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Fresh out of Skudge HQ, we witness a return to home base after a few releases on other labels.

Coming back in strong form, SKUDGE 015 opens with "Corrosion", pulsing around at 143 BPM and accompanied by warm synth work.



Steadily pacing on, A2 brings us "Source", which captures a haunting vibe with a funky twist. A tune that echoes memories of the past but framed in the zeitgeist.

Flipping over to "Code", we're instantly thrown into a tension-ridden force, built from compact and steady sonic machinery.



Finally, "Distressed" provides the counterweight, keeping the pace and rhythm steady with sharp sonic directions, revealing itself as a hidden peak-time monster disguised as a closing track.

The combination of Todd Terry and Hard Times is synonymous in the world of House Music. The legendary DJ/Producer, a true pioneer of the genre, was among the first US artists to play at the intimate, vibrant gatherings in the North of the UK in the early ‘90s. Forever linked by "A Night In The Life," the live mix released in 1995 that set a new benchmark for mix-tapes, it is a collaboration that has continually blossomed, forging a bond that remains strong over 30 years later.

1995 also saw Todd Terry make his first impact on the label with the seminal club smash "Bounce To The Beat." Following his chart breakthrough with 'Can You Party’ in ‘88, the legendary 'The Unreleased Project’ series, which spawned club hits such as “Jumpin’”, and just a few months ahead of topping the charts with his remix of Everything But The Girl’s ‘Missing’, label boss Steve Raine seized the perfect moment to bring his friend on
board at Hard Times Records with the signing of Bounce To The Beat. "I can still remember pressing play, hearing those beats for the very first time and thinking we had big track on our hands" says Raine. "It was our second release on the label, but it would be the track that firmly placed us at the forefront of the scene, both here in the UK and globally."

Hard Times & Todd Terry now revive 'Bounce To The Beat' with a 2024 reimagining, featuring two of house music’s most exciting young stars, delivering two powerful remixes that promise to dominate dancefloors this summer and beyond.

Dutch producer and Up The Stuss label head, Chris Stussy, takes the track on a '90s- inspired journey, blending progressive strings, high-energy bassline and original vocal, for an exhilarating ride. "I remember discovering Todd’s productions back in the days when I started to dig for that 90’s sound. He’s one of the artists that inspired me massively. He has proven that he owns the art of making timeless music as his productions are still being played till this day all across the globe. To be remixing ‘Bounce To The Beat’ is something special for me personally and I tried to give it a 90’s touch with a modern twist." says Chris.

London’s own Dan Shake offers a fresh twist with a 2Step-inspired remix, featuring an Armand-esque bassline that pulsates and evolves, building to an epic crescendo that is set to ignite mass hysteria on the dancefloor.

"Bounce To The Beat was actually one of the first records I bought when I started collecting house music. So to come back 15 years later and remix this iconic track for the legendary label Hard Times was both surreal and very, very fun," shares Dan.

Two exemplary reworks of Todd Terry presents Sound Design’s 'Bounce To The Beat'. For Vinyl and Digital release on Hard Times alongside the Original and ‘Tee’s Freeze Mix.’

Have you noticed that Western music emphasises linear time? Melody is a continuous sequence of sounds. Harmony and rhythm follow a progression from beginning through climax and resolution. Is it possible to have an art that is based on non-linear time? Can we even experience non-linear time? Efrain Rozas' Still posed this question in the form of an installation made for quadraphonic sound, architecture and light. A document of his installation at Queenslab--part of a one-month residency with The Kitchen, New York City in April 2021--the album is a live, stereo room recording of Still as it was presented over three one-hour viewings. Efrain Rozas is a Peruvian interdisciplinary artist working with Latin American music, robotics, sculpture and installation. He holds a PhD in composition and ethnomusicology from New York University, and is a 2023-2024 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow. He has published Fusi?n: a soundtrack for Peru, a publication, video documentary, and music compilation; and has released several albums internationally via Names You can Trust, the Ethnomusicology Institute of Peru, the Embassy of Spain and Buh Records.

2025 Transparant Magenta vinyl

Our personal mental health worker Reedale Rise is serving us his sweet medical blend of high hanging fruits. Making sure to keep La Familia Frustrada from going insane..

At a time when Hawaiians were reclaiming their language and most new music was written in Hawaiian, Teresa boldly revisited the largely forgotten hapa-haole style - Hawaiian-themed songs in English that once dominated American radio in the early 20th century.

From her earliest work in the 1980s, she treated the genre as serious art, not nostalgia, reviving classics like “My Little Grass Shack,” “Sadie, The South Seas Lady,” and her own modern hit “Uwehe, ‘Ami, and Slide,” which won Song of the Year at the 1988 Na Hoku Hanohano Awards. Her voice brought sophistication and sensuality to songs once considered dated, giving them new life.

With Tropic Rhapsody (2008), created alongside arranger Kit Ebersbach, she perfected that vision. Blending Hawaiian warmth with jazz and Latin rhythms, the album moved gracefully from the shimmering “Lei of Stars” to the lively “Pagan Love Song” and the tender closing of “Aloha ‘Oe.”

In an era dominated by Hawaiian-language releases, Teresa’s decision to make a primarily English-language album was both confident and heartfelt. Tropic Rhapsody remains a modern classic - elegant, adventurous, and unmistakably Hawaiian, just like Teresa herself.

ULURU is a large sandstone rock formation in Australia. It's sacred to the Anangu, the local Indigenous of the area. For many years it had been deprived of its spiritual significance, due to mass tourism, capitalism, as well as greedy and selfishness of people who just want to make money out of it. However, as a result of the Anangu’s resilience, care and staunchness, huge changes took place in the national park around Uluru as well as in the broader public's consciousness, giving again to the Uluru the sacred identity that had been lost.

You might be reading and thinking now: so what's the point? Actually, there's no real point. I would rather say, there’s hope. The hope of seeing humans all around the world following the example of the Anangu. The hope of seeing humans finally stopping to treat the earth and all what’s part of it, what’s on and what’s in it, as a slave without soul. The hope of changing today, and if not today at latest by tomorrow. This system is failing. It's no longer sustainable, and there's no much time left.

So everybody, don't sleep, be critical.

Felix Kubin's Der Tanz Aller is an energetic, rhythmically charged soundtrack created for the performance of the same title by the experimental arts collective LIGNA. The group specialized in site-specific, participatory works. Der Tanz Aller is based on Rudolf von Laban's radical 1920s concept of 'Bewegungschoere' (movement choirs), collective dances in public space that aimed to reimagine social order through shared movement. Combining minimal electronics, acoustic percussion, and brass, Kubin's compositions reflect both the experimental spirit of Laban and the political charge of mass choreography, inviting listeners to become dancers themselves.

