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Chicago-based composer/producer Joey Meland makes music under the moniker Cocojoey. Treating genre conventions and ostensible barriers between disparate musical vocabularies like playthings to gleefully smash and reshape at will, Meland channels decades of experience as a polymathic professional musician adept in styles like metal, jazz, synthpop, and experimental sound design into their infinitely combinatory compositions. STARS, their first album on Hausu Mountain, follows the self-released COCOJOEY’S WORLD with a spellbinding burst of heart-on-sleeve self-expression. The album finds Cocojoey indulging their most adventurous impulses in production and technical instrumental performance, launching into a constantly morphing program that contrasts day-glo earworm hooks against cathartic moments of screaming intensity. Cocojoey’s music exudes warmth and finger-wagging mischief as it exhumes the depths of their psyche with the pure-hearted goal of making their audience smile — when those listening find a chance to breathe within the ecstatic overstimulation.

The album’s tightly constructed song cycle blasts the listener with moment after moment of novel juxtaposition, both in terms of genre and emotional energy, that keep us reeling in a state of delirious whiplash. Warp-speed piano solos over bossa nova-inflected chord progressions segue into detonations of death metal that front-load Meland’s ferocious screaming vocals and meticulously programmed double-kick drum patterns. A strain of iridescent prog emerges in the sheer overload of notes and ideas, as drum n’ bass breaks collide with labyrinthine multi-time signature keyboard lines and bright flashes of clean vocals. Despite whatever contrasting styles might hit within any given Cocojoey song, Meland returns again and again to the upheaval and release provided by extreme metal — though that idiom lands with joyful exuberance, an abrasive yet heartwarming flavor whose positive energy carries through even to those who might not encounter screams and hyper-technical drum breakdowns in their typical listening regimen.

“Extremely highhgrade psych” (MOJO, 2024) “Immaculate sounding new psychedelia“ (Maggot Brain, 2024) “Alexander succeeds in capturing the post-psych grandeur that he’s aiming for while also creating one of his headiest offerings yet” (Raven Sings The Blues) “Psych lifer in a bloozy Americana mode. The whole thing hangs loose like a frayed rope tied to a river tube… essentially, a choogler’s dream.” (Viking’s Choice / NPR Music) “Plug in and space your face” (Aquarium Drunkard) Originally on Tape via Arrowhawk (please go check more releases on this wonderful label) - Now on Vinyl Presented in a high gloss laminated outer sleeve with artwork by Jake Blanchard - Both sets of art joining together to complete the picture. 36 minutes of sonic bliss for your ears and brain. Side 1 - Dark Star Side 2 - Dark Star (continued) "Jeffrey Alexander is a lifer. He has been flirting around the underground for the past thirty years - starting in Baltimore in the mid-90s and later percolating in Providence, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and, now, Philadelphia. Throughout this span, he has run various record labels, worked in a bunch of record shops, organized music festivals, managed live venues, FM deejayed, jammed econo, booked endless tours and performed in a gaggle of groups from Black Forest / Black Sea to Dire Wolves to Jackie-O Motherfucker to The Iditarod and points in-between. And now we have The Heavy Lidders. Jeffrey Alexander + The Heavy Lidders takes the freaked improvisation of Alexander’s instrumental band - DWLVS / Dire Wolves Just Exactly Perfect Sisters Band - into the world of song. Heady songwriting, ethereal jazz and Trad Gras-y blues stomps all feature. Backed by members of Elkhorn and Kohoutek. This vinyl (in 2 volumes) you hold in your hands is a collection of live Lidders that will surely wax your stem, and how! When Record Crates United invited JA+THL to perform at their inaugural garden party, not only did the Lidders show up with a one-off Live/Dead cover as a surprise gift for Keith and Sarah, but they rolled in with the Jesse Sheppard mobile multi-track truck, as well. Fucking pros, mate. Most of the material here was captured that sunny afternoon in suburban New Jersey - and thank the Godz that we have this plastic burner. I missed the set, but Kenneth Higney was there and gave it two thumbs up! I know them Lidders have a deluxe studio LP lined up for September, but til then, this little box will comfortably help you break on through. But don’t be fooled into thinking this is a mere EP. It’s SEVENTY SIX minutes of pure medicated goo. Now dose your capstan and pinch your roller. Shit is about to get Lidded." - Glen Burnout (on Sun Ra’s arrival day 2023)

Yellow Vinyl

'70s Disco Music wan’t just Abba or Studio 54. In the same way that punk or glam rock were evolving at the same time, the "disco" phenomenon generated a plethora of obscure and bizarre studio projects which remained unknown for decades, despite often being more inspired and creative than the few ones that reached stardom and sold millions of copies. 45 rpm singles that remained unsold, sitting in junkshops all over the world for decades hide forgotten gems, revealing genius and avant-garde only guilty of not being at the right place at the right time. Whether it's Moroder-oriented proto synth-wave, groovy space-disco or acid afro funk, volume 1 of the Cosmic Discotheque series is all about rediscovering those forgotten treasures while setting your dancefloor on fire!

“We go through life. We shed our skins. We become ourselves.”

This line from Patti Smith was going round and round Felix Manuel’s head as he gradually constructed Under Tangled Silence, his first album in six years and a record of a literal creative rebirth. Felix originally began it in earnest in 2020 Covid lockdown, but a catastrophic hard-drive meltdown destroyed almost all his work and sent him close to psychic collapse himself. However, ultimately this pushed him to rebuild from scratch and in so doing to confront and reassess every part of his musical and psychological processes.

The result is utterly extraordinary. Felix was a child prodigy as an instrumentalist and his advanced musicality has always been prominent in his music, but here he has put himself front and centre as pianist, harpist and more. And this sense of exposure as a performer interweaves with an unflinching emotional openness too. Where sometimes electronic production as advanced as this can use intellect and techniques as shields from soul-baring, this is the sound of someone who can boldly say “I feel things, I cry all the time, and I'm not afraid to say it or show it in the music.”

But this doesn’t mean there’s a move away from the soundsystems and dancefloors where Felix made his name as a uniquely innovative vinyl DJ. Even just in the opening track “A Tune for Us”, minimalist piano ripples and jazz drumming flow into the breaks of vintage jungle – and as the structure of the LP unfolds, a deep ambient meditation like “Hold” can sit very naturally in between the futurist dancehall of “L’Ancienne” and the high-definition acid house mind movie of “Galaxy in Silence”. In fact, as with the hands-on musicianship, that gutsy big-speaker electronic impact is delivered with more certainty, more expertise, more personal flourishes than ever. And all of those elements are more integrated than ever too: the sound of a total musical personality emerging afresh is truly something to behold. An already remarkable talent has been refreshed, reborn and is making the music of his life.

The blues, born in the cotton fields of the American South, emerged from makeshift instruments and simple harmonies rooted in African heritage. It captured the struggles, hopes, and fleeting joys of laborers enduring harsh conditions, with its hallmark "blue note" adding a unique dissonance to this evocative musical style.

As industrialization progressed, the blues migrated to urban centers like Chicago and New Orleans, evolving with modern instruments and expanding themes to reflect urban struggles, sensual nights, and existential despair. This period birthed many of the musicians who later formed the American Folk and Blues Festival (AFBF), an initiative started in 1950s Germany to introduce Europe to the genre and counter its reductive reputation as a precursor to jazz.

The Lost Recordings celebrates these legendary artists through restored performances from the 1962 Olympia in Paris and the 1963 Stadttheater in Bremen. Featured artists include John Lee Hooker, Memphis Slim, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, T-Bone Walker, Helen Humes, and others, showcasing the depth and evolution of the blues.

From intimate duos like Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry’s harmonica-guitar interplay to T-Bone Walker’s electrifying group performances, each act demonstrates the genre's versatility and influence. John Lee Hooker’s solo mastery mesmerized audiences, while T-Bone Walker pioneered the electric guitar's place in blues, inspiring legends like B.B. King.

The album also highlights Sonny Boy Williamson, whose charismatic harmonica and profound sensitivity defined his performances. These concerts take listeners on a journey through the authentic sound of the blues, traversing America’s history and foreshadowing its transformative impact on global music.

Santana Bridges the Divide Between Live and Studio Material on Moonflower: 1977 Double Album Features Extraordinary Performances, Soulful Vibes, and Dynamic Mix of Latin, Rock, Funk, and Blues
Sourced from the Original Master Tapes and Strictly Limited to 3,000 Numbered Copies: Mobile Fidelity’s 180g 33RPM 2LP Set Plays with Audiophile-Quality Detail, Balance, and Imaging
1/4” / 15 IPS original analogue non-Dolby master to DSD 256 to analogue console to lathe



Though it may seem strange now, Moonflower stood for nearly 15 years as Santana’s first and only live record released in the United States. This despite the fact that roughly half of the double album consists of new studio songs, including a zesty cover of the Zombies classic “She’s Not There” that reached the Top 30 of the singles charts.

