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Legendary New Zealand-born experimental composer and sound art pioneer Annea Lockwood returns to Black Truffle with On Fractured Ground / Skin Resonance, her third release for the label. Having recently celebrated her 85th birthday, Lockwood shows no sign of slowing down in her exploration of new sound sources and collaborations with an ever-growing intergenerational pool of performers – here with Vanessa Tomlinson. Her creative vibrancy is alive as ever on the two recent works presented here, which demonstrate both her engagement with the social dimensions of sound and the deeply reflective, meditative aspect of her art.

On Fractured Ground derives from material recorded with Pedro Rebelo and Georgios Varoutsos for the soundtrack of Maria Fusco and Margaret Salmon’s opera-film, History of the Present (2023). Working together in Belfast, Lockwood, Rebelo and Varoutsos made extensive recordings of the city’s ‘peace lines’, the dozens of walls erected since the beginning of the Troubles in the late 1960s to separate Catholic and Protestant areas of the city. Struck by the immensity of these barriers, ‘the brutal way they sever neighbourhoods’, Lockwood and her collaborators focused not on the sound environment of the city, but on the walls themselves, playing them as gigantic resonant instruments, using their hands and objects such as stones and leaves. Continuing to work in her studio with the material collected for the soundtrack after its completion, Lockwood composed the work presented here, occupying a space somewhere between her own extended-technique percussion music and the Cagean tradition of hyper-amplified small sounds. From deep, gong-like metallic tolling to dry scrapes and uneasy groans, the piece’s sustained attention to single sounds derived from unorthodox sources draws a line all the way back to Lockwood’s classic Glass World (1967-1970). Its spaciousness and delicacy are at odds with the dark historical background of the Troubles, creating a moving listening experience somehow haunted by the shadow of violence and conflict.

Skin Resonance is a collaboration with Australian composer and percussionist Vanessa Tomlinson. Developed through conversations in which the two discussed the idea of ‘sonic attraction’, the piece focuses on Tomlinson’s relationship to the bass drum, reflecting on the complex web of connections embodied in this seemingly simply instrument, which is at once ‘animal, wood, and metal’. Approaching the instrument in a suitably elemental fashion, Tomlinson’s performance strips away conventional technique to explore the resonance and timbral properties of skin, drum, and metal hardware, producing overlapping waves of texture that at times seem closer to wind swishing through leaves or the ocean than anything usually associated with a drum. Emphasising the symbiotic relationship between performer and instrument, Tomlinson’s voice is heard at times, exploring the field of associations and connections the bass drum suggests to her: ‘Maybe the bass drum skin is an ear as well?’

Accompanied by insightful liner notes on both pieces and photographs documenting the recording of On Fractured Ground and a performance of Skin Resonance, this LP is a moving testament to the engagement, generosity, and openness that sustain Annea Lockwood’s work, still finding new directions after more than fifty years of activity.

Jan Akkerman (b. 1946) stands apart as a singular figure in the realm of rock and beyond. A Dutch guitarist of unparalleled versatility, he earned international acclaim in 1973 when he topped the prestigious Melody Maker readers’ poll, surpassing icons like Eric Clapton (2nd), Jimmy Page (5th), and Carlos Santana (10th). His fame, however, has never defined his artistry. For Akkerman, it’s always been about the music—any genre, as long as it resonates. He’s a lifelong improviser who approaches each performance as a new adventure. Akkerman first rose to prominence with Focus, a band that embodied the grandiose instrumental rock spirit of the 1970s. Long compositions, dazzling technique, and adventurous arrangements made them a cornerstone of progressive rock. Despite the accolades, Akkerman remained true to his calling. When asked about his success, he has always brushed it aside, preferring to let his guitar do the talking. Side 1 of this record captures Akkerman’s stunning performance on July 10, 2011, at the Nile Hall in Rotterdam. Here, he showcases his ability to take listeners on a sonic journey. The mellow “Tranquilizer” offers a relaxed groove, followed by the heartfelt ballad “You Do Something to Me,” unfolding emotion without words. In “Piétons”—a gospel-tinged blues—trumpeter Eric Vloeimans delivers a fiery solo before the leader propels the piece into uncharted territory. Side 2 brings us back to an earlier moment, recorded in July 2005 at the Paul Acket Paviljoen in The Hague. “Streetwalker” delivers a funk-driven explosion featuring alto saxophonist Benjamin Herman, while “The Zebrah” sends Vloeimans soaring into the musical stratosphere, only to have Akkerman reignite the piece with blistering guitar lines, his band driving forward like a well-tuned Mercedes on an open highway. Akkerman’s live performances are as unpredictable as they are electrifying. Whether sharing the stage with legends or newcomers, his spontaneous creativity makes every concert unique—a master class in musical freedom. Jan Akkerman remains a touchstone for guitarists and fans alike, an authentic improviser whose name still elicits one universal response from any seasoned Dutch rock enthusiast: “He’s the best guitarist in the world.” The North Sea Jazz Concert Series includes officially licensed releases that will be released as standard on 180-gram white vinyl in a sleeve of heavy paper and printed on reversed board. The records are captured in mainly black-and-white artwork by Hans Pol in his signature style of the festival with inspiration from the covers of classic older jazz releases from the Blue Note label, for example. The liner notes are written by journalist and jazz expert Jeroen de Valk. For all recordings it’s a first time ever release on vinyl!

