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A testament to the growth of Adam Beyer’s scene-leading label, Drumcode annual A-Sides Vol.8 is the brand’s biggest yet.

The 25-track strong compilation, split across 7 EPs, features standout cuts Beyer has received over the last 12 months, but been unable to find room for in Drumcode’s regular release schedule, such is the volume and high standard of music that’s submitted.

Part 3 includes Will Clarke’s bass-drenched re-work of Adam Beyer & Bart Skils ‘Your Mind’, whilst Ramon Tapia unleashes the heavy hitting ‘Sonic Therapy’ and Nicole Moudaber drops her first DC release in 5 years with the mesmerizing ‘This Is Us’.

The highlight-rich compilation also includes Jamie Jones & Darius Syrossian’s buzzy Drumcode debut ‘The Grid’ and Joey Beltram’s first Drumcode release in 11 years with the retro-tinged ‘Can You Feel It’. The beloved Alan Fitzpatrick returns to the fold with the searing ‘Heiße Rakete’, while the exciting Hyperloop project links up with Upercent for the slinky loop-driven ‘Rouge’, alongside label mainstays Layton Giordani, who drops the stirring chord-driven ‘Chrome’ and Wehbba with ‘Mantra’, combining techno classicism with future-focused groove.

There’s a troupe of debutants donning the Drumcode jersey for the first time, including BEC, Shelley Johansson, Avision, Zimmz, Woo York, SAMA (in a terrific collaboration with Secret Cinema) and Ilija Djokovic, who delivers a shimmering highlight with ‘Aura’, a particular favourite of Beyer’s over the last year. Raxon also debuts on the label after a couple of quality additions to the Truesoul back catalogue.

Exciting young guns Weska and Juliet Fox bring heat to the compilation, while Veerus and Timmo follow up strong DC releases with a repeat dose. Elsewhere faithful contributors Jay Lumen, Luca Agnelli, Marco Bailey and Mark Reeve craft powerful dancefloor weapons.

Neurot Recordings are proud to reissue the landmark collaboration Neurosis & Jarboe, which was originally released in 2003. This latest version is fully remastered and with entirely new artwork from Aaron Turner.

Very limited silver metallic and black swirl 2LP - Non-Returnable

Steve Von Till explains the idea behind the remastering; "Bob Weston (Chicago Mastering Service, and member of Shellac) worked closely with Noah on making these new versions sound as good as the possibly can. Noah has the most trained critical ear for fidelity out of all of us being an engineer himself. We recorded this ourselves with consumer level Pro Tools back then, in order to be able to experiment at home in getting different sounds and writing spontaneously.  The technology has come a long way since then and we thought we could run it through better digital to analog conversion and trusted Bob Weston to be able to bring out the best in it....This new mastered version is a bit more open, with a better stereo image, and better final eq treatment."

He continues about the original artwork..."Aaron felt he could create something that would unify the energy of both Jarboe and Neurosis in an elegant manner.  We let him do his thing and I think it definitely adds to mystery of the album and sets it apart from the rest of our catalog."

When two independent and distinct spheres overlap, the resulting ellipse tends to emphasise the most striking and powerful characteristics of each body. Such is the case with this particular collaboration between heavy music pioneers Neurosis and the multi-faceted performer Jarboe (who performed in Swans and who has collaborated with an array of people from Blixa Bargeld, J.G. Thirlwell, Attila Csihar, Bill Laswell, Merzbow, Justin K. Broadrick, Helen Money, Father Murphy, the list goes on...) The musicians pull from one another some of the most harrowing and unusual sounds ever heard from either artist at the time - a sentiment which also rings true to some 15 years later.

Neurosis & Jarboe opens with a high-pitched whirring sound winding up as Jason Roeder's ominous tom-drum beat and Noah Landis' slinking synth line writhe in unison until Jarboe drops in, drawling in her characteristic, corrupted Southern belle voice, "I tell ya, if God wants to take me, He will." From there on in, the album is a series of abrupt shifts and cleverly juxtaposed themes that flows in a rhythm of its own. The sinister and ethereal sounds, vocal coos and electro-pulses of "His Last Words" seem like the perfect soundtrack to a David Lynch film. On "Erase," song parts are dissected and grafted one atop the other, continually building tension as Jarboe wails and yelps with Banshee fervor.

The project began with the artists working in seclusion, recording the elements that would best highlight their own characteristic integrity and personality, rather than either attempting to mimic one another's familiar elements. As recorded ideas were passed back and forth, the collaboration proved to bring out the most unhinged and urgent talents of all those involved.

Throughout the album, that signature "Neurosis note" - the sound of something simultaneously recoiling and erupting, the apocalyptic tone announcing the birth of a new world - reaches its apex and becomes evermore icy and eviscerating. Guitarists Steve Von Till and Scott Kelly trim their tones for cleaner, chorus-drenched effects layered between the thunderous distortion blasts of bassist Dave Edwardson. Likewise, Jarboe's operatic wail and other vocal contortions sound perfectly suited to the eruptive emotional fray of the music.

The collaboration is a deeply textured mosaic that is a culmination of merged aesthetics from two major influences on free-thinking sounds. It unlocked the hidden potential of electronic music as a new force in heavy rock. At a time when groups like Oneida, Wolf Eyes and Black Dice were beginning to experiment with technology in making mind-numbing leaden electro-drone freed from any essence of "dance music," Neurosis & Jarboe redefined all notions of their past - and outlined the course of heavy music to come. It's interesting to look back through the lens of this release, and think about these ideas and concepts in the present.

Neurosis & Jarboe remains the meeting point of all art that takes us beyond ourselves.

The only cover tune on Carlton Jumel Smith's "1634 Lexington Ave." album is not really a cover at all, since it was first cut by Carlton himself already 10 years ago. The sultry 2009 edition of "I'd Better", that was put out on the short-lived UK Soulchoonz label, is a nice piece of programmed mid-tempo modern soul. The new version, now getting a 7" single treatment on Timmion, still sounds miles away from the polished earlier effort.

It starts off with a nice guitar led beat before settling into a sweet Tighten Up groove, a funky road which still has plenty curves to explore, even for Cold Diamond & Mink, who are certainly not lifting water from this particular well for the first time. What remains naturally is Carlton's ultra-soulful vocal performance, and a message of manning up to the max, staying true to your word in front of something divine.

It's not that often you hear a more recent version of a song sounding so that you would think it's the old version. Essentially, what you get is a beautiful piece of xover soul, with timeless swagger, and an instrumental with soulful legs of its own.

The sought after LP from Zann ‘Strange Ways / Inside Jungle’ originally released as a private press in 1990 finally receives a full reissue.

Zann started life as a 7-member live band in 1982. Founder member Udo Winkler had been a part of New Wave & Post Punk band Konec touring extensively and releasing one LP on Polydor titled ‘Schrille Blitze’. Zann was an outlet for more experimental works heavily influenced by Brian Eno's collaborations with David Byrne and Jon Hassell, German bands like Embryo and Dissidenten, David Sylvian and middle & far eastern music.

In 1988 Udo and Hjalmer Karthaus built a small basement studio with a 4 track tape machine and musical experiments began in earnest. After the limitations of playing live it was an acoustic wonderland and they gave themselves no musical boundaries. The unlimited studio time meant they could pick up ideas and develop pieces gradually, friends would come to the studio to play and songs evolved from extensive jamming sessions. The resulting LP has Middle Eastern instrumentation at its core, particularly wind & string instruments such as the Tabla and Gong, and is a melting pot of influences incorporating elements of Ambient, Jazz and Folk with strong synth programming on a number of tracks. The band pressed up a handful of copies and sold them exclusively at record fairs in Germany and in the intervening years the LP has become highly sought after with copies changing hands for 150 Euros.

The LP has been fully remastered from the original DAT tapes with new full sleeve artwork from Bradley Pinkerton and is pressed on 180 Gram Vinyl.

Emotional Rescue returns to the music of British "pop" band Furniture, with an EP of the band's own extended versions, remixes and unreleased takes of their particular output.

Taken from three 12"s that followed When The Boom Was On (ERC072), the songs included cast a light on their development from 3 to 5 piece, adding Sally Still (bass) and Maya Gilder (keyboards) and the new male/female frontline. The subsequent broadening of their line-up and sound meant they could start to address the kind of pop music they wanted to play.