However unconventional, the “split” strategy went over like gangbusters. Moonflower reached the Top 10 of the Billboard Top 200 and achieved double-platinum status — feats the group would not again replicate for 22 years. These, and the beautiful quality of the program itself, are among the reasons why the 1977 effort remains viewed by critics and fans alike as must-have Santana.

Sourced from the original master tapes, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing in California, housed in a Stoughton jacket, and strictly limited to 3,000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity’s 180g 33RPM 2LP set of Moonflower presents the record in audiophile sound for the first time on a domestic reissue. Part of the MoFi’s Santana catalog restoration series, this collectible version features quiet surfaces and black backgrounds that expose the critical details, liquid tones, and dynamic interplay central to Santana’s music.

The enhanced sonics extend not only to Carlos Santana’s six-string wizardry, but to the rhythmic, melodic, and vocal elements that course throughout both the studio and live cuts on Moonflower. The grip and depth of the bass lines; the wash of the organ; the scope and carry of the vocals; the extension and weight of the low-end frequencies; the rich textures of the guitars, percussive devices, and keyboards: all appear amid wide, balanced soundstages and image with right-sized dimensionality.

Significantly rooted in the styles and approaches that inform the group’s first three records, Moonflower captures the final appearances of iconic percussionist Jose “Chepito” Areas and go-to keyboardist Tom Coster on a Santana album. As he did during the preceding five-year stretch, Coster inhabits a large role here, sharing songwriting credits on a majority of the new cuts and helping steer the arrangements toward spiritually minded albeit concise directions that encompass vibrant Latin, rock, and blues themes that began to escape the ensemble shortly after his departure.

Close your eyes and feel the warmth of the sun on the R&B-kissed “I’ll Be Waiting,” anchored by Carlos Santana’s gliding fretwork and Greg Walker’s creamy vocals. Enter the cosmic universe of “Zulu,” on which Coster’s nimble phrasing opens the gate to polyrhythmic beats, knotty grooves, and interlocking funk. Grab the album cover and drift off to paradise amid the equally evocative “Flor d’Luna (Moonflower),” a romantic slow dance that Carlos Santana ensures tiptoes en route to its blissful destination. Channeling a different spirit animal, the guitarist later lets loose on the hard-hitting “El Morocco,” on which he seemingly engages in a shootout with himself and wades into the rippling psychedelia that elevated the band’s early material.

Speaking of the past, Moonflower triumphs on that level as well. In more ways than one, the live selections — and the caliber of the performances — chosen for inclusion represent an abbreviated greatest-hits survey of the band up to that point. And, at the very least, a convincing argument about why Santana had progressed into one of the most formidable bands you could hope to see on a stage in the mid ‘70s.

Simultaneously representative and illustrative of the group’s breadth, tracks stem from the collective’s eponymous debut, Abraxas, and Santana III as well as the then-more recent Amigos and Festival. Whether you fall for the sidewinding spell of a spicy rendition of “Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen,” lose your head to the positively epic momentum of “Soul Sacrifice/Head, Hands & Feet,” or keep dropping the needle on the savory grace of the brilliant reading of “Europa (Earth’s Cry Heaven’s Smile),” this pressing of Moonflower puts you — and Santana’s first-chapter legacy — in good hands.

Dublin based artist Rustal aka Peter Sweeney brings his trademark deep, focused, dancefloor passion to New York’s finest Techno label.
Three original tracks created in one take performances at BlackCat Recordings, NY during the summer of 2024 are complimented by a contemporary dub reggae outing with label boss Jack Russell & the label artist Sonuga.
‘The Path’ signifies Rustal’s clarity of vision and intense focus, for creating groovy, soulful yet powerful dancefloor music and firmly establishes him as Ireland's most important Dub Techno artist.

a a1. Angel Of Light 15:06
b b1. Flower Brick [08:54]
[c] c1. Ukiyo [10:56]
[08.35]

Steve Harley's iconic album The Best Years Of Our Lives celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2025 and to mark the event, Chrysalis Records is proud to present an expanded 3-Disc edition featuring a 2025 Stereo Mix by Alan Parsons.

Following the split of the original Cockney Rebel line up, Harley endeavored to form a new line up while renaming the group as Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel. The result of this newfound group was electric, with the band producing their biggest hit; the number one, million-selling anthem 'Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)'.

The lead track has gone on to have a life of its own, produced by Alan Parsons, just two years after he engineered Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon, this album stands tall as an assured collection of top tier prog-glam-pop.

Disc One features a new 2025 Alan Parsons Stereo Mix, Disc two has never-before-heard outtakes and rarities, offering fans a unique insight into the creative process. The DVD features the Between The Lines documentary and Star Rider live video, unaired since the time, giving a wonderful glimpse into Steve performing at his victory lap show at Hammersmith Odeon alongside some fantastic fan interviews, Make Me Smile promo video and TOTP performance and the full audio recording of the Hammersmith Odeon concert. At the centre of this DVD style hardback book, are liner notes by renowned author Peter Doggett with interviews from band members Jim Cregan, Stewart Elliott, Duncan Mackay and producer Alan Parsons plus previously unseen photographs from Mick Rock and Michael Putland

In December 2024, The Lost Recordings released the first volume of this legendary concert, recorded on October 11, 1960, at the Olympia by Miles Davis and his quartet, joined by saxophonist Sonny Stitt. Alongside pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb, they formed an ensemble of exceptional musicality.

Now comes the second part of this remarkable concert.

In 1960, Miles returned to Paris for the fourth time in 12 years. Just months earlier, he had performed there with John Coltrane in a turbulent concert, marking the end of their collaboration. In October, at the Olympia, he rediscovered a stage he loved in a city he had fallen for back in 1949. "I loved being in Paris, I loved the way I was treated there," he would later say.

Since 1949, his music had evolved. From his immersion in Parkerian bebop to his collaboration with Gil Evans, he refined his style, developing a more spacious jazz inspired by Ahmad Jamal and enriched by his classical training. The soundtrack of Elevator to the Gallows in 1957 was a turning point, foreshadowing the pinnacle of Kind of Blue in 1959.

From the opening notes of Stardust, a previously unreleased piece, Miles sets the tone—seduction and lyricism. With a track attributed to Sonny Stitt, the swing settles in. The atmosphere intensifies with ‘Round Midnight, followed by Walking, where Stitt and Davis engage in a masterful exchange. If I Were a Bell and Fran Dance offer a more introspective moment before Two Bass Hit reignites the energy. The concert reaches its peak with So What and All of You, as Miles captivates the audience until the final notes of The Theme.

Our quest to recover the full concert began in 2022 when a friend sent us a photo of magnetic tapes in Brittany. A label reading "Miles Davis – Olympia 1960" caught our attention. After two years of research spanning France, the United States, and Stockholm, we are proud to present, for the first time, the complete version of this legendary concert.

The Spanish Queen (of the Piano)

She had small, square hands. She was 1.52 m tall. As a child, she banged her head on the floor to be allowed to play the piano. She was Catalan. She was a pianist—one of the greatest. Her mission? To spread the Spanish repertoire. Her name was Alicia de Larrocha.

When she passed away in 2009 at age 89, Nelson Freire wrote, "I truly loved her; she was a modest woman, and her playing shone like the sun." Acclaimed worldwide, she stood alongside Victoria de Los Angeles as one of Spain’s finest artists.

Larrocha’s journey began at three, seated at a piano. At four, she studied under Frank Marshall, a student of Granados. By six, she was performing publicly; by eleven, she played Mozart’s Coronation Concerto with Madrid’s Symphony Orchestra, astonishing audiences. Despite her small hands, she developed an airy, precise touch, even daring to record Rachmaninov’s Third Concerto. But beyond technical mastery, her playing held a profound sense of life and imagination.

Though trained in Bach, Mozart, and Chopin, Larrocha fought to bring Spanish composers to global audiences. Albéniz and Granados owe much of their fame to her. Her international breakthrough came in the 1950s when an American impresario heard her Spanish recordings and invited her to the U.S., where she triumphed.

Her performances honored Spain’s musical heritage. From Soler’s sonatas to Granados' Goyescas, she infused each note with nuance. She brought Goya’s paintings to life in El Pelele and mastered the dark contrasts of Surinach’s Canción y Danza. Albéniz’s Iberia demanded both power and delicacy—qualities she commanded effortlessly.

Her final tribute was to her friend Francis Poulenc, performing his Toccata—a soaring farewell.

As one admirer put it in 1982, "She walked toward a piano too big for her, sat, placed her hands on the keys… and became the queen."

Alicia De Larrocha, Piano

"At Newport" (Chess LP-1449) is one of Muddy Waters’ most celebrated albums. The blues portion of the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival took place on Sunday afternoon, July 3, at the end of the long weekend of jazz performances (and teenage riots too). The program included standout shows by John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Rushing, Sammy Price, Otis Spann, and Butch Cage & Willie Thomas, as well as Muddy Waters and his band, who were billed as “Muddy Waters and His Orchestra”.

If there is one quality that best sums up the personality and music of Michel Petrucciani, it is generosity.
It was on stage, in the moment, in close proximity to the audience, in the warm intimacy of a club setting, that he most truthfully expressed his passion for sharing.
Many musicians, he confessed, play too selfishly. They play only for themselves and a few happy few. I play to please and to communicate. I’d like to think I’m a very happy person.

