some songs on the album have this sort of fleeting comfort and tonality, which dissolves into a subtle rhythmic/structural or modulated disarray the moment I settle into them - this really fits with my experience of the night .. This record is a winner, and will be something I'll listen to a lot from here on

Reggae and Jamaican music have long embraced a symbiotic relationship with the movies. Rooting back to the island's golden era, countless arrangements have either been direct covers, or inspired by, the musicality and mood found in both cinema and television. These reinterpretations would become part of the backbone of the instrumental sound that accompanied the Jamaican record industry's acceleration from the mid-60s and beyond. Talented young musicians, rising from Alpha Boys School and the early studios of Coxsone, Duke Reid and others, found a showcase for their unique playing style on hundreds of different recordings, while appealing to the country's own love affair with Westerns, James Bond canon, and other rebellious themes and motifs that were projected from Hollywood during this time.

In this same tradition, in a new interval, arrives the debut release of Anant Pradhan and Larry McDonald, the latter a master percussionist with direct participation in some of Jamaica's earliest recordings. McDonald, although often uncredited, was a legitimate influence in helping to bridge the Afro-Caribbean sound from calypso into ska and later reggae with his iconic style on hand drums and percussion. A kindred spirit of McDonald, despite 50 years separating them, Anant Pradhan is a bonafide member of the next generation. Although this is his first "solo" record, the talented saxophonist has already played on dozens of incredible sessions for the likes of Victor Axelrod, The Inversions, Andy Bassford, Channel Tubes, Ralph Weeks and Combo Lulo. As an official member of the current touring group of the legendary Skatalites, Pradhan has honed his musicianship under some of the greats of reggae music. His particular soulful, instrumental arrangements are an homage to that influential era of Jamaican music. Pradhan and his band's performance retain the skill and innovation of the old vanguard, and like the generations before, capture a magic that may only be possible when cinema goes reggae.

A cult favorite from A Nightmare Before Christmas, Danny Elfman's "Sally's Song" was immortalized in Tim Burton's 1993 classic stop-motion film. It's immediately recognizable in all its haunting charm, and now, Pradhan and McDonald have managed to transform it into an irrefutable reggae classic, reinvented with its melancholic lead sax and bombastic percussion. The prolific Henry Mancini is already entrenched in the Jamaican canon, yet nobody has knowingly attempted to recreate one of his most magical numbers, "Meglio Stasera" aka "It Had Better Be Tonight," that of the riveting one-take scene in 1963's The Pink Panther. The galloping percussion of the original is transposed through a cloud of smoke, slow and low in a roots style at the hands of McDonald. Pradhan's sax leads the way over the locked-in rhythm section, both deep and cheeky all at once. These first two productions of Anant Pradhan and Larry McDonald are a deserving entry into the canon of reggae covers, and are equally adept to be heard on the screen and or at the dance alike.

2024 Repress

"I've never met Rod Modell (Deepchord) in person, but we have met through music. He found an obscure cassette of Chi music (from '86), sent it to Astral Industries and paved the way for the release (30 years later) of 'The Original Recordings' in 2016. Since then, we've exchanged ideas and good music. I sent Rod a preview of 'The Kallikatsou Recordings' - he really liked it - and here came the idea for a remix of 'Lanterns'. I started working on some random, lo-fi samples from Youtube, using Audacity, perhaps the simplest way of producing loops and samples. It's the only computer based system that feels like the tape recorders I used to work with. I sent the first sketches to Rod on Facebook, but they ended up in the wrong inbox. I forgot about them, but months later he came back saying he loved them. I decided to go back to working on them, maintaining the lo-fi approach. I began manipulating the samples: time-stretching, tempo and pitch-shifting, mixing different layers and adding old-school monophonic old speaker' effects, delays and loops. I used a few field recordings, voices and samples from my early ambient cassettes, and they matched. Ario from Astral Industries got involved and the experiment turned into a plan - a vinyl release - 'Red Lantern at the Kallkatsou''.