After the early releases garneered radio play and reviews, Furniture were launched into the melee of '80s pop. An anomaly, the band found they attracted a specific kind of "intense" follower, who were often beguiled by Furniture's freaky normality. This was addressed on the 1984 release, 'I Can't Crack'. A more urgent version of the sound Furniture had debuted with 'Why Are We In Love', the track, sung by Tim, was based around a sequencer-like rhythm played live by drummer Hamilton Lee, and a clarinet part played by Tim's brother, Larry Whelan. A mix of bleakness and euphoria, the song was and is a favourite of the band and considered one of their best self-productions, as well as becoming a latter day club play.

This is followed by the studio experiment 'Throw Away The Script', where the band wrestled with sequencers and synth-pop, but then countered it with a free-jazz sax solo. Found on the flip of the double A -side of 'Love Your Shoes' 12", this instrumental version too became an underground club hit, including a cult play at Fran Lenaer's influential Valencia club, Spook Factory. Played loud, the studio mastery, trickery and oft-accidental discoveries come to the fore, with tissue-damaging frequencies giving extra sound system shaking bottom end.

The B-side continues the band's love of making extended mixes with 'Dancing The Hard Bargain'. Co-produced with Tim Parry (formerly of Blue Zoo), they threw everything at these 12" versions. Able to relax and focus on the sounds they really liked, rather than the ones thought more commercial, this can be clearly heard on this compelling, percussive mix, a stop-start breakdown becoming a band hallmark.
To close this collection is the mammoth 'Bullet'. Again sung by Whelan, an edited version of which debuted on the 1986 Survival compilation of Furniture tracks called 'The Lovemongers', here this previously unreleased original take is centred on a mesmeric tape loop, live drums and a guest appearance by violinist Helena Bjorelius.

50 years ago, a young Panamanian singer by the name of Ralph Weeks, who a few years prior had cut his teeth in the US music landscape with the group Johnny & The Expressions, self-produced and independently released a record with an absolute monster of a soul ballad called "Something Deep Inside." It was a song that Weeks had come up with on the spot during one of many gigs in the heart of Brooklyn's Prospect Heights, at the time a cultural hub and community for many Panamanians living in the borough. Along with his group, The Telecasters, Weeks often played at a Panamanian-owned club in the neighborhood called 4 Star's (STA4R's) which would independently sponsor the release of the tune on a 7-inch single.

Fast forward to 2019, where a serendipitous meeting between Ralph Weeks and Names You Can Trust turned into a solid formation of musical synchronicity, bonded over a shared belief in musical fusion, a weaving of musical threads that was similarly the foundation of that earlier era in Panama. It's a fusion that has become a constant theme throughout the Names You Can Trust catalog in the last 10 years, connecting the dots from NY, the Caribbean and Latin America. An immediate plan was put into motion: return Weeks to a studio atmosphere that had eluded him in the preceding decades, a vibe and live musical presence that would be reminiscent of his time recording with The Telecasters and The Exciters in Panama.

In the ultimate tribute to Weeks and that foundation, NYCT label mates Combo Lulo unpacked the 50-year old original tune and refashioned it into a timeless rocksteady ballad. It was an opportunity for Weeks to acquaint himself with a new band and a new generation of musical talent. Ultimately, it was an unexpected chance for Weeks to reconnect to the music he wrote one fateful evening in a Brooklyn club. For Combo Lulo, Names You Can Trust, and now the rest of his musical admirers, it's a chance to hear how gracefully Weeks' voice has aged, still silky smooth with those beloved falsetto runs, sweet and rounded like a barrel-aged añejo rum. It's a testament to the timelessness of Weeks' original music, and certainly another reminder of how far and wide even the smallest of musical blips can spread.

Presented as a double-sided bilingual 45 single, both versions of Weeks' classic tune, "Algo Muy Profundo" and "Something Deep Inside," have been formatted in the traditional Jamaican style, skillfully cut live and mixed under the guidance of NYCT and Combo Lulo's talented musicians. It's a tribute to a brilliant record and an unsung architect of Latin American sweet soul, but also a love letter to a very particular NY-Caribbean fusion that theoretically could have happened 50 years ago, depending on the borough you resided in. After all, there was always something deep inside. Comes with NYCT / STA4R'S Company Sleeve & Liner Notes.

Glenn Astro conquers new territories with Naturals, fusing elements of Balearic and leftfield house with tribal and acid sounds on Tartelet Records.

In an impressively short amount of time, Glenn Astro has created a musical universe that’s entirely his. With full-length releases making waves on Ninja Tune and Apollo Rec, the sister label of R&SRecordings, the Berlin-based musician assembles a perfect pastiche of influences on his forthcoming EP Naturals, coming out on Copenhagen’s Tartelet Records this September.

Exploring the outer fringes of the Balearic sonic spectrum, Naturals delves into unexpected sound territories without losing touch with planet home. Sub-heavy drums mix with private oceanic field recordings, futuristic synth, and effect pedal workouts, delivering a four-track EP that is novel but honest to the bone.

“I tried not to take any direct influence from any particular music I was listening to,” Glenn Astro says. “Instead, I tried concentrating on where the instruments and effects were taking me, experimenting with different ways of using the gear that I know so well.”

Inspired by Sicily’s natural beauty, the juxtaposition of its rough landscapes and clear blue waters, Naturals takes listeners on a journey into unfamiliar sound; a conscious diversion from his usual style and yet an instant dance floor cracker infused with the artist’s signature panache.

“I made most of the record while being in Sicily,” he says. “In retrospect, it is easy to hear that the volcanic landscapes contrasting the idyllic beaches were a major influence.”

The EP opener “Naturals (Unsweetened Mix)” is a beautiful freak – a peak-time cut – starting out with tranquil ambient melodies and water drop percussion followed by a beasty acid line and slick drum programming. Next, “Naturals (Dance Mix)” slows it down to 116 BPM, taking a completely different route with a hypnotic dance between tribal and dub – a wonderfully weird closer.

On the flip side, “Slarutan (Pristine Mix)” emerges au natural with Sicilian field recordings, layered pads, playful melodies, and crisp drum programming. Saving the best for last, “Slarutan (Water Mix)” dips its toes into the early days of dance music, shifting into futuristic, ambient dub territory with divine melodies and filtered percussion.

“This one is for the plants and the trees. Return to planet Tartelet,” Glenn Astro says.

Swedish composer and multimedia artist Marcus Fjellström's debut Miasmah release follows two critically acclaimed full length albums on Lampse (2006's 'Gebrauchsmusik' and 2005's 'Exercises In Estrangement'). In addition Marcus has had several commissioned works requested, leading to him working with, among others, the Swedish Royal Ballet, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, numerous ensembles, soloists and filmmakers including 'Salad Fingers' creator David Firth. Currently based in Berlin, Fjellström's compositions often combine aspects of modern classical composition and arrangement and more avant forms of music, be that acoustic or electronic.

'Schattenspieler' (which translates as 'Shadowplayer') takes the form of eleven compositions which explore ambience and melody, texture and silence. Haunting synth and orchestral instrument-based audio constructions, flowing from one moment to the next - the fleeting ghosts of Fjellström's melodies rise, only to be buried under a claustrophobic clutter of percussion and creaking background noise. These pieces do indeed feel like you're listening to something more implied than obviously stated, as if Fjellström wants only to expose us to the shadow of the music - the implication being perhaps a more terrifying experience than to be confronted outright…listen to 'Schattenspieler' and you may find your mind starts to play tricks on you…

The undeniably Angelo Badalamenti-esque descending synth strings of opening track 'The Disjointed', lay the foundations for Fjellström's 'Schattenspieler' album; music resting somewhere between the unsettling horror soundtracks of Jerry Goldsmith, the elevating melodies of Cliff Martinez, and the subtle audio constructions of Miasmah label mates Kreng and Jacaszek. Marcus' wide ranging abilities in composition and his willingness to let go of accepted form and function makes 'Schattenspieler' a perfect choice of release for the Miasmah label. The suspense laden 'Antichrist Architechture Management', with its harrowing and tense undertones, weaving synth lines and a wash of static hiss and flicker, is a particular standout track. Despite it's a strangely oppressive sound, shafts of light grace 'Schattenspieler'; pieces such as 'Untitled 090616' find gorgeous melodies are boxed in by unsettling arrangements and sparse background ambience. There is a coldness to many of these compositions - not without emotion, but somehow remorseless. 'Schattenspieler' is, for the main part, a defiantly bleak journey.