Futura Resistenza is pleased to present the latest release from the prolific, restlessly creative composer-performer Anthony Pateras, two side-long pieces - one performed by Callum G'Froerer on double-bell trumpet, the other sung by Clara La Licata - in which soloists are accompanied by numerous pre-recorded tracks of their own instrument or voice, creating acoustic halls of mirrors where the distinction between live performer and recorded accompaniment becomes difficult to perceive. Palimpsest Geometry (2020) for double-bell trumpet & tape works with rapidly pulsed single trumpet notes, at brisk tempos that hover at the perceptual threshold between rhythm and tremolo. The interaction between different rates of pulse produces skittering echoes, as if G'Froerer's layers of trumpets were really a single sound bouncing around the sonic space. There Is A Danger Only Our Mistakes Are New (2021) for voice & tape goes to work on a see-sawing two-note melodic cell, insistently transposed and transposed again, hummed or sung with open vowels, contracting to a semitone and expanding to a minor third. More than anything in the canon of Western art music, the piece calls up the criss-crossing repeated figures of Inuit vocal games or the interlocking repetitions of Banda-Linda music, where rhythmic and harmonic displacements of repeated motifs fuse together individual parts into the illusion of an impossibly rich and multi-faceted unitary sonic organism. Essentially homogeneous in texture yet built up from constantly changing details, broadly static yet always moving and shifting, these pieces exemplify Pateras' recent work while also pushing it into a new, strikingly immediate direction. Here, form grows organically out of the material itself; the results are sparkling, immersive, and quietly uncompromising. (Francis Plagne)

Diagonal celebrates 13 years in business via a 4 x 12" run featuring label stalwarts and influential collaborators. This is LP3, the second in the series. Like LP 1 & 2 before it, this 12" comes with a coloured, elastic H band. All four LPs will be accompanied by these meaning customers can combine the records and complete their own 4 x 12" set!

Jim O' Rourke leads the line on plate 3 with 'ror bypass', a gripping, mediative blend of modular enhanced percussion and field recordings. Kae Tempest and Powell unite to offer up uneasy, restless poetry. Simon Pomery, an early label regular via his Blood Music project, delivers 12 minutes of epic psychedelic immersion and Sote closes out proceedings with "Ataraxy", an extreme computer music masterclass.

It's taken over two decades, but at last, the wait is over: Sevan Mater has unleashed the first- ever vinyl pressing of Live Damage , the iconic live performance by DARK TRANQUILLITY, captured during their "Damage Done" era. Pressed on Gold and Black swirl vinyl, limited to just 500 copies, and housed in a stunning gatefold cover, this reissue is nothing short of melodic death metal heaven. Originally released in 2003 as a DVD, Live Damage immortalized one of DT 's most intense and electric live shows - recorded in Krakow, Poland. Now, for the first time ever, that raw energy, that iconic Swedish aggression, and that perfectly balanced blend of melody and brutality has been etched into vinyl grooves for audiophiles and collectors alike. From the soaring leads of The Treason Wall to the punishing drive of Final Resistance, every track explodes with clarity and presence on wax.

The vinyl mastering brings new warmth and immediacy to the performance, giving fans the closest thing to being there, without the sweat and flying beer. And the packaging? Absolutely elite. Sevan Mater delivers a luxurious gatefold, featuring rare tour photos, liner notes, and an aesthetic drenched in cold, melancholic elegance. If you're a fan of At The Gates, In Flames, or if Damage Done was the soundtrack to your early 2000s fury, this release is a must-own. More than just a live album - it's a time capsule of melodic death metal at its peak.

Fantastisches Album mit 12 Liedern der Begena-Musiker Tafese Tesfaye, Admassu Fikre, Seyoum Mengistu und Alemu Aga. ""Die Begena ist eines jener seltenen Musikinstrumente, das seit über 5800 Jahren existiert. Faszinierend an ihr ist nicht nur ihr Alter, sondern auch die Tatsache, dass sich ihre Herstellung und ihr Verwendungszweck über all die Jahre hinweg nicht verändert haben. ... Während des Derg-Regimes, nach dem Sturz von Kaiser Haile Selassie, wurde sie nicht mehr als wichtig erachtet. ... Aber besonders in den letzten 15-16 Jahren hat es eine Renaissance erlebt. Es gibt viele, meist junge Begena-Spieler, von denen ich über 500 Schüler unterrichtet habe. Es gibt auch Begena-Bauer, die das Instrument für neue Schüler bauen. Das Interessante an diesem Instrument ist, dass die Musik, der Klang, der aus diesem Instrument kommt, die besondere Kraft hat, Menschen zur Konzentration, zur Ruhe und zum Nachdenken zu bewegen. Das ist eine besondere Qualität. Man muss kein Äthiopier sein, jeder kann es hören, es wird ihn automatisch zur Ruhe und Konzentration anregen."" – Alemu Aga (aus einem Interview mit Pit Budde für den WDR, Köln, 2008)

'The World in Air Quotes' is a genre-shifting style-melting kaleidoscope of art-rock, jazz, techno, folk & industrial. The God In Hackney sound like very little else from the early 2020's and whilst 'The World In Air Quotes' innovative progenitors are manifold - Eno, Coil, The Durutti Column, 1980s ECM jazz to name a few - it sounds beholden to none of them.

The God In Hackney's first album 'Cave Moderne' was Andrew Weatherall's album of the year for NTS Radio.

The God In Hackney's second LP, 'Small Country Eclipse', was album of 2020 for critic Sukhdev Sandhu of The Colloquium for Unpopular Culture: "Mordant music: stuttering, dread, black humour. A record that felt truly independent, beholden to no genre, out of step with all centres and signposted nodes."


'The World In Air Quotes' is The God In Hackney's 3rd album and their most musically emotive and lyrically inventive to date. It's an album that resonates with feelings about climate change, isolation, extinction, the social impact of technology, the flattening of history—and illuminates the darkness with imaginative rhythm, melody, noise & poetry. Songs range from widescreen, anthemic rock, to strange intricately arranged jazz-influenced songs, to abstract, textural electronic pieces. There's a strain of dark and surreal comedy too that runs through the lyrics and some of the choices the band makes in their sounds and arrangements.

The core God in Hackney quartet of Andy Cooke, Dan Fox, Ashley Marlowe and Nathaniel Mellors has expanded to include American multi-instrumentalists and composers Eve Essex (Eve Essex & The Fabulous Truth, Das Audit, Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra, Peter Zummo, Liturgy) and Kelly Pratt (Father John Misty, David Byrne/St Vincent, Beirut, and Lonnie Holley among many others), signalling a new and ambitious direction for the band.