That’s why it’s essential for me to transmit and give others the generosity that is vital in art, music, and life.”
This is proven by these magnificent moments captured live in 1997 in Tokyo.
Accompanied by Anthony Jackson and Steve Gadd - two close friends with whom he shared an almost telepathic musical relationship - Michel Petrucciani delivers an intense hour of pianoforte, performing both standards and original compositions to unleash his boundless generosity and sensual lyrical expression live on stage.

Once again, one is struck by the solar clarity of his phrasing, the vigour and percussive precision of his touch (this master of tempo played ‘deep in the note’), and the breadth of his long lines where each note remains distinct and articulate. Michel infused everything he played with great emphasis and nuance - but above all, with sincerity. His heart sang immediately through the piano. This record is the most brilliant demonstration of that.
· Until now, this album had never been released on vinyl. Now available as a 180g double vinyl edition, mastered specifically for vinyl, housed in a 350g leather-textured sleeve with Struktura finish, offering an elegant texture and refined feel.

Novoa/Kamaguchi/Cleaver Trio Delivers Electrifying Second Volume
A Bold, Experimental Fusion of Density and Dialogue

"The wait is over. If you’ve been holding your breath since hearing Novoa/Kamaguchi/Cleaver Trio, Vol. 1, it is time to let it out. Vol. 2 is almost here! The group has returned to 577 Records once more, serving a heaping second helping of addictive musical brilliance that comes out in May.

Even The Wire magazine celebrated the trio's first album, calling it “a deep and thoughtful release” – and Vol. 2 is no different. Eva Novoa is the Barcelona-born pianist/composer taking the world by storm with her creativity and talent. And she is back to wow us again on the piano, Fender Rhodes, Chinese gongs, and a little whistling.

To complete the trio, she chose her longtime comrade and collaborator of some fifteen years, bassist Masa Kamaguchi, and Detroit drum wizard Gerald Cleaver. The group has performed live in NYC since 2017. They made their first record (Vol. 1) with 577 Records in 2024. Their highly anticipated Vol. 2 marks Eva's fourth album with the label.

In their upcoming release, Novoa steers the trio through elegant experimentation of its full potential, confidently grasping golden threads from great masters of music to shape her own melodic universe. The multi-instrumentalist says it’s where melodic density meets contrapuntal dialogue, a free interplay of rich textures and riveting, masterly improvisation. This smooth complexity is what gives rise to the group’s uniqueness.

Like Vol. 1, the album cover art features the work of Novoa’s friend and collaborator, popular street photographer Richard Sandler."

Eva Novoa - Piano, Fender Rhodes, Chinese Gongs & Whistling.
Masa Kamaguchi - Bass.
Gerald Cleaver - Drums.

Recorded on January 19, 2020 at Oktaven Audio, Mount Vernon, NY by Jeremy Loucas.
Mixed and mastered by Jeremy Loucas at Sear Sound, New York City.
Photography by Richard Sandler.
Graphic design by Sergio Vezzali.
Graphic support by Mark Smith.

In the summer of 1968, Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger And The Trinity were at the height of their popularity having had chart success across Europe. This performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival, released for the very first time, captures legendary vocalist Julie Driscoll, Brian and group at their very best. It features a long forgotten Brian Auger original, ‘Along Came Zizzi’ plus previously unheard, live versions of Eddie Jeffersons 'Soft & Furry' and tracks from their Open and Definitely What! albums.
The booklet includes a brand new interview with Brian Auger recalling his memories of playing the festival, as well as photos of the band on stage from the actual
concert.

REPRESS

New Delhi-based Peter Cat Recording Co. will release their debut album, ‘Bismillah’ on June 14, 2019 via French independent label Panache Records. Debut UK live shows are soon also to be announced by the band.


Peter Cat Recording Co. could almost have a question mark on the end of its name. Not least as founder & frontman Suryakant Sawhney refuses to explain where that name really comes from or what it means (perhaps a reference to the Tokyo jazz club owned by Haruki Murakami), but also since the very existence of the band itself raises a raft of questions. When was the last time we fell for an indie rock band for the right reasons? Not because the band in question nostalgically imitate a perceived ‘golden age’ but because they innately embody the fundamentals of such music: fantasy, sincerity and the freedom to make music without rules or career aspi- rations. And when was the last time this kind of band sounded like Sinatra, Barry White, the sweetest doo-wop, humid fanfares and a psychedelic wedding band, all at once? And all of this coming from India?
In truth, the story of Peter Cat Recording Co. was written within the triangle of San Francisco, Delhi and Paris.
In the first of these cities, Sawhney (a native of Delhi) pitched up to study film-making. More distracted by the city’s peaking live scene of the early noughties, this is where he started to make music and to sketch out an idea for the band.“
The people I lived with supported my idea of writing music, they introduced me to great mu-
sic. There used to be a great garage scene in San Francisco, like The Oh Sees also Ty Seagall, Mikal Conin, all those bands. This is a world I had never seen in my entire life. A big inspiration from San Francisco was that you could record yourself. You don’t need to be in a studio and spend a lot of money to make an album. You can do it”.


At the end of the 2000s, Suryakant returned home to New Delhi, and started his band for real, more or less the same band that plays today. “I wasn’t so concerned about will we be performing, will we be the greatest band, will we be trendy. I just wanted to make something that was consequential and important for us, I think. Something which would last, something people could listen to and be like « this is life changing ». It was for the sake of beauty”.


For the first few years and in India alone, this is exactly what Peter Cat Recording Co. did, in total indifference to the rest of the world. This was until young Parisian label Panache stumbled across the band online via Vice’s THUMP subsidiary, stupefied by the band’s cosmic video for seven-minutes-and-counting track, ‘Love De- mons’. And so in spring of 2018, ‘Portrait Of A Time: 2010-2016’ was released on Panache - making the first international release from Peter Cat Recording Co., bizarrely enough, an anthology of re-mastered, hidden gems from the band’s ramshackle back catalogue, previously recorded in Suryakant’s own living room. With Peter Cat’s off-kilter charm hitherto unheard of beyond the fringes of India, the release provided a gateway op-
Whilst the title track found its way onto Tracks Of The Year lists at the Guardian & NME, it was tricky for new PCRC enthusiasts to get a firm grip on the startling push/pull between the immediate, uncanny music this release gathered, and the cultural backdrop of New Delhi at which it was so startlingly at odds.


Opportunity for a wider fanbase to fall in love with their cloud-like, drunken songs for the first time.
If discovering your favourite new band via a ‘Best Of’ feels a curious premise, then ‘Bismillah’ does more than hint towards the promise of Peter Cat Recording Co’s future. Blending gypsy jazz, psychedelic cabaret, space disco, bossa supernova, Bollywood and uneasy listening with kaleidoscopic ease, in many senses, the band’s knack hasn’t altered. Always different, paradoxical, unpredictable yet somehow familiar. The new album opens to the strains of bird chatter, the whisper of a city’s soundscape and the first few notes from an instrument which seem to be calling us to the departure lounge, a fore-shadow of the flight ‘Bismillah’ launches its listener
on. Suryakant sings with the detached, rueful elegance of Sinatra marooned on a desert island, whilst his band create small space-time capsules which navigate their way through genres and eras – including the future – and between nostalgia and eccentricity.


Peter Cat recently trailed ‘Bismillah’ with the release of ‘Floated By’, an appositely titled musing on failure & missed opportunities, punctuated by the fulsome brass section which weaves through so much of the album.


The languid, blue quality to the track is offset by the attendant music video, created with footage shot, implau- sibly enough, at Suryakant’s own marriage ceremony (needless to say, the wedding band hired for the day was of course, Peter Cat Recording Co.) Sawhney dryly notes; “Hopefully it’s not a many-a-times-in-a-lifetime event. You can’t fake that set, those people actually having a good time, being really emotional and intense.” ‘Bismillah’’s colour-drenched album cover also captures Suryakant’s father-in-law making his wedding toast on that same day - a nod back towards the cover of ‘Portrait Of A Time’, itself a black & white image taken at the wedding ceremony of Suryakant’s own father.


A stumbling but gracious collection of songs rooted in a kind of drunken soul music, the melancholy nature of some of the songs on ‘Bismillah’ renders them almost liquid, before they develop into more dance-like shapes. Suryakant’s rangy voice swoops from the falsetto glide of ‘I’m This’ to the beat-up baritone blown along by the warm breeze of ‘Soulless Friends’. The elliptical structure of album opener ‘Where The Money Flows’ also al-
lows for the use of brief bursts of autotune effect on his vocal without feeling incongruous, whilst the desultory lyrics of ‘Heera’ (a Hindi word for diamond) - sharing something with the Morricone school of grand storytelling - have an emotional weight that would impress even coming from a native English speaker. Perhaps the most gleefully unpredictable moment on ‘Bismillah’ comes with the illusory, vocal loops on the intro to ‘Memory Box’, errupting into 8 exhilarating minutes worth of unbridled, string-backed disco joy. A cat might have nine lives, but on ‘Bismillah’ and beyond, Peter Cat Recording Co. are hinting towards an un- knowable multitude of dimensions. Throw them all together, and it equates less to a listening experience and more to an out-of-body experience.