Following nearly 20 years of working together as a trio, and numerous cross-collaborations in different configuration between them, Ideologic Organ presents Placelessness, the debut full-length by Chris Abrahams, Oren Ambarchi, and Robbie Avenaim, comprising two long-form works at juncture of ambient music, minimalism, rigorous experimentalism and improvisation, and machine music. Having carved distinct pathways across a diverse number of musical idioms for decades, Chris Abrahams, Oren Ambarchi, and Robbie Avenaim are each, respectively, among the most noteworthy and groundbreaking figures to have emerged from Australia's thriving experimental music scene. Ambarchi and Avenaim first encountered Abrahams when seeing the Necks - the project that has served as the primary vehicle for his singular approach to the piano since its founding in 1987 - together during the late 1980s, not long after having met in Sydney's underground music community. The pair's collaborations date back more than 35 years, criss-crossing Ambarchi's pioneering solo and ensemble work for guitar and Avenaim's visionary efforts for SARPS (Semi Automated Robotic Percussion System), robotic and kinetic extensions to his drum kit. In 2004, fate brought the three together in a trio performance at the What Is Music? Festival, the annual touring showcase of experimental music founded and run by Ambarchi and Avenaim between 1994-2012. For the nearly two decades since, Abrahams, Ambarchi, and Avenaim have intermittently reformed in exclusively live contexts, in Australia and abroad, cultivating and refining the fertile ground first tilled in that early meeting. Placelessness is the first album to present this remarkable trio's efforts in recorded form. Placelessness is the joining of three highly individualised streams, working in perfect harmony; the point at which friendship, mutual respect, and decades of creative exploration produce a singular spectrum of sound. Featuring Abrahams on piano, Ambarchi on guitar, and Avenaim on drums, the album's two sides draw on each artist's enduring dedication to long-form composition. Its two pieces, Placelessness I and Placelessness II, initially began as a single, 40 minute work, before being divided and reworked into distinct, complimentary gestures for the corresponding sides of the LP. Beginning with restrained clusters of reverberant piano tones, Placelessness I progresses at an almost glacial pace, with Abrahams' interventions increasing met by sparse responses, darting within vast ambiences, on guitar and percussion by Ambarchi and Avenaim. Remarkably conversational within its convergences of tonal, rhythmic, and textural abstraction, over the work's duration a progressive sense of tension unfurls and contracts, refusing release, as each of the ensemble's members contribute to an increasingly tangled sense of density at its resolve.While an entirely autonomous work, Placelessness II rapidly realises a distillation of the energy hinted at across the length of its predecessor. Following a luring passage of harmonious calm, Abrahams' launches into shimmering lines of repeating arpeggios, complimented at each escalation of tempo by Avenaim's machine gun fire percussion work and Ambarchi's masterful delivery of tonality and texture, as the trio collectively generate dense sheets of pointillistic ambience within which individual identity is almost lost, before slowly unspooling into unexpected abstractions and dissonances that deftly intervene with the work's inner logic and calm. What could easily be termed a maximalist take on Minimalism, Placelessness is a masterstroke of contemporary, real time composition, that blurs the boundaries between ambient music, experimentalism, free improvisation, and machine music. Drawing on Chris Abrahams, Oren Ambarchi, and Robbie Avenaim's decades of respective solo and collaborative practice, and the culmination of nearly twenty years of working together as a trio, it's two durational pieces - Placelessness I and Placelessness II - take form with a startling sense of effortlessness and grace, neither shying away from explicit beauty or rigorously tension within their forms

Placenta is the fourth collection of broadly imaginative and highly collaborative Carlos Niño & Friends music released on International Anthem since 2021. But perhaps more notably for the zeitgeist of today, it is the first new music to be released by Carlos Niño & Friends following the November 2023 release of André 3000’s New Blue Sun – an album which Carlos produced alongside André, while co-writing, performing, and co-mixing every song. The announcement of Placenta also comes while Carlos is in the middle of tours with André to support New Blue Sun, where Carlos wields an immense presence as music director, bandleader, and percussionist, and performs alongside many of the same musicians that are present on his recent & Friends albums, including this new one.

Placenta is announced on the 1st solar return of Moss Niño, of whom Carlos and his partner Annelise are Earth parents. Their experience of pregnancy, labor and delivery were all profoundly impactful for Carlos. Becoming a father again (a whole 25 years after the birth of Azul Niño, who has become a regular artistic collaborator for Carlos) he felt total Inspiration for this set of recordings, and hence it is perhaps the most conceptually-grounded Carlos Niño & Friends album we've yet to present–fully connected to the spirit of family, birth, and "how we get here."

In Niño’s words, Placenta is “dedicated to Mothers, Children, Babies, Aunties, Doulas, Midwives, Birthworkers...,” and a short list of track titles includes: "Love to all Doulas!," "Some Rest for the Midwives," "Real Vital Organs," and "Generous Pelvis." The centerpiece of the album, the sprawling "Placenta, Nourishment, New Home, The Galaxy," is an unbelievably vivid immersion in the sonic architecture of Niño's memory-scape...like being present in his energy field...or being present in a birthing room, or maybe even being born yourself. And it just might be the most powerful, unique piece of music Niño has ever created.

Featured artists on Placenta, in order of their entry on the album, include: Nate Mercereau, Jamire Williams, Sam Gendel, Jamael Dean, Dexter Story, Brandon Eugene Owens, Maia, André 3000, Jesse Peterson, Ariel Kalma, Surya Botofasina, Annelise, Haize Hawke, Aaron Shaw, Devin Daniels, Tiffany de Leon, Michael Bolger, Michael Alvidrez, Moss, Iasos, Photay, Deantoni Parks, Adam Rudolph, Andres Renteria, and Cavana Lee.