The album cover features original artwork by Iranian-American artist Tala Madani, recently the subject of a career survey exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

Advertising:

The Wire, Maggot Brain

Reviews & features:

Maggot Brain - forthcoming feature

Hi-Fi+ Magazine - album review in April 2023 issue

Dereck Higgins (You Tube review)

Sonosphere - interview / feature

Weirdo Shrine - interview

It's Psychedelic Baby - interview

Spettacolo (Italy) - feature.

Ghettoblaster Magtazine (USA) - feature

Airplay:

Gilles Peterson - BBC Radio 6 Music

Steve Lamacq - BBC Radio 6 Music

Dublab - playlisted & featured in Dublab Recommends (Los Angeles)

Cian Ó Cíobháin - RTE Raidió na Gaeltachta (Ireland)

WFMU - playlisted

Resonance FM - The Wire presents Adventures In Sound & Music

Human Pleasure Radio (New Zealand)

Pete Wiggs & James Papademetie - The Seance (Repeater Radio, Sine FM & others)

Peter Hollo's Utility Fog - FBI Radio (Australia)

Jonathan Lethem & Sam Sousa on Radio Free Aftermath (KSP Claremont 88.7)

Life Elsewhere

WRPB Princeton

In Memory of John Peel

Mike Watt's Watt from Pedro Show

'Triple Pocket Napkin Fold' brings together the work of 12 artists, poets, musicians and theatre makers, facilitated by GHOST, a DIY nomadic platform working between Rotterdam, NL, and Marseille, FR.

In 1975, Michael moved from Tucson to Los Angeles to study with Emilie Conrad at the Continuum Studio. Emilie had ‘live’ music for her ‘movement meditation’ classes, and Michael began performing with Fred Stofflet, Gary David, and Don Preston. Ancient Leaves (25:43) was Michael’s first album, recorded in 1976/77 with a Mini Moog synthesizer and a Finish lap harp (Kantele) onto 4 track tape. To the other instruments, Michael added Emilie chanting, an ascending choir with Susan Harper and Linda Olsen vocalists, Gregorian Chants and a night ambience recorded in the desert outside of Tucson, Arizona, his hometown. It was initially released on LP and cassette. The ‘B’ side, Elysian E (23:13) was performed with an Arp String Ensemble played through an MXR digital delay, one of the first, then slowed to half speed. To this he added Moog and EML synthesizers, The Beam and his voice.

Rich musical history of Yugoslavia reveals a long-lasting love for the music of Latin America.
Entwined in Afro-Cuban rhythms, ballrooms were shakin', swayin' and swingin', gathering musicians who were heavily into jazz bands and orchestras, most notably in Ljubljana, Zagreb, and Belgrade. Jazz could be heard on the streets of Split way back in 1919 when dancing became a symbol of freedom. Radio was the most loved household item, newest sheet music was in demand and collecting records was hip like today. In the aftermath of Second World War, jazz went underground but little by little, things changed and Ella, Satchmo, Dizzy and Miles came to visit, among others. Music festivals shaped the music for entertainment and variety of popular styles showed influences from all over the world. In the early sixties, one particular rhythm crashed on the coast of the Adriatic Sea: the rhythm of bossa nova!

In the whirlwind of various musical styles, Latin American music still played important part of the scene in the early sixties Yugoslavia. Beguine, tango, rhumba, samba, calypso, mambo and cha-cha-cha all found their place on the festivals inspired by famous Sanremo, festival of Italian popular song that largely shaped the musical taste of Europe. It was the era of instrumental rock, R & B and rock'n'roll - sounds of "imperialist America" now played freely on imported and hand-made electric guitars. While dancing halls had been turning into concert venues, bossa nova has come! Eydie Gorme with Blame It on the Bossa Nova and Paul Anka with Eso Besso (That Kiss!) tried to make us learn some new dance moves but it was Joao Gilberto's gentle singing and his new way of playing samba songs, along with Tom Jobim's modern dissonant harmonies and poetry of Vinicius de Moraes that created the magic. When American alto saxophonist and flautist Bud Shank visited Zagreb and Ljubljana in 1963 (with Boško Petrović in his quintet) "it was the first time we heard bossa nova!" remembers Stjepan Braco Fučkar. Jugoton, the biggest record company in Yugoslavia, released 4-track EP Bossa Nova by Bogdan Dimitrijević and his ensemble that same year! While not being fully accepted or understood completely, the archives of Jugoton reveal to us various interpretations of this new trend from their vast catalogue.

‘Butter’ is 10-tracks of intricately crafted modern soul from CHERISE and testament to CHERISE’s ability for creating gorgeous, honeyed Wonky Soul that’s the perfect soundtrack for chilled evenings in company of Steve Lacy, Moses Sumney, and Tierra Whack.

Showcasing CHERISE’s passion for collaboration, the project features rising artists Frida Touray and Meduulla and follows CHERISE’s acclaimed debut album ‘Calling’ - a sonic homage to her elders who journeyed to England as part of the Windrush generation.

A truly multi-faceted artist, CHERISE is fast proving herself to be one of the most fiercely talented young musicians in the UK. Her effortless, irresistible vocals, alongside her honest, soulful songwriting manage to be simultaneously both contemporary and timeless. In everything, she’s guided by knowing who she came from, who she is, and what she has to say. Now with ‘Butter’, CHERISE embraces her impulses and redefines what it means to be a modern day Soul artist.

Deep, fragile, rhythmic, dubby and funny - the album Tremor by Silva is a collaboration between Moa Franzen, artist and performer, and Magnus Dahl, artist and music producer. With clarinet as the leading instrument, backed by cello, synths and drum machines, they build a world at the intersection of different genres, influenced by dance music, jazz and ambient.

Vor 25 Jahren: Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes ist das einflussreiche dritte Studioalbum der kanadischen Punkband Propagandhi, das 2001 auf ihrem Label G7 Welcoming Committee Records (und außerhalb Kanadas bei Fat Wreck Chords) veröffentlicht wurde. Es zeichnet sich durch schnellen, politisch aufgeladenen, metallischen Punk mit kraftvollen Texten und Riffs aus und wurde 2021 zum 20-jährigen Jubiläum überarbeitet (Remaster, neuer Mix). Seit 2021 als CD erhältlich, jetzt wieder auf schwarzem und farbigem Vinyl. Eine der besten politischen Punkbands seit den 90ern! 14 Tracks (plus 4 Bonustracks auf CD) mit nachhallenden Donner auf einem umwerfenden Album! Wissen ist Macht. Seid bereit.