Vinyl edition ltd. to 300 copies, purple vinyl, incl. 8-page 12" booklet with drawings by Marcus Fjellström.

Legião Urbana is the self-titled debut album by Brazilian rock band Legião Urbana. It was released on 1 January 1985.

Though the band was not a punk outfit, their first album shows the influence of British punk bands from the same time period, particularly single "Geração Coca-Cola", whose fast-paced acoustic guitar rhythm is heavily reminiscent of Buzzcocks. The album was not successful as whole upon release, but it spawned several hit singles, namely "Será", "Ainda É Cedo" and "Geração Coca-Cola". Synthesizer-laden ballad "Por Enquanto" is one of the band's most covered songs, as is "Será".

In 2007, the Brazilian edition of Rolling Stone magazine elected Legião Urbana as the 40th greatest Brazilian album of all time.

Comic book artist, graphic designer and free jazz improviser are only some of the many talents from Beirut born Mazen Kerbaj. After appearing as part of various ensembles on the label, Ariha Brass Quartet (CREP46) and Johnny Kafta Anti-Vegetarian Orchestra (CREP22), Kerbaj finally lands a solo outfit of his own onto the Discrepant dancefloor of insubordination.

14 years after his first (and only) solo album "Brt Vrt Zrt Krt" (Al Maslakh, 2005) Mazen returns with a series of subtle compositions of his own with not one but two(!) solo albums of prepared trumpet that further cement his international position as a serial trumpet botherer.

Whilst Vol. 2.1 showcases his (almost) (un)familiar arsenal of squawks, cackles, howls and squeals, Vol. 2.2 goes deep into the nether regions of waltzing drones and bell tweaks so deep that would make most cetaceans loose their concentration. The notion of being transported to a luring mutant underwater alien community is still present on these long(er) trips with the added meditative pieces being occasionally pierced by noise creepers, nothing is what you want or expect and that’s the way it should be.

If Vol. 2.1 is the classic follow up LP, this one is the beast from the deep, it comes surging and screeching from a deep oceanic sink hole, only to hypnotize you with perverted dance moves before diving back into the sinking, wettest and darkest cave in the world. Vol. 2.2 is a summons album; it shatters any bar there was with its intentional use of everything Vol. 2.1 was denied. It grabs you by wherever available way and it only releases you when you’re ready to listen to it again. Listen to both albums back to back, in no particular order and you’ll know that there’s nothing you can do but come back to it like a doped up seal stranded in a phantom island – appearing and disappearing as the music dictates it to.

Free Love, the artists formerly known as Happy Meals return to Optimo Music with ‘Extreme Dance Anthems’ a phantasmic mini album from their hearts to yours.

They say – “We recorded EXTREME DANCE ANTHEMS in our recently moved studio, ‘Full Ashram Celestial Garden’ which is now situated in a building that holds both a church below us and a sex club next door. Most of the tracks were formed from late-night sessions that we started to kind of ritualistically hold inspired from a particular thought or idea that we later cut down and did a live mixdown of. The music is about physicality and the metaphysical – it is about a recontextualisation of the ineffable as a centre point of existence which in turn influences how we engage with everything around us. A celebration of the unquantifiable, unspeakable, indivisible EXPERIENCE as the throne from which all ideas are derived. Even though the world is fucked- we are here.

On the face of it – I realise that this description might just seem like apolitical hippy bullshit but fuck that – as a deliberate result of the modern political landscape, our societies’ individual and collective disengagement with the metaphysical has led us to treat other humans, animals and our environment like resourceful statistics rather than something that actually holds any inherent value. An Inner Revolution of the foundations of our reality in a way that reintroduces the essence of existence, and not merely its describable derivatives, into the conversation of how we should live our lives INFORMS our perception of the world in a way that demands us to ACT. The record is about a kind of gradual awakening between the two of us – a reconnection with the magic around us.

The ineffable is not without moments of illumination- mostly in the form of immediate absurdity: ONE DAY WE WILL ALL BE DEAD BUT HERE WE ARE ALIVE INSTEAD.

The record is called EXTREME DANCE ANTHEMS because it made us both laugh”.

"Frisina meets Toco" is the result of the artistic union of two main Schema Records' characters, Gerardo Frisina and Toco, spontaneously born from many listening sessions of Brazilian music LP's. The music contained in this 12" record stands in the middle between Rio and Bahia, merging together the Brazilian rhythmic culture and groove (Toco) with the modern sound of clubbing latin jazz (Frisina), and it's also enriched by the presence of the young pianist and composer Vitor Araújo and his peculiar signature style, particularly apparent in the instrumental version of the song "Craque".

Phillip Mitchell only cut one single for the Spring subsidiary, Event, in 1975 and despite the beautiful ballad ‘There’s Another In My Life’ being an R&B hit, he did not have a follow-up. However, there were three songs recorded at the Brad Shapiro-led Muscle Shoals session and ‘I’ll See You In Hell First’ was the superb mid-tempo track that lay dormant until compiled on an Ace CD in 1990. It features Mitchell singing at his best on an inspired, self-penned song and is long-overdue a vinyl pressing as originally hoped for.

Singer Ray Godfrey had four 45s for the label but like Mitchell he was best known as a songwriter for Millie Jackson, Joe Simon and Act I in particular. He wrote under his real name of Raeford Gerald. He produced this song on both Joe Simon and Millie Jackson and his own reading has now been found on the multi-track tapes for the song’s recording session. It is a worthy addition to the Godfrey/Gerald catalogue.

Ascetic Limited is excited to present our seventh release returning with our VA series and a new design line from Plastica. Side A begins with Trastiber by Fabrizio Lapiana. Fabrizio's work needs little introduction, known for his ambient backdrops and mesmerizing melodies this track is a perfect fit for our catalogue and any DJ wanting to ensure a moody ambience and great for opening doors into deeper realms.
Secondly we have Journey with Castenada by Greenbeam & Leon, the duo from Georgia. The residents of Khidi club in Tbilisi, take us on a heavy set journey with their particular sound that ranges from tripped out to industrial bangers. A Journey with Castaneda is an ode to mind exploration and the psychedelic realms we can find within ourselves.
On the B side Aleja Sanchez, known for her pounding yet well thought out tracks, provides her track Sanctuary, truly mesmerizing from the Colombian mainstay. This track reflects in totality the sound we strive to provide on Ascetic Limited, pounding yet deep a perfect balance of body mind and soul.
To close it out, Cliche Morph s Sinusoid is a broken bass line heavy hitter with amazing sound design that will fit into any set, from the most moody to the deepest of selections. Overall a perfect track to close out our fourth VA selection, reflecting our concept as a label.

Formed in Bradford in 1980, New Model Army's beginnings were inspired by Northern Soul, Punk Rock and the incendiary atmosphere of the times. Since then, they have had a long, creative and eventful journey. They have been massively influential in 'post-punk', 'folkrock', 'political-rock', 'goth', 'metal' and all kinds of musical sub-cultures but they have steadfastly refused to belong to any club or style. Members have changed over the years and musical styles have evolved but at the heart of the band Justin has remained, along with a distinct and sincere belief in the power of music to inspire and effect change on both a personal and political scale, locally and globally. 'From Here' was recorded earlier on the tiny Norwegian island of Giske at the beautiful Ocean Sound Recordings studio and reflects the spectacular isolation of that environment yet has profound messages for the world we all live in and the times we are experiencing. The album was mostly written in just two months and recorded in only nine days and is the follow up on the two hugely acclaimed albums Between Dog And Wolf (2013) and Winter (2016). New Model Army decided to work again with Lee Smith and Jamie Lockhart, with whom they have developed a productive relationship over a few years and who persuaded them to leave a lot of the details of the music to spontaneity. “This album has a feel that is different to our other albums, but it still contains all the elements that characterise our peculiarly unidentifiable music – perhaps even more than ever. And “From Here” was an obvious title. The record belongs to a very special place and a particular time – what is happening in the world, where we are as a band and where we are as people.” Print ads:Vive Le Rock, Classic Rock, Record Collector, Classic Pop). Artist undertaking promotion/interviews/press (Classic Rock, Record Collector, Vive le Rock, Louder than War, Long Live Vinyl). Extensive UK live tour Oct 8th - Dec 21st.