‘Devotion to a Noble Ideal’ is the first EP release on vinyl from The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus. Part retrospective and part reimagining of their work – the EP contains 4 tracks, each produced in collaboration with a different creative partner, offering a sometimes radical reinterpretation of three previous works as well as one new piece. It is a startling body of material from the Liverpool based art house collective that, nearly 40 years since its inception, continues to evolve. Formed in Liverpool in 1985, the Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus is a unique experimental ensemble whose work goes beyond music. Their mesmerising recorded material is influenced by diverse cultural perspectives and stimulates a deeply personal and subjective awakening. Ethereal vocals, ambient compositions, chants, acoustic instrumentation and field recordings generate beautiful and emotionally intense soundscapes. Includes a double sided 12” insert of illustrations by Mr John Varley, Mr Prince and Miss Macfarlane from the publication THOUGHT-FORMS by Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater

BIG|BRAVE"s preternatural instincts and depth of skill as musicians are on full display on their most naked and austere record to date, OST. The trio entered the studio with broader concepts and themes in mind, but no preconceived music. The overarching concept was to make a film score for a film that had yet to be created, to use minimal instrumentation, or more specifically not their standard band instruments, and to improvise within these parameters. OST was fully written and recorded in the studio. The band was free to enter the live room and record a take with whatever instrument was at hand. Once they had a good foundation for a song, Ball, Wattie, drummer Tasy Hudson and even engineer/producer Seth Manchester would each build on it, layering takes, from instrumental improvisations to abstract vocals, until they felt it was a completed piece. Wattie"s voice seamlessly blends with the instrumental flourishes made from "The Instrument", a Wurlitzer, prepared piano, synths and a very limited amount of electric guitar. Additionally, there is a sprinkling of flute by Melissa Guion (MJ Guider). The performances of each player are tactile and ardent, even at their most subtle and effected. Following OST"s completion, BIG|BRAVE contacted director/ visual artist Stacy Lee to visually score the record. Director Lee and BIG|BRAVE, having previously collaborated, had established an artistic understanding which allowed BIG|BRAVE to give Lee no instruction, no limitations: the creative process synthesized across film and music. Select screenings with live performances are in the works.

BIG|BRAVE"s preternatural instincts and depth of skill as musicians are on full display on their most naked and austere record to date, OST. The trio entered the studio with broader concepts and themes in mind, but no preconceived music. The overarching concept was to make a film score for a film that had yet to be created, to use minimal instrumentation, or more specifically not their standard band instruments, and to improvise within these parameters. OST was fully written and recorded in the studio. The band was free to enter the live room and record a take with whatever instrument was at hand. Once they had a good foundation for a song, Ball, Wattie, drummer Tasy Hudson and even engineer/producer Seth Manchester would each build on it, layering takes, from instrumental improvisations to abstract vocals, until they felt it was a completed piece. Wattie"s voice seamlessly blends with the instrumental flourishes made from "The Instrument", a Wurlitzer, prepared piano, synths and a very limited amount of electric guitar. Additionally, there is a sprinkling of flute by Melissa Guion (MJ Guider). The performances of each player are tactile and ardent, even at their most subtle and effected. Following OST"s completion, BIG|BRAVE contacted director/ visual artist Stacy Lee to visually score the record. Director Lee and BIG|BRAVE, having previously collaborated, had established an artistic understanding which allowed BIG|BRAVE to give Lee no instruction, no limitations: the creative process synthesized across film and music. Select screenings with live performances are in the works.

Taba voices a subtle yet surprising shift for the Japanese musician and producer Satomimagae. Observing and absorbing the fleeting scenes and sounds of life flowing outside of her home studio, Taba unfolds as a series of vignettes that document the personal and the universal. Satomi sings beyond herself in an orbit of souls and systems known and unknown, seen and unseen, in the present and in the strange flux of memory, leaving linear songwriting to rest for circuitous stories expanded and expansive in tone and texture. Following the logic of taba, a Japanese term for a bunch, bundle or grouping together of different things, the album is assembled as a loose collection of short stories. Shapeshifting into something like a poet-narrator, Satomi casts her writer's eye to the often perplexing shapes that form from quotidian events and exchanges defining our increasingly alienated age. Where Satomi's last full-length, 2021's Hanazono, bloomed from the lush soil of a private inner sphere, the bird's eye of Taba searches to place the artist_somewhere, somehow_within a wider, wilder world. Collaborations with other artists and musicians close to Satomi's universe further elevate the album's sweeping sonics. Synthesizer lines from Norio, who also helps define the album's visual identity through photo and video, enliven the tender ballad "Kodama." The bell-like Rhodes piano ringing in and around Satomi's guitar on "Dottsu" is played by Akhira Sano, who created the cover art for her 2021 Colloid EP. Yuya Shito's clarinet was the missing puzzle piece that completed "Spells," and it was also Yuya who mixed Taba with an ear for its organic textures and elegantly frayed edges, giving utterance to a distinctly different energy than Satomi's earlier expressions. The tonal and rhythmic play that lay the foundation of these songs also animates a colorful palette of melodic gestures, noisy resonances and pointed moments captured by Satomi's close-at-hand recorder. While Taba is still carried by the innate intimacy that has defined Satomi's music to date, these songs channel her newly spacious and inquisitive songwriting approach, unlocking unusual layers in the process. Some are subsumed in the speculative poetics of sound design, while others peer through the window of bedroom pop. Gathering imagistic reflections, tracing vast ideations and quietly lingering in humble moments, Taba connects vivid lines between the individual and the collective, the constructed and the cosmic, the articulated and the felt. Satomi's sonic tales gain an eloquent coherence by the simple fact of existing in conversation, humming a harmony of parts that buzzes with the tangled circuitry of a life in motion. Taba is the fifth album from Japanese musician, songwriter and dream traveler Satomimagae, following her 2021 album Hanazono and the 2023 reissue of her debut album Awa, both for RVNG Intl. On Taba, Satomimagae leaves linear songwriting to rest for circuitous stories expanded and expansive in tone and texture, unfolding as a series of vignettes that document both the personal and the universal. Some of the songs on Taba feature intimate moments captured on Satomi's hand recorder, poetic moments of sound design animated by tonal and rhythmic bedroom pop foundations. As with Hanazono, Taba's album artwork features a wooden block print by Satomi's sister, the artist Natsumi Magae.

"Movements of Air" is the highly anticipated fifth album from Daniel Herskedal's acclaimed trio, featuring Eyolf Dale on piano and Helge Andreas Norbakken on drums and percussion. Marking his tenth remarkable release with Edition Records, this album seamlessly bridges his foundational trio debut, "Slow Eastbound Train," with previous masterpieces like "The Roc" and "Voyage."