***
It is all ash
and dry leaves
and grief gone.
We are the hunted.
***

Itay Dailes & Eran Ben-Zeev A collaborative EP between veteran producer Itay Dailes and label owner Eran Ben-Zeev.
Two sides, two visions — one spirit. A nod to ’90s traditions, each track offers its own distinct flavor, ranging from deep, dub-infused minimalism to warm analog grooves. A versatile release for selectors who value subtle contrasts and timeless dancefloor tools. Higher State Minimal deep house with a hypnotic pull. Built on warm, dubby pads and a rolling, understated groove, *Higher State* draws the listener into a meditative zone — subtle, emotional, and deeply immersive. Dub Rounds A deep, edgy minimal cut powered by a rolling bassline. Vocal fragments weave in and out, while jazzy chords add a dreamy, soulful lift to the groove. Unicorns Can’t Fly A lush, emotive journey of floating grooves, warm pads, and delicate textures. Designed for late-night introspection while keeping the pulse alive on the dancefloor — equal parts body and soul. Jupiter 1 Diving deeper into raw analog territory, Jupiter 1 pairs a rolling bassline with smooth acid contours. Stripped-back percussion channels early ’90s energy, perfect for long sets and locked-in moments.

ECHOES OF SOUL FEAT. SHELLY NELSON — “MY PEOPLE / THE ONE THING” The debut release from Boogie Back Dance — the new spin-off label of Boogie Back Records — delivers a deep and heartfelt journey through rhythm and soul. “Echoes of Soul” brings together the warmth of classic street soul with the energy of soulful house and the groove of neo boogie.

Side A, “My People,” is a dancefloor statement — a call to unity and movement, blending lush keys, vibrant basslines, and uplifting vocals that honor the spirit of community and togetherness.

Side B, “The One Thing,” dives deeper into the groove — a smooth, late-night cut layered with emotion, subtle percussion, and timeless soul sensibilities. With BBD001, Boogie Back Dance sets the tone for a new era of soulful club music — one rooted in authenticity, crafted for the heads and the heart alike.

Oracle, 1993 aufgenommen und ursprünglich 1994 veröffentlicht, dokumentiert das erste Duo-Aufeinandertreffen
zweier ECM-Legenden: des Kontrabassisten Gary Peacock und Ralph Towner an klassischer und zwölfsaitiger Gitarre (eine weitere Session folgte 1998 mit A Closer View). Wie das Magazin Gramophone damals
feststellte, erzeugen Peacock und Towner auf dem Album eine „intellektuelle Intensität“, die „verführerisch
schön anzuhören“ sei. Bei der Auseinandersetzung mit den eigenen Stücken entfaltet das Duo ein nachdenkliches Zusammenspiel, das komponiertes Material und abenteuerliche Improvisation nahtlos verbindet
und so eindrucksvolle kammermusikalische Dialoge schafft, die die besonderen Klangqualitäten ihrer Saiteninstrumente hervorheben. Das Album wurde von Manfred Eicher produziert. Nun erstmalig auf Vinyl im
Rahmen der Luminessence-Serie von ECM veröffentlicht, erscheint Oracle im Tip-On-Gatefold-Cover mit
Fotos der Aufnahmesession.
Das zauberhafte, nachdenkliche „Oracle“ vermittelt die Vertrautheit und Empathie von Partnern, die seit
Jahren zusammenarbeiten – Leichtigkeit, Feinheit und Sensibilität durchdringen die Session. „Oracle“
besticht mit Wärme und Melodik. – Downbeat, 1994

THE ART GRAY NOIZZ QUINTET is spearheaded by twisted Australian guitar legend STU-ART GRAY, most notoriously known as STU SPASM of LUBRICATED GOAT, CRUNT, SALAMANDER JIM, and THE BEASTS OF BOURBON. Adding another crazed chapter to an already solidly sordid musical history, THE ART GRAY NOIZZ QUINTET stars some of the finest scoundrels of the New York City underground scene - SKELETON BOY of WOMAN on two-string bass, NIKKI D'AGOSTINO on sax, and veteran drummer RICH HUTCHINS of LIVE SKULL providing the savage, swinging beat. A rotating roulette of characters swagger into the second guitar slot as needed, each showcasing their particular specialty - twang, treble, or atmosphere. Stuart Gray's wayward path through the flashpoints of noise, grunge, and swamp-rock history is well-represented in the Quintet's sound - chaos with a cinematic edge. Sharing stages with kindred spirits such as THE SCIENTISTS and MUDHONEY got the attention of audiences early on. Their recordings and incendiary gigs throughout the New York scene and beyond soon caught the eye of the infamous LYDIA LUNCH, and it was only a matter of time before a new collaboration was born . . . Now, THE ART GRAY NOIZZ QUINTET collide with the queen of no wave LYDIA LUNCH on a new two-fisted ten-inch single . . . Melting the MAGAZINE classic "PERMAFROST", and grinding out an apocalyptic version of IGGY POP's "MASS PRODUCTION". Only on IN THE RED RECORDS! "Speaking of noise, that’s kind of Stu Spasm’s thing — from LUBRICATED GOAT in the late 1980s, to his current project, THE ART GRAY NOIZZ QUINTET. This elder statesman of clamor hasn’t lost his touch." - THE NEW YORK TIMES

[n] 14 I Surrender Dear [alt. Tk.

Known for their exhilarating live-to-record albums such as last year's critically acclaimed Wood Blues and Giant Beauty, سماع Sama'a (Audition) is the first of two releases that will surface after أحمدAhmed’s first studio recording sessions at North London’s The Fish Factory in early 2025.

Since 2014, Ahmed أحمد have excavated and re-imagined the music of Ahmed Abdul-Malik, in an ever ongoing search for future music. Over a decade on, the group were given the opportunity to set up in the studio for the first time and, with the aid of meticulous engineer Benedic Lamdin, سماع Sama'a (Audition) is the quartet's most detailed work to date.

Fastidious fans may recognise the album's tracklisting as that of Ahmed Abdul-Malik’s Jazz Sahara. After his success collaborating with the pianists Thelonious Monk and Randy Weston, Jazz Sahara was the first record Abdul-Malik made as a leader and was released in 1958. It used the flame of late Fifties jazz to light the wick of North African folk music and acted as a reminder of the Arabic origins of jazz, creating a distinct, unique sound that was far beyond its time. In Malik’s Jazz Sahara, there is no piano. The ongoing work of each member of [Ahmed] then is to think differently, to wonder how the music will work and to take a risk on trying it out - an extraordinarily compelling feat of imagination. Using group improvisation strategies and recording in single takes, سماع [Sama'a] (Audition) tackled the full suite of Jazz Sahara in just one session, with ‘Ya Annas [Oh, People’] and ‘Isma'a [Listen’] being previously unrecorded. 'Farah 'Alaiyna’, also released on 2019’s Super Majnoon, sounds unrecognisable - the slow, heady stomp and repeated phrasing of 2019’s embryonic [Ahmed] having been blast furnaced and sped up four-fold. The result is four kaleidoscopic, relative miniatures that move, unfold and re-imagine at a very different scale and proportion than [Ahmed]’s previous records. It’s a dizzying, euphoric music and an extraordinary record of a group moving through space-time like no other.




