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Slacker 85 is the new label from the mind of one of the world’s biggest DJs & most recognised personalities, Seth Troxler. The first release, SLACKER001, brings together Seth and four more artists with their own takes on modern electronic music, to introduce fans to Slacker 85's remit for the oddball, esoteric & diverse sounds that are forthcoming from a wide range of artists and genres.

The label launches with the long awaited release of ‘Pills’, a a low slung acid groove that has been an in-demand staple of Seth's DJ sets around the world over the past year. It will be followed by the effervescent jacking house of ‘Let’s Go’ by Jackmaster – destined to be a mainstay of global dancefloors throughout this summer – before the fast-rising UK talent Ghoulish drops ‘Forever Ugly’, a romantic filter house earworm that harks back to the halcyon era of Fred Falke and Alan Braxe.

Rounding out the first batch is Cesar Merveille’s collaboration with André Baum (People People / Beyondré). ‘The Finish Line’ sees the Cadenza-affiliated Parisian’s building a melodic analog groove while NYC’s Baum invokes classic 80s electropop with his understated vocal.

KID FRANCESCOLI, leader of the French Riviera Touch is back with the stellar album SUNSET BLUE out Sept 22nd 2023.

After a first sold-out world tour (over 200 concerts in Europe, USA, Asia...), and successful hits such as Nopalitos, Blow Up or Moon (now certified diamond, with more than 200 millions streams), the Marseille-based producer, crooner and multi-instrumentalist, Mathieu Hocine, is eager to share his most accomplished LP ever. This fine collection of soulful songs honor his Mediterranean roots, with elegant and pop melodies. His most recent success and the creation of his first original soundtrack with AZURO, installed him as one of the best French songwriters of his generation, with a unique signature sound.

"I live in Marseille, I spent my childhood in Corsica, I have Algerian origins, my first vacations with friends were in Barcelona, vacations with my first girlfriend in Roma,... Then, I had the chance to perform in Morocco, Greece, Turkey and Egypt: each time I spent time in the Mediterranean region, the people I met there made me feel like I was part of the same country. This shared multiculturalism is really comforting, it has its own poetry and strength, bringing uniqueness and empathy to the people. It is essential for me. I love my city: it’s the perfect place to feel good with sun, sea, family, friendships, love... It gets me emotional, bringing tears with a smile".

With his new musical gem, Mathieu Hocine unveils 11 elegant tunes of his finest craft: sunbathed French Touch (Run Run, 1986), romantic chillwave (Corsica), uplifting synthpop (You Are Everywhere, Like Magic), electronic-soul (Casino Soul), cinematic disco (Solaris), cosmic R&B (Sweet and Sour, Take Time), … Everything is in this record.

For the first time ever, Kid Francescoli paid tribute to his mixed origins with his collaboration with world-renowned lute and mandolin player Hakim Hamadouche (Rachid Taha, Patti Smith, Brian Eno, Tricky...), whom added Algerian patterns to the introspectives songs Drift in Blue and The Morning After.

"My ambition is to create pictures in people's heads with music, to transport them instantly into a movie"

SUNSET BLUE is an instant-crush album: crystal-clear, strong, personal but universal at the same time.

It's an ecstatic soundtrack for this moment when time is suspended, the golden hour when everything seems possible. It feels like Love is in the air, you're living your best life and you're at the right place at the right time. This album embodies this magic moment where we would like to last forever… Like an epiphany, Kid Francescoli's new album is a moment of pure pleasure, a soothing way to escape reality.

"I see myself as a melodist.I would like my music to feel like velvet. There's something cinematic, classy about it, and yet comforting. It's very simple, popular and synonym of love and passion"

His friend French 79 co-produced the album, while the american rapper Bamby H2O brought his NYC swag (on Sweet & Sour), Stan Neff (Polo & Pan, Kungs, Christine and the Queens...) took care of the mix and Alex Gopher (Daft Punk, The Blaze, Bon Entendeur...) added a final touch of magic when mastering. Nicolas Despis (known for his work with Etienne Daho, Hoshi, Juliette Armanet... and many famous French rappers) later joined this dream-team to craft custom-made artworks. SUNSET BLUE is a deeply personal quest, a human adventure for Mathieu Hocine (whom explores his maghrebian origins, his feminine side, his subconscious space, ...). It's a male's work, but don't get it wrong, this LP would be nothing without women’s touch : Julietta (on Run Run and Take Time), Sarah Gaugler from Turbo Goth (on You Are Everywhere and Like Magic), and iOni (on Drift in Blue).

“Music has this magical power to broaden your vision of the world. It's fascinating because, like dreams, it's the kind of irrational things science can't explain and that makes life exciting."

Planets aligned perfectly on this project and thanks to this five-star cast of collaborators, Kid Francescoli achieved his personal holy grail : he orchestrated a great 21st century pop-music album.SUNSET BLUE is a new turning point between organic and electronic, both a mediterranean travel and a Californian dream, a bridge between Ennio Morriconne and modern electronic music.

Also, while it might be called SUNSET BLUE in honor of the sea and the Portuguese / Brazilian concept called “saudade”, but it is a really optimistic album, whose true colors would rather be "yellow-orange-red" in nod to the sun.

Created in the midst of the world tour, SUNSET BLUE is a direct result of the lives’ energy and fans’ joyful vibes: going back in the studio after smiling, singing and dancing with people all around the world inevitably gave Kid Francescoli the desire to retranscribe this ecstatic feeling in music. This album is a sensitive experience, from sunrise to sunset, from first track to last one. It’s an exploration of an everlasting summer, reaching its climax in the very final seconds of the track Corsica, making us want to press play and dive into this jewel all over again.

A beautiful cosmic trip, whether you like to stay in bed cocooning, to travel far, far away or to dance ‘till dawn, to catch the first rays of light.

Make sure to catch Kid Francescoli on his next world tour to have a good time.

Ne$$ and Baby J’s 2nd album comes after a long collaborative working relationship from previous group A-Alikes. The album represents an original voice in hip-hop, addressing working-class proletariat stories of street life, and the effects of capitalism and black and poor people. Ness has been a successful part of the US hip-hop seen over the past two decades, working with the likes of Mos Def, Dead Prez and Bilal. Baby J is an established UK, hip-hop producer whose production credits include Amy Winehouse, Skinnyman, Dead Prez, Plan B and Mark Ronson. The album has a range of guest features including previous SONY RCA signed Jamie Joseph and Conway the Machine (Griselda). The album is sonically broken and dark with a raw purist Hip Hop sound.

“One of Hollywood’s most exciting film composers” – DAZED & CONFUSED Clint Mansell’s emotionally gripping and melodically thrilling score for psychological cult classic luna-drama Moon is now again available on Black Records on White Vinyl Directed by Duncan Jones, starring Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey, Moon is a science fiction thriller about a solitary lunar employee who finds that he may not be able to go home to Earth so easily. Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is an employee contracted by the company Lunar to mine on the Moon the natural gas Helium 3, which could reverse Earth's energy crisis. Stationed alone on the lunar base Sarang with only a robot named Gerty (voiced by Kevin Spacey), Sam is two weeks away from completing his three-year assignment, when he begins feeling out of place… Former ‘Pop Will Eat Itself’ frontman Clint Mansell - now based in Los Angeles - has become the go-to composer for independent Hollywood cinema. Producing peerless soundtracks to award winning Darren Arronofsky films Requiem For A Dream, The Fountain and The Wrestler.

Hen Yanni’s first EP is the story of a journey. A story in music of a spatial and psychological journey. With this record, she abandons her former life as a nomadic model, actress and DJ, for that of a musician. She performs a cathartic exercise of going back over the darkest moments of her life. She opens up on the grief of losing her mother, the end of an incandescent seven-year relationship and, more generally, on the loss - tangible or not - of people, moments and memories. Produced by electronic music composer Arnaud Rebotini, the Israeli musician’s album transcends its folk, rock, dark and new wave influences. He transforms her into a voice (summoning PJ Harvey, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus, Sharon Van Etten, and Joan As Police Woman), serving as an introduction, without a doubt, to a sensitive, sincere and intimate work driven by the lyrics and vocals.