Peter Cat Recording Co. are: Suryakant Sawhney (vocals/guitar/organ), Dhruv Bhola (bass), Kartik S Pillai (organ/guitar/electronics), Rohit Gupta (horns), Karan Singh (drums)

Evolving from a performance lecture by philosopher and Jonna Bornemark at Orionteatern in Stockholm, ‘Hyperit’ (Swedish for a volcanic stone; hypersthenite in English) is inspired by Jennefelt’s performances alongside Bornemark. Before each performance, Jennefelt would plant a lawn on stage, with dirt, sand, gravel, rocks, weeds, and a body of water placed underneath. During the performance, Jennefelt would dig a hole in this lawn, delving progressively deeper and recording soundscapes in the process, with microphones attached to her tools of excavation.

With ‘Hyperit’, Jennefelt expands these ideas into a distinct incarnation of experimental world building, reenvisioning the lecture composition project with new sounds, vocals and field recordings. Using the performance lecture as a springboard, she explores the interior geological matter on ‘Hyperit’, sculpting electronic music inspired by the terrain of meteorites, magma and the Earth’s innermost composition. In this Jennefelt aims to capture a sense of being ‘inside’ the eponymous volcanic stone, or, as it’s known in her native Swedish, of being ‘inside the mountain’.

Recorded and composed at Stranden Ateljéer, EMS and Palazzo Stabile 2023. Mastered by Giovanni Conti at Artefacts Mastering, Berlin. To Bruno. Front cover art by Sara Melin. Graphic design by Oskar Laurin.

Haunting, discordant and deeply unsettling, `Les Maîtres Fous' (`The Mad Masters') was written by French post-metal collective Year of No Light in response to French filmmaker Jean Rouch's controversial 1950's docufiction of the same name. Commissioned by Musée Du Quai Branly in Paris for their 2012 `L'Invention Du Sauvage' exhibition, trance-metal pioneers Year of No Light approached the ritual practices of the Hauka movement as depicted in the film and responded with their uniquely hypnotic heaviness. Performed only twice, once at the exhibition on the 6th January, 2012 and again in Bordeaux on the 29th January, 2015; this release is a live recording of the second and final performance of `Les Maîtres Fous'. Whilst Year of No Light have a long history of collaboration with forward-thinking filmmakers and visual artists, the sensitivity of this documentary's problematic subject matter and the intensity of the band's performance made this performance both a physically and emotionally demanding experience; something that can be keenly felt upon listening. Founded in September 2001 by a collection of Bordeaux's heavy scene stalwarts as an ongoing side project encompassing elements of sludge metal and shoegaze, Year of No Light released their debut album, Nord, in 2006 to critical acclaim. The subsequent years however saw a significant lineup change with the band replacing their vocalist with a third guitarist to become a fully instrumental sextet incorporating aspects of black metal, drone electronica and dark ambient into their already formidable sound. 2010's four track epic Ausserwelt and the 2013 follow up Tocsin saw Year of No Light distilling their punishing sound even further; stalling the tempo to a glacial crawl and tuning guitars ever downwards to new uncharted depths. Consolamentum, the band's first full-length release in nine years and their first with Pelagic Records, brought the outfit's crushing double-drumming percussion to the fore as a masterclass in dynamic control saw Year of No Light embrace the highest highs and the lowest lows of the intervening years. Now approaching their 25th anniversary, `Les Maître Fous' is a pressing reminder that, despite the band's long and ongoing journey, Year of No Light have never been afraid to experiment, to take risks, to square up to life's ugliness and look it straight in the eye. FOR FANS OF Neurosis, Cult of Luna, SWANS, ISIS, Russian Circles, My Bloody Valentine, Chelsea Wolfe

Haunting, discordant and deeply unsettling, `Les Maîtres Fous' (`The Mad Masters') was written by French post-metal collective Year of No Light in response to French filmmaker Jean Rouch's controversial 1950's docufiction of the same name. Commissioned by Musée Du Quai Branly in Paris for their 2012 `L'Invention Du Sauvage' exhibition, trance-metal pioneers Year of No Light approached the ritual practices of the Hauka movement as depicted in the film and responded with their uniquely hypnotic heaviness. Performed only twice, once at the exhibition on the 6th January, 2012 and again in Bordeaux on the 29th January, 2015; this release is a live recording of the second and final performance of `Les Maîtres Fous'. Whilst Year of No Light have a long history of collaboration with forward-thinking filmmakers and visual artists, the sensitivity of this documentary's problematic subject matter and the intensity of the band's performance made this performance both a physically and emotionally demanding experience; something that can be keenly felt upon listening. Founded in September 2001 by a collection of Bordeaux's heavy scene stalwarts as an ongoing side project encompassing elements of sludge metal and shoegaze, Year of No Light released their debut album, Nord, in 2006 to critical acclaim. The subsequent years however saw a significant lineup change with the band replacing their vocalist with a third guitarist to become a fully instrumental sextet incorporating aspects of black metal, drone electronica and dark ambient into their already formidable sound. 2010's four track epic Ausserwelt and the 2013 follow up Tocsin saw Year of No Light distilling their punishing sound even further; stalling the tempo to a glacial crawl and tuning guitars ever downwards to new uncharted depths. Consolamentum, the band's first full-length release in nine years and their first with Pelagic Records, brought the outfit's crushing double-drumming percussion to the fore as a masterclass in dynamic control saw Year of No Light embrace the highest highs and the lowest lows of the intervening years. Now approaching their 25th anniversary, `Les Maître Fous' is a pressing reminder that, despite the band's long and ongoing journey, Year of No Light have never been afraid to experiment, to take risks, to square up to life's ugliness and look it straight in the eye. FOR FANS OF Neurosis, Cult of Luna, SWANS, ISIS, Russian Circles, My Bloody Valentine, Chelsea Wolfe. The Dim Gleam edition is kind of a beige vinyl colour

Sherlock Hound is the animated series from the masterpiece directed by Hayao Miyazaki and coproduced by TMS Entertainment and RAI, wich was broadcasted for the first time in 1984. The series was a success and remains to this day one a beloved classic in the world of Japanese animation.


To celebrate the recent 40th anniversary of the series, we are pleased to offer this sublime edition with its 2 discs gathering the soundtracks from the TV series and for the initial animated film (The Blue Ruby & Underwater Treasure), completed by a 8-page booklet, illustrated with beautiful artworks.


The soundtrack to the animated series was composed by Kentarô Haneda (well known for his work on the Space Adventure Cobra series) and includes the two signature songs performed by Da Capo. The anime film soundtrack is the work of Kunio Muramatsu, and also includes two songs performed by Haruko Kuwana. Immerse yourself in the fascinating atmosphere of this cult 80s anime!

WRWTFWW Records is very happy to release Swiss cult band Grauzone’s recording of their April 12th 1980 live show at Gaskessel in their hometown of Bern. The 9-track album, documenting the very beginnings of the group, is available as a limited edition white vinyl LP in heavy 350gsm sleeve with special artwork by band member Stephan Eicher.

Experience the early Grauzone days, live from Bern, Switzerland, with a concert recorded at legendary local venue Gaskessel, with Martin Eicher on guitar and vocals, Christian G.T. Trüssel on bass, Marco Repetto on drums, Stephan Eicher on synth, and Claudine Chirac on saxophone. The performance is a true time capsule of the early 80s underground, showcasing the punk side of Grauzone with renditions of songs that were never officially released, as well as future fan-favorite “Moskau”. A piece of Swiss music history, This limited release is a must have for all Grauzone fans and DIY archivists.

About Grauzone:

The pioneering band from Bern (Switzerland) had a short-lived but highly-regarded career which birthed a cult discography that still fascinates and resonates today. Consisting of core members Martin Eicher, Stephan Eicher, and Marco Repetto, and on-and-off participants Christian GT Trüssel, Claudine Chirac, and Ingrid Berney, the elusive group broke new grounds in the early 80s, experimenting with punk and industrial music, early techno sounds, minimalism, new wave, pop, and various electronics. With an innovative and polished approach to design, visuals, performance, and all around style and philosophy on top of their superb music, the constantly transforming unit developed a whole experience - the Grauzone experience: wild and unpredictable, yet sophisticated and cohesive, or as Swiss music historian Lurker Grand would call it, "an Art band with a Punk attitude".

Completely rejecting the music industry rules and refusing to play the game of promotion, touring, release schedules, and TV appearances even though they had a multi-platinum international hit with the song "Eisbär", the band quickly disintegrated in full convention-defying glory, leaving behind an inspiring music legacy for the world to discover and discover again, one generation after the other.

Stephan Eicher went on to be, arguably, the most successful Swiss musician ever, with an international career extending from pop chanson to experimental escapades and collaborations with Moondog, artists Sophie Calle and Sylvie Fleury, and author Martin Suter among many other luminaries. Marco Repetto flourished as a techno and ambient producer, releasing multiple projects including releases on Aphex Twin’s Rephlex label.