Over the past decade, Daniel Herskedal has consistently pushed the boundaries of the tuba, crafting music that is both profoundly introspective and expansively cinematic. At its core, "Movements of Air" delves into themes of hope, the pursuit of a better future, and the very essence of musical creation. With masterful performances from all members and intricate compositions, Herskedal navigates the delicate balance between good and evil, war and peace. Tracks such as "The Olive Branch" and "Peace River Crossing" showcase his ability to create emotionally resonant soundscapes, while pieces like "Elements of Harmony" and "Harmonic Allusions" highlight his innovative approach to harmony and texture.

This album stands as a testament to Herskedal's extraordinary talent, transcending the traditional limits of his instrument to deliver music that is both emotionally compelling and artistically groundbreaking.

Daniel Herskedal's exceptional achievements further underscore his artistic prowess and versatility. His notable arrangement of"San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" for the 2019 film "The Last Black Man in San Francisco," produced by Brad Pitt, was later featured in Coca Cola's global 'Open Like Never Before' advertising campaign. His extensive collaborations include performances with prestigious ensembles such as the BBC Concert Orchestra, the Royal Norwegian Navy Band, and the Russian Patriarchate Choir of Moscow. His collaborative project with Marja Mortensson won the Norwegian Grammy in 2019, and in 2021,he secured The Ambies Award for Best Original Score and Music Supervision for the podcast "9/12." Additionally, his work with artists like Keaton Henson and Emilie Nicolas on their album "Out of the Fog" further highlights his versatility and collaborative spirit.

Rodeo Boys is what happens when the Miller High Life gets legs and starts walking around on its own. A rippin’ 4-piece from Lansing, MI is for queers and steers alike. Rodeo Boys shows up at your town, rolls up their sleeves, and gets to work to deliver their blue collar alt sound straight to your ears. They have been ripping rock n’ roll gigs since they formed in 2019 and After releasing their 2023 Album “Home Movies” on Don Giovanni Records, they have been steadily grinding away touring the US. They bring the nostalgia, twang, and punk rock rage of growing up in a small town to a city near you! This is how the Midwest was won.

LA-based composer/producer/guitarist Dustin Wong returns to Hausu Mountain with Gloria, his third album on the label since 2018. Wong has established a multifaceted career over the last two decades that encompasses his solo work centered around guitar performance and live looping, roles as a guitarist in Baltimore-based bands Ponytail and Ecstatic Sunshine, and a wide catalog of collaborations with artists including Takako Minekawa, Good Willsmith, and Patrick Shiroishi. In composing his solo music, Wong has always transmuted his own life experiences into the thematic source material for emotionally resonant works rippling with fine-grain details and intricate looping architectures. With Gloria, the composer channels specific memories and pieces of his family history into a deeply personal narrative arc focused on his grandmother Gloria Violet Lee Wong, who passed away in January 2024, just shy of her 96th birthday. Using a road trip they took together down the west coast of America in 2023 as the direct inspiration for the individual scenes and flashes of imagery that form the album’s continuously unfolding structure, Wong presents Gloria as a memorial to her storied life and a celebration of the warmth and kindness that characterized their close relationship. A moment-to-moment travelogue that zooms out in its full scope to evoke a multi-generational memoir that spans decades and continents, Gloria gives Wong space to open his heart and uncover his roots — all while experimenting with new techniques in live performance and sound design that lead his music into territories that he has never before explored.

"Vilhelm Bromander Unfolding Orchestra returns with Jorden vi ärvde (""The Earth We Inherited""), the follow-up to their acclaimed 2023 debut, In This Forever Unfolding Moment. Set for release on April 25, 2025, the album deepens Bromander’s unique fusion of cosmic jazz, free jazz, folk music and Indian classical traditions while carrying a powerful message about environmental and social responsibility.

Bromander composed this work as both a dedication to his children and a reflection on humanity’s role as caretakers of the planet. “The album is an attempt to spread light, beauty, hope, and resistance while acknowledging the gravity of our times,” he explains. “Right-wing forces are rising, wars continue, and climate disasters escalate. How do we find the strength and hope to change?”

The music balances urgency with a deep trust in humanity. Bromander’s meticulous arrangements, performed by an all-star ensemble, offer moments of both fiery resistance and serene contemplation. Tracks like “Jorden vi ärvde, den skall oss också ärvas” unfold patiently, blending vibrant improvisations with lush orchestration. The evocative ballad “Erde”, with stunning solos by pianist Alex Zethson and the bass-player himself, nods to Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, while “For Dewey” pays tribute to the elastic interplay of Keith Jarrett’s legendary quartet, high-lighting the fire-y saxophone playing of Elin Forkelid. The closing piece, “Calliope,” channels Indian classical influences, with harp evoking a swarmandal’s shimmering resonance.

With Jorden vi ärvde, Bromander expands his artistic vision, weaving together intricate compositions with a passionate call to action. The result is an album that doesn’t just demand to be heard—it invites listeners to reflect, feel, and, ultimately, act."

Comes in deluxe gatefold sleeve with exclusive artwork and double sided printed insert. Remastered from the original master tapes. The most comprehensive vinyl edition of Catalyse to date, featuring additional improvisations that were omitted from the album's original 1970 pressing. Sounding better than ever, rediscover the album that started it all for French psychedelic rock.