Return of the B-Boy

Listening back to the “I Phantom” album as a whole re-connects me to the fact that “Return of the B-Boy” really was designed to be the crown jewel of the album. I wanted to create a song that was a feat in storytelling and in verbal dexterity. The slower tempo of Part 1 of the song gave me a chance to paint a clear view of the scenario in which the protagonist is brought back to life by music to save culture of a genre. The relentless tempo of Part 2 was one of the largest challenges I had faced as an MC at that point in my career but I did not want to earn style points at the cost of clear storytelling.

I remember that night so clearly; being in El-P‘s basement studio with the album due the next day and “Return of the B-Boy pt 2” being the only part of the album that wasn’t finished. In sports what happened that night would probably be the equivalent of somebody hitting a half court shot at the buzzer to win a championship. We were all there; myself, El-P, DJ Abilities, & Nasa (El-P’s studio engineer). We all knew the song had to be completed before sunrise, we all knew the importance of the song, and we all knew we had to do our best work. This was the scene; El-P searching for the perfect drum break, Nasa mixing everything on the fly as it was recorded, DJ Abilities searching for the perfect cuts to accentuate the song, and me making sure that every single line of my verse was exactly what I wanted it to be.

I’m glad I at least remember these elements of the process clearly because the rest of it really is a blur. I’m just glad that we managed to finish the song on time & get it out into the world. I truly am honored that our efforts back then led to the creation of a piece of music that is still resonating with people today.

'Dreamer Awake' is the fifth album from Rachel Sermanni, her first for
Navigator Records (Katherine Priddy, Kitty Macfarlane, Sam Kelly & The
Lost Boys, Bellowhead)
Hailing from the Scottish highlands, Sermanni is an enchanting singer-songwriter,
whose performance and lyrics draw from a deep well of mysticism, dreams,
nature and the simple-complex experience of being human; a contemporary folk
musician influenced by a wealth of genres including jazz, rock, old- time and
traditional.
'Dreamer Awake,' was recorded at Middle Farm Studios, Devon with co-producer,
Peter Miles. Recording live to tape with people that, "most of the time, are jazz
improvisers," the sessions were conducted with an almost Lynchian approach,
with Sermanni choosing "to flow through the experience like a dream". The result
is an album that captures the intimacy of the room, and the immediacy of these
songs that transform thought, memory and emotion into such wondrous light.
Channelling the metamorphic experience of becoming a mother, and processing
the demise of a long-term relationship, Sermanni dove deep into her psyche and
returned with songs that have a sharpness, an acuity of feeling, and that capture
the fluidity of our mind and the depth of our emotional experience.
Rightly described by critics as a "Folk noir gem" (MOJO), "Stately, poetic" (CLASH)
and "Folk of the Highest Order" (Time Out), Rachel Sermanni has been making
music for over a decade and has developed her artistic voice over her many
releases, each time pushing boundaries and experimenting with different musical
textures while maintaining the raw emotional connection, to herself and others,
that defines her music.
Rachel Sermanni has toured the globe, played alongside artists such as Mumford
& Sons, Fink, Ron Sexsmith, John Grant, The Staves, Karine Polwart, The Maes
and many more at venues and festivals all over, most recently playing with Charlie
Cunningham. She also runs a songwriting workshop called Cultivating A Creative
Life and her podcast, Rachel Sermanni's Finger That Points To The Moon,
similarly explores her relationship to creativity and inspiration, with the hope that
it will help point in the direction of truth for herself and those listening

Mick Flannery is one of Ireland's most acclaimed songwriters and singers
The award- winning, double- platinum selling artist has released seven studio
albums, three of which have reached No. 1 status.
On September 15th he will release his eighth studio album 'Goodtime Charlie'.
Featuring collaborations with Valerie June, Anais Mitchell and Tianna Esperanza.
Mick has partnered with US Label Oh Boy Records, which for them will be their
first non-American signing.
"Mick Flannery has a voice for the ages, a complete Master of his craft" cited by
Clash Magazine, whilst The Sunday Times said he "conjures up exquisite storytelling." His last album in 2021 consisted of a collection of duets with up and
coming Irish artist Susan O'Neill. American Songwriter called 'In The Game' a
"Sorrowful Masterpiece." The record was nominated for the Choice Music Prize,
and won the RTE Radio 1 song of the year two years in a row for tracks 'Baby Talk'
and 'Chain Reaction.' The album was the biggest selling independent record in
Ireland in 2021.
Mick Flannery's songs are fluent in expressing layered aspects of the human
condition, its flaws, triumphs, and general uncertainty. Originally a stone mason
by trade, he once described his stage presence as that of a 'Mountain goat'
however over the years that shy awkwardness of said mountain goat has started
to dissipate. His live shows are renowned for his self- deprecating humor,
audience engagement and the ability to bring people on a journey of both
heartbreak and joy, often in the same instance

The House Of Love – guitarist and vocalist Guy Chadwick, lead guitarist
Terry Bickers, bassist Chris Groothuizen and drummer Pete Evans –
formed in London in 1986 - Chadwick had been around the music
industry for several years, but was energised seeing The Jesus And Mary
Chain, inspiring him to form the band - Signing to Creation, The House Of
Love were greeted enthusiastically by the music press and their single,
Shine On and self-titled debut album became indie disco classics - By
1989, the band were big news and had signed to Fontana, part of the
PolyGram group
The group's debut album for Fontana, also confusingly entitled The House Of
Love, was released in February 1990. Known often as 'The Butterfly Album' after
Trevor Key's distinctive artwork, much was made at the time of its protracted
birth and the weight of expectation, and the fact it was produced by five different
people. Years later, it sounds assured and confident commercial indie, bursting
with invention and melody. The re-recording of their Creation calling card, Shine
On, gave them a UK Top 20 hit and Beatles And The Stones points the way to the
gentler side of Oasis some years later.
This re-issue replicates the original 1990 Fontana UK release with printed inner
sleeve and lyric sheet and is pressed onto high quality 180g vinyl.

REMIXED & REMASTERED REISSUE OF THE PINEAPPLE THIEF'S 2003
STUDIO ALBUM
Kscope present 'Variations On A Dream', the third album from The Pineapple Thief
newly remixed by Bruce Soord & remastered by fellow bandmate Steve Kitch.
The Pineapple Thief are one of the leading lights of Europe's experimental rock
domain, led by post-progressive mastermind Bruce Soord, the band have built an
incredibly loyal fanbase over the past 23 years through extensive touring &
consistently lauded recordings. Founder Bruce Soord started The Pineapple Thief
as an outlet for his music back in 1999 & has since released over 15 studio
albums.
Albums like 'Someone Here Is Missing' (2010) & 'All The Wars' (2012) paved the
way to their recent releases. Multiple headline tours followed, including their
biggest headline performance in the UK at O2 Shepherds Bush Empire & their first
ever tour of North America.
'Variations On A Dream' opens with the timid beginnings of 'We Subside' as they
slowly move into the more progressive leaning 'Vapour Trails' before the delicate
strings of 'Resident Alien' position us toward the grand finale of the 16- minute
epic 'Remember Us'.
While earlier Kscope releases were many people's introduction to the band, The
Pineapple Thief spent the previous ten years building up a dedicated fan base
across the globe, selling over 25,000 records & nurturing their 'bittersweet'
progressive sound. A sound that has recently been revisited in a beautifully
packaged 'How Did We Find Our Way - 1999 - 2005' deluxe book set.
Kscope will be presenting 'Variations On A Dream' as a single black LP.

Original self-released by Malik king this lp has been on many peoples lists of holly grail private-press jazz wants for years , very rarely turning up on ebay and the like.. selling for up to $500.