From out of nowhere - if nowhere is the febrile, warped and twilit imagination of Julia McFarlane - comes Whoopee, the second album by J.McFarlane’s Reality Guest. Whoopee is an esoteric, kaleidoscopic movie in music form directed by Julia McFarlane and co-conspirator Thomas Kernot. Full of life, breakbeats and smokey vignettes on the fragile nature of interpersonal relationships, Whoopee is a stylistic evolution from everything McFarlane has done before. Surreal, beautiful in parts and replete with the aching wisdom McFarlane’s songwriting has always promised, this Reality Guest pulls back the curtain on a whole scene of naked truth. Recorded in Melbourne in bursts since the release of 2019’s Ta Da, Whoopee features a new sound palette and band member in Kernot. The duo dive deep into electronic pop tropes, mining digital synths, samples, breakbeats and deep bass grooves, largely dispensing with live instrumentation. If Ta Da took twists and turns with your expectations, offering a Dada-ist, monochromatic take on pop music, Whoopee is McFarlane’s subterranean love-sick pinks, reds, greens, purples and blues. Becoming something of a tradition, the album starts with an instrumental intro pilfered from a 90s’ spy film or cinema intro music, puffing up the listener for the heart-squeezing bathos of Full Stops. Over a bleary backdrop of walking bass lines, jazz- inflected keys and smoked-out atmosphere, McFarlane’s poetry narrates the fragile state of a relationship: “You put a full stop where I thought there’d be a comma, I want the story to continue even with all the drama.” Over a palpable pain, the narrator is revelling in the drama of a relationship, addicted to tumult and heightened emotion. On Sensory, a space age bachelor lounge pad ballad, the converse state of the previous song is explored, here the narrator is battling the numbness of being out of the drama, stuck in a sensory-deprivation tank, anaesthesized and battling to emerge from the fog. Wrong Planet explores an otherworldly pop music, hewing a bright hook out of a sense of confusion. A bona-fide, sing-along chorus bursts out of the narrator musing on the absurdity of existing in this reality. It speaks of one of Julia McFarlane’s main talents, her knack of inspecting human relationships and states with a clear perspective, like an alien visiting Earth and realising everything we are is really, really strange. Whoopee is both more accessible than previous Reality Guest work and somehow more obfuscated. Where the production on Ta Da was dry, sharp and strange, this Reality Guest is blurred, almost smeared with the effluvium of 90s+00s culture and existence. Through it all, it’s hard to deny the undeniable pull of the songs. Precious Boy carries on the lounge theme with a whole sampler of cut up sounds fading in and out of the haze as McFarlane’s voice is right up to the speaker cooing and free- associating, maybe in love or maybe in confusion... maybe they’re the same thing? Sometimes the listener is invited to just bathe in the tone of the vocal, as on Apocalypse, where the texture and timbre of the vocal is luxurious, bathing in piano tinkles and double bass throb. On lead single Slinky, a cut up beat reminiscent of Washingtonian Go-Go drum patterns leads, the song slipping through your fingers, elusive and presenting sound as pure pleasure. Closer Caviar jumps back into the broken breakbeats of a surreal funk, fuelled by the sensory pleasure of the music, a hedonistic whirl in rapture, the narrator now living life to the fullest in all its giddy heights and deep troughs. This is the album’s main character fully-actualised and in the terrible, beautiful moment.

"The 'Kashkaval EP' marks DJ 3000's fourth vinyl release, stemming from his acclaimed 'Mezë' album.

This EP encapsulates DJ 3000's evolution, weaving a narrative from his Albanian heritage to his current thriving career. 'Kashkaval EP' stands as his most intimate and comprehensive work to date, embodying a profound musical odyssey. It extends an invitation to all, urging them to partake in a celebration of diverse cultures and a symphony of sound that transcends geographical boundaries. Through meticulously crafted tracks, it guides listeners on a shared and cherished voyage, forging connections through the universal languages of music, culture, and food.”

Kashkaval - Is a cheese originating from the Balkans. When producing this electro track, it all came together quite swiftly, to be honest. I only needed one final element to complete it. Coincidentally, my dad was discussing this cheese at the time, so I recorded him talking about it on my phone and seamlessly integrated it into the track. I applied various effects and kept it subtle in the mix, making it almost unrecognizable in Albanian. The chords fell into place after that.