"Wind, Again" is Sary Moussa’s fourth studio album and second album on Other People. Based between France and Lebanon, Moussa returns with a riveting electro-acoustic album informed by his ever-changing relationships to space, listening, and resonance as well as his growing interest in the study of harmonics in electronic and electro-acoustic music.

Years in the making, “Wind, Again” approaches distinct musical worlds and languages by bringing together improvisations by musicians performing on Western and West Asian instruments such as the Hammond organ, clarinet, saz, and buzuk with electronic arrangements and textures. Rather than force a rapprochement of these musical worlds through the instruments, and keenly aware of the weighty sonic histories they carry, Moussa proposes another way through which they can exist together in contemporary electronic composition.

Composed of six tracks, each of which demonstrate an array of recording and processing techniques, the album generates moments of tension produced by the synthesis of textural, tonal, and harmonic encounters that Moussa calls “shadows”, which outline an impressionistic musical language, existing at the edge of familiarity. Such moments permeate tracks like “Everywhere at once” and “Violence” that open with the Hammond organ and the saz respectively and slowly reveal an expansive field of sounds that showcases each of the musicians’ characteristic performances and Moussa’s densely layered textures. It is a latent yet unrelenting tension through which the composer invokes rather than represents a collective experiential state, especially familiar to those who know his environment. In “Wind, Again” these shadows are articulations of sounds steeped in traditions they are never quite tethered to. Such articulations are implied and alluded to, they play within a musical reference without the latter explicitly existing in the recording, always teetering, never completely here nor there.
Sonically and musically, the album is fueled by the cultural, social, and personal realities that Moussa was brought up and lives in.

Both personal and musical ties with the musicians who feature on the album is central to Moussa’s practice. In the title track “I will never write a song about you”, musician Julia Sabra opens with rolled piano chords, followed by Paed Conca on clarinet and Abed Kobeissy on buzuk, before Moussa’s electronic processing pieces together, lifts, and sustains the melodic direction of the track that emerged from the musicians’ separate improvisations. For Moussa: “The initial connection between the three performances was made on a track that no longer existed, the original recording was both an obstacle and necessary step for the track we hear on the record. It’s as if we were all telling different stories and I pulled on the thread that held them together”. The track, and more generally the record, is tinged with a melancholy of things lost, though it never fully succumbs to it.
“Everything inside a circle”, Moussa’s most personal track and for which he provides the only vocals on the record, harkens back to a childhood memory of listening to music with his mother in a car: “There was a sound I was looking for — a memory of a sound and how I first heard it. This track is a hybrid of that memory and what I wanted to make of it”. The track relies heavily on generativesystems and perhaps embodies most the ambiguous quality of the record’s music in its refusal to be pinned down by one musical tradition or another.
“Wind, Again” is both familiar and alien, cold and warm; it pays homage to the mechanics, materials, and tactility of the instruments and converges acoustic and synthetic spaces. What anchors the sound of the album are the elements of a whole that cannot find its own idiosyncrasy and that is precisely why Moussa’s album is a tour de force.

"PEOPLE" (original release year : 1988)
Hothouse Flowers' debut album People (1988) was a remarkable fusion of rock, folk, and soulful blues, spearheaded by the charismatic vocals of Liam Ó Maonlaí. The album was anchored by the hit single 'Don't Go', which propelled the band to international recognition.

With rich instrumentation and passionate performances, People stood out for its refreshing blend of Irish musical roots with contemporary rock influences.

The album was the fastest-selling debut in Irish history at the time. It topped the Irish Albums Chart and peaked at No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart, while also making significant impact in the U.S. and other markets. People was certified Platinum in the UK and Double Platinum in Ireland. Backed by strong singles like 'I'm Sorry' and 'Feet on the Ground,' the album sustained impressive momentum, further fuelled by the band's dynamic live performances.

People solidified Hothouse Flowers as one of the most exciting Irish bands of the late '80s, demonstrating the band's ability to bridge genres while delivering powerful, heartfelt music.

For 2025 Hothouse Flowers celebrate both People and its follow up album Home with a UK national tour revisiting both albums in full.

London Records celebrate the tour with represses of People and Home on vinyl, with restored artwork faithful to the original editions.

Die Globale Girl Group KATSEYE veröffentlicht am 27. Juni 2025 ihre EP „BEAUTIFUL CHAOS“, welche ab sofort als CD und Vinyl erworben werden kann. Mit millionenfachen Streams sowie viralen Performances auf Social Media, zählt KATSEYE zu einer der spannendsten Girl Groups die nationale, kulturelle und künstlerische Grenzen überschreitet. Seit der Entstehung durch die in Zusammenarbeit mit HYBE und Greffen Records, begeistert die sechsköpfige Gruppe mit einem unverwechselbaren Sound aus Pop- und K-Pop Einflüssen und kombiniert starke Vocals, aussagekräftige Performances und einer klaren visuellen Identität. Mit ihren ersten Singles „Debut“ (2024), die vom Rolling Stone als einer der „Songs You Need to know“ gelistet wurde und „Touch“ (2024), die auf der Billboard-Liste der Top Songs 2024 landete, erzielte KATSEYE internationale Aufmerksamkeit. Heute hat die Gruppe eine wachsende Fanbase, die über verschiedene Kontinente hinweg aktiv ist. Das neue Album knüpft an der vorherigen EP „SSI (Soft is Strong)“ (2024) und läutet eine neue Ära ein, die sich musikalisch stark von den früheren Projekten unterscheidet.

New Artwork. Lucrecia Dalt ist eine produktive und grenzenlose Musikerin, Performerin, Komponistin und Klangkünstlerin, die sowohl Genre als auch Form herausfordert, indem sie vertraute Elemente der Pop- und experimentellen Musik auseinander nimmt und sie auf unerwartete Weise neu zusammensetzt. Mit ihrem hochgelobten Album "¡Ay!" aus dem Jahr 2022 gelang ihr der Durchbruch bei einem breiteren Publikum. Dalt hat sich auch als Komponistin für Film und Fernsehen einen Namen gemacht, unter anderem mit ihrer originellen Filmmusik für die HBO-Serie "The Baby" und den in Cannes 2024 ausgezeichneten Spielfilm "On Becoming a Guinea Fowl". Mit ,cosa rara", ihrer neuen Single, die von Kultmusiklegende David Sylvian gemischt, produziert und mit einem seltenen Gastbeitrag versehen wurde, wird das Thema des eigenen Ichs zu einer unwahrscheinlichen Verliebtheit. "cosa rara" ist eine kühne Rückkehr von Dalt, die die Höhen der Liebe destilliert und mit Produktionspräzision und hyperfokussierter Klarheit klanglich umsetzt und den Hörer auf eine aufregende Eskapade aus Sound und Psychologie einlädt. Die B-Seite der 7" enthält Mabe Frattis "cosa rara (en la playa)"-Version, eine geisterhafte, von Fratti produzierte und gesungene Version desselben Songs, sowie eine 7" exklusive, erweiterte Version von Matias Aguayos, "cosa rara (dopamine dub)". Abgemischt von Sylvian und gemastert von Heba Kedry, ist die 7" eine einmalige, auf 500 Exemplare limitierte Pressung. RIYL: PJ Harvey, Broadcast, St. Vincent, ML Buch, Stereolab, Cate LeBon, Aldous Harding, Mabe Fratti, Dry Cleaning, Juana Molina.