Malik King was an important part of the St Louis jazz scene of the 70's & 80's.

He studied under Albert Ayler in NY in the early 70s before returning to the Midwest. He was a member of; The Human Arts Ensemble, the Shirley Le Flore's ensemble "Free N' Concert". He also served as musical director of The Creative Arts & Expression Lab, The African Peoples Continuum, & The Black Arts Alliance, The worrier poets, as well as various Emerging Force Ensembles.

Zimbabwe Nkenya (1953-2022), a creative artist and innovative musician, was brought up on army bases in the USA and Spain. He spent 30 years traveling and performing in New York, New Mexico, Arizona and St Louis. playing with a who's who of jazz. In New Mexico he became an integral part of the scene, producing and hosting the KUNM'S radio show "THE HOUSE THAT JAZZ BUILT" .

Luckily Malik self-released "Time & Condition" in 1982, capturing his work together with Qaiyim Shabazz. It's not just a crate diggers Holy Grail, but an important artistic and historic document of the St Louis scene. Time & Condition stands alone as a (very) individual, spiritual jazz classic.

We hope this reissue will finally grant these musicians the wider acknowledgement & credit they deserved during their life time.

Original self-released by Malik king this lp has been on many peoples lists of holly grail private-press jazz wants for years , very rarely turning up on ebay and the like.. selling for up to $500.

Malik King was an important part of the St Louis jazz scene of the 70's & 80's.

He studied under Albert Ayler in NY in the early 70s before returning to the Midwest. He was a member of; The Human Arts Ensemble, the Shirley Le Flore's ensemble "Free N' Concert". He also served as musical director of The Creative Arts & Expression Lab, The African Peoples Continuum, & The Black Arts Alliance, The worrier poets, as well as various Emerging Force Ensembles.

Zimbabwe Nkenya (1953-2022), a creative artist and innovative musician, was brought up on army bases in the USA and Spain. He spent 30 years traveling and performing in New York, New Mexico, Arizona and St Louis. playing with a who's who of jazz. In New Mexico he became an integral part of the scene, producing and hosting the KUNM'S radio show "THE HOUSE THAT JAZZ BUILT" .

Luckily Malik self-released "Time & Condition" in 1982, capturing his work together with Qaiyim Shabazz. It's not just a crate diggers Holy Grail, but an important artistic and historic document of the St Louis scene. Time & Condition stands alone as a (very) individual, spiritual jazz classic.

We hope this reissue will finally grant these musicians the wider acknowledgement & credit they deserved during their life time.

It’s been a few years since Captain Mustache took a ride with Kompakt – 2021, to be exact, when he released the “Everything” single, and subsequently made an appearance on that year’s entry in the Total series. But this visionary French producer has been busy, indeed fiercely productive, ever since, appearing on Helena Hauff’s Return To Disorder and John Digweed’s Bedrock, collaborating with Dave Clarke, Popof, The Advent, Paris The Black Fu, Keith Tucker from AUX88... and two beautifully eloquent albums, Tourbillon Nocturne and Indigo Memories. But with The Super Album, Captain Mustache returns to Kompakt with his most sublime collection yet. On The Super Album, the Captain soundtracks an imagined “whole day for party people.” He welcomes friends old and new on board: opening with the poetic club banger of “About Love”, with guest appearance from Speakwave (aka dynArec), The Super Album shifts gears into the lush, sunny “Shifting Basslines”, where Captain Mustache’s pulsing electro-disco is the perfect fit for a third collaboration with electroclash pioneers Chicks on Speed. After the deep techno pulsations of “Laser Me” and the glitzy pop shine of “Gimme Ya Mustache”, more guests arrive: Arnaud Rebotini of Black Strobe on the slinky “I Love Watching U”, and then a spoken cameo from the truly legendary French disco diva Amanda Lear on “Mustache Of The Universe”, a glitzy glitterball of a song that’s shrouded in ghostly synths. All those tracks appear on the 12” version of The Super Album – download the digital version and you get six more slices of Mustache magic. Here, the narrative turns more insular, more dancefloor focused – the party people have moved through the daytime and they’re in their element, diving deep into the night-time economy. The album spirals, beautifully, into stark electro, driving techno, with great moments of beauty and melancholy – see the pointillist arpeggios of “Everything” (which features Play Paul), the disco stomp of “Acapulco Citron”, and a breath-taking double-bill of stripped back psychedelic electro on “Pulsions Organiques”, and the layered, luscious, swooning “Clair-Obscur”. From there, it’s an astral glide into the Dopplereffekt-ish “Galaxian Symbiosis” before Foremost Poets join Captain Mustache to wave the night goodbye with the brittle, brilliant “Floorwax”. It’s a day in the life, but all in service to the pleasures of nightlife; the dancefloor is The Super Album’s beacon, your body the pliable material moulded into evocative new shapes by this dense, hypnotic, brilliantly pop album.

"Creating this record took me around 2 years, I was moving quite a bit, without a steady working or living space, travelling and playing live again for the first time since the pandemic. At first there was creative insecurity and many abandoned ideas, I wanted to make something special for YUKU but everything felt dry and soulless. In my head this was supposed to be a dancefloor record, but this idea quickly became an obstruction in my creative flow.

During this time I started learning modular synthesis, and although there was definitely a learning curve this method of making music gave the record direction and refreshed my way to approach composition. It is also very fun to learn. What came out is a collage of sorts that is more honest and reflective of my emotions and those of the people and spaces that I have exchanged with. Thanks to YUKU and the amazing people that took part in this record and in my life in the past two years. Hope you all enjoy."

- Joaquin Cornejo

2023 marks 35 years since the first single by The Brand New Heavie

Twenty-one seminal tracks from Acid Jazz royalty, The Brand New Heavies, who transcended London’s local funk scene to become to enjoy global success across with hits such as ‘Sometimes’, ‘You Are The Universe’, ‘Dream on Dreamer’, ‘Midnight at The Oasis’ and more.

This new compilation brings together all the singles from the band’s time with London Records, featuring 15 Top 40, 5 Top 20, and 1 Top 10 UK hits.

All formats feature new liner notes from producer and long-time fan Mark Ronson.

Presented on double heavyweight vinyl with 21 hits – all their biggest hits + 4 US Singles- and expanded 2 x CD with remixes by Masters at Work, Dimitri from Paris, Roger Sanchez and a new remix of ‘Stay This Way’ by Bob Sinclar

Bertram debuts on Dutch cult label Pinkman Records.

Fueled by nostalgia, 'Lights Out' aims to execute industrial old school dancehall and dub within a raw electronics framework. It combines old drum machines, vintage synths, acid bass lines, Sherman-laced vocals by Bertram and the people in his life, and clever approaches to the creative process and production.

He believes in a ''it takes a village" approach and worked closely with label head Marsman to iterate the project. The release is blessed by remixes courtesy of C.L.A.W.S. and Chris Mitchell.