Constant Sorrow - This song took shape during the pandemic. I had nearly completed the concept, and for some time before that, I had been in conversation with producer and vocalist Keith Caden. I believed his vocal talents would be a perfect fit for this track. I shared the track and its title with him, and he subsequently wrote the vocals, even contributing harmonica and a few other embellishments. I'm particularly fond of this electro-style track, and Keith's vocals truly bring a unique and special dimension to it.

From The Ashes - Electro played a significant role in this album. When I mention electro, it's not the typical style of tracks but rather a more unique approach. The vocals on this album truly infuse profound meaning into the songs, and I have a deep appreciation for the way the chords resonate and create a dynamic bounce in the tracks.

Crown Royal - There's an amusing backstory to the essence of this track. "Crown Royal" harkens back to a liquor we used to enjoy back in the day. We'd have our Crown Royal and pair it with those Black & Mild cigars – quite the combo! This track was born from the memories of those late-night drives back home from the club.

Happy we can introduce a new addition to our catalog THINNER005, an EP called

“ & . . “

as the title tells, it’s a joint release by our friends, KOOLMFL, Sonic Weapon &. . Lemmi Ash

“& . . “ EP includes three club tracks, which been power played by Powder over these years in many different moment.

Each track can add a distinctive touch to the night, as like completing your cocktail with lemon and/or lime.

_

KOOLMFL, fka K-LINE and Sonic Weapon is our regular suspects from Nagoya, motor city of JAPAN.

Some may know them putting out a shared EP “G” before on Thinner Groove and now they back to it again.

atonbow by KOOLMFL features words of a space traveller in state of peaceful sorrow, seemingly communicating their honest thought to the loved one who might not be hearing, Can you hear me ? … Hi astronaut, at least we can :)

KOOL’s clicky drum work pass the words to the floor, and the party breaks down with sudden synth and take all of us home.

,

On track HOMIE, Sonic Weapon shows his signature fast boogie style again in a new approach with much dubbed out, ear pleasing, filtering, minimalistic, and stylistic way. The texture keeps changing but keeping the groove.

Feels like the beauty of watching a bridge getting slowly collapsing after somehow you made it to the other side.

& . .



We also want to introduce Lemmi Ash, a Swedish duo formed by Samo DJ and Martinou, newly joining the TG spectrum,

The duo previously had a release from ESP institute and each of them countless solo appearance on various releases . . .

Nonetheless, they a good long time friend and perfect fit for this release.

The duo features comfy calming ear tickling electronic sound with some kiddish, animalistic, or primitive humor in their own balance. This track Presence grooves with a leaning forward racing gamey phrase drifting around the mini synth explosion, feels like a joyful cruise during regardless the intense highway.

It’s a family affair. One formed almost thirty years ago, back in the mid-nineties, when the pair joined seminal French jazz combo Olympic Grammofon. For twenty-four years they have worked together as Bumcello, each complementing the other, echoing polar opposites. The Boom in Bumcello is none other than Cyril Atef, incisive drummer, relentlessly pushing beats towards new horizons. The Cello is Vincent Ségal, cellist without blinkers and extraordinary musical alchemist. Since 1999, these two die-hard music fans, coming together for mercurial results, have released one record after the other whilst conquering the hearts of their live audiences, old regulars as well as new recruits. We have all been seduced by the way their music leapfrogs categories - these two experts are much more interested in kindred spirits than pigeonholing, and this very spirit is celebrated on more than one track of this ninth record, whose concept is original to say the least.

Everything began with an idea by Cyril Atef - a soundtrack based upon drawings penned by Marin, Vincent’s son, architect and visual artist. The musicians involved then coached their reaction to these images on a score, and the pair were charged with collating and adjusting the results. These thirteen ink drawings, in a heroic fantasy vein, constituted a matrix which was then to serve as a guide, like a roadmap through a singular and multi-faceted labyrinth. The key to this sonic fresco is in Bumcello’s image – an eclectic aesthetic twinned with a great sense of contrast. Herein lies the trademark of this entity animated by the gift of musical ubiquity, gorged on scales and rhythms, capable of a slap as much as a gentle caress. From classical music to electronics, from improvised music to sophisti-pop, everything is allowed with no preconceived ideas. They can even reclaim the traditions of others, all the better to propel them towards new horizons - this is how the very history of music has always panned out.