Mit seinem siebten Studioalbum kehrt der Musiker und Singer-Songwriter Juan Wauters mit einem Liebesbrief an seine Geburts- und Heimatstadt Montevideo, Uruguay, zurück. "MVD LUV" erscheint am 27. Juni 2025 über Captured Tracks. Mehr als ein Jahrzehnt nach Beginn seiner Solokarriere hat Wauters seine musikalische Identität zu einem charismatischen und charmanten, authentischen und fesselnden Drahtseilakt geformt, der auf dem schmalen Grat zwischen Aufrichtigkeit und Performativität balanciert. Auf seinem neuen Album kommen seine Fähigkeiten als Songwriter voll zur Geltung. Die meisten Songs auf "MVD LUV" sind weniger als zwei Minuten lang und strotzen nur so vor Lebensfreude, aber das Album als Ganzes zeigt Wauters von seiner liebenswertesten Seite, denn er schreibt mit Zuneigung und Mitgefühl über die uruguayische Stadt, die er liebt und sein Zuhause nennt. Die klare Absicht, mit der Wauters Montevideo und seinen Charakter illustriert, zeichnet das Porträt eines Künstlers, der sich seinem Handwerk und seinem Thema mit großer Hingabe widmet. So gesehen ist "MVD LUV" mehr als nur ein Album - es ist eine Heimkehr. Dabei hat er sich die reichen musikalischen Traditionen von Montevideo zu eigen gemacht und gleichzeitig die Grenzen seines unverwechselbaren Songwritings weiter verschoben. "MVD LUV" ist eine Liebeserklärung an seine Wurzeln und seine Gegenwart und bringt uruguayische Klänge auf die Weltbühne, indem es Candombe- und Murga-Rhythmen in Wauters' charakteristische Mischung aus Folk, Pop und Experimenten einbezieht. Da Wauters einen Großteil seiner Karriere in den Vereinigten Staaten verbracht hat, trägt er seit langem die doppelte Identität eines Einwanderers und eines Einheimischen. Mit "MVD LUV" wollte er eine Brücke zwischen diesen beiden Welten schlagen und die Essenz der Straßen, Häuser und des Gemeinschaftsgeistes von Montevideo einfangen. Das Album wurde an verschiedenen Orten in der Stadt aufgenommen, von seinem eigenen Studio bis hin zu Bürgersteigen, Dächern und den Wohnungen der beteiligten Musiker. Dieser Ansatz verleiht dem Projekt eine unverfälschte Authentizität und lässt Montevideo selbst wie eine aktive Präsenz in der Musik erscheinen. Thematisch beschäftigt sich "MVD LUV" mit Identität, Nostalgie und menschlichen Beziehungen. Tracks wie "Manejando por Pando" und "Siempre Vuelven" reflektieren über die Rückkehr nach Hause und den Lauf der Zeit, während "If It's Not Luv" und "Dime Amiga" sich mit Liebe, Kameradschaft und persönlicher Reflexion beschäftigen. "Ando con Miedo" fängt urbane Ängste ein und stellt Introspektion den pulsierenden Rhythmen der Stadt gegenüber. Wauters schafft damit eine zutiefst persönliche und doch universelle Meditation über Zugehörigkeit. Mit "MVD LUV" präsentiert Juan Wauters eine lebendige, tief empfundene Erkundung von Ort und Identität und schafft ein Album, das sich sowohl tief verwurzelt als auch universell anfühlt. Dieses Album führt den Hörer nicht nur in Montevideo ein, sondern lädt ihn ein, sich dort zu Hause zu fühlen.

The 2018 live performance captured on Carlos Niño & Miguel Atwood-Ferguson’s Chicago Waves marked another beautiful turning point for International Anthem. The set was recorded at our then HQ, Co-Prosperity, the day after Niño and Ferguson performed as part of Makaya McCraven’s Universal Beings ensemble to celebrate the release of his album by the same name and recreate their contributions to the music on the record’s “LA Side”.

The release of the recording as the Chicago Waves album at the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic drove home the unmistakable sound of togetherness audible in its grooves in a way that only a society trapped in their houses for a year can truly understand. But as that year fades further into the rearview mirror, Chicago Waves still maintains its power. It’s not a mystery—this is what togetherness sounds like.
The IA11 Edition LP features our IARC 2025 obi strip, plus a new 16-page 11x11" insert booklet with additional photos and extensive new liner notes by IARC co-founder Scott McNiece.

Compiled by Philip King
“And then came the rise of synth pop : blokes with dodgy haircuts hunched over keyboard-operated
machines stuffed with wires and do-it-yourself tone oscillators making sounds like a brood of geese
passing gas in a wind tunnel. Whoopee! This is the way the ‘70s ended : not with a blood-curdling bang
bang but with a cheap, synthesized, emasculating whimper.”
NICK KENT, NME.

All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985 is a new compilation that charts the
underbelly of the epoch-defining sound of the synthesiser in 80s popular music. Compiled by Philip
King (previously seen compiling All The Young Droogs, Glitterbest and Boobs - The Junkshop
Glam Discotheque), the music here connects the dots between DIY synth enthusiasts grappling with
new, cheap synthesisers at the tail-end of punk and wannabe, jobbing songwriters enthral to the new
music pioneered by Gary Numan, Depeche Mode and Daniel Miller’s Mute Records. Featuring rare
tracks of auto-didactic progressive pop music, proto-techno punk, shoot-for-the-stars-land-in-the-gutter
chart flops and heralded, underground synth classics, School Daze paints a picture of beautiful failure.
Complete with extensive sleeve notes written by King and never before seen imagery, all 24 tracks
were remastered by RPM in-house engineer Simon Murphy, many from vinyl copies due to lost master
tapes. The story told on All The Young Droids is one of the dawning opportunity presented by both the
emergence to the market of cheaper analog synthesisers and the distribution networks plus indie labels
that exploded with the advent of punk music in 1976. While the music that sprouted out all over the
globe in the wake of these factors was decried as fake, plastic, a refutation of punk’s guitar-led
revolution, it’s telling that much of the music on All The Young Droids.. was created in bedrooms,
ramshackle studios and home-made set ups with often borrowed equipment. In the era of record labels
jumping to capitalise on the success of The Sex Pistols, The Clash (both on major labels, of course)
these artists struggled to stand out from a new gold-rush with next to no budget or PR team. With radio
and labels desperate for the new Yazoo, what resulted was a testament to necessity being the mother
of invention.

At the time, the synthesiser was the music of the future, a shiny new machine that could paint like an
orchestra with a single finger and a 4-track. In the hands of Manchester avant-pranksters Gerry & The
Holograms it’s a pulsing, sardonic weapon.. the only instrument on the Messthetics classic lampooning
of New Wave fashion. In Hamburg, a 16 year old Andreas Dorau used it to write and record (with his
female classmates on vocals) a global smash in Fred Vom Jupiter (later licensed to Mute Records).
The hard-to-find English version (Fred From Jupiter, natch) is included here. Many artists with alreadystoried careers caught the bug and recorded synthesiser-fuelled peons to space, computers, the future
and, of course, love-interests. Harry Kakoulli, late of Squeeze, recorded a solo album in 1979 that
included the incredible power-synth-pop smash-that-never-smashed I’m On A Rocket. Similarly, Ian
North of Neo and American Power Pop stalwarts Milk ’n’ Cookies bought a Korg MS20 and used a
tape machine to record We’re Not Lonely, an absolute lost-classic of minimal synth pop. We’re Not
Lonely also features on the Junkshop Synth Pop sampler 7” twinned with John Howard unreleased
track You Will See, released April 12th 2025.

There are plenty of compilation debuts in evidence. Sole Sister were a mysterious trio who were
featured on the Scaling Triangles compilation of female-fronted, queer-adjacent post-punk /
underground music that also featured The Petticoats. Selwin Image were from San Francisco and
featured members of the recently defunct power pop/punk group The Pushups. Their stupidly catchy
The Unknown fizzes with New Wave energy - think XTC to Sparks but remains unreleased until now.
Dream Unit’s A Drop In The Ocean is an early synth wave cut, positively teaming with Joy Division
instrumentation, previously only released on a long-forgotten and super rare, self-released EP.
Incandescent Luminaire’s Famous Names belies an archetypal struggle of a small-town trying to
make it in a cruel industry but is a thrilling New Romantic-Synth Wave cross over with a OMD
gloominess that’s a joy to hear. Feminist Minimal Wave track I Am A Time Bomb by performance artist
Peta Lilly and Michael Chance is a revelation destined for new found cult status. It was released on 7”
and lost until now.

The flipside to the subterranean, never-made-it synth pop mentioned above are the ambitious, even
fruity attempts at success that have a perennial elegance to their confidence. New Jersey-ite Billy
London (real name Ed Barth) tried to cash in on the synth boom with Woman, released by a major
label, a lurching new wave track built on the Louie Louie rhythm and a wonderfully camp Lou Reedstyle sleazy vocal before exploding in the synthesised chorus. The song bombed but with a chorus like
this, you have to wonder why? Ex-Glitter Band member John Springate’s My Life is truly epic, with
doomed chord progressions and massive sounding drums turning into at least 3 different songs in the
course of the track. Before you wonder what’s going on the song resolves with a glorious return to the
main refrain.

The dry-ice-dressed dance floor is well catered for too. Design’s Premonition and Vision’s Lucifer’s
Friend are stone-cold minimal synth bangers, well loved but given a new lease of life here. The
Warlord’s The Ultimate Warlord was released in 1978, a homespun proto Hi NRG banger that was
later re-recorded by The Immortals in Canada who had a club hit with it. One-man- band Disco
Volante’s No Motion was re-issued by Synth wave label Medical in 2012 but makes its first vinyl
compilation appearance here. Close your eyes and you can imagine what Lawrence of Felt would have
sounded like with some cheap Korgs a little earlier in his career. Gibraltar-based trio The Microbes
imagined a computer programming people to dance - how prescient - and ended up with a propulsive,
robo-funk track with splendid rubbery bass playing over a tectonic drum machine. Previously picked up
by Belgian label Stroom TV, Dee Jay Bert & Eagle’s heavily Euro-accented I Am Your Master
demands the listener to “come to paradise!” In a frankly terrifying manner.
All The Young Droids is the first compilation to peel away from the narrative that dour, Minimal Synth
and Cold Wave were the only musical children of the first rush of synth pop. Philip King and School
Daze Records describe a much more complicated world: along with the austere, Brutalist children of
Daniel Miller (who produced Alan Burnham’s Bowie-Low-influenced Science Fiction here) was a
plethora of desperate cash-ins, accidental mainstream hits, ambitious pop dramas and major label
punts that went nowhere. Crucially, the compilation blurs the line between junk and treasure. What if the
two things are interchangeable. What if it’s all science fiction?