[b] Isma'a [Listen]
[c] El Haris [Anxious]
[d] Farah 'Alaiyna [Joy Upon Us]


[b] b1 Isma'a [Listen]
[c] c1 El Haris [Anxious]
[d] d1 Farah 'Alaiyna [Joy Upon Us]


[b] b1 | Isma'a [Listen]
[c] c1 | El Haris [Anxious]
[d] d1 | Farah 'Alaiyna [Joy Upon Us]

Michael Mayer returns to the Speicher series for his first release since last year’s brain-bursting The Floor Is Lava album. And yes, the floor is indeed lava when Mayer is on peak form, as he is here, with three tracks that oscillate, effortlessly, between the twin poles of Mayer’s music: dancefloor detonation and heart-wrenching beauty. To be fair, there’s more of the former here, but there’s beauty in generous discipline, too, and the unrelenting “Cry Me A Raver” feels, somehow, like it brings together decades of Kompakt pleasure in six giddy minutes – disco-fied arpeggios, glistening and hand-burnished textures, abstruse patterns that fall in and out of step. “Don’t Sync With My Tag” stomps with destructive glee, a beat as undeniable as the shaker cross-rhythms are silkily sexy. There’s always been something practical, functional, and utilitarian about Speicher, but it doesn’t get more everyday DJ-life than this: Mayer tells us the title is “a super-annoying message that pops up every time you open Rekordbox. Nobody knows what it means. It’s a DJ mystery.” But who needs answers, anyway? By the time you’ve started to get close to solving the riddle, Mayer’s taken you to Detroit via Cologne with “It Isn’t What It Isn’t”, a little doffing of the cap to Rhythim Is Rhythim. “You’re May, I’m Mayer, I used to tell him,” Michael chuckles. This made one of our cats almost jump out of its skin, with its stealthy slyness – creeping, amorphous electro noise; percussives that just won’t quit; the whole thing flooded with twitchy strip-light energy and silver-machine flare- outs.

Speicher is as Speicher does, and this is a damn good one. Make Mine Mayer!

Michael Mayer returns to the Speicher series for his first release since last year’s brain-bursting The Floor Is Lava album. And yes, the floor is indeed lava when Mayer is on peak form, as he is here, with three tracks that oscillate, effortlessly, between the twin poles of Mayer’s music: dancefloor detonation and heart-wrenching beauty. To be fair, there’s more of the former here, but there’s beauty in generous discipline, too, and the unrelenting “Cry Me A Raver” feels, somehow, like it brings together decades of Kompakt pleasure in six giddy minutes – disco-fied arpeggios, glistening and hand-burnished textures, abstruse patterns that fall in and out of step. “Don’t Sync With My Tag” stomps with destructive glee, a beat as undeniable as the shaker cross-rhythms are silkily sexy. There’s always been something practical, functional, and utilitarian about Speicher, but it doesn’t get more everyday DJ-life than this: Mayer tells us the title is “a super-annoying message that pops up every time you open Rekordbox. Nobody knows what it means. It’s a DJ mystery.” But who needs answers, anyway? By the time you’ve started to get close to solving the riddle, Mayer’s taken you to Detroit via Cologne with “It Isn’t What It Isn’t”, a little doffing of the cap to Rhythim Is Rhythim. “You’re May, I’m Mayer, I used to tell him,” Michael chuckles. This made one of our cats almost jump out of its skin, with its stealthy slyness – creeping, amorphous electro noise; percussives that just won’t quit; the whole thing flooded with twitchy strip-light energy and silver-machine flare- outs.

Speicher is as Speicher does, and this is a damn good one. Make Mine Mayer!

COLORS OF BACH: Violinistin Eldbjørg Hemsing lässt die Musik von Bach in völlig neuen Klangfarben leuchten Auf ihrem neuen Album COLORS OF BACH lässt Violinistin Eldbjørg Hemsing die ausdrucksstarke Musik von Johann Sebastian Bachs in völlig neuen Arrangements erklingen und eröffnet zeitgenössische Perspektiven auf sein Werk.Vielschichtig, fein nuanciert und mit ungezügelter Spielfreude, schöpft das Album seine Inspiration aus der strukturellen Raffinesse und der expressiven Schönheit von zwanzig ausgewählten Werken. Die renommierten Arrangeure Tim Allhoff, Jan-Peter Klöpfel und Jarkko Riihimäki rücken bekannte Meisterwerke durch buchstäblich neue "Farben", die in Bachs Musik eingeführt werden - durch Klang, Harmonie und Emotion - in neues Licht.Im Zentrum des Projekts steht eine gemeinsame künstlerische Philosophie: Bachs Musik zu erweitern, neu zu denken und zu formen - ohne sie zu verfälschen. Die Arrangeure schöpfen ihre Inspiration aus der positiven und universellen Kraft seiner Themen und Harmonien und bewahren dabei die innere Zuversicht, die Bachs Werk so einzigartig macht.Von der verspielten Brillanz der Partita Variation bis zur tief berührenden Neuinterpretation von Bachs Brandenburgischem Konzert - ikonische Melodien erhalten neue Vitalität, eröffnen emotionale Dimensionen, bewahren aber zugleich größten Respekt vor den originalen Meisterwerken. Die dichte, melodische Gestaltung des Orgelpräludiums in C-Dur geht nahtlos in eine virtuose Fassung für Solovioline und Streichorchester über und schafft ein fesselndes Hörerlebnis. Air nimmt die Eleganz eines italienischen Konzerts an, während das geliebte Erbarme Dich aus der Matthäuspassion als intime instrumentale Ballade neu erstrahlt. Gemeinsam zeigen diese kreativen Arrangements die Wandlungsfähigkeit und Zeitlosigkeit von Bachs Musik - und entfalten ein eindrucksvolles Kaleidoskop musikalischer Farben."Bach ist so ein genialer Komponist", reflektiert Eldbjørg Hemsing, "dass es unendlich viele Möglichkeiten gibt, seine Formen und Strukturen zu betrachten. Jede Melodie, die er geschrieben hat, vereint auf faszinierende Weise technische Präzision und tiefes Gefühl - und genau darin liegt die unerschöpfliche Vielfalt seiner Musik." COLORS OF BACH ist eine Hommage an diese zeitlose Musikalität - eine Einladung an die Hörerinnen und Hörer, Bachs Werke auf spielerische Weise neu zu entdecken. Im Herzen des Albums stehen Freude, Hoffnung und ein Sinn für Leichtigkeit. "Wir wollten dem Publikum die Möglichkeit geben, sich mit diesen bedeutenden Werken der Musikgeschichte neu zu verbinden", sagt Eldbjørg. "Und vielleicht dabei auch ihre ganz persönliche Interpretation zu entdecken."Eines der emotionalsten Arrangements des Albums ist Air. Das Stück, das oft mit Abschied und Trauer in Verbindung gebracht wird, hat für Eldbjørg eine tief persönliche Bedeutung: "Dieses Werk ist eines der wichtigsten, die ich je gespielt habe", erzählt sie. "Es wurde bei der Beerdigung meines Vaters aufgeführt, und ich habe es lange mit dem Schmerz des Verlustes verbunden. Aber so wollte ich ihn nicht in Erinnerung behalten. Musik hat die Kraft, unsere Emotionen zu lenken - und indem ich diesem Stück eine neue Perspektive gebe, kann ich selbst entscheiden, wie ich mich damit verbinden möchte. Genau das ist der Geist dieses Albums."COLORS OF BACH bildet eine Brücke zwischen Vergangenheit und Gegenwart. Mit seinen überraschenden Momenten, facettenreichen Klangbildern und tief empfundenen Arrangements lädt das Album sowohl neue als auch erfahrene Hörerinnen und Hörer ein, die unendlichen Farben in Bachs Musik neu zu entdecken.