Concentric Circles presents ''For the Moment'', which features tracks from some of Di Stefano's early cassette releases, as well as a number of unheard explorations of Indian polyrhythms from the early 90s. Di Stefano’s prescient and unique work will appeal to fans of Cybe, Joel Graham, UnknownmiX, Zru Vogue, and provides a fascinating view of the 80s US electronic underground.

American-born, Japan-based composer John Di Stefano self-released a number of cassettes as part of the 80s DIY underground on his own imprint Oktron Produktions, including Klang's Drift, a collaboration with Joel Graham.
Living in San Francisco, Di Stefano had access to multiple University electronic music studios, where he had an impressive array of synthesizers at his fingertips, including both Buchla and Serge modular systems. Combining his knowledge of modular synthesis with a background in percussion, his early releases were a uniquely human approach to electroacoustic music, with flourishes of post punk in the mix. Di Stefano developed an interest in world music, studying Indian music theory and tabla, and after an extended trip to Indonesia in the mid 80s, he was particularly drawn to Javanese gamelan music. Future recordings would forever be indebted to the sounds he heard during those travels.

Beacon Sound and Jacktone Records are pleased to announce a limited edition joint vinyl release by Hugo RA Paris titled Threaded Habitat. The new LP from Paris follows two of Jacktone’s most popular releases: Mystique Youth (2015) and Horizons Beneath The Surface (2016), which appeared under his alias, Lavender.

The transition to the Hugo RA Paris moniker with this album marks a more personal shift in approach. Threaded Habitat combines ambient textures and techno rhythms to reflect tension between humanity and nature—particularly the cyclical nature of collapse and renewal. It also marks Jacktone's first collaborative release with the record store and label Beacon Sound, which has put out works from veteran experimental musicians like Terry Riley and Colleen. Beacon Sound is an important node in Portland, where Paris also lives and developed the flagship modular product for leading Eurorack manufacturer 4MS: the SWN.

The album's closing track was entirely composed on a SWN prototype and recorded in one take. In fact, much of his work is done in layers of single takes with minimal processing to preserve its raw emotion and embrace minor imperfections. As an MIT-trained engineer and physicist, working with hardware—from modulars to guitar pedals and tape loops—is essential to his process of not only making but exploring sound.

Threaded Habitat captures moments of claustrophobia and bliss in seven tracks and three accompanying videos directed by New Zealand artist Sam Hamilton. Visual art plays a central role in many of Paris’s projects, which include intricate audio-visual performances and scores for full-length films like The Modern Jungle (La Selva Negra) and its forthcoming follow-up.

The LP will be available to pre-order on July 1st with a limited, exclusive content sample pack. The handmade vinyl package features photography by Sam Hamilton and will be released July 19 through Jacktone and Beacon Sound’s webshops, with worldwide sales beginning August 2nd. A remix release will arrive later in the Fall.

This is a beautifully remastered, remixed and reimagined repress of the final full Hyper On Experience EP. The original Moving Shadow version of this release featured four superb tracks that have become timeless classics over the years. Here, they have been lovingly remastered and in this particular case, we have not added a remix and lost a track, because all 4 original tracks are perfect.

Club / DJ Support
Billy Bunter, the Fat Controller, Glowkid, Slipmatt, Dj Jedi, Dj Luna-C, Dj Brisk, Clayfighter, Jimni Cricket, Bustin, Sc@r, Doughboy, Saiyan, Dave Skywalker, Liquid, Hyper On Experience, Ant To Be, Ponder and many others

On ‘Ways Of Seeing’ Konx-om-Pax has switched up the mood and hit gold. He has made an album that is filled with joy and sunshine, saturated with the classic feel of Berlin Techno.

Tom Scholefield has moved on from the dark ambient and brittle rave of the first two Konx-om-Pax albums, which were a reflection of his hometown Glasgow's electronic music scenes. After a recent move to Berlin, the textures of Glasgow's musical strains have fused into an accessible and friendly mix of poppy melodic electronica built from a stricter 'less is more' sound pallete, closer in spirit to the music of his adopted city. It is also a record which was made in opposition to recent music he has been hearing, in particular the troubled, dark and noisy experimental music coming out of Berlin. Tom wanted to focus on more joyful qualities, making this a record imbued with warmth and happiness, a panacea to the darkness and disorientation all around in 2019.

Having a social scene full of producers has also influenced the album. The opening track 'LA Melody' came from staying with Ross Birchard (Hudson Mohawke) at his house in LA, hanging out in the glorious sunshine with him and Lunice working on tracks.
"Initially Ross asked me to write some melodies to use in a project he was producing, but I ended up liking it so much I decided to keep the riff. I generally write music alone, but being around other producers gave me a certain excited energy that reminded me of after-parties back in Glasgow where Ross and myself spent our youth together. Spending time in Clark's studio also helped me improve my workflow and sequencing the album by seeing the way he does things". On 'Säule Acid' he collaborates with Silvia Kastel and in 'I’m For Real' the vocals of Glaswegian DJ/producer Nightwave filter around the track.

Calling Marcelle a DJ doesn’t wholly represent what she’s doing. (Three) turntables and a mixer is more the medium that she uses to create and share sounds, ideas and moments.

The same goes for her own productions. They don't have a fixed style, as can be heard on all five EP's released by the Munich label Jahmoni since 2016. They are free in attitude and music and cross boundaries between genres. Most tracks are a collision of ideas, a magically gritty, self-aware car crash as if Muslimgauze grew up in sunny Lisbon with the Principe crew as opposed to the grim North of England.

On her new LP 'One Place For The First Time' we find nine tracks brimming with ideas that ignore stale production norms. Sure, the pulsing drum 'n' bass-esque 'Hippies Use Side Door' is weirdly danceable, just like the cackling stomp of 'Respect Caged Animals', but can we dance to 'Technicians And Their Smoke Machines'? (Answer: We’d certainly enjoy trying). It's almost a jazz song, but like with everything Marcelle does, it's jazz from a different world and has proven to be a dancefloor smash when she’s played out the dubplate over recent months.

Marcelle's life-long love for far-out dub is clear in 'Dub (Dub)' and 'Respect My Snack Foods' is in the same 'educational' tradition as was the song about how to deal with constipation (olive oil!) from the 2018 'Psalm Tree' EP. Now we learn how to apologise. 'The Mother Of All Messes' (a UK newspaper headline about Brexit) introduces perhaps a more tender side, a comforting nursery rhyme plays while a muffled kick occasionally growls with distortion - as if it knows the importance of its place in the dance.

By the time the refrain of the intro track returns it seems to carry more significance, Marcelle has made her point quite clear. Defiant til the end… ‘Don’t touch the table!’ This particular sample is taken from Marcelle's legendary Boiler Room performance at 2018's Nyege Nyege Festival in Uganda where the MC of the event repeatedly declares that 'She Plays Vinyl' and therefore asks 'Don't Touch The Table!'. It goes without saying that the latter song is full of banging on the table noises.

The sleeve - as always with Marcelle - is very colourful and features photos of knitted egg cosies and images related to individual songs. It's a bit of a puzzle to find out which photo connects to which song, an enjoyable challenge, just like the LP itself.

Shining on lineups whether they’re cutting edge festivals, big clubs, touring circus shows or DIY garage venues comes naturally given she approaches all with the same mindset ('always the same, always different'), these causes are adopting her rather than the other way round.

Marcelle is a genuine innovator who remains inherently relevant by not following trends, not focusing on technicalities, having a sense of humour, dissolving obsolete structures, being excited, defying others rules while creating new ones, eschewing #tagline posers and ‘tasteless A&R wankers’, supporting artists that need it, supporting places that need it, supporting people who need it and not giving a fuck for as long as possible.

And HUGELY welcome living proof that you can excel in doing things differently and having a bloody good time n all.