Jorja Smith is officially back. Further to making a recent return to the musical sphere with her singles ‘Try Me’ and ‘Little Things’, today she has confirmed the details of her highly anticipated second album,
‘falling or flying’, set for release globally on September 29th 2023 via FAMM and available to pre-order now - here.
Alongside the announcement, Jorja has also unveiled the album's poignant artwork; a stunning portrait of her, shot on film by the prestigious British photographer, Liz Johnson Artur. In addition, Jorja has also announced a series of UK live shows in September, commemorating the release of the album. Further details below.
Through her new record, Jorja has delivered an undeniable modern classic, effortlessly condensing any number of disparate styles and genres into music which thrillingly broaches any gap between Jazz, Soul, R&B and Funky House. A bold, brave nd courageous leap forward from her critically acclaimed debut album ‘Lost and Found’ -
‘falling or flying’ is an album that speaks to the musical and emotional era where Jorja is now, and how she got here. It isn’t so much an exploration of how she’s found herself but more a statement that she has arrived, and that her understanding of her life, her relationships, and her feelings, have deepened, matured and crystallised as she
enters her twenty six year. ‘And despite it all,’ she says, ‘it's definitely a journey I've just started. That's what's crazy. It's only just begun.’
Sonically, this album, a no-skips body of work, isn’t like anything you’ve heard before. It sits masterfully in this same space of excitement, self-exploration and self-assertion that Jorja does. Compromised of deep, thumping drums, racing basslines, irresistible hooks and distinctive beats, ‘falling or flying’ runs at the same pace that Jorja’s mind does. ‘I don't slow down enough’ she says. ‘This album is like my brain. There’s always so much going on but each
song is definitely a standstill moment.’
Much of the creative energy that shaped the album emerged from studio sessions with the producer duo DAMEDAME* back in her hometown of Walsall, where, to Jorja, the heart is. The album is both a sonic and an emotional tour of where she’s been, and what she’s been about, in the two years since she dropped her latest offering, ‘Be Right Back’. ‘It touches on breakups, relationships with my friends, relationships with old friends,
relationships with myself.’ She says. ‘It's definitely about a lot of relationships, but every song I write I can sing it to myself.’
Of the many British voices in music today, Jorja is among the most commanding, writing at a pitch of intensity and urgency that few can match. Over the past five and half years, since the release of her debut album ‘Lost & Found’, she has been celebrated unanimously across the world for her evocative song-writing, powerful delivery, pure emotion and unbridled talent as a young woman navigating her way through life and in 2021 was the year Jorja’s hiatus from music was broken. Enter ‘Be Right Back’, the holding space between the sensation that was ‘Lost & Found’, and ‘falling or flying’. ‘Be Right Back’ was born from playing, jamming, freestyling, and sounding out what Jorja had been on the edge of expressing all her life. It was a project entirely for her fans. “Be Right Back did exactly what I wanted it to do. It was a little waiting room so people knew I was coming back.”
And come back she has - entering a chapter of her return to music that’s certain to draw in and intoxicate Jorja’s fans and new listeners alike. And what has changed for her, in the five years since ‘Lost & Found’ dominated the charts and the soundscape? “I like this world that I've just come into. And I’m still figuring things out. Always
figuring things out.” Jorja says. “This is the first time I’m putting stuff out there that I can connect with right now.” Over the last few years, it’s been a reflective and transformative step into her mid twenties for her. She’s been able to step into herself and evolve as a songwriter and a woman despite an ever-changing musical landscape.
While she recognises that the global pandemic has been completely devastating, she acknowledges that it allowed her to stay still, to come more into herself, and to be more in control of the person she is, and of her musical output. Like some of the legendary musicians that came before her, Jorja is looking at the chaos and disorder in the
world right now with resourceful, refined eyes, and she sees the glorious opportunity and enormous responsibility that affords. The net result is that while ‘falling or flying' sounds very much like Jorja Smith, it sounds like no Jorja Smith album you have ever heard before. ‘falling or flying’- released on September 29th

Instrumentals JID019 captures the musical alchemy produced at the Linear Labs Studio by producers Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad. These instrumental recordings encapsulate the spirit of the Jazz Is Dead concert and recording series, celebrating the African-American art form known as jazz through improvisation, musical collaboration and authentic cross-generational and cross-cultural communication.

»This River Only Brings Poison« was released in 2002 as the sixth full-length album of Chris Hooson’s Dakota Suite project. This first-ever vinyl edition of the record includes four bonus pieces and makes it possible for fans to re-evaluate one of the most crucial Dakota Suite albums in the project’s vast discography while also providing new listeners with an entry point into its intricate musical cosmos. With contributions by artists as diverse as steel guitarist Bruce Kaphan and drummer Tim Mooney from American Music Club, Derald Daugherty, and Laura and Chris Donohue as well as long-time collaborators such as David Buxton, Colin Dunkley or Ed Collins, »This River Only Brings Poison« turned out as a sonically rich and stylistically versatile as it is emotionally multi-layered.

»Writing music for me has always been a cathartic exercise,« explains Hooson. While the instrumental pieces generally serve to express a raw sense of his internal struggles, his vocal-led songs communicate them more directly. »Those are the words I cannot say openly. It’s not that I cannot voice them in a conversation, it’s just that they only seem half-formed and not ›true‹ unless they are located within a song,« he says. What makes Dakota Suite unique is that throughout the project’s history, the music and lyrics have always had a single addressee: Hooson’s wife Johanna, whose photographs were used for the album artwork and who is featured on clarinet on »sand fools the shoreline.«

»The title of the record was something that I had said when Johanna and I first met to make her see that the journey she was considering taking would be full of love, but also come at a cost,« explains Hooson. »The songs were written at a time when I was really struggling to think I could be the person that she deserved.« In the end however, »This River Only Brings Poison« marked a turning point in Hooson’s oeuvre after highly productive time with Dakota Suite: it would take another five years until he returned with a new album. »The reason for that was that I needed to accept that she had made her choice to be with me and that was a big thing for me to get my head around,« he says.

Hooson’s highly personal approach to writing songs also has an impact on the ways in which he works with his collaborators when recording them. »The people with whom I play really need to understand how I perceive the world to be able to play what I need,« he says. »My instructions would always be things like, ›This is what the song means to me, this is what I am trying to communicate to Johanna when she hears it, so your cello, for example, needs to sound like you have noticed that the cloud is covering the sun, and the weight of the air on your skin is heavier and it has unsettled you.‹«

For this particular record, he reached out to Mooney and Kaphan as an admirer of their group American Music Club. Expecting to be rejected, he instead found himself on a flight to San Francisco together with multi-instrumentalist Buxton shortly thereafter, about to make what he today calls one of his most cherished recording experiences. After the four musicians finished the basic tracks, overdubs were added in Hooson and Buxton’s respective houses as well as Daugherty’s home studio while Hooson was visiting his old friend in Nashville.

Hooson emphasises that revisiting his older releases can be complicated. »I feel intense feelings, as every record is a diary of who I was in that period and what I was feeling. That is why having to play the songs live is always like having PTSD: I need to re-experience the event that caused me to write the song, and I do not enjoy that.« He remains, however, proud of »This River Only Brings Poison,« pointing especially to the opener »the lepers companion« as what might perhaps be his favourite song of his. »But overall I just hope that Johanna feels it spoke to her,« he says, adding that the two do not discuss his records. »For me it's enough that she is listening to the things I mean to communicate to her.«

Jorja Smith is officially back. Further to making a recent return to the musical sphere with her singles ‘Try Me’ and ‘Little Things’, today she has confirmed the details of her highly anticipated second album, ‘falling or flying’, set for release globally on September 29th 2023 via FAMM and available to pre-order now - here.

Alongside the announcement, Jorja has also unveiled the album's poignant artwork; a stunning portrait of her, shot on film by the prestigious British photographer, Liz Johnson Artur. In addition, Jorja has also announced a series of UK live shows in September, commemorating the release of the album. Further details below.

Through her new record, Jorja has delivered an undeniable modern classic, effortlessly condensing any number of disparate styles and genres into music which thrillingly broaches any gap between Jazz, Soul, R&B and Funky House. A bold, brave and courageous leap forward from her critically acclaimed debut album ‘Lost and Found’ - ‘falling or flying’ is an album that speaks to the musical and emotional era where Jorja is now, and how she got here. It isn’t so much an exploration of how she’s found herself but more a statement that she has arrived, and that her understanding of her life, her relationships, and her feelings, have deepened, matured and crystallised as she enters her twenty six year. ‘And despite it all,’ she says, ‘it's definitely a journey I've just started. That's what's crazy.

It's only just begun.’ Sonically, this album, a no-skips body of work, isn’t like anything you’ve heard before. It sits masterfully in this same space of excitement, self-exploration and self-assertion that Jorja does. Compromised of deep, thumping drums, racing basslines, irresistible hooks and distinctive beats, ‘falling or flying’ runs at the same pace that Jorja’s mind does. ‘I don't slow down enough’ she says. ‘This album is like my brain. There’s always so much going on but each song is definitely a standstill moment.’