[a] a1 Eldbjørg Hemsing & Norwegian String Quintet & Tim Bach Partita Variation (After Violin Partita No. 3 in E Major, BWV 100: I. Preludio) [Arr. for Violin, String Quintet & Piano by Tim Allhoff] 2:18
[b] a2 Eldbjørg Hemsing & Norwegian String Quintet & Tim Ertönt uns durch dein Güte Variation (After Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe, BWV 22, No. 5: Ertöt uns durch dein Güte) [Arr. for Violin, String Quintet & Piano by Jan-Peter Klöpfel] 2:58
[c] a3 Eldbjørg Hemsing & Norwegian String Quintet & Tim Ave Maria Variation (After The Well-Tempered Clavier I: Prelude and Fugue No. 1 in C Major, BWV 846: I. Prelude) [Arr. for Violin, String Quintet and Piano by Tim Allhoff] 2:08
[d] a4 Eldbjørg Hemsing & Norwegian String Quintet & Tim Minuet in G Major Variation (After Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, BWV Anh.116, No. 7: Menuet in G Major) [Arr. for Violin, String Quintet & Piano by Jan-Peter Klöpfel] 2:12
[e] a5 Eldbjørg Hemsing & Norwegian String Quintet & Tim Concerto in A Minor Variation (After Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, BWV 1041: II. Andante) [Arr. for Violin, String Quintet & Piano by Jan-Peter Klöpfel] 2:30
[f] a6 Eldbjørg Hemsing & Martynas & Norwegian String Qui Melancholy Variation (After Concerto for Violin & Oboe in C Minor, BWV 1060R: III. Allegro) [Arr. for Violin, Accordion, String Quintet & Piano by Jan-Peter Klöpfel] 3:11
[g] a7 Eldbjørg Hemsing & Norwegian String Quintet & Tim Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben Variation (After Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147: VI. Wohl mir, daß ich Jesum habe) [Arr. for Violin, String Quintet & Piano by Jan-Peter Klöpfel] 2:42
[h] a8 Eldbjørg Hemsing & Norwegian String Quintet Air Variation (After Orchestral Suite No. 3, BWV 1068: II. Air) [Arr. for Violin & String Quintet by Tim Allhoff] 2:37
[i] a9 Eldbjørg Hemsing & Norwegian String Quintet & Tim Bach Brandenburg Concerto Revisited (After Brandenburg Concerto No.1 in F Major, BWV 1046: I. Allegro) [Arr. for Violin, String Quintet & Piano by Jarkko Riihimäki] 2:11

[k] b2 Eldbjørg Hemsing & Norwegian String Quintet & Tim Aria Goldberg Variation (After Goldberg Variations, BVW 988: Aria) [Arr. for Violin, String Quintet & Piano by Tim Allhoff] 1:48
[l] b3 Eldbjørg Hemsing & Norwegian String Quintet & Tim Prelude in C Major Variation (After Prelude and Fugue in C Major, BWV 553: I. Prelude) [Arr. for Violin, String Quintet & Piano by Tim Allhoff] 1:57
[m] b4 Eldbjørg Hemsing & Norwegian String Quintet & Tim Es ist gewisslich an der Zeit Variation (After Nun freut euch, lieben Christen gmein, BWV 734) [Arr. for Violin, String Quintet & Piano by Jarkko Riihimäki] 1:27
[n] b5 Eldbjørg Hemsing & Norwegian String Quintet Invention in F Major Variation (After Invention in F Major, BWV 779) [Arr. for Violin & String Quintet by Jan-Peter Klöpfel] 1:57
[o] b6 Eldbjørg Hemsing & Norwegian String Quintet Organ Sonata Variation (After Organ Sonata No. 4 in E Minor, BWV 528: II. Andante) [Arr. for Violin & String Quintet by Tim Allhoff] 2:42
[p] b7 Eldbjørg Hemsing & Norwegian String Quintet Befiehl du deine Wege Variation (After Matthäuspassion, BWV 244, No. 53: Befiehl du deine Wege) [Arr. for Violin & String Quintet by Tim Allhoff] 1:33
[q] b8 Eldbjørg Hemsing & Norwegian String Quintet & Tim Erbarme dich, mein Gott Variation (After Matthäuspassion, BWV 244, No. 47: Erbarme dich, mein Gott) [Arr. for Violin, String Quintet & Piano by Tim Allhoff] 2:08
[r] b9 Eldbjørg Hemsing & Louisa Tuck & Tim Allhoff Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ Variation (After Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 639) [Arr. for Violin, Cello & Piano by Tim Allhoff] 2:39
[s] b10 Eldbjørg Hemsing & Norwegian String Quintet Concerto in D Minor Variation (After Concerto in D Minor, BWV 974: III. Presto) [Arr. for Violin & String Quintet by Jan-Peter Klöpfel] 2:06
[t] b11 Eldbjørg Hemsing & Norwegian String Quintet Choral Aria Variation (After Widerstehe doch der Sünde, BWV 54: I. Aria) [Arr. for Violin & String Quintet by Tim Allhoff] 3:37

Mighty Joseph is the combination of emcees Vast Aire (Cannibal Ox) with his long-time rhyme ally Karniege. The duo's sole album, Empire State (2008) was released during the tail-end of the last great non-commercial Hip-Hop period.