If you listen between the lines and look at the details, more than one piece bears witness to the moments and individuals that have impacted the criss-crossing lives of Vincent and Cyril. The track Crash is the perfect excuse to create a Jamaican-style jam with New York inflections, and we can see, in capital letters, the name Hilaire Penda, playing alongside Bumcello at the Apollo Theater in the associated drawing. This bass player from Cameroon, who died on 5th November 2018, was more than just a friend for the two Frenchmen. He was one of the family. Similarly, they give a nod to another Cameroonian, and another departed friend - singer of rock band les Têtes brûlées, Zanzibar, through the vocals of fellow countryman Zanzi. The ghost of Rémi Kolpa Kopul, emblematic voice of Radio Nova, haunts the margins of Spark Av, in a vocal sample with a smattering of effects. As for I Remember Tim, it directly honours the memory of Timothy Jerome Parker, aka The Gift Of Gab, another friend who left us in 2021. Tim is depicted in a drawing with the docks of Oakland in the background, and it’s his alter ego within Blackalicious, Chief Xcel, who remotely added his signature to the track, notably by adding the words of Lateef The Truthspeaker to brass and woodwind sounds.

These are the only additions to Bumcello’s original nucleus, all the better to create a genuine musical concoction where Vincent Taurelle is in charge of production and mixing sessions recorded live and direct. He is also invited for a twinkle on the keys (piano, synths, Wurlitzer, organ), on a handful of tracks. Already at the commands of previous opus Monster Talk, always taking care over the slightest detail, the one that makes all the difference, this pianist is now also part of the family. “Everything he brings is perfect, whether added though slight touches or through very important choices”, say the two members of a combo which today, appears to us under the guise of a trio, adding an extra dimension to a far-reaching mix, in the image of the veiled or more explicit tributes making up the cornerstones of this release.

Booker, a drawing where we see the musicians enter a club, honours James Booker, great pianist from New Orleans who has always fascinated Vincent, in a genre that is off-beat and gender defying. Her Story was created by Cyril in support of the Iranian women’s movement. Aysyen Kampe evokes, even in the original drawing, a tradition that remains impactful for Bumcello – Haitian mysticism, and Ouï Khouïette Ouï conjures up the beats of the Allaoui, a war dance from Western Algeria, one they have taken part in in the past with the help of Cheikha Rabia. They deliver a metal version, original and surprising, especially as Marin Ségal’s drawing features the Nicholas Brothers, those iconic dancers of the 30s jazz scene!

Resolutely hard to pin down, Bumcello’s beats can initially take on the structure of disjointed house, though Sangre begins like a film soundtrack, “in a Mexican style” adds Vincent, who was at the origin of this track. A delicate alap on the cello can open up onto afrobeat rhythms, a well-pitched voice can enchant, like on the amazing The City Has Eyes which has everything of a hummable pop hit. Emblematic of this manner of encompassing all music without being exclusive, Le Grand Sommeil, a direct reference to the Howard Hawks movie inspired by Raymond Chandler, a precursor of David Lynch, begins nice and smooth but ends on a wild tempo, on a drum’n’bass tip, as in the good old days of Cithéa, when this Party story began in the other century.