The highly sought-after 1970 debut album Catalyse by Ame Son, widely regarded as the first French psychedelic rock album, is finally being reissued. This milestone release by France's pioneering psychedelia band, founded by drummer/vocalist Marc Blanc and bassist Patrick Fontaine-both from the Banana Moon lineup, bridging Soft Machine & Gong-has been restored and remastered from the original master tapes. It includes additional archive material, presenting the Catalyse album in its entirety on vinyl for the first time. Originally released by the avant-garde label BYG Records, Catalyse embodies the vibrant and experimental energy of France's burgeoning underground scene in the early 70s. The album fuses English psychedelic influences with French poetry, free jazz, and experimental freak-outs. "The concept was to create pieces composed of multiple parts, forming an ever-evolving ensemble with shifting ambiences and improvisations. We wanted to blend French poetry with the free-spirited creativity of English psychedelic rock" explained Marc Blanc in an exclusive interview featured in the new liner notes of this reissue. This unique vision gave birth to an album that remains as groundbreaking and captivating today as it was at its original release. Out of print for decades, the Catalyse LP has become a rare and highly coveted gem among collectors and fans of psychedelic rock.

The debut album from CEM, 'FORMA' was developed as a soundtrack to Mauro Ventura’s series of "action painting performances" and uses various bell sounds (cowbells, doorbells, Shinto bells, singing bowls) to pick out anxious giallo sequences and heaving Dadaist formations.

CEM's best known for pneumatic DJ sets that have propped up Berlin's queer underground for a decade at this point, but don't expect to find any vaped darkroom tek on 'FORMA'. Each of the six compositions were commissioned for Ventura’s performative installation at Volksbühne in 2022, and CEM opted to represent the piece's themes of labor and repetition by sampling an arsenal of bells and metal objects that anchor his varying widescreen vignettes. 'The Calling' is a relatively subtle introduction, establishing the space with double bass drones and ratcheting digitally altered chimes - it's 'Bells Corrupt' that cements CEM's concept more righteously, harking back to Goblin's iconic 'Suspiria' score without pastiching any of its Italo-prog themes. Cycling ritualistic bell loops with squashed, industrial-strength thuds and granulised laptop belches, CEM silhouettes the tension and the vivid color of Argento's film, chrome plating the result.

'An Industrial Satire' is even more convincing; this one takes its cues from legendary German sound artist Limpe Fuchs, and the first part integrates scraped, alien resonances with CEM's loping industrial rhythms and squelchy EBM bassline. The real shift occurs in the second part, when CEM's choppy electroacoustic minimalism falls away to unlock his rolling hand drum performance, that he matches with a ghaita sample lifted from the Master Musicians of Joujouka's 1971 album with Brian Jones. With the future-facing deconstructions a memory, 'Statue Garden' beds reedy organ drones in eerie gallery ambiance, and closer 'The New Sincerity Test' finds Lithuanian performance artist Gertrūda Gilytė skewering the wellness industrial complex over nauseous subsonic oscillations and scratchy noise.

Kali Malone's The Sacrificial Code is the 2019 breakthrough album of the acclaimed composer's pipe organ pieces. Her temporally informed studies of harmonics and intonation breathed life into a suite of compositions which leaves the heart moved and mind still. This 2025 edition was mastered by Rashad Becker and features a new track Sacrificial Code III. Pitchfork praised the album for its "time-stretching properties" and "clean minimalism." Resident Advisor described the album as an "exercise in concentration, restraint, and focus." Tiny Mix Tapes emphasized the "intensity and intimacy" of the album, pointing out how Malone's close miking technique brings out every textural detail of the organ, creating a highly focused and immersive listening experience.

A1 - Ocean Breeze

Kicking off the EP we have an understated 2-step banger from label head ASC as Ocean Breeze rips into your consciousness, positively bursting at the seams with a wonderful rolling break - make no mistake this track will make you and the dancefloor move. Building continually with a trademark subtle female vocal and wavy synthwork, Ocean Breeze is the perfect livener for any discerning atmospheric set.

A2 - Blue Planet

Straight into the action with a heavy break pattern, Blue Planet sees ASC experiment with deep, thunderous kicks and tightly edited, weighted snares set to take you higher - as the classic, recognisable vocal sample urges.Throughout the track we are treated to a darkly atmosphere created by thoughtful pads and effects which elevate the mix while the breaks make the most of their headline billing to the end.

B1 - Cyclic Nature

Continuing the break focussed approach to the EP, ASC unleashes a break heard right at the start of Spatial's history in Force Majeure - in fact this piece began life as a remix of that very same track, before taking on its own identity and becoming Cyclic Nature. Intense and hot-blooded, dense analogue kicks battle echoing drums and subtle melodies to form a wonderfully constructed atmosphere we just can't get enough of.

B2 - Shapeshift

Dialling back the intensity, Shapeshift is introduced more gradually this time with a DJ-friendly cymbal driven intro, with curious clicks and sound effects jostling over a mellow synthy backdrop. Before long a relaxing old-school break enters the mix while textured pads fluctuate with inquisitive jolts of melodic energy, elevating Shapeshift to become quite the memorable EP closer indeed.

Words by Chris Hayes (Spatial / Red Mist)

Madteo is one of the great eccentric visionaries of Electronic Music and his new album Misto Atmosferico E Ad Azione Diretta on Unsure once more happens to be a mind-bending piece of art. Misto Atmosferico E Ad Azione Diretta shifts between focused gritty grooves and the long freeform associative adventures that you haven't heard before, never static, sometimes overwhelming, always on edge.
The opener Cans People is an archaic rave monster, To Know Those Who is non-linear dub techno, Nocturnal Palates expands the Filter House universe and Rave Nite Itz All Right hits you hard and strange (yet subtle, in a way). The last two tracks then let loose; Madteo manipulates time, space and sounds to create the psychedelic secrets of Luglio Ottantotto. And Emo G (Sticky Wicket) explores the outskirts not only of House or Techno or whatever but music in general, a 15-min-trip through the low frequencies, the rumble, the dark hearts and the enchantment. Breathtaking. Bring The Voodoo Down.

Looking behind the obvious, forming an orchestra out of everyday surroundings.

Finding the essence in the trivial, clarity in the complex, poetry in simplicity. All of this is part of the goal, meaning and character of Oh No Noh, the project of Leipzig-based guitarist, robot programmer, magnetic tape crumpler and composer Markus Rom. All of this floats and shines through "As Late As Possible", the third Oh No Noh album, which will be released on April 4th, 2025.