Never released on vinyl before, the album will be available soon on a double LP edition.

Rooted in the concrete streets but lyrically abstract, features and beats are provided by equal musical foils including Madlib, Camu Tao, Murs, J-Zone, Poison Pen and Vordul Mega (Cannibal Ox) among others.

Fan and critical attention were positive with All Hip Hop summing the album as "solid post-millennium product that bridges the gap between gritty street tales and a paranoid view of the future."

Plug One Magazine added that "Empire State" "unravels a unique perspective, documenting not only much personal change between the two emcees but also the changes in the streets of New York City. From poverty, to the September 11 attacks, to the abuse of Hip Hop culture in general, "Empire State" stands strong as a snapshot of the city."

Crypt of the Wizard is proud to present Ginger Wizard - The Curious Flora and Fauna of the Ancient World on vinyl and digital formats.
About ten years ago in a record store in Prague, the Ginger Wizard discovered a copy of Bo Hansson’s Lord of the Rings LP. Although initially unfamiliar with the record, the reference to Tolkien’s masterwork and the incredible cover art drew him in and, rather fittingly, sent him off on a journey of discovery that would reshape his creative trajectory.
Years later while working in cassette tape manufacturing, Ginger Wizard noticed that most fantasy-inspired music fell into two camps: metal and dungeon synth. With little interest in the former, but intrigued by the latter, he began writing a few songs imagining a beautifully packaged and tactile cassette tape. However, dungeon synth he soon realized was “the most boring music to make”.
So began the Ginger Wizard’s own mythological discography. In 2022 came The Feast for the Dead King and Other Musical Themes recorded at home in a cold kitchen, is conversely an album full of warmth drawn from sheer exploration. A year later Can I Choose My Own Psychopompos? was recorded for the legendary Stoned to Death label - a 7” séance of semi-improvised noise and melody featuring allies from the Ginger Wizard’s live backing band The Peter Jacksons. The following year with Bathysburg Tales, a new approach was needed in order to keep the project interesting. Drawing inspiration from Popol Vuh and the inclusion of vocals lent by Protomartyr’s Joe Casey and Jakob Battick, a new more cinematic sound began to emerge.
Now, we present The Curious Flora and Fauna of the Ancient World marking a step into something stranger while still channeling the spirit of Bo Hansson. The new album rejects swords and sorcery for the mythology of the natural world “the ancient stuff,” he explains in the record’s insert, “has a similar taste for me as fantasy.” These songs bloom, creep, and shimmer like forgotten plants under distant suns while rooted in something real and organic. Inspired by the myths of nature rather than heroic quests, it’s an album that feels alive, equal parts archaeological dig and psychedelic garden.
Currently at work on a soundtrack for an imagined 1970s fantasy film in collaboration with The Peter Jacksons, the Ginger Wizard continues to expand his strange universe while The Curious Flora and Fauna of the Ancient World serves as a new map to somewhere ancient, beautiful, and unknown.

Repress

R&S proudly presents brand new signing Felix Manuel AKA Djrum.
Djrum is a perennially acclaimed underground artist, since his first release in 2010 who's quietly built a list of fans that reads like a who's who of contemporary dance music.
As an artist, Djrum has formed a reputation for his unique fusion of a range of genres ranging from jazz, hip hop and dubstep to ambient and techno. His music swells with oceanic bass laded beats, cavernous atmospherics and deeply emotive melodies. An accomplished DJ his compositional approach feels like a natural collage of his influences which has seen him release for the likes of the Zenker Brothers Ilian Tape imprint as well as the influential 2nd Drop label, plus remixes for Ninja Tune and Domino.
Felix now steps up to the plate at R&S with one of his most visionary releases to date. Deeply meditative melodies twist and turn through stuttering rhythms and pulsing low bass, hypnotic pads and woozy atmospherics. Manuel's music somehow manages to retains the urgency and dynamic pressure of the dance floor with the intimacy and elegant detailing of the best headphone music.
A natural fit for R&S, there is a full length Djrum album in the pipeline in 2018 - looks like it's going to be an exciting year ahead.

Album First Released 1980 Now Available On 180 Gram Vinyl And Cd. All Songs Are Performed By Byron Lee's Allstars. Featuring Ken Lazarus, Jo-jo, Keith Lynn, Smokey 007, Hubert Lee And Cecil Barker. All The Tracks Originally

Recorded In The Mid-sixties, Were Produced By Alty East, One Of The First Producers Of Ska In Jamaica. Dvertising In Riddim, Black Echoes And Record Collector Magazine

Limited repress of the white vinyl pressing. Includes unlimited streaming of all digital tracks from Arlo Parks' first and second EP's, PLUS a free spoken word poem 'London' only available with Vinyl purchase. The artwork sleeve is reverse board black - and includes the 'London' poem written by Arlo Parks. Artwork sleeve both front and back created by Arlo Parks. Includes Sophie.”Sophie' is a song about "crumbling under expectations and feeling helpless, but with a persistent, quiet sense of hope underpinning it”. True to form, it's a melodic and beautifully articulated sonnet, cementing the notion that she is overwhelmingly considered the majestic voice of Generation Z

Vinyl release of the album from 2023. Black vinyl in a standard sleeve. “out of love in the face of a shadow” is the new album from Credit Electric. Exploring the human unconscious through impressionistic pop vignettes, the album represents a significant evolution of the band’s sound that originally stemmed from limitations put in place by the global pandemic, before blossoming into something altogether new and unexpected. What started to emerge was a body of work that drew upon lo-fi jazz, dub, post-rock, ambient music, 70’s studio experimentation, and 90’s indie rock as much as the rustic folk of their past releases. The resulting album “out of love in face of a shadow” calls to mind influences as disparate as Hiroshi Yoshimura, American Football, Scientist, and Magnolia Electric Co, all the while inhabiting a world completely of their own design. Highly anticipated sophomore album from Credit Electric. Press coverage on recent releases includes reviews and features in New Commute (Albums of the Year), Various Small Flames, Raven Sings the Blues, Psychedelic Baby Magazine, and more. UK/EU Publicity handled by Chris Carr & Mal Smith. “…the band crafts American hymns that peer through fogged glass, tracing the lines of lament in hazy relief…” - Raven Sings the Blues // Albums of the Year - New Commute

Attention Italo-disco junkies: Disco Segreta is back, and we’re kicking off our 10th-anniversary celebration in style with a release you simply can’t miss. We’re beyond excited to present the official reissue of Cecilia Rizzoli’s iconic single, “Così non va”—a tearjerker Italo-disco masterpiece that has haunted the dreams of collectors for decades.