Much of the creative energy that shaped the album emerged from studio sessions with the producer duo DAMEDAME* back in her hometown of Walsall, where, to Jorja, the heart is. The album is both a sonic and an emotional tour of where she’s been, and what she’s been about, in the two years since she dropped her latest offering, ‘Be Right Back’. ‘It touches on breakups, relationships with my friends, relationships with old friends, relationships with myself.’ She says. ‘It's definitely about a lot of relationships, but every song I write I can sing it to myself.’

Of the many British voices in music today, Jorja is among the most commanding, writing at a pitch of intensity and urgency that few can match. Over the past five and half years, since the release of her debut album ‘Lost & Found’, she has been celebrated unanimously across the world for her evocative song-writing, powerful delivery, pure emotion and unbridled talent as a young woman navigating her way through life and in 2021 was the year Jorja’s hiatus from music was broken. Enter ‘Be Right Back’, the holding space between the sensation that was ‘Lost & Found’, and ‘falling or flying’. ‘Be Right Back’ was born from playing, jamming, freestyling, and sounding out what Jorja had been on the edge of expressing all her life. It was a project entirely for her fans. “Be Right Back did exactly what I wanted it to do. It was a little waiting room so people knew I was coming back.”

And come back she has - entering a chapter of her return to music that’s certain to draw in and intoxicate Jorja’s fans and new listeners alike. And what has changed for her, in the five years since ‘Lost & Found’ dominated the charts and the soundscape? “I like this world that I've just come into. And I’m still figuring things out. Always figuring things out.” Jorja says. “This is the first time I’m putting stuff out there that I can connect with right now.” Over the last few years, it’s been a reflective and transformative step into her mid twenties for her.

She’s been able to step into herself and evolve as a songwriter and a woman despite an ever-changing musical landscape.

While she recognises that the global pandemic has been completely devastating, she acknowledges that it allowed her to stay still, to come more into herself, and to be more in control of the person she is, and of her musical output. Like some of the legendary musicians that came before her, Jorja is looking at the chaos and disorder in the world right now with resourceful, refined eyes, and she sees the glorious opportunity and enormous responsibility that affords. The net result is that while ‘falling or flying' sounds very much like Jorja Smith, it sounds like no Jorja Smith album you have ever heard before.

‘falling or flying’- released on September 29th

The female-led discodelic soul band Say She She, named as a silent nod to Nile Rodgers (C’est chi-chi!: It's Chic!”), release their sophomore album ‘Silver’ on the heels of an epic break-out year that grows brighter by the day.

The three strong voices of Piya Malik (El Michels Affair staple feature, and former backing singer for Chicano Batman), Sabrina Mileo Cunningham and Nya Gazelle Brown front the band. This harmonizing trio was formed in a classic New York tale of friends that met by following the music: the downtown dancefloors, through the

Lower East Side floorboards and up to the rooftops of Harlem.

‘Silver’ was entirely written and recorded live to tape at Killion Sound studio in North Hollywood earlier this year and produced by Sergio Rios (of Orgone). While these analog recording techniques help root Say She She’s sound in a bedrock of tonal warmth that only tape can achieve, it is also their process of cutting the track

in the moment and capturing the magic of communal creativity that has seen their sound described as “a glorious overload of joyful elation and spiritual elevation” (MOJO) and “infused with the wonky post-disco spirit of early '80s NYC” (The Guardian).

Silver, the element, is known as the metal of self-confidence and the mirror of the soul. With that, the 16-song double-LP projects not only their growth in writing with confidence, but also reflects a deeper exploration into their punk-chic, femmeforward sensibility.

Ultimately, ‘Silver’ oozes with quirk and adventure and embraces the multifaceted nature of what it means to be a modern femme. The She She's fully embrace their role as beauticians, actively reminding people of the inherent beauty in the world. They skillfully employ double entendres and humor to encourage open dialogue and fearlessly address important matters that demand attention.

The female-led discodelic soul band Say She She, named as a silent nod to Nile Rodgers (C’est chi-chi!: It's Chic!”), release their sophomore album ‘Silver’ on the heels of an epic break-out year that grows brighter by the day.

The three strong voices of Piya Malik (El Michels Affair staple feature, and former backing singer for Chicano Batman), Sabrina Mileo Cunningham and Nya Gazelle Brown front the band. This harmonizing trio was formed in a classic New York tale of friends that met by following the music: the downtown dancefloors, through the

Lower East Side floorboards and up to the rooftops of Harlem.

‘Silver’ was entirely written and recorded live to tape at Killion Sound studio in North Hollywood earlier this year and produced by Sergio Rios (of Orgone). While these analog recording techniques help root Say She She’s sound in a bedrock of tonal warmth that only tape can achieve, it is also their process of cutting the track

in the moment and capturing the magic of communal creativity that has seen their sound described as “a glorious overload of joyful elation and spiritual elevation” (MOJO) and “infused with the wonky post-disco spirit of early '80s NYC” (The Guardian).

Silver, the element, is known as the metal of self-confidence and the mirror of the soul. With that, the 16-song double-LP projects not only their growth in writing with confidence, but also reflects a deeper exploration into their punk-chic, femmeforward sensibility.

Ultimately, ‘Silver’ oozes with quirk and adventure and embraces the multifaceted nature of what it means to be a modern femme. The She She's fully embrace their role as beauticians, actively reminding people of the inherent beauty in the world. They skillfully employ double entendres and humor to encourage open dialogue and fearlessly address important matters that demand attention.

The undoubted Queen of British Soul and 2023 Olivier Award winner, Beverley Knight returns with a brand new album The Fifth Chapter - on September 29th on Tag8/BMG. The album Includes the first single “Last One On My Mind” which was ROW on R2 and the follow up “Systematic Overload ” which we expcct to also be a R2 favourite
Zoe Ball will be playing Systematic Overload as a first play on R2 on 17th September. Beverley appears at R2 In The Park on 16.09 with appearances on Vernon Kaye TOMY, Rylan KaRyoke appearance confirmed live and interviews with Graham Norton, and a Chris Evans session on Virgin. Press to include Guardian, Sunday Times, and Attitude.
The Fifth Chapter comes on the back of what has undoubtedly been Beverley’s most successful period ever as the iconic Ms Knight celebrates 30 years making music with several top 10 albums and over a million UK albums sold.
UK national TV appearances will support the album release - we expect Royal Variety, Strictly, Sunday Brunch, The One Show and BBC Breakfast news performances and interviews, while Beverley has already appeared on ITN News, and GoggleBox on the launch of the album.
Beverley will take on her biggest ever UK tour throughout October and November, to over 30,000 people, ending with a headline date at the London Palladium on November 14th. The album brings together some of the greatest contemporary songwriting talent including Diane Warren, Seb Coe, Ollie Green and Andrew Roachford, as well as co-production with the likes of AC Burrell, Jimmy Hogarth, Mitch Allen & Josh Cohen/DJ Waldie, The Fifth Chapter is a spectacular journey through the inspirations that have defined her incredible career.
Beverley has collected numerous awards and accolades including an MBE, three MOBO Awards, numerous Brit and Mercury Music Prize nominations and, most recently, an Olivier Award for her role as Emmeline Pankhurst in the critically acclaimed musical SYLVIA at London's Old Vic Theatre. She also recently appeared as a judge on Starstruck alongside Adam Lambert, and Shania Twain.

It almost seems churlish to regard Celtic Frost as one of the great extreme metal bands, because they were so much more than that. It’s better to hail them as among the finest extreme and experimental bands of the 1980s. Refusing ever to do what was expected or demanded, the band constantly changed musical direction, always brought in surprising influences, and kept people guessing as to where they might venture next. Their catalogue of albums is formidable and unmatched. Each is not only unique, but part of an entire tapestry that only now can be appreciated for being a remarkable part of music history. Despite, or maybe because of, constant turmoil on so many fronts, Celtic Frost achieved an artistic level few others would even have dared to dream of aspiring towards. They climbed high because they were never afraid to fall. Which is why the band are now rightly regarded as icons, and iconoclasts.