James Marrs, London, March 2019

Enzo Elia – one who knows how to conceive Italo driven audible passion with the machines that surround him. His releases on cult labels Compost, Free Range and Black Pearls Records have long spoken to us here at KOMPAKT.

We welcome this summer heater which is “Gilli 88 EP”. A tribute to the 80s phenomenon…THE PANINARO. Without any ideological basis or connection to a particular lifestyle THE PANINARO was based around fashion imagery and luxurious clothing. Enzo found this translatable to today’s social network dynamics and is prime for the retrofuturistic dancefloors of today that are inspired by the golden days of Italo-Disco.

“Low Red” is a Italo-Pop gem conceived with Quique Aldebaran and Quique on vocals that takes inspiration from the legends that were – the mighty Suicide. An instrumental version dives deeper into the groove for DJ play persuasion. “Aj Squinza” takes a classic 80’s disco approach with sound-scaping synths that endlessly jam with an everchanging rhythm. “Volpinata” succumbs to a classic EBM groove that finds its way out of focus due to fat synth melodies that engorge this elevating track.

After a sabbatical period, Roberto Auser makes a comeback with his analogical machinery with the exquisite mini-album called “Chaos Never Dies”. In this record he explores a broad range of sounds from minimal-electro to acid with a touch of improvisation from his particular perspective based in roughness, rhythm and immediacy. Limited to 300 copies.

Leipzig’s Dj Balduin has been a staff favourite for some time as we are avid fans of his GLYK imprint, and in particular his debut EP “Vvigmara”. Dj Balduin proclaims to enjoy producing music that creates “states of hypnosis with an occasional, gentle “hands-up-face-slap” every now and then” which perfectly sums up “Lost Cat” - his first release for KOMPAKT.

“E.W.B.A” came to Dj Balduin while having a shower, so chances are high we have this summer’s rain dance anthem on our hands as it has all the right elements - a classic rave synth meets an infectious open snare to break through the beat.

The kick drum thud of “Sheee” seems to be all too menacing at first, but surprisingly learns how to open itself into a gorgeously seductive uplifting house tune.

This story ends with the perfect set closer; “Lost Cat And An Untied Shoe” brings that beat back with soaring synths and a playful natural bass line that adds just the slightest edge of funk to carry the crowd home at the end of the night.
Leipzigs DJ Balduin und besonders seine Debüt-EP „Vvigmara“ trendet, seitdem wir sein GLYK-Label kennen, unter den Mitarbeitern von Kompakt. Laut eigenen Angaben genieße es DJ Balduin, Musik zu produzieren, die seine Zuhörer in den „Zustand der Hypnose versetzt und gleichzeitig mit gelegentlichen zarten Schlägen ins Gesicht wachhält“, was auf „Lost Cat“ – sein erstes Release auf Kompakt – auch geschieht.

„E.W.B.A“ kam DJ Balduin unter der Dusche, die Chancen stehen also hoch, dass wir hier eine Hymne für diejenigen Raves haben, die unter kräftigen Sommergewittern stattfinden werden – die richtigen Zutaten sind alle da: klassische Rave-Hooks, ansteckende Snaredrums, die hervorbrechen aus dem Bass.

Der Schlag der Bassdrum von „Sheee“ scheint zunächst bedrohlich, lernt aber überraschender Weise sich selbst zu wandeln hin zu einem prachtvoll verführerischen House-Stück. Die Geschichte endet mit dem aller besten letzten Stück: „Lost Cat And An Untied Show“ bringt den Beat zurück zusammen mit aufsteigenden Synths und einer verspielten, natürlichen Bassline, die einen Funken Funk hinzufügt, um die Dancer nach Hause zu begleiten in der Nacht.

Georgian artist Sophia Saze releases her debut two-part album 'Self' on Francis Harris' Kingdoms imprint, with part one dropping on cassette this June. "The record embodies my story of duality within the context of identity, insomuch as the idea that every person has a deeper layer we don't show on the surface."
Born in Tbilisi, Sophia Saze is the daughter of political refugees who's spent her life living in numerous different countries before eventually finding home in Brooklyn. Finding it difficult to find her own identity due to living a nomadic lifestyle, the classically trained musician became entangled with electronic music before becoming a key player within New York's nightlife scene and launching her Dusk & Haze imprint in 2017.
A reflection of her struggles throughout life, 'Self' is very much a memoir of the many different places she's lived during her journey, including Georgia, Russia, USA, France and Canada. Contrasting to her recent productions, which are geared more towards the dancefloor, her debut longplayer is downtempo and features a medley of musical influences - mixed in two parts and released as a concept album on cassette. Maintaining a sonically raw feel throughout, 'Self' draws the analogy of analog to modern day digital culture whilst also taking a stance against perfection, whether integrating the distance crackle of her machines or intentional off-beat piano notes in minor. Part One was conceived, for the most part, during a sleepless yet inspired 48-hour studio session. Processed field recordings accompany samples from her childhood, such as soviet cartoons and intimate VHS recordings of her family. The result is a well-seasoned and personal story portrayed in fourteen tracks mixed together.
"I feel the element of patience is somewhat of a lost commodity in our generation, particularly for albums. We're consumed by track to track interpretations and constantly searching for the next instant stimulation. With this record, I wanted to reiterate the idea that if you don't have the willingness to sit through the whole thing, then you're not stepping into it with the right mindset to begin with."
Every artist who collaborated on the record is handpicked, such as vocalist Ricardo Rivera. The final production was also mixed by Francis Harris himself. All of their involvement means they share a fragment of the concept.

Any historians keen on the subject of "French youth in the 1980s" are holding a treasure in their hands. As a true archaeologist of this decade dedicated to disposable culture, digger-in-chief Vidal Benjamin with his newest compilation, 'Pop Sympathie', offers them a unique journey in the heart of the cyclone of emotions that struck all teenagers during the first seven years of François Mitterrand's mandate. Fifteen musical nuggets, exhumed from the dungeons of history, each and every one of them teaching us about what really obsessed the youngsters at that exact moment, i.e. what happens when the city lights come on at dusk, when irrepressible urges that stir them to get lost even more appear until the end of the night.

The artists gathered here did not have the honour of breaking into the local charts, but they all individually reached for the sky. Each song of 'Pop Sympathie' tells more or less the same story: that of a girl who throws herself into the night like one immerses one's self into the void, who rushes into a one-night adventure to become a star. And too bad if in the early morning she finds herself back at square one. In all these miniature odysseys there is neon lights, lasers, smoke machines, broken glass on checkered tiles, strangers on leather benches, celebrities in the bathrooms, stolen kisses, alcohol, drugs and cigarettes, Polaroids, venetian blinds and radioactive tubes.

If the first opus of Vidal Benjamin, 'Disco Sympathie', focused on the funky mood of songs that could have been played at Le Palace, then 'Pop Sympathie' develops itself as the imaginary soundtrack of another nightclub, Les Bains-Douches, the capital’s epicenter of nocturnal drifts. So what do we listen to, blasé, at Bains-Douches? Mainly synthesizers. The child of punk and post punk, French New Wave celebrates the matrimony of machines and lolitas under the auspices of a retro trend that revisits the atomic age. Trying to surf on that wave and hit the charts, a bunch of producers (Stéphane Berlow, Laurent Stopnicki, Bernard "Black Devil" Fèvre, Johny Rech, Jean-Yves Joanny ...) will spot their talents amongst friends, in a travel agency or at the local bar. These virtual stars are called Cecilia, Laurent, Sonia, Janou, Fabienne, Anne, Arielle or Ronan, not even 20 years old, and often leaving just an overexposed photo and their first name on a single as the only memories of their swift passage in this particular musical story. It took all the love and sweet madness of Vidal Benjamin to bring them back in the light of day.

Clovis Goux

Aggelos Baltas is a veteran of the global electronic music scene, responsible for a handful of celebrated EBM 12”s as Dream Weapons, and a particularly heady and open-ended brand of krautrock as Fantastikoi Hxoi. His newest project, Anatolian Weapons, was conceived as a way to bring together these two seemingly mismatched concepts, with the polyrhythmic percussion and wailing tones of Greek folk music serving as their unlikely bonding agent. His output garners praise particularly around the Golden Pudel scene, such as Vladimir Ivkovic, and Phuong Dan. Lena Willikens, from the same circle, included Baltas’ track “Disillusioned” on her Dekmantel Selectors compilation in 2018.