Originally released in 1985 in an ultra-limited run of just 500 copies split on two cult labels, Scarabes Sound and Discokkio, this gem became a mythical treasure for those dedicated diggers uncovering the rarest Italo disco tracks. “Così non va” blends hypnotic Juno synth lines, punchy Linndrum beats and airy arpeggios with Cecilia’s emotionally charged vocals, creating a soundscape that’s pure melanchol-Italo perfection—ideal for winter nights and nostalgic dance floors.

For this reissue, we’ve painstakingly tracked down the original analog master, that we’ve lovingly restored and remastered to deliver the kind of pristine sound quality this track deserves. The release features the remastered original and a fresh, contemporary edit by Latino-Swedish Italo-disco legend Claudio Burgos, aka Mr. Fantasy. Secure your copy now before it disappears into collector heaven—again!

Having established himself as one of the most exciting contemporary dance producers with a string of stellar releases, Japanese producer boys be kko returns triumphantly with the Nagasawa EP, four floor cuts bursting with emotion, shimmering in Tokyo technicolor, and perfectly at home on Bliss Point.

Nagasawa kicks off with a bang. “ChuKii” is a peak time heater: breaks, chopped vocals and punchy toms sear over a low end groove that proves body music can funk. Melodic acid explodes like a firework mid-track, taking the dance floor to psychedelic new heights.

The club psychedelia continues with “Mold Mold”, a minimal, subterranean system roller adorned with swells, bells, and deep, guttural growls dubbed to the vanishing point.

“Sant Esteve (kko Edit)” is melancholic and contemplative jazz house, eschewing cliché and twinging with nostalgia for that moment you felt most free.

“Humor is an important part of my music”, boys be kko reflected over lunch as Izakaya smoke billowed past his face. “Oignon”, the fourth and final track on Nagasawa, is an airy and joyful slice of sampledelia that makes good on this promise. An enormous smile of a track sending listeners off with a slice of sonic sunshine and, dare we say, hope.

2026 Repress

Flickering in ultraviolet, there is an elusive place where blue pill meets red, ups become downs, and day merges with night. Those liminal spaces where anything is possible is where you’ll find Nightbus and their hypnotic debut album Passenger. Doom, uncertainty, and opportunity lurk in the shadowy corners of their murky existence with stops at disassociation, co-dependency, and addiction before reaching its final destination - a glimmer of hope.

The in-between of Nightbus’ own Gotham lies where Manchester’s city pulse meets Stockport’s outer realm. An audio-visual entity formed among a musical family of friends, freaks, and foes in messy mills and after hours on dancefloors alike, their sound bleeds from tension where collective creative forces are bound together and collide with the fallout of being torn apart. Before even playing a show, their So Young released single ‘Mirrors’ – a knowing nod of respect to some well-known gloomy Northerners - may have made old school indie heads shimmy at shows in Salford’s The White Hotel but also signalled the duo’s knack for offering listeners a Bandersnatch approach to hitchhiking their own personal Nightbus in whatever direction they choose to take. “Everyone can have their moment with our songs; the music is our response to who we are as young people, living in the city full of this energy right now,” they say.

Whilst reverb hefty melodies and dread-filled loops embody isolation from writing at each of their home studio set-ups, magic happens in the ether across 90s trip-hop, indie sleaze and electronica; Jake’s production layers Olive’s pop sentimentality with drums and samples whilst tales of a cast of faceless characters place Olive as puppet master; her severed self’s perspective manipulating their stringed limbs at arm’s length to see how their stories play out when scenes reflecting her own lie close to the bone. “It’s a bit fucked; like having this out of body experience with a made-up movie running through my head,” she says. “As I write I can see they’re all from a similar world, but they allow me to explore different feelings without giving away part of myself.”

Recorded at The Nave in Leeds with producer-engineer Alex Greaves (Heavy Lungs, Working Men’s Club), surprise and danger lies in every crevice. Brooding whispers turn to chants on 6-minute opus ‘Host.’ Improvised when performed live, its immersive shift in tempo leads to hefty dub courtesy of Jake’s pedals. Even then, you won’t know shit’s hit the fan until its mid-point reveal when ominous bass blasts a thunderous soundtrack as its protagonist defiantly walks away after committing the perfect crime. “It makes you wait, and more songs should have sirens,” Olive grins.

Leaning deeper into alter-egos via the video game-psychological horror of a Silent Hill dystopia, the band’s Fight Club moment ‘Angles Mortz’ turns its literal translation of death angles on its head as it reflects upon kink and internalised shame reincarnated as pride. Elsewhere the ice cool ‘Landslide’ is a Requiem for a Dream about the addiction of being in a band; ‘The Void’ explores co-dependency and estranged relationships; and carefully selected samples revive house track ‘Just A Kid’ from the band’s early incarnation. Passenger’s every direction is to face challenges head on. “That is what’s so great about horror; you can see through predictable patterns so when the unexpected occurs it's more realistic and uncomfortable… I want to own the dark stuff!”

As for Passenger’s first single, the pulsating ‘Ascension’ is a spiralling deep dive into death, suicide, and legacy around who or what we leave behind. A noughties club banger by way of NYC beats - ergonomically designed for those who like to stay out a little too often and too late - it throbs like a house party’s partition wall as the literal levelling up undergoes a neon transformation; blue glitching to pink, diffusing the white construct of the Nightbus Matrix. “It really does feel like the end of something and was purposely written that way,” they say, “the ascension is like a firework going off!”

With wheels in motion, Nightbus has become a movement surpassing sonic realms. Between shows from Porto to Brighton taking in The Great Escape, Rotterdam’s Left Of The Dial and Paris’ Supersonic; DJing; remixing; guesting (BDRMM’s Microtonic album); and even enlisting talented like-minds to craft a 3-part queer coming-of-age music video series which ties in with a new ‘hyperpop’ phase in the evolution of their popular Nightbus Soundsystem club night, heads are now being turned from sports brands to high-end fashion designers. “There are things we can’t reveal just yet,” tells Olive, “but we’re excited about the direction this beast we’ve created is heading.” As the album philosophises and asks one ultimate question; what does it truly mean to be ‘Passenger’? Nightbus may not claim to offer a definitive answer, but it might make you feel a bit better about those demons.