For more than 30 years, singer-songwriter and guitar hero Mary Timony has cut a distinctive path through the world of independent music, most recently as vocalist and guitarist of acclaimed garage-pop power trio Ex Hex (Merge) but also as a member of seminal postpunk band Autoclave (Dischord), celebrated leader of the deeply influential Helium (Matador), multifaceted solo artist (Matador, Lookout!, Kill Rock Stars), and a co-founder of supergroup Wild Flag (Merge). Described by Sleater-Kinney's Carrie Brownstein as "Mary Shelley with a guitar" and dubbed "a trailblazer and an innovator" by Lindsey Jordan a.k.a. Snail Mail, Timony has distinguished herself as one of her generation's most influential. Although she has remained a cult hero and critical favorite since the early '90s, Timony's many triumphs have long been counterbalanced by crippling doubt and self-nullification. Her fifth solo album, Untame the Tiger, approaches these emotions head on. Her first solo release in 15 years is a startling document of an artist fully coming into her own power during the fourth decade of her career. It is the product of lessons learned during life-altering struggle. The mystical, acoustic-driven Untame the Tiger emerged after the dissolution of a long-term relationship and was bookended by the deaths of Timony's father and mother. The album was recorded during a two-year period during which she was the primary caregiver for her ailing parents. The tectonic psychic shift Mary experienced due to this loss informs many of her lyrics. Standout track "No Thirds" "is a song about losing everything and having to keep on going," says Timony. "I wanted the verses to sound like a wide-open barren space, like driving across a desert, because that is what the song is about - losing people and the feeling that your future is a giant, wide-open blank space." The stripped-back acoustic instrumentation of "The Guest" conjures Sweetheart-era Byrds. Timony describes it as a song sung directly to loneliness: "I was imagining loneliness as a house guest who keeps knocking on your door. I thought it would be funny to say loneliness is the only one who always comes back." Untame the Tiger does not eschew Timony's guitar hero reputation; in fact, "Summer" relishes in it, a straight-up banger that you'd be half tempted to call "no frills" until its initial garage rock stomp breaks into the unexpected bliss of a twin guitar solo conclusion. "I wanted the recording to have the energy of the Kinks, early Dio and Elf, or Rory Gallagher," she explains. "I was also listening to a lot of Gerry Rafferty's first solo album and was inspired to have two simultaneous guitar solos." Untame the Tiger picks up the thread woven through Timony's freak-folk-anticipating solo albums of the early '00s. Basic tracks were recorded at Studio 606 in Los Angeles, with Timony backed by Dave Mattacks, drummer of legendary British folk-rock band Fairport Convention. "Mattacks is a hero of mine and one of my favorite musicians of all time. He is a true legend. I never in a million years thought he'd agree to play on my record," says Timony. "Before the session, I had a panic attack and had to go sit alone in the parking lot_ Once we started playing together, it felt so great that the fear subsided and turned into excitement. His playing felt instantly familiar, which makes sense because it's the foundation of many of my favorite records." Untame the Tiger was produced by Mary Timony, Joe Wong, and Dennis Kane. The album was recorded over the course of two years at Studio 606, Magpie Cage, 38North, and in Mary's basement Additional engineering by J. Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines). Musicians include Chad Molter (Faraquet, Medications), David Christian (Karen O, Hospitality), and Brian Betancourt (Cass McCombs, Devendra Banhart, Hospitality). The album was mixed by Dave Fridmann (MGMT, The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev), Dennis Kane, and John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr., Kurt Vile, Waxahatchee).