Emperor's Return is the second release by the Swiss extreme metal band Celtic Frost. It was released in 1985 as an extended play and was their first record featuring American drummer Reid Cruickshank (a.k.a. "Reed St. Mark"). The band's bleak publicity photographs from this period had an influence on the fashion and style of the developing black metal genre. This EP has been out of print and available on its own since 1985.

Just as Duster's landmark debut album Stratosphere was making its first orbit, Clay Parton, Dove Amber, and Jason Albertini tracked a largely improvised companion capsule under their Valium Aggelein alter ego. An ode to '70s Kosmische, Hier Kommt Der Schwartze Mond is a skeletal space nap for the prozac generation. Remixed and remastered from the original 16 track analog tapes, the 1998 album has been adjoined by 15 period-appropriate bonus tracks. A fuzzy masterpiece, hidden in plain sight, by the most important slowcore band of all time.

Long Hours is a solo project by Julian Medor. Long hours has been coined as being lofi, nowave, synth punk croon-core, gothdoowop with a relentless live show inspired by frontmen such as David Yow (the Jesus lizard) JG Thirlwell (Foetus) Alan Vega (Suicide). Long Hours has performed up & down the east coast of Australia countless times and has toured japan twice. He has also released 27 albums in the space of 3 years. "Never Enough" is his first LP available on Beast Records.

It almost seems churlish to regard Celtic Frost as one of the great extreme metal bands, because they were so much more than that. It’s better to hail them as among the finest extreme and experimental bands of the 1980s. Refusing ever to do what was expected or demanded, the band constantly changed musical direction, always brought in surprising influences, and kept people guessing as to where they might venture next. Their catalogue of albums is formidable and unmatched. Each is not only unique, but part of an entire tapestry that only now can be appreciated for being a remarkable part of music history. Despite, or maybe because of, constant turmoil on so many fronts, Celtic Frost achieved an artistic level few others would even have dared to dream of aspiring towards. They climbed high because they were never afraid to fall. Which is why the band are now rightly regarded as icons, and iconoclasts.

Emperor's Return is the second release by the Swiss extreme metal band Celtic Frost. It was released in 1985 as an extended play and was their first record featuring American drummer Reid Cruickshank (a.k.a. "Reed St. Mark"). The band's bleak publicity photographs from this period had an influence on the fashion and style of the developing black metal genre. This EP has been out of print and available on its own since 1985.

Released in 1998, THE CHRISTMAS ATTIC earned double-platinum certification and continues to captivate audiences with fan favorites like “Music Box Blues,” “Boughs Of Holly,” and “Ghosts Of Christmas Eve.” The album also introduced “Christmas Canon,” which has become one of the band’s most popular songs and a modern holiday classic. THE CHRISTMAS ATTIC tells the heartwarming tale of a little girl’s magical night spent in an attic filled with yuletide memories, accompanied by spellbinding guitar solos and soaring choral vocals set against a rock orchestral backdrop. The record serves as the second installment in TSO’s celebrated Christmas trilogy, which also includes Christmas Eve and Other Stories (1996) and The Lost Christmas Eve (2004).

TSO was conceived by the group’s late founder, composer, and lyricist Paul O’Neill. His ambitious vision was to create a progressive rock band that combined rock opera and classical rock with a dazzling live show that featured lights, lasers, and pyrotechnics. In the 1980s and 1990s, O’Neill produced several albums for the influential heavy metal band Savatage, which is how he connected with longtime collaborators Jon Oliva (vocals), Al Pitrelli (guitar), and Robert Kinkel (keyboards/producer).

With more than 10 million albums sold, TSO has inspired generations of fans to rediscover the multi-dimensional art form of rock opera. Since its touring debut in 1999, the band has emerged as one of the world’s top live acts, performing for over 10 million people across the globe, selling more than $280 million worth of tickets, and donating $11 million to charity.

Released in 1998, THE CHRISTMAS ATTIC earned double-platinum certification and continues to captivate audiences with fan favorites like “Music Box Blues,” “Boughs Of Holly,” and “Ghosts Of Christmas Eve.” The album also introduced “Christmas Canon,” which has become one of the band’s most popular songs and a modern holiday classic. THE CHRISTMAS ATTIC tells the heartwarming tale of a little girl’s magical night spent in an attic filled with yuletide memories, accompanied by spellbinding guitar solos and soaring choral vocals set against a rock orchestral backdrop. The record serves as the second installment in TSO’s celebrated Christmas trilogy, which also includes Christmas Eve and Other Stories (1996) and The Lost Christmas Eve (2004).

TSO was conceived by the group’s late founder, composer, and lyricist Paul O’Neill. His ambitious vision was to create a progressive rock band that combined rock opera and classical rock with a dazzling live show that featured lights, lasers, and pyrotechnics. In the 1980s and 1990s, O’Neill produced several albums for the influential heavy metal band Savatage, which is how he connected with longtime collaborators Jon Oliva (vocals), Al Pitrelli (guitar), and Robert Kinkel (keyboards/producer).

With more than 10 million albums sold, TSO has inspired generations of fans to rediscover the multi-dimensional art form of rock opera. Since its touring debut in 1999, the band has emerged as one of the world’s top live acts, performing for over 10 million people across the globe, selling more than $280 million worth of tickets, and donating $11 million to charity.

Schicksal is the alias of Rudi Huybrechts coming from Hoboken, a small town near Antwerp. He started experimenting with synths and drum computers in 1982. Heavily inspired by Front 242 first album “Geography”, DAF’s elektronische körpermusik “Alles Ist Gut” and Kraftwerk’s “Man Machine” and “Computer World”, Rudi spent lot of hours programming and composing at home with just some gear and a tape recorder. Some of these tracks appeared on local compilations but it was not until the hype of New Beat in Belgium that Schicksal gained a real attention. In 1988 Rudi persuaded Marc Grouls, the resident DJ of discotheque Prestige in Antwerp, to play the track “24 hours”. All the people on the dancefloor just got wild and the next day Schicksal signed a contract with Maurice Engelen for the release of a maxi-single on Subway Records. This new edition includes all original tracks plus two new remixes of “24 Hours” and the new track “Fate”

The only album to soundtrack both late-'70s Minneapolis lounges and a Travis Scott x Dior fashion show. Recorded in a host of living rooms with only a Fender Rhodes piano, a Donca Matic Mini Pops drum machine, and Senrick's wide-eyed, 20-year-old voice, the 1977 LP disappeared into the wild and joined the Wendigo in Minnesota lore. A provocative mix of marina soul, easy listening, and loner folk, Dreamin' is a sanguine sliver of the American private mind garden. Harsh winters coupled with a relative lack of interest amongst siblings allowed Chuck Senrick years of unfettered access to the family piano in their Farmington, Minnesota, home. Learning both by ear and by instruction, Senrick began gigging professionally at age 15, joining John Zimmer and the CR4 for a weekly rundown of Allman Brothers, Blind Faith, and Cream covers at the Sea Girt Inn in Lake Orchard. Tapping into James Taylor's pop-chart achievements in songwriting and enunciation, Senrick composed the bulk of the songs featured on Dreamin' before graduating from Farmington High School. At 20, Senrick migrated 30 miles north to the Twin Cities to pursue music full-time. Using borrowed equipment and borrowed living rooms, a string of informal recording sessions generated the quarter-inch tape for Dreamin'. "I didn't know how to do it," Senrick says about producing an album. "I just knew it could be done." Constructed with vocals, Fender Rhodes, and an assortment of rhythm presets on his Donca Matic Mini Pops drum machine, a mere 200 copies of the private-press masterpiece were stamped and sleeved and sold hand-to-hand at performances. Chuck's wife Lesli illustrated the album cover_a pen-to-paper portrait of her husband against the backdrop of the Minneapolis Skyline, she and their newborn son situated on a nearby knoll. Any plans for a re-press were quashed when producer Bruce W. Hansen lost the reels during a messy divorce. "I was a kid with big ideas and not much hope to do anything but play," Senrick said of the Dreamin' era. "It still amazes me that people are interested in it."