The focus of this album, as the title "As Late As Possible" suggests, was patience. A creative lingering, the selfimposed principle of letting ideas mature, consciously leaving them lying and looking at them again in order to discover and refine new things. Always looking for new ways of producing musical sounds, Markus Rom has been blurring the boundaries between LoFi, Indietronica, Postrock, Kraut and Pop with his solo project for several years. His main instruments for this are electric guitar, MIDI robots, tapes and samples. For “As Late As Possible”, Rom expands his setup with a new sound sources (acoustic guitar, banjo, organ) and musical guests: Damian Dalla Torre (Squama) on bass clarinet and Andi Haberl (the Notwist, Sun) on drums.

“As Late As Possible” continues the signature of past releases and adds new facets. Rom's distinctive looping in and over each other is particularly evident in the tracks “Missing the Point”, “Orb” and “Almost Everywhere”. With "Loot", a straightforward and folk-pop piece finds its way onto the album and coexists with math-trained tracks like "Dog Years" or "Dot", which conjure up associations with Weilheim bands like COUCH. The tracks "Bliss of Disconnect" and "Fawn" were created in collaboration with the featured guests Liz Kosack and KMRU. The confidently unplanned is one of the principles around which Oh No Noh itself is also continuously evolving. Part of this development: the radio series "Oh No Noh Radioh", which has so far consisted of over 40 parts, for which Rom invites a guest in each episode to research music together along roughly defined concepts, ideas and inspirations. Together with technology composer Hainbach, free jazz artist Limpe Fuchs and sound artist Elsa M’Bala, for example, encounters were created whose patient search and find and whose controlled coincidences also characterize “As Late As Possible” – but here concentrated, concise, and with all the love of sound and experimentation always committed to the song. With this will to create a song-like narrative, to move, to develop, “As Late As Possible” remains suspended and searching. Its concentration seems light-footed, its happy accidents well-placed, the melancholic beauty of outdated technologies, forgotten musical toys and broken noise sources always forward-looking. Music like the one that comes about when someone programs an entire robot band, which then becomes just a friendly part of the whole.

The artwork for “As Late As Possible” was created by Leipzig comic artist Anna Haifisch. The album was mixed by Adam Lenox and mastered by Frida Claeson Johannsson.

Big new release by Peter Van Hoesen! Continuing his exploration of intricate techno systems, their effect and direct perimeter of action, Peter van Hoesen turns in his newest four-track piece, ‘Prime Directive’: a fascinating dive into the artist’s shape-shifting headspace and inner creative chaos.

Fuelled on a furnace-hot mix of abstract-leaning immersion and hi-octane rhythmic thrust, ‘Prime Directive’ looks at contemporary techno from the angle of experimentation and intuitive abandon. The result comes in the form of four distinct movements, each carving out their own logic and associated behaviour out an endless pool of potentialities. Here comes chaology unfolding in all its unadulterated, visceral glory.

‘Definition by Absence’ breaks the trip in to the sound of a faux-random symphony: its train-like swing and fiery bass seesaw coalesce through an elliptic fluttering of sorts, iterative and not, patterns moving in and out of synchronicity as van Hoesen applies more or less pressure on both ends. All in gusty in-your-face-ness, ‘Variables Edit 1’ whirls and swirls like an ominous vengeance of nature; Its puncturing kicks and whistling menace set against stellar winds and rabid machinery on the prowl for its next victim.

An even more unsettling piece of disjointedly arrhythmic, anti-club music for the dance floor, ‘Prime Directive’ will have you zoning out like a bad dream, flush with metronome-faced monsters and molten clocks hanging from dead trees. ‘Morphology’ could be PVH’s attempt at giving his concepts a carnal carcass to hold onto. Here, rhythm becomes somewhat less erratic, offering his 360-degree vision more melodic surface and actual room for dispersion. One to keep the boundaries pushed and status-quo challenged, this is techno at its most entrancingly bold and fearless.

*This new four-track epic from Peter van Hoesen comes draped in a fine piece of artwork courtesy of Atact, and pressed according to our standards in 180g audiophile quality so you get to experience the Belgian master's chiselled sound design in all its glory.

For their second album 'The Foel Tower', Quade holed up in an old stone barn in the cradle of a Welsh mountain valley.
The valley was a stark and windswept backdrop with little daylight, as the band would huddle around crackling fires each evening. “There was very much a feeling of being on the complete fringes of society,” the band says. “The last vestiges of settlement before the unrelenting barren moors that loomed over us.”
It was an environment that would shape the band – a Bristol four piece made up of Barney Matthews, Leo Fini, Matt Griffiths and Tom Connolly – and the record they have made. It’s an album that is as dreamy as it is melancholic, and as quiet and tender as it is forceful and potent – gliding across genres like winds blowing over those wide-spanning Welsh hills – to arrive at something the band half-jokingly, yet somewhat accurately, describe as “doomer sad boy, ambient-dub, folk, experimental post-rock.”

Quade is a band but it’s also a very close-knit group that have been friends since childhood who use this musical vehicle for interpersonal explorations and connections. “We’ve individually experienced a lot of difficulty over the last several years and Quade has represented a space to shelter from these,” the band says. “This means we often communicate extensively with each other about the issues affecting us individually and collectively. These conversations and concerns are central to The Foel Tower.”

In many ways, the making of this record – or any Quade record – goes way deeper than the simple writing, construction and recording of music. It is a profoundly deep and meaningful experience. “A key theme of the album relates to why we connect with specific places in the way that we do,” the group says. “We often remove ourselves to isolated valleys, sheltered from some of the painful personal struggles that we have experienced as a band. These become spaces in which we collectively purge ourselves of some of these difficulties hoping to make Quade a physical and emotional place of solace. This album celebrates these places that we’ve been able to retreat to and recuperate.”