For more than 30 years, singer-songwriter and guitar hero Mary Timony has cut a distinctive path through the world of independent music, most recently as vocalist and guitarist of acclaimed garage-pop power trio Ex Hex (Merge) but also as a member of seminal postpunk band Autoclave (Dischord), celebrated leader of the deeply influential Helium (Matador), multifaceted solo artist (Matador, Lookout!, Kill Rock Stars), and a co-founder of supergroup Wild Flag (Merge). Described by Sleater-Kinney's Carrie Brownstein as "Mary Shelley with a guitar" and dubbed "a trailblazer and an innovator" by Lindsey Jordan a.k.a. Snail Mail, Timony has distinguished herself as one of her generation's most influential. Although she has remained a cult hero and critical favorite since the early '90s, Timony's many triumphs have long been counterbalanced by crippling doubt and self-nullification. Her fifth solo album, Untame the Tiger, approaches these emotions head on. Her first solo release in 15 years is a startling document of an artist fully coming into her own power during the fourth decade of her career. It is the product of lessons learned during life-altering struggle. The mystical, acoustic-driven Untame the Tiger emerged after the dissolution of a long-term relationship and was bookended by the deaths of Timony's father and mother. The album was recorded during a two-year period during which she was the primary caregiver for her ailing parents. The tectonic psychic shift Mary experienced due to this loss informs many of her lyrics. Standout track "No Thirds" "is a song about losing everything and having to keep on going," says Timony. "I wanted the verses to sound like a wide-open barren space, like driving across a desert, because that is what the song is about - losing people and the feeling that your future is a giant, wide-open blank space." The stripped-back acoustic instrumentation of "The Guest" conjures Sweetheart-era Byrds. Timony describes it as a song sung directly to loneliness: "I was imagining loneliness as a house guest who keeps knocking on your door. I thought it would be funny to say loneliness is the only one who always comes back." Untame the Tiger does not eschew Timony's guitar hero reputation; in fact, "Summer" relishes in it, a straight-up banger that you'd be half tempted to call "no frills" until its initial garage rock stomp breaks into the unexpected bliss of a twin guitar solo conclusion. "I wanted the recording to have the energy of the Kinks, early Dio and Elf, or Rory Gallagher," she explains. "I was also listening to a lot of Gerry Rafferty's first solo album and was inspired to have two simultaneous guitar solos." Untame the Tiger picks up the thread woven through Timony's freak-folk-anticipating solo albums of the early '00s. Basic tracks were recorded at Studio 606 in Los Angeles, with Timony backed by Dave Mattacks, drummer of legendary British folk-rock band Fairport Convention. "Mattacks is a hero of mine and one of my favorite musicians of all time. He is a true legend. I never in a million years thought he'd agree to play on my record," says Timony. "Before the session, I had a panic attack and had to go sit alone in the parking lot_ Once we started playing together, it felt so great that the fear subsided and turned into excitement. His playing felt instantly familiar, which makes sense because it's the foundation of many of my favorite records." Untame the Tiger was produced by Mary Timony, Joe Wong, and Dennis Kane. The album was recorded over the course of two years at Studio 606, Magpie Cage, 38North, and in Mary's basement Additional engineering by J. Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines). Musicians include Chad Molter (Faraquet, Medications), David Christian (Karen O, Hospitality), and Brian Betancourt (Cass McCombs, Devendra Banhart, Hospitality). The album was mixed by Dave Fridmann (MGMT, The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev), Dennis Kane, and John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr., Kurt Vile, Waxahatchee).

After 25 years of living his dream as one of hip hop’s most respected producers, Hi-Tek is digging back into his roots with a brand new trio of instrumental vinyl LPs. “Werk Road (1997 MPC 60)” is the third volume of the series, each featuring a selection of restored and remastered beats, carefully chosen from an archive of DAT tapes. These LPs manage to both provide a window into Tek’s development and to shine light on the work of an already enormously talented musician whose beats would’ve sounded right at home on classic releases from the mid-1990s.

1997 is when the name Hi-Tek began to develop a global buzz, largely due to the combustible indie-rap scene. He’d moved on from the now-shuttered Beatbox Studios in his hometown of Cincinnati and began building his first proper home studio in his new apartment on Werk Road. With a borrowed Akai MPC 60 drum machine as the foundation, he began churning out beats at a more prolific rate than ever.

In addition to placements on debut LPs by Mood and Royal Flush, Tek would make his name in 1997 as one-half of the duo Reflection Eternal with Brooklyn MC Talib Kweli. Their Rawkus Records debut 12” “Fortified Live” was an instant smash, and it quickly placed him at the top of the class of up-and-coming beatmakers. His unique balance of bassline-driven grooves behind soulful samples would eventually lead him to be in high demand for artists across the spectrum of the genre, and in short time he was producing for Common, Snoop Dogg, Raphael Saadiq, Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, and others from all over the country.

The work featured on “Werk Road (1997 MPC 60)” reveals an artist who would not only become one of the most respected producers in rap, but one of the cultural ambassadors of his home city of Cincinnati for over 25 years. In 2022, Hi-Tek was inducted into the Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame alongside luminaries like The Isley Brothers, Bootsy Collins and Midnight Star, and remains the most successful hip hop artist that the city has ever produced.