"Receive” is the fully improvised fourth album from I Am An Instrument. It follows up on a series of 3 elegant and melodic recordings by a finely tuned and talented group of musicians at the height of their powers.

For I Am An Instrument ( IAAI) the focus is always on the music and this fourth album is no exception. This session was performed and recorded live to an enchanted and attentive crowd at “All-Dayer” Copenhagen, taking place halfway through a free 12 hour Sunday session of dancing and listening in an audiophile environment.

While picking up on tempo, compared to previous recordings, this record also reveals the polyrhythmic dance dynamic central to the improvised style these fresh players have developed amongst themselves. ‘ Receive’ is an elegant and powerful celebration of music and melody evolving in the seconds as they pass.

"Word on the Street" ist das amerikanische Debütalbum der kanadischen Avant-Pop-Singer-Songwriterin und Performance-Künstlerin Elle Barbara und geht auf das Konto von Elle Barbara's Black Space - einer Gruppe von Instrumentalisten aus Montreal, die Barbara zusammengerufen hat, um mit anderen schwarzen Musikern ins Gespräch zu kommen und dabei nicht den Erwartungen an den Klang schwarzer Musiker zu entsprechen. "Word on Street" wurde von Elle Barbara in enger Zusammenarbeit mit Renny Wilson geschrieben, komponiert, arrangiert und produziert. Renny Wilson hat das Album über einen Zeitraum von acht Jahren aufgenommen, bearbeitet und abgemischt, in denen Elle, eine schwarze Trans-Person, sich sozial und medizinisch neu orientieren musste, während sie von Sozialhilfe lebte und sich häufig von nur 11 CAD pro Woche ernährte. In diesem Sinne ist "Word on the Street" ein Sieg gegen Klassenkampf und Vetternwirtschaft und ein unverschämtes Zeugnis dafür, wie eine einkommensschwache, von der Sozialhilfe unterstützte, schwarze Mann-zu-Frau-Transsexuelle mittleren Alters es geschafft hat, alle Ressourcen zu nutzen, um die Musik zu machen, die ihr vorschwebt, und die Konventionen der Musikindustrie völlig zu ignorieren. "Word on the Street" ist auch vehement radikal und unabhängig; ein Meisterwerk der DIY-Prog-High-Production, inspiriert von der Art und Weise, wie das Konsumverhalten und die gegenwärtige technologische Zeit dazu führen, dass sich unser Leben verschlechtert und wir uns zunehmend voneinander entfremdet fühlen. Mit einer breiten Palette von Einflüssen, darunter Todd Rundgrens "A Wizard, a True Star", Prince and the Revolution mit "Purple Rain" und "Running Out of Time" von Rexy, beschwört jeder Track auf "Word on the Street", abgesehen davon, dass sie sehr melodisch sind, einzigartige Bilder herauf, die sich aus scheinbar unvereinbaren Bildern zusammensetzen, wie z. B. korrupte Justizsysteme, die Prophezeiungen von Nostradamus und das Eishockeyteam Montreal Canadiens. "Word on the Street" ist eine gemischte Tüte, deren verschwörerische Ästhetik eine antikonsumistische Haltung verbirgt, die zum Widerstand gegen den Aufstieg der künstlichen Intelligenz und anderer Werkzeuge der technologischen Unterdrückung aufruft und außerhalb der aktuellen Überwachungssysteme arbeitet, was wiederum mit Elle Barbaras Vorstoß für Low-Tech-Unterstützung wie Vinyl-Schallplatten übereinstimmt.

A lush, energizing contemporary pop record, built on heart-swelling minimal/maximal electronic production + deep feels. Reality"s breaking and rebirth is happening, one day at a time - essential asks deconstructed and refitted in new ways. Unconventional songwriting/performance duo Sharpie Smile ride inspired waves of futurist sound art, a dreamy, ethereal vision-quest through serpentine soul-terrain. RIYL: SOPHIE, 100 gecs, Ouklou

VERY LIMITED 2025 REPRESS ON BEAM OF LIGHT VINYL .

Everything changed for The Beths when they released their debut album, Future Me Hates Me, in 2018. The indie rock band had long been nurtured within Auckland, New Zealand’s tight-knit music scene, working full-time during the day and playing music with friends after hours. Full of uptempo pop rock songs with bright, indelible hooks, the LP garnered them critical acclaim from outlets like Pitchfork and Rolling Stone, and they set out for their first string of shows overseas. They quit their jobs, said goodbye to their home town, and devoted themselves entirely to performing across North America and Europe. They found themselves playing to crowds of devoted fans and opening for acts like Pixies and Death Cab for Cutie. Almost instantly, The Beths turned from a passion project into a full-time career in music.

Songwriter and lead vocalist Elizabeth Stokes worked on what would become The Beths’ second LP, Jump Rope Gazers, in between these intense periods of touring. Like the group’s earlier music, the album tackles themes of anxiety and self-doubt with effervescent power pop choruses and rousing backup vocals, zeroing in on the communality and catharsis that can come from sharing stressful situations with some of your best friends. Stokes’s writing on Jump Rope Gazers grapples with the uneasy proposition of leaving everything and everyone you know behind on another continent, chasing your dreams while struggling to stay close with loved ones back home.

"If you're at a certain age, all your friends scatter to the four winds,” Stokes says. “We did the same thing. When you're home, you miss everybody, and when you're away, you miss everybody. We were just missing people all the time.”

With songs like the rambunctious “Dying To Believe” and the tender, shoegazey “Out of Sight,” The Beths reckon with the distance that life necessarily drives between people over time. People who love each other inevitably fail each other. “I’m sorry for the way that I can’t hold conversations/They’re such a fragile thing to try to support the weight of,” Stokes sings on “Dying to Believe.” The best way to repair that failure, in The Beths’ view, is with abundant and unconditional love, no matter how far it has to travel. On “Out of Sight,” she pledges devotion to a dearly missed friend: “If your world collapses/I’ll be down in the rubble/I’d build you another,” she sings.

“It was a rough year in general, and I found myself saying the words, 'wish you were here, wish I was there,’ over and over again,” she says of the time period in which the album was written. Touring far from home, The Beths committed themselves to taking care of each other as they were trying at the same time to take care of friends living thousands of miles away. They encouraged each other to communicate whenever things got hard, and to pay forward acts of kindness whenever they could. That care and attention shines through on Jump Rope Gazers, where the quartet sounds more locked in than ever. Their most emotive and heartfelt work to date, Jump Rope Gazers stares down all the hard parts of living in communion with other people, even at a distance, while celebrating the ferocious joy that makes it all worth it -- a sentiment we need now more than ever.

All Men Unto Me is a project led by Rylan Gleave, composer and vocalist (most notably in Ashenspire and various Paraorchestra projects). Today, All Men Unto Me announces their second album Requiem, an album which re-imagines an ancient mourning in a real, contemporary setting. Taking the broad emotional arcs of the Missa pro Defunctis, these structures pave way for new songs, ruminating on patriarchal power systems and the conditions of transmasculinity within these, through the haze of Queer reverence and forgiveness. In Rylan's words, the Missa pro Defunctis "translates to ‘Mass for the dead’, and refers to the Catholic text taken from the Roman Missal. When set to music, it is called a ‘Requiem’. Requiem masses are usually performed at funerals. I’ve sung in a few Requiems — Mozart, Fauré, Duruflé — when I’ve been in choirs, and felt those dramatic arcs of the structure in my own voice. Writing a Requiem felt like processing my own complex feelings about the Church, patriarchal power within it (and more broadly), and the death of a part of me in a framework that allowed for mourning. The contours of sorrow, light, forgiveness, and reverence made space for these songs to speak to my own identity as a survivor, and use that structure in a way that let me direct an ancient narrative myself." Marrying traditional Anglican soundworlds of electro-pneumatic church organ and stacked choral vocals with heavier sounds, closer to experimental/noise rock and doom metal, Requiem sits at times near Swans, Kayo Dot, Lingua Ignota, Greet Death, and Scott Walker.







[e] SEQUENTIA [video]

Sea Blue Vinyl. John Carpenter is a legend. As the director and composer behind dozens of classic movies, Carpenter has established a reputation as one of the greatest filmmakers in the history of modern cinema, as well as one of its most influential musicians. The minimal, synthesizer-driven themes to films like Halloween, Escape From New York, and Assault on Precinct 13 are as indelible as their images, and their timelessness was evident as Carpenter performed them live in a string of internationally sold-out concert dates in 2016. Anthology: Movie Themes 1974-1998 collects 13 classic themes from Carpenter's illustrious career together on one volume for the first time. Each theme has been newly recorded with the same collaborators that Carpenter worked with on his hit Lost Themes studio albums: his son, Cody Carpenter, and godson, Daniel Davies.