But where much of what Baltas has released as Anatolian Weapons is instantly recognizable as dance music, To The Mother Of Gods—Baltas’ debut album for Beats In Space—is something else entirely. Created in tandem with Greek folk musician Seirios Savvaidis, it is a work of simultaneous collaboration and subtraction whose meticulous construction becomes more apparent with every listen. An album-length exploration of what happens when the principles of dance music are applied to pre-digital musical modalities. It is a record of psychedelic folk music that has more in common with Kikagaku Moyo, Minami Deutsch, and the Habibi Funk label than it does with anything else Baltas has produced under any alias. It’s difficult to imagine this music in any kind of club setting.

And yet, it’s very much the work of a DJ. Baltas initially heard Savvaidis’ music through a friend, and was absolutely amazed. “It was his very esoteric, pagan [music and] beautiful lyrics that grabbed me,” he writes. Seirios is a composer and performer of traditional Greek folk music with a growing discography of regional psych-rock gems. Baltas reached out to collaborate and the seeds of To The Mother Of Gods were sown.

Savvidis contributed stems of ten songs, which Baltas deconstructs and rearranges with appreciation of the ancestry of their lineage and of the deceptively ancient eerie, droning qualities inherent in the style. Occasionally augmenting Savvaidis’ recordings with his own, Baltas treats these elements as if raw materials for an architectural process.

To The Mother Of Gods showcases Baltas’ arrangement skills. He treats Savvaidis’ songs as landscapes, filling them with slanted, droning light and setting the singer’s vocals in dead center. His years behind the decks have given him an intuitive understanding of dynamics—drums crest and recede like tides, snippets of bassline repeat and swirl. He knows how to entrance, and when to push the music from the head to the body. Opener “Taratchi Katarratchi” (“Stormy Cataract”) is sung as a spell to ward off the fear of death, but Baltas’ orchestration demonstrates that dancing is an equally effective way of dispelling the darkness. The beat he assembles from Savvaidis’ playing recalls the late-night ecstasies of Primal Scream circa Screamadelica.

To The Mother Of Gods is a reminder that folk music and dance music are both powered by their audience as much as the musicians themselves. Savvaidis’ lyrics echo pagan Greek themes, touching on what Baltas calls “the magic of nature.” At times, as on “Kalesma” (“Invitation”), this can feel incantatory. Savvaidis chisels his vocal melodies into hard, clipped syllables, their cadence recalling Gregorian chant, and yet Baltas cloaks these details in washes of distortion. “Ston Stavraito” (“In Stavraithos”) is delivered with a lamentive tenderness that Baltas swells into a prideful stomp, immersing Savvaidis in marching drums and distant vocals that form a resilient protest-song. To The Mother Of Gods is a testament to the ongoing and innate truth that music can take us beyond ourselves. That repetition and drone can shepherd us to a liminal space beyond thought and rationality, where the wall between perception and reality does not exist. Call it spirit, if you want, and watch as it courses its way through modern-day dance music, mid-century psych, and the ancient sounds of the anatol.

Anatolian Weapons’ To The Mother Of Gods will be available from Beats In Space on June 14, 2019 in limited vinyl and unlimited digital forms.

Artist Highlights
• Aggelos Baltas is an Athenian music producer creating and Djing under the monikers of Anatolian Weapons, Fantastikoi Hxoi, and Dream Weapons.
• The Anatolian Weapons moniker is an outlet for Baltas to explore global music—from African to Anatolian and Middle Eastern, while also incorporating sounds from his home country of Greece.

ZamZam 72 comes from one of our favorite producers for the last few years, the elusive Andy Mac. Known in particular for his “Diving Bird” series, a buy-on-sight trilogy of 12”s on Bristol’s Idle Hands, the idiosyncratic producer also has releases on No Corner (in collaboration with Ossia), and the seminal Punch Drunk label. His unique style of chopped, techy, warm, pastoralist dubwise had us from the first, and the tunes he sent us flew through our A&R gauntlet with ease. His are records we return to again and again, revealing more subtlety with each listen, free from genre or tempo constraints.

“Dawner,” the first of two transmissions from Lands End, Cornwall, is a perfect encapsulation of the Andy Mac sound: melancholy yet uplifting, rooted in techno-steppers yet rough-hewn and organic, breezy yet piercingly introspective. Led by a staccato kick and insistent metallic snare, featuring a bubbling Hammond organ lead by Richard Blackbarrow of cult UK Rough Trade band “Bob,” this one shimmers with summer warmth, lens-flare refracting saturated side-light, made for dusk sessions and sunrise sets, preferably out of doors, far from any city.

Layered with field recordings of streams and sea, “Tawny Grammar” is an altogether deeper affair, a dark, hallucinatory journey into the power of repetition in a 140-ish style. Shaker, kick, and hi hat lay the foundation for a looping and loping Binghi drum and guitar chop that begin their journey hacking through a dense undergrowth of sound, only to find themselves ensnared in a web of backwards delays and psychotropic effects that suspend the unwary in a strange tension between minimal and claustrophobic… the dance’s dark beating heart.

7 track EP/mini album by L/F/D/M 's Richard Smith - ‘Dream Bleeds’ overflows with body jerking industrial, raw acid/techno, and hints of the warehouse sound of the late ‘90s and the caustic spirit of EBM.

Richard Smith says about ‘Dream Bleeds’, “attaching meaning to songs is often arbitrary but when the visceral feeling of music, particularly instrumental body music, is laid bare, the interaction is immediate and physical. These tracks thread together; each starting point completely open, each new step informed by the last. I find it interesting that the process is the same but the outcome somewhat unexpected; shaped by emotion, inspiration or even constraints of time, they evolve as they do in that time. They reach a different end point due to that evolution of circumstance.”

Mount Liberation Unlimited are Tom and Niklas, two Swedes from space who have spent the last 5 years

carving out a particularly vivid niche in contemporary electronic music. Their previous work has seen them

connect with an impressive list of global dance powerhouses: New York's Beats In Space, Melbourne's

Superconscious and Munich's Permanent Vacation have all released 12'' heat from the duo, while their

hometown buddies at Studio Barnhus provided an outlet for what has been perhaps their biggest and boldest

release yet, 2017's double smash single Double Dance Lover. Their live shows are fervent, fast-paced and very

multi-instrumental affairs, performed non-stop at an increasingly prestigious list of clubs and festivals, serving

as prime examples of the MLU boys' core obsession: the interaction of human rhythm and electronic pulse.

They have their own great little radio show on Gilles Peterson's Worldwide FM! Australia loves them! They

got their artist friend Tom-Hadar Elde to sculpt their heads for their debut album cover!

That self-titled debut, to be released May 31 on Studio Barnhus, has been in progress since the very formation

of the MLU project in 2014. It contains some of their earliest work and of course their very latest – all perfected

at the Neve desk of legendary Gothenburg studio Svenska Grammofonstudion, in cahoots with mix engineer

Christoffer Berg (Depeche Mode, Robyn, Fever Ray).

The result is a sonically fascinating, endlessly generous and straight up FUN record that takes the listener on a

joyride through bittersweet stoner disco, frenzied scando-kraut jams and some of the sweetest dance pop to

come out of Sweden this side of Super Trouper.

The record is preceded by a limited 10'' release of album track Climb Me Up, complete with an exclusive club

mix of the song.

smog’s music has been on a steady path towards monumentalism since emerging out of the recesses of Berlin in 2015.

Originally from Paris, growing up cutting his chops in the capital’s hip hop undergrowth, the young producer makes music that is as challenging as it is evocative. On “sequel’70” – his debut album – bass, techno, electroacoustic music and jungle are rung through his singular take on the hardcore continuum. The production is powerful, dynamic and geared to bulldoze the dance. It’s clear why the likes of Resident Advisor have tipped smog as an “important artist to watch” and why his tracks have been appearing in sets from artists of the calibre and creative range of Objekt, Donato Dozzy, Samuel Kerridge or Go Hiyama.