With over 40 musicians across 28 tracks, Essentials Spring 2023 might be our most treasured one yet. Featuring a who's who of some of our favorite musicians in the community, we present a 2xLP to keep everyone vibrant and alive as the seasons change and days start to warm. Essentials Spring 2023 features recent Chillhop beat tape alumni like El Train, Evil Needle, illiterate, and Mr. Slipz, while also showcasing songs from familiars like Oatmello, SwuM, Toonorth, Blue Wednesday, HM Surf, The Doppelgangaz, and dozens of others.

This album features over 70 minutes of chillhop, jazzhop, lofi hip-hop, downtempo R&B, lounge jazz, soulful beats, boom bap, old school. However you might like to classify this. Study beats? Sure. Beats to go on a road trip to? Absolutely. Gaming beats, coding beats, beats to daydream to? You betcha. The essentials return for 2023, adding to the ever growing collection of limited edition seasonal releases on vinyl!

Morning Glory

Every twenty four hours is a chance to begin again and it is a renewed commitment to be involved in the cycle of nature - to play by rules set forth by something greater than ourselves that constantly resonates in the ears of those who are at peace. At the edge of each one of these beginnings, there is a brief moment that belongs to only "it". A special portion of time that directly connects to the circular motion of Space and Time. It is truth before reality. Realness before rationality. Self before consciousness.

We can feel it when we first see light and the recognize an indication that the new day has begun. It is honoring what makes all this possible.


Axis Expressionist Series.

A collection of vinyl and limited digital releases, curated by Millsart, an alias of Jeff Mills, of his most eclectic and transcendent compositions that derive from his Every Dog Has Its Day project as well as new unreleased works.

Vernacular creations that fall off from the "other side" of the Electronic Music tree, this project is designed for the experienced Techno music listener, and its goal is to reflect upon the pure artistry of the craft of storytelling. A realization between music and life.

Whereas "dancing" is the goal of Dance Music, the goal of this music is about "reflecting on the complexity and simplification of life". Soundtracks for people in their evolutionary process.

Limited BioVinyl 2023 repress, which provides an ecological alternative to the conventional vinyl record with strictly no sound or visual compromises.
“We all dance away our lives to the tune of the sovereign pleasure-pain axis.” – David Pearce, The Hedonistic Imperative

Pleasure-seeking and pain-avoidance as a rave metaphor fits the music of Sam Barker. The Berghain resident and Leisure System co-founder has spent the last few years exploring the euphoric potential of altering key variables in dance music formulas.

This was especially true on his 2018 Ostgut Ton debut EP Debiasing, which was flush with unconventional rhythmic chord stabs, melody and percussion but devoid of kickdrums. What seemed like an experimental exercise on paper was in reality equally geared towards the club: tracks that worked for the floor but resisted the genre categorizations that kick drums often provide. This has come to define Barker’s sound.

Now, on his debut solo LP Utility, Barker turns his focus toward melding experimentation and dancefloor pragmatism with the psychology behind the musical decision making process. In his own words: “After ‘Debiasing’ it occurred to me that my musical decisions were often unintentionally utilitarian, following an instinct to maximize pleasure in one way or another. It’s sort of unfashionable to admit, but by removing elements that have strong genre associations, this became a natural consequence.”

Accordingly, Utility is a playful but non-ironic musical approach to a whole spectrum of utilitarian and transhumanist ideas: from models for quantifying pleasure and “gradients of bliss” to abolishing suffering for sentient beings (not just people) through the ethical use of drugs and nanotechnology. Over nine tracks, Barker’s vision ebbs and flows through waves of deeply psychedelic musical vignettes; free-floating and futuristic melodies and rhythms as targeted brain stimulation. The sound draws heavily on modular synthesis, as well as self-built mechanical instruments and plate reverbs to create atmospheres that are at once alien and emotionally recognizable, functional and utopian.

Utility is by no means a concept album. Instead, it is an honest take on music as both pleasuremaximizer and consciousness-expander.

“We all dance away our lives to the tune of the sovereign pleasure-pain axis.” – David Pearce, The Hedonistic Imperative

Vergnügungssucht und Schmerzvermeidung als Rave-Metapher – das passt zur Musik von Sam Barker. Der Berghain-Resident und Leisure System-Mitbetreiber hat im Laufe der Jahre das euphorische Potenzial der Veränderung von Variablen in der Dancefloorschablonisierung erkundet.

Das traf besonders auf sein Ostgut Ton-EP-Debüt Debiasing zu, das nur so sprudelte vor unkonventionellen rhythmischen Akkordfolgen, Melodien und Percussion – die Kickdrum aber wegließ. Was auf dem Papier wie eine experimentelle Übung wirkte, war tatsächlich gleichermaßen für den Klub gemacht: Stücke, die auf dem Dancefloor funktionieren, sich dem oft vorgegebenen Kickdrumdiktat und damit einhergehender Genrekategorisierung aber verweigerten. So hat sich Barkers Klang definiert.

Auf seinem Solodebütalbum Utility widmet Barker seine Aufmerksamkeit nun aber der Verschmelzung von Experiment und Dancefloorpragmatismus mit der Psychologie hinter dem musikalischen Entscheidungsfindungsprozess. In seinen eigenen Worten: „Nach Debiasing kam mir in den Sinn, dass meine musikalischen Entscheidungen oft unbeabsichtigt utilitaristisch sind, einem Instinkt folgen, Glück auf die eine oder andere Art zu maximalisieren. Das einzugestehen ist recht unmodisch. Aber durch die Auslassung von Elementen mit starken Genreassoziationen, wurde dies eine recht natürliche Konsequenz.“

Dementsprechend ist Utility eine spielerisch-neckische aber unironische musikalische Betrachtungsweise eines ganzen Spektrums utilitaristisch und transhumanistischer Konzepte: Von Modellen zur Quantifizierung von Wohlergehen und Verläufen von Glückseligkeit („Gradients of Bliss“) zur Abschaffung von Leid für fühlende Wesen (meint: nicht nur den Mensch) über die ethische Nutzung von Drogen und Nanotechnologie. Im Laufe von neun Stücken ebbt und schwillt Barkers Vision durch Wogen zutiefst psychedelischer Musikvignetten; freifließende und futuristische Melodien und Rhythmen als gezielte Hirnstimulation. Der Klang gründet stark auf modularer Synthese, ebenso wie selbstgebaute mechnische Klangerzeuger, Instrumente und Plate Reverbs Atmosphären schaffen, die gleichermaßen fremdartig als auch emotional vertraut wirken, funktional und utopisch.

Utility ist keinesfalls ein Konzeptalbum. Vielmehr ist es eine aufrechte Auseinandersetzung mit Musik als Freudenmaximierung und Bewusstseinserweiterung.

A month after the release of his debut album as Tambores En Benirras, 2021’s fabulous Orbe Dotodo, Graham Newby’s life changed forever. After years living with a visual impairment, his sight had deteriorated so much that he was declared “registered blind”. For a man who had spent decades dividing his time between travelling, DJing, running clubs and lengthy sessions in his own studio, it was a genuinely life-changing moment.

It was against this backdrop, and the need to alter his working methods, that Ondas Horizontales, the second Tambores En Benirras album took shape. Inspired by a mixture of daydreaming, visualisation, immersion in other people’s music (escapism that provided mood enhancement, rather than a specific set of ideas) and long periods spent soaking up the sun in Ibiza, the album is the most vividly detailed, sonically colourful, and sun-soaked collection that Newby has released to date.