The strength of Fan Club Orchestra's (FCO) trajectory lies in their nebulous, collaborative, and experimental nature, always with Laurent Baudoux at the centre. With its roots in the DIY impulses of the Brussels art and music scene of the late nineties, Baudoux rallied together a revolving cast of players with an unconventional ensemble of instruments to explore melancholic psychedelia that touched on drone and minimalism as readily as it carved minor pop hits from cracked electronics. Performances were often highly improvisational, aided by the barely controlled chaos that guest collaborators—such as American artist Mike Kelley—would inject into an appearance.

FCO self-released two albums in the early 2000s before finding a home with Sonig, where they released several more records up until their last with the label in 2013. This was a fitting frame as Sonig, like FCO, channelled the fervour and formalism of the experimental music history of the Rhineland, which includes Kraftwerk, krautrock, and key early electronic music studios.

Following an eleven year hiatus, Laurent Baudoux reassembled the group in 2024 and presented a new album with the esteemed Glaswegian label 12th Isle late in that same year. Building on the strength of the new iteration, and with the aim of reappraising some of the rich yet oblique history of the group through this new lens, FCO have remastered and reissued their 2013 album, 'An Insane Portrait'.

The recordings were originally commissioned in 2009 for Fabrizio Terranova's film 'Josée Andrei, An Insane Portrait' about the truly remarkable figure Josée Andrei. Shot in San Francisco, the film is an intimate portrait of Andre. Blind from birth, she is a witch, painter, photographer, tarot reader, and psychology and modern literature graduate.

'An Insane Portrait' captures a stripped-back FCO, with Baudoux working solely with original FCO member Ann Appermans. The configuration of Baudoux's electronics and Appermans' bass guitar yield a tender and preciously melodic suite of instrumentals.

Originally released on vinyl by Sonig in 2013, the remaster will again be presented by the label in a limited cassette edition and in digital formats, each featuring a bonus track that was not included in its original release.

The strength of Fan Club Orchestra's (FCO) trajectory lies in their nebulous, collaborative, and experimental nature, always with Laurent Baudoux at the centre. With its roots in the DIY impulses of the Brussels art and music scene of the late nineties, Baudoux rallied together a revolving cast of players with an unconventional ensemble of instruments to explore melancholic psychedelia that touched on drone and minimalism as readily as it carved minor pop hits from cracked electronics. Performances were often highly improvisational, aided by the barely controlled chaos that guest collaborators—such as American artist Mike Kelley—would inject into an appearance.

FCO self-released two albums in the early 2000s before finding a home with Sonig, where they released several more records up until their last with the label in 2013. This was a fitting frame as Sonig, like FCO, channelled the fervour and formalism of the experimental music history of the Rhineland, which includes Kraftwerk, krautrock, and key early electronic music studios.

Following an eleven year hiatus, Laurent Baudoux reassembled the group in 2024 and presented a new album with the esteemed Glaswegian label 12th Isle late in that same year. Building on the strength of the new iteration, and with the aim of reappraising some of the rich yet oblique history of the group through this new lens, FCO have remastered and reissued their 2013 album, 'An Insane Portrait'.

The recordings were originally commissioned in 2009 for Fabrizio Terranova's film 'Josée Andrei, An Insane Portrait' about the truly remarkable figure Josée Andrei. Shot in San Francisco, the film is an intimate portrait of Andre. Blind from birth, she is a witch, painter, photographer, tarot reader, and psychology and modern literature graduate.

'An Insane Portrait' captures a stripped-back FCO, with Baudoux working solely with original FCO member Ann Appermans. The configuration of Baudoux's electronics and Appermans' bass guitar yield a tender and preciously melodic suite of instrumentals.

Originally released on vinyl by Sonig in 2013, the remaster will again be presented by the label in a limited cassette edition and in digital formats, each featuring a bonus track that was not included in its original release.

In den frühen 70er Jahren war Fernsehen ein wichtiges Mittel, um Musiker in den eigenen vier Wänden bekannt zu machen. Frank Zappa, der mit seiner Tournee-Lichtshow und seinem Bühnenaufbau voll ausgestattet war, versuchte, Videomaterial für seine eigene Fernsehproduktion aufzunehmen, um es den großen Sendern anzubieten. Genau wie bei den Dreharbeiten zu The Roxy Performances Monate zuvor gab es technische Probleme, die letztendlich dazu führten, dass das Filmmaterial beiseite gelegt wurde. 50 Jahre später, mit den Fortschritten bei den Bearbeitungswerkzeugen für die Nachbearbeitung, präsentieren wir ”Cheaper Than Cheep”. Dieses neue 2-stündige Konzertprogramm bietet klassische Auftritte der Mothers-Besetzung von 1974, direkt von den neu restaurierten Original-Audio- und Videoband-Mastern aus dem Archiv. Die offzielle Zappa-Veröffentlichung Nr. 130 erscheint in einer speziellen, limitierten Super Deluxe-Edition mit dem remasterten Konzertvideo und brandneuem Dolby Atmos, 5.1 Surround sowie Stereo-Mix auf einer Blu-ray, dem Stereo-Soundtrack auf 2 CDs und 3 LPs auf 180 Gramm schwarzem Vinyl, einem ausführlichen Booklet mit seltenen, bisher unveröffentlichten Bildern und Linernotes von Ruth Underwood und Joe Travers, alles in einem ausziehbaren Schuber verpackt. Weitere Formate sind eine komplette 2-CD + Blu-ray und ein eigenständiger Soundtrack auf 3 LPs auf 180 Gramm schwarzem Vinyl

In den frühen 70er Jahren war Fernsehen ein wichtiges Mittel, um Musiker in den eigenen vier Wänden bekannt zu machen. Frank Zappa, der mit seiner Tournee-Lichtshow und seinem Bühnenaufbau voll ausgestattet war, versuchte, Videomaterial für seine eigene Fernsehproduktion aufzunehmen, um es den großen Sendern anzubieten. Genau wie bei den Dreharbeiten zu The Roxy Performances Monate zuvor gab es technische Probleme, die letztendlich dazu führten, dass das Filmmaterial beiseite gelegt wurde. 50 Jahre später, mit den Fortschritten bei den Bearbeitungswerkzeugen für die Nachbearbeitung, präsentieren wir ”Cheaper Than Cheep”. Dieses neue 2-stündige Konzertprogramm bietet klassische Auftritte der Mothers-Besetzung von 1974, direkt von den neu restaurierten Original-Audio- und Videoband-Mastern aus dem Archiv. Die offzielle Zappa-Veröffentlichung Nr. 130 erscheint in einer speziellen, limitierten Super Deluxe-Edition mit dem remasterten Konzertvideo und brandneuem Dolby Atmos, 5.1 Surround sowie Stereo-Mix auf einer Blu-ray, dem Stereo-Soundtrack auf 2 CDs und 3 LPs auf 180 Gramm schwarzem Vinyl, einem ausführlichen Booklet mit seltenen, bisher unveröffentlichten Bildern und Linernotes von Ruth Underwood und Joe Travers, alles in einem ausziehbaren Schuber verpackt. Weitere Formate sind eine komplette 2-CD + Blu-ray und ein eigenständiger Soundtrack auf 3 LPs auf 180 Gramm schwarzem Vinyl

"Lionel Bart’s musical masterpiece, freely adapted from Charles Dickens’ novel, Oliver! tells the story of the orphaned Oliver Twist, who escapes the harsh Victorian workhouse and takes refuge in London’s murky underworld with the wily gang leader Fagin and his team of resourceful pickpockets led by the Artful Dodger. He finds a friend in the kind- hearted Nancy and when he’s wrongly arrested for stealing, Oliver meets an unexpected saviour; but is happiness truly within his grasp?

With a sensational score, including Food Glorious Food, Consider Yourself, You’ve Got to Pick-a-Pocket or Two, I’d Do Anything, Oom Pah Pah, As Long As He Needs Me, and many more, the Olivier, Tony and Oscar-winning masterpiece vividly brings to life Dickens’ ever-popular story of the boy who asked for more.

This performance is a co-production with Chichester Festival Theatre, where Oliver!’s run as part of their 2024 Summer Season was the biggest success in the theatre’s history. The production was said to have “genuinely breathed new life into this staple of British musical theatre.” (What's On Stage). It will be running at the Gielgud Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, throughout 2025.
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With solid training as a classical musician, Sophie Agnel took a close interest in modern jazz before committing in the early 90s to the shifting, deliciously uncertain ground of free improvisation, thanks to her fascination for the powers of expression displayed by a few great keyboard-heretics such as Keith Tippett, Fred Van Hove or Christine Wodrascka. She began reworking the prepared piano techniques imagined by John Cage and transformed her instrument into a sort of extended piano.

Coming from a Punk music background Joke Lanz started in the mid 80s to play Experimental- and Noise music. Best known for his internationally acclaimed project Sudden Infant, Lanz is presenting his work since 30 years all over the world. Born in Switzerland and currently operating out of Berlin, he is one of the most prolific and profound artists working in the border zones where performance and body art meet Improvisation and Noise.

Agnel and Lanz have performed stunning live shows as a duo, now their debut album is coming out on Klanggalerie. Turntables and piano, a unique combination that is a lot of fun!