With his debut album, smog lays bare a world of start and stop mechanics. Tracks twist and turn through stuttering panoramas of crashing beats, majestic peaks and post-rave intensity. On its most moving moments the gorgeously burnt out cinematic pads of “Mécanique Oblique” are a particular highlight – “sequel’70” feels like coming up in the middle of an industrial wasteland. It’s almost as if the end of the world wasn’t such a terrible prospect after all.
Jungle architectures are pulled apart and reconstructed on “Gelid”, “Dazzle” and the phenomenal “Abschluss SCAN”. Souvenirs of gabber echo through heavy handed kicks and speaker defying noise blasts. IDM inflexions creep their way in opportunistically, but even at its most abstract – album midpoint “Straightforward” sounds like a geiger counter being set off – it all sounds more like the possibilities offered by the future of rave rather than an attempt at paying homage to the genre’s heritage.

There’s a special energy and irreverence to smog’s music and there’s deep reflection in how he connects the dots of the subfamilies of rave. His attention to sound design would almost be worth the trip alone, but the album remains superb even at its most disorderly.

Yo Falty why don't you do the old school shuffle anymore What happened, maaaaan OK, held this one back from 2011. All the garage and 2-step workouts I made were inspired by hours and hours of listening to Horsepower Productions, Zed Bias, El-B, Darqwan... I studied them. This tune in particular inspired by Benny Ill himself. Ill Bent was never released, I always held back some exclusives for my sets. No one had it. Benny Ill remixed the track in fine style, both Straight up and with a Fat Larry spin. We were talking, Benny and I, and he mentioned he used to live in Brooklyn. So he submitted Is It Safe, a tune he made while living not far from where I live now in NYC, to conclude the EP. Heavy! (note, the first letter in Benny's last name is a capitol 'i') Track A1 produced by FaltyDL

With 10 albums already to her name, Muriel Grossmann is well-placed to create more sonic waves in 2019. Taken from her mesmerising spiritual jazz LP 'Golden Rule', we have deep jazz, modal jazz, esoteric jazz, spiritual jazz; refined, intensified and concentrated into 2 whirlwind sides.


"Arresting, deeply moving spiritual jazz... it's deep"

"Muriel Grossmann... embraces the groundbreaking, exploratory jazz of Sun Ra and John Coltrane, gives a very respectful nod to fellow contemporaries Nat Birchall and Shabaka Hutchings, and immerses itself in a swirl of transcendental expression" - UK Vibe

" Recommended, particularly for listeners who are ready explore sounds beyond straight ahead jazz or those comfortable with more esoteric jazz sounds." - The Vinyl Press

A journey that has flourished from Florence, Italy to the UK capital of London via Ibiza, Italian duo Neverdogs’ ascent and journey into the global spotlight is one deeply rooted in talent and passion. As a duo, Tommy Paone and Marco De Gregorio have gone on to release material on the likes of Roush and Deeperfect, played at renowned festivals such as The BPM Festival, and made regular appearances at Marco Carola’s highly-coveted Music On where they have been core residents since 2013. Having founded Bamboleo Records earlier this year, the label’s third release will see the arrival of the duo’s most diverse work to date as they reveal their debut album: ‘Details’.

“We always wanted to prepare an album that would represent us. Besides having twenty years of experience, musical and artistic backgrounds we have been studying for months, listening to old vinyl records from our collection, paying attention to the work of other artists from the industry whilst taking inspiration from 80's bands such as Yazoo and Depeche Mode, and from the contemporary underground and pop worlds. This allowed us to understand what direction to take when creating our own sound. All the sounds of our tracks are made with analogue instrumentation.

We decided to call our first album ‘Details’ as it encapsulates what this series is all about. We were paying particular attention to the details whilst creating all the tracks. We collaborated with the musician Davide Ruberto aka Fortyseven and the singer Spencer Kennedy, son of the former drummer of Imagination (English band from the 80's). We are also working on an Album Tour which will be released following this one.” - Neverdogs

First up on this limited album sampler, ‘Details’, drives right into the trademark Neverdogs sound as the duo weave together precise drum patterns effortlessly with rumbling sub bass. Next, the stripped back ‘Dance Moves’ couples elastic synthlines and galactic glitches with panning sweeps and crisp hats.

The flip side delves deeper, as ‘Duck From Mars’ reveals slick organic percussion arrangements and bubbling lead lines, whilst ‘Volca’ ups the tempo and edges towards the peak time, a flow fans of the pairing will be familiar with, as perfectly demonstrated year in year out when playing on Amnesia’s iconic terrace.

In 2017 Blair French came out of hibernation to release contrasting but similarly sun-kissed EPs on Rocksteady Disco and Claremont 56.

Here, he returns to action with a scintillatingly sunny and sensual six-tracker on NuNorthern Soul that may well be his strongest release to date.

Given French's chameleon-like musical history, that's certainly a bold claim.
Over the years, he's been a member of a multitude of musical collectives - most notably Cosmic Handshakes and Formless Figures - established his own DIY record label (Fat Finger Cosmic) and released music that touches on a dizzying array of styles, from award-winning movie soundtracks and Afro-fired deep house, to skewed techno, blissful ambience and experimental hip-hop.

On Patio Pastel, French is in full on sand-between-the-toes Balearic mood, delivering a range of lucid, ear-pleasing compositions that will sashay their way into your consciousness.
Contrast, for example, the drowsy organs, glistening pedal steel and undulating hand percussion of opener 'Patio Pastel' with the Serge Gainsbourg style chanson-goes-tropical bliss of 'La Playa De Tercipelo', which features some deliciously breathy vocals from Stephanie Lyon.

Then there's 'Morning Sail', a sumptuously evocative soundscape rich in toasty, dub disco bass, shuffling percussion and lilting, Jonny Nash style guitar solos (see also the effortlessly horizontal Lounsbury Gardens'), and the kaleidoscopic, saucer-eyed Balearic pop brilliance of ;'Human Make Human', where new age synthesizer melodies and the fuzzy vocal refrain of Kasi Seguin gentle dances above an Afro-flecked, mid-tempo groove.

Throughout the EP, French mixes electronic and acoustic instrumentation, drawing together musical elements from a myriad of styles to create sumptuous new fusions.
It's particularly evident on superb closer 'Belle Isle Sunsets', where colourful synth motifs, eyes-closed guitar riffs and Mediterranean-warm chords wrap themselves around a gently pulsating, impressively layered groove.
Like the rest of the EP, it's perfectly pitched, expertly executed and wonderfully atmospheric.

See Through is a new collaboration between Aidan Baker (Nadja), Faith Coloccia (Mamiffer, Mara, Sige Records) and renowned percussionist Jon Mueller.

The project was brought to life through Baker exploring textural rhythms created by sampling small, sharp and abrupt sounds on the electric guitar and then sequencing them in a drum machine to form the bedrock of the tracks. Mueller then added his particular, signature brand of intricate, hypnotic percussion to the mix and the compositions began to grow and take shape. The pair agreed that the pieces needed a more human touch and Coloccia was invited onboard, contributing processed vocals via looping, tape manipulation and microphone feedback.

The result is an other-worldly record that seamlessly flows from beginning to end, immersing the listener in waves of ambient movements and soporific beats. There is a trance-inducing aspect to this work, deserving to be consumed in one sitting and allowed to manifest itself for the duration. The trio have crafted a piece of work that stands up to the quality and integrity of their combined back catalogues and indeed adds something completely new for fans to discover and devour.

Considering He Was A Self Taught Pianist, Brian Auger's Progress Into The Heart Of The British Modern Jazz Scene Of The Late 1950's And Early 60's Was Particularly Impressive. He Gained Invaluable Experience The Hard Way, Paying His Dues At The Cottage Club, And The Original Ronnie Scotts On Gerrard Street, Working With Renowned Saxophonists Tommy Whittle, Dick Morrisey And Jimmy Skidmore - And Sessions In Smoky East End Pubs With His Friend, Arguably Britain's Greatest Jazz Saxophonist Tubby Hayes.