Newby’s declining sight forced him to stop spending long spells staring at a screen and undoubtedly slowed down the production process. Yet it also allowed him to reconnect with his emotions, appreciate the storytelling and mood-shifting potential of music, and mine mind’s eye memories of places and spaces that have meant much to him over the years.

The results are undeniably stunning. Designed with horizontal listening in mind, the set distils a range of musical and real-life inspirations –or, as he puts it, “ambient soundtracks, cosmic journeys, Balearic rhythms and poolside sessions” – into ten mesmerising and magical tracks; an undulating, slow-motion journey that’s as breath-taking as it is beguiling.

Newby sets the tone with ‘Mi Sueno Vibe En Reverb’, a swelling, slow-burn ambient masterpiece that tiptoes between hope and melancholia, before flitting between imaginary sunset soundtracks (‘Estrellas En Mastella’, where lilting pedal steel sounds, bubbling electronics and shuffling breakbeats catch the ear), kaleidoscopic sun-up beats (the gorgeous warmth of ‘Generadora De Reyos’), enveloping beatless soundscapes (‘Templos Del Sol’, a drowsy drift in becalmed waters under the heat of the mid-afternoon sun), and dubby, loved-up lusciousness (‘Mokono’).

As the album progresses, bobbing and weaving on an ocean of vibrant chords, pulsing melodies and heart-stopping melodies, there’s no sign of Newby’s inspiration waving. ‘Alma Hablando’ channels the spirit of mid-80s ‘worldbeat’ and douses it in layers of Balearic bliss, while ‘Extrensor Entragado’ recalls the head-nodding haziness of his best Gripper productions of old while combining them with the musical equivalent of a humid summer breeze. Then there’s the mood-enhancing joy of the album’s superb title track –a mission statement of sorts – and the life-affirming post trip-hop/Balearic fusion of ‘Un Placer Celestial (Reprise)’, where the influence of his old friend Aim is clearly evident.

A serious sonic step-up from its predecessor and a future Balearic classic in its’ own right, Ondas Horizontales marks the start of a new musical and personal journey for its creator. It is, in his words, not the end of an era, but the start of a new one.

Debut album by Sunbörn (formerly The KutiMangoes!)

On their first album as Sunbörn, the Danish 6-piece digs into what connects us as human beings: we are all born under the same sun and are connected by the same forces of nature. Meeting the world and connecting through music has been a vital mission for our band from day one, and again and again on our travels we have experienced how music can cross borders, build bridges and connect us with people from different backgrounds and cultures in shared experiences. In times when the world is tearing itself apart it is clear that music has the power to reach across divides and remind us of our common humanity. Sunbörn's self-titled ablum features collaborations with artists from all over the world: Caio Marcio (BR), Ida Nielsen/Bassida (DK), BIGYUKI (JP/US), DJ Opolopo (S), Clap! Clap! (I) & Moderator (G).

Quality Gatefold-LP pressed on yellow vinyl!

Multi-instrumentalist Sally Anne Morgan, known for her work as part of The Black Twig Pickers, and half of House and Land (with Sarah Louise), cultivates seeds sown by folk musics and psychedelia. Carrying tills the rich soil of Appalachian traditions and her rural North Carolina surroundings into warm, reflective songs about the weight people carry with them, as well as Morgan"s own pregnancy and the birth of her first child. Bridging the more freeform, expansive leanings of 2021"s Cups and the lucid beauty of her acclaimed 2020 debut Thread, Carrying finds Morgan imbuing her masterfully crafted songs with more subtle and intricate arrangements. The album"s exploratory nature is anchored by a full band comprised of some of the most thoughtful players in the psychedelic folk and "cosmic country" spheres, including a guest appearance by Ripley Johnson (Rose City Band, Wooden Shjips, Moon Duo), and the foundational rhythm section of fellow The Black Twig Pickers collaborators: drummer Nathan Bowles (Steve Gunn Band, Pelt), guitarist Andrew Zinn, and bassist/engineer Joe Dejarnette. Morgan finds unity in the burdens and joys, tensions, and releases of modern living as a common thread that people bear in their day-to-day lives. "So much of what we accumulate and carry around with us burdens us, but we also can"t or don"t know how to let go," says Morgan. The profoundness and mundanity of that weight ran parallel for Morgan as she literally carried her child to term: the utter commonality of enduring what billions of parents before her had, and the awesome power of the human body and spirit, the complicated and unpredictable wash of emotions that come with nurturing and nourishing another life.

Four years after they went all the way to Antarctica, Flat Worms are back in gen pop with the rest of us - but, as intoned on the album opener "Sigalert," "back again like I never was." Is this a nod to the way time passes over our sorely vexed synapses? Or are we to believe that there"s hope to be found in this broken world? Kick back with Witness Marks and see what other traces Flat Worms have left us in the dust. The album title alone leaves a foreboding impression. But look closer - "witness marks" aren"t something out of a forensic analysis - they"re actually practical; scratches placed in old clocks designed to aid continued maintenance further in time. Sure, there"s big questions and more on the board; primarily if we"re at all distinct from the absurdity coming down around us, or just another character in the mirror? Flat Worms are looking inward this time, outlining personal space in relation to themselves and others - sometimes even people they barely know. Among the slabs of slategrey outrage, the flowers of compassion are blooming, and the simmering power of their trio grows exponentially. Working once again with Ty Segall, Flat Worms continue to find new answers by digging into themselves and playing their kind of rock: hard and flat, bass and drums thrusting stalwartly forward with conviction, guitar twisting and spinning in outrage, deadpan vocals decrying a dire set of circumstances. The democracy of working together, so often messy and frustrating, was found to be a powerful release for Justin, Tim and Will. Acting as one, Flat Worms navigated challenging times by coming together, finding release in the clockwork repetitions of practice and the shared creative space they occupied together against the encroaching world. In the short century of their existence, Flat Worms have agitated against the status quo with a disquieting lyric bent, to emphasize the psychosis of the times. These are positions taken within songs, sung out to individuals in the world. As evidenced by the lyrics, "But I know I can always see you at the show Even though it"s only temporary and it"s time to go." . . .Witness Marks surveys an evolving sense of community. Flat Worms are dedicated to persevering and using the power of their collective. Come witness!

Four years after they went all the way to Antarctica, Flat Worms are back in gen pop with the rest of us - but, as intoned on the album opener "Sigalert," "back again like I never was." Is this a nod to the way time passes over our sorely vexed synapses? Or are we to believe that there"s hope to be found in this broken world? Kick back with Witness Marks and see what other traces Flat Worms have left us in the dust. The album title alone leaves a foreboding impression. But look closer - "witness marks" aren"t something out of a forensic analysis - they"re actually practical; scratches placed in old clocks designed to aid continued maintenance further in time. Sure, there"s big questions and more on the board; primarily if we"re at all distinct from the absurdity coming down around us, or just another character in the mirror? Flat Worms are looking inward this time, outlining personal space in relation to themselves and others - sometimes even people they barely know. Among the slabs of slategrey outrage, the flowers of compassion are blooming, and the simmering power of their trio grows exponentially. Working once again with Ty Segall, Flat Worms continue to find new answers by digging into themselves and playing their kind of rock: hard and flat, bass and drums thrusting stalwartly forward with conviction, guitar twisting and spinning in outrage, deadpan vocals decrying a dire set of circumstances. The democracy of working together, so often messy and frustrating, was found to be a powerful release for Justin, Tim and Will. Acting as one, Flat Worms navigated challenging times by coming together, finding release in the clockwork repetitions of practice and the shared creative space they occupied together against the encroaching world. In the short century of their existence, Flat Worms have agitated against the status quo with a disquieting lyric bent, to emphasize the psychosis of the times. These are positions taken within songs, sung out to individuals in the world. As evidenced by the lyrics, "But I know I can always see you at the show Even though it"s only temporary and it"s time to go." . . .Witness Marks surveys an evolving sense of community. Flat Worms are dedicated to persevering and using the power of their collective. Come witness!