It is a deep, dense record that is stuffed with musical, cinematic and literary influences – from Ursula La Guin and Cormac MacCarthy through to RS Thomas and Yeats – but despite the heavy, introspective and anxious nature of some of the material, it is also a record that is remarkably deft, agile and considered.

Made with producer Jack Ogborne and mixer Larry ‘Bruce’ McCarthy, there is a pleasing duality to the final sound of the record. One that feels fragile and intimate but also powerful and forceful, as introspective as it is expansive, and a record that is as detailed and textured as it is wide open and spacious.

The album title also pays homage to the place that shaped it so greatly. Within this remote Welsh valley stands the Foel Tower, a stone structure filled with valves and cylinders that can raise and lower the level of the reservoir to draw off water. Which it can then send as far as 70 miles to Birmingham. However, in the late 1800s this land was occupied by local farmers and families in the hundreds until the British Government acquired the land, cleared the valleys, and promptly displaced them in order to begin serving the vastly expanding industrial English city. The band dug into the history and politics of this and wove it into the themes they were already thinking about, using what the Foel Tower stands for as something of a contemporary metaphor. “This tension was something that we wanted to explore without the haughty judgement of our more metropolitan lifestyles,” they say. “And to explore how this specifically relates to ourselves: how can we envisage a genuinely ecological future for ourselves – one that is accessible, affordable and in harmony with endangered rural practices.”

What makes The Foel Tower such an incredible record is that it feels born of a time, place and situation that only existed in that very moment. It’s a snapshot of those 10 days spent in rural Wales and all the feelings and anxieties the band were experiencing at that specific time, magically caught on tape. “The album very much feels tied to this valley for us and the conversations and experiences we shared there,” they say. “It brings up a great deal of poignancy for us, an emblem of some fleeting respite from the strains we all have to experience. But there’s also deep sadness knowing how transient these moments are – in fact, there’s just a great deal of sadness in this album. But it’s also a record that while personal, resigned, and emotionally burdened, is ultimately hopeful.”

Âsan’s self-released Beychen EP is a raw odyssey through the chaos and catharsis of creation. Across four relentless tracks, the producer mirrors the turmoil of nearly losing their passion for music—only to rediscover it by dismantling old habits and surrendering to the unknown. What emerges is a vortex of psychedelic techno, where layered rhythms spiral into the deep-down and morphing soundscapes warp time itself.
The title track Beychen channels the claustrophobic unease of a creative block with its brainmelting progression, only to erupt in a complete loss of control and, therefore, relief. The other three tracks deliver visceral techno in similar fashion, each piece evolving like an own entity with hypnotic force. This is music for darkened rooms and muddy forest stages, where the dancefloor becomes a mirror for Âsan’s internal reckoning. Here, the anxiety of creation is not conquered, but alchemized.
Âsan, a New York-based producer and co-founder of the label Cellar Door, always chases a certain feeling in his work—an elusive sensation that guides his creative journey. For him, dancing begins in the head, as rhythms and soundscapes take shape in a space between thought and intuition. His music invites listeners to step into that headspace, where the body follows the mind’s spiraling patterns.

Christian Kleine continues to unearth long-lost transmissions with Electronic Music From The Lost World: Vol.2 - another batch of pristine artifacts from his personal DAT archive. Much like its predecessor, this release serves as both a time capsule and a reminder of Kleine’s effortless blend of melodic warmth, intricate rhythm programming, punk influences, and a deep-rooted love for the fringes of electronica.
Where Vol.1 felt like an invitation back to the late ‘90s, a time when IDM was still an evolving conversation, this second volume extends the dialogue, revealing more of the sonic experiments and fully-formed pieces that never saw the light of day. Tracks recall specific moments from Kleine’s time living in Berlin, an era of minimal comforts but maximal creativity, where all that really mattered was that the PowerPC, sampler, and synths kept running. This period of introspection, coupled with the musical freedom afforded by cheap rent and late-night school classes, shaped the deeply personal and solitary sound of these recordings.
Visually, Vol 2 shares its origins with the first volume, as Midori Hirano’s stark Berlin photography forms the foundation, and Noah M / Keep Adding pushes the imagery into a brighter, more reflective final space. Final touches remain in familiar hands, with LOOP-O on mastering and lacquer duties, bringing new life to Christian’s OG DAT recordings. 
And much like the classic City Centre Offices era that shaped this sound and Kleine’s early career, this release nods to that legacy. A special limited 7” EP with two bonus tracks, designed in tribute to CCO’s iconic DIY aesthetic, will be available on release day direct from the label’s Bandcamp. 

Following the epic and potent album 'Blood' recently released on Infinite Machine; Shanghai-based producer Laughing Ears alights on Hemlock with a killer three track EP.

Losing Track
Dense with pin-sharp atmospherics and gentle intertwined melodies, this lush piece evokes 90's IDM breakbeat and trance and propels them into far away realms.

Bite the Bullet
Bleeps and homespun breakbeats dance into the night on this quirky workout, keeping us on our toes with unhinged edits and a twisted breakdown.

Breakaway The rudest cut on the EP, Breakaway lamps up the pressure for a full sub bass rinse out riding on loose but fully loaded drums.

File under: IDM, grime, breakbeat
RIYL: rRoxymore, Autechre, Dj Crystl, Bruce, Musical Mob

For Fans Of The Indie/Americana, Punk ‘N’ Roll, Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs, Fear, Supersuckers, Tom Petty, MC5. Living Between the Lines is the debut solo LP from Frank Meyer. A long time coming, Meyer’s been hinting at it for a while now with Bandcamp exclusive tracks, covers on tribute albums, acoustic solo shows, and his acclaimed collaboration album with Eddie Spaghetti of the Supersuckers. Like the Eddie collab, LBTL is out on Kitten Robot Records. The 11-song album adds touches of blues and soul to Meyer’s expected high-energy rock ‘n’ roll, revealing a more mature voice. He is joined for duets by longtime friend and collaborator Lisa Kekaula of the Bellrays on the title track, Runaways icon Cherie Currie on “Piece of Me” and Spaghetti himself on “Partners In Crime.” An award-winning musician, filmmaker and author, Meyer has a track record that covers rock ‘n’ roll, punk, heavy metal, blues, and country. Known for his work with everyone from Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famers James Williamson (Iggy & the Stooges) and Wayne Kramer (MC5) to legendary punk act FEAR, Meyer has carved out a career full of unlikely collaborations, hard work, searing guitar playing, and ace songwriting skills. “I have rarely seen the public leave so enthusiastic by the pure rock ‘n’ roll download that they had just witnessed. Frank Meyer is an incomparable frontman who lives rock ‘n’ roll 24/7 and always gives his all!” Popular 1 Magazine.