The Inclusion Of Several Of His Rare, Early 60's Piano Trio Tracks On Both Volumes Of 'back To The Beginning - The Brian Auger Anthology' Brought Long Overdue Attention To Brian's Early Jazz Career, Which Many Were Simply Unaware Of Prior To Their Release. The Enthusiastic Reaction To Those Tracks That Stuck In Brian's Mind, And Later, Fate Intervened, As He Himself Explains, "a Couple Of Years Later, Ken Greene, The Music Director Of Bogie's, Called And Told Me That He Was Starting A Project, To Whit, A Week At Bogie's With A Different Jazz Piano Trio Each Night".

The Material Brian Decided To Play Features Tracks From A Selection Of His Musical Influences, Heroes And Friends Including 'chelsea Bridge' By One Of His Favourite Composers, The Great Billy Strayhorn, Freddie Hubbard's Ever Green 'little Sunflower', The Much Loved Standard 'there Is No Greater Love' Which Brian Used To Play In His Original Early 60's Piano Trio, And His Own Composition Victor's Delight He Wrote A Tribute To The Great English Jazz Musician Victor Feldman Who He First Discovered Via His Tenure With The Cannonball Adderley Quintet.

Surprisingly, This Is Brian's Very First Jazz Piano Album Of His Illustrious And Award Winning Career, And Marks A Return To The Instrument And The Music That First Entranced And Enthralled Him As A Young Boy. His Musical Journey, Which Began In Austere Post War London, And On Which He Absorbed So Many Varied Styles Of Music, And Literally Took Him Around The World, Enrapturing Audiences Worldwide, Has Indeed Come Full Circle.

Daughters Of The Sun's singer / guitarist Nick Koenigs has been toiling solo as Filthy Huns for a couple quiet years at this point, layering grease-stained drum machines with badlands guitar, mirage keys, and desolate vocals, alternately broke-down and road-burned. His debut is a dusty midnight ride through black hills. “Watch Of The Bear” in particular captures a loner-in-leather mood, headlight off, pushing 70, chasing the horizon under a sea of stars. Elsewhere there's woozy, hungover dub (“Hot Morning”), peyote campfire awakening (“Infinite Ride”) and stoned sunshine raga (“Out Of The Grave"). Barren times on the highway, through darkening deserts.

serenitatem, the fifteenth installment of FRKWYS, RVNG Intl.'s collaboration series pairing intergenerational artists in creative conversation, joins Visible Cloaks with Yoshio Ojima and Satsuki Shibano, two trailblazers of the Japanese avantgarde music and visual arts scenes of the 1980s and 90s.

Yoshio Ojima began his career as a composer of environmental and ambient music, with a particular interest, and optimism, in the possibilities of generative software. His compositional pursuit of human synthesis with computerized forms was realized in its fullest potential alongside Satsuki Shibano, a pianist renowned for her interpretations of Erik Satie and Claude Debussy. Together, they were among a handful of influential Japanese artists whose innovations still resonate, if not more vibrantly than ever, well beyond the tightly-knit scene's original core. In the early 90s, Ojima was among the programmers of the influential satellite radio experiment St. Giga, a constantly-evolving sonic landscape that combined field recordings and sound collage with occasional readings of Japanese poetry. Satsuki was a regular reader for the station. This musical terrarium bloomed out of sight in a small Tokyo studio, a greenhouse of sound with no set start or finish time that audiences could tune into, absorb, and immerse.

The perpetual flow state of St. Giga — recordings of which Ojima shared with Visible Cloaks — would be highly influential to serenitatem's constitution. As Visible Cloaks, the Portland, Oregon duo of Spencer Doran and Ryan Carlile have developed their own set of creative strategies that form an aesthetic fuse point between human intention, aleatoric composition, and improvisation.

These are notions most recently reflected in 2017's Reassemblage and Lex, a respective album and EP in which the duo combined generative software and virtual representations of global instruments into lacy, interlocking patterns. Long time admirers of Ojima's work on albums like 1988's Une Collection Des Chainons, Doran and Carlile discovered after an online introduction that they shared with Yoshio and Satsuki an abiding interest in pre-classical composers, the Lovely Music, Ltd. label, and the British avant-garde, as well as a mutual respect for one another's techniques and processes.

The four musicians met in Tokyo, Japan at Sounduno Studios in December 2017, at the tail end of Visible Cloaks' first Japanese tour, to commence work on serenitatem. Leading up to the studio sessions, Doran and Carlile sent Ojima processed sound sketches recorded while on a European tour, which Yoshio would add to and return. Visible Cloaks would then fold Yoshio's edits back into the original compositions, which Doran and Carlile brought to the exploratory recording session. During that week together in Tokyo, the quartet made use of a number of creative strategies — 'echoing sound together,' as Yoshio puts it. Among the strategies, MIDI randomization gave the quartet melodic lines and what Doran calls 'randomized clouds,' or 'tightly grouped notes that become smeared tonal clusters functioning more like chords in themselves.' Carlile would also feed Ojima and Satsuki's text into Wotja, a generative music software which produced a MIDI language around which the quartet expanded their compositions.

'The aim,' Doran says of serenitatem, 'was to make a work that was not specifically ambient (or environmental), but something more multi-hued, weaving these deconstructive concepts into an album that has a deeper architecture underpinning it.' Accordingly, serenitatem is a marvelously sharp record, its sutures between human and machine virtually impossible to find but suggested everywhere you turn. The collaboration among Ojima, Satsuki, and Visible Cloaks is both musically and conceptually inseparable from the technology that made it possible. Throughout the album, Shibano's playing resonates like Satie's, her rhythms cascading like drops from leaves an hour after the rain. Overtones are stretched and warped like modeling clay, then spun around and shown off from multiple angles.

A single soaring note might seem to be suddenly plunged underwater, its richness of sound made shallow and its sharp edges blunted. Pittering chimes and rapidly warping vocal samples hang in the luxuriously glossy space, water trickles from ear-toear, familiar melodies rise from nothing and dissolve before they can be traced. With the depth of its emotional charge, serenitatem burns away the easy cynicism of the day, presenting itself as the kind of delocalized work of art the internet promised us decades ago — a synthesis of artistic visions, technological sophistication, futurist ambition, and, occasionally, ancient polyphony. Listening to it can feel a bit like tuning in to a 21st Century version of St. Giga: It's a place where the future still grows.

Visible Cloaks, Yoshio Ojima, and Satsuki Shibano's serenitatem, FRKWYS Vol. 15, will be available across LP, CD, and digital formats on April 5, 2019. The quartet will perform select live shows throughout 2019.

As part of their 20th Anniversary celebrations, Strut present the first new volume in their pioneering 'Nigeria 70' series for over 8 years, bringing together rare highlife, Afro-funk and juju from the '70s and early '80s. Compiled by collector and DJ Duncan Brooker, this new selection of tracks is receiving its first international release outside of Nigeria.

The compilation returns to a fertile heyday in Nigerian music when established styles like highlife and juju became infused with elements of Western jazz, soul and funk and musicians brought a proud new message post-independence. Brooker places the spotlight particularly on some of the incredible Ukwuani musicians from the Delta State region as guitarist Rogana Ottah and Steady Arobby's International Brothers Band forged their own fluid brand of highlife and soulman Don Bruce drew on the US R&B greats for a series of great albums and explosive stage shows at his residency at Hilton Hotel in Abuja.

Elsewhere, the album explores the close connection between Nigeria and Benin's music, most famously through Sir Victor Uwaifo, appearing here with a killer mid'80s ekassa jam, as well as highlife hitmaker Osayamore Joseph on 'Obonogbozu' (Joseph made headlines in Nigeria for very different reasons in 2017, surviving a one month kidnapping ordeal).

Other tracks include 'Sickness' a 1979 lament on how all countries share troubles by Prince Nico Mbarga, the Nigerian / Camerounian star behind the smash hit 'Sweet Mother'; reggae singer Felixson Ngasia switches to funk and disco for a heavy workout with potent lyrics around black identity; another major highlife great Etubom Rex Williams unleashes a punchy psych funk gem with 'Psychedelic Shoes' and Africa 70 member Pax Nicholas vocals a simmering Afrobeat groove from Jacob Lee's Saxon Lee & The Shadows International Band.

'Nigeria 70: No Wahala' iis released on 29th March 2019 on CD, 2LP and digital. All tracks have been restored by See Why Audio and mastered by The Carvery. The package features comprehensive sleeve notes including exclusive interviews with some of the original artists.