Full page feature in Wire Magazine (March 2025, Issue 493) 'the freak audio series continues with the lysergic You Didn't Hear It From Me which combines dubbed out sampledelia and metallic beats with ghostly saxophone soaked in an acid bath'

Polonius AKA Egyptian-French artist Seif Gaber, whose works spans a decade of “science fiction archeomiragical time travel" explorations and is an important piece of the healthy electronic/far out mosaic in Milan.

With a considerable number of releases under his name, both self released and through such likeminded labels as Ikuisuus, Goaty Tapes or Sun Araw's Sun Ark, Polonius grand vision encompasses a myriad of languages culled from kosmische travelings, exotica's dreamlands, soundtrack psychedelia, spiritual jazz escape routes and transmuted beat science to convey them into a sonic fiction where all these trails intertwine in a cosmological soundscape filled with wonder and speculation.

Building on last year's more beat-centric excursions of his self-titled vinyl debut on Stoned to Death, Polonius' first entry into the Discrepant extended family via Souk finds him dwelling deeper into rhythmic mystic extrapolations through a series of hallucinatory tracks. Conveying jungle's kinetic energy, dubwise meditations on bass weight, collapsing beats, globetrotting percussion accents and synth-driven night drives, 'You Didn't Hear It From Me' finds Polonius with a strong sense of purpose and direction, reconvening bits and pieces from the netherworld into a more urban scenario, not quite any we can stand or dance on. Just dream of.

Imagine having a song go viral for 17 years - without even knowing it. That's exactly what happened to the German 1980s band FEX. And this isn't just any song - it's The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet, a track that puzzled music detectives for decades before finally being identified in November 2024. Now, it has been officially released - twice.

The Story in Brief:
Sometime around 1984, a song was broadcasted on NDR Radio. The name of the song was Subways Of Your Mind - only found out 40 years later in November 2024. Back then, a listener recorded the NDR show on cassette, a common practice at the time. Decades later, the tape resurfaced, but while most songs from the recording were identified, one remained an enigma. On March 18, 2007, the track was uploaded to the internet in an attempt to uncover its origins. Due to its now-iconic opening lyric, it was tentatively titled Like The Wind. Over time, the mystery deepened, and the song was given a nickname: The Most Mysterious Song - or simply TMMS.

Starting in 2019, a dedicated Reddit group, TheMysteriousSong, now boasting over 63,000 members, took up the search. They meticulously documented every lead, hoping to solve the riddle of the song's origins. Then, in 2024, the breakthrough: Reddit user marjin1412 reached out to musician Michael Hädrich after discovering a reference to his band FEX in an old newspaper article. Hädrich, FEX's keyboardist, provided a recording from an old demo cassette which included an alternative version of the song. On November 4, 2024, the mystery was officially solved: FEX was the band, Subways Of Your Mind was the title.

What Happened Next:
Since then, FEX has released two singles - both featuring Subways Of Your Mind - through the Berlin-based independent label The Outer Edge. First, the demo cassette version was pressed onto vinyl, as the original NDR radio recording remained lost (see EDGE-028). The Remastered Demo Mix single instantly topped Bandcamp's global charts, holding the #1 spot for several days. By then, it was clear: this was more than just an internet curiosity. A real fanbase had formed. Enthusiastic comments on the sales page ranged from "best post-punk song to ever exist" to "FEX themselves (are) perhaps the most underrated musicians of all time."

But the story didn't end there. A higher-quality version of the NDR radio recording was rediscovered in late december, remastered, and now sent for a second vinyl pressing: the TMMS Version. This new vinyl 7" is backed with Talking Hands another great and unissued song that was found on the demo cassette.

Fame Comes with a Price
Suddenly, time isn't standing still for FEX. The band had to come to terms with the fact that they had become Lostwave super stars. A FEX fan club quickly formed on Reddit, fan-hosted FEX parties are popping up, and the internet is demanding more - an album, merchandise, live performances. But how does a band prepare for a comeback after a 40-year hiatus?

For now, FEX is carefully considering their next steps. Their demo cassette contains six songs - and a few other recordings have resurfaced which probably could be restored and compiled. But foremost, a brand new re-recording of Subways Of Your Mind is in progress.

One thing is certain: The Most Mysterious Song will continue its unstoppable journey around the world. Don't miss this (second) chance to own a piece of music history!

A collaboration between US label Astral Spirits and Sweden’s Thanatosis Produktion, It could / If I marks the debut album from Stockholm-based duo Johan Jutterström (saxophone) and Alex Zethson (piano). Together, they reinterpret jazz standards and explore an eclectic mix of compositions by Leonard Cohen, Pet Shop Boys, John Lurie, and 19th-century composer Alexander Fesca.

Jutterström and Zethson’s musical partnership dates back to their teenage years, when they bonded over a love for jazz and the struggle to find their own voice within it. Their duo work has always been about navigating that tension—trying to capture jazz, failing, and finding another way forward. This album continues that pursuit, emphasizing not just what is played, but how it is played.

The record’s title reflects their approach: a process of reaching for something just out of grasp. Songs are deconstructed, rearranged, and treated like palimpsests—scrubbed clean and rewritten while allowing traces of the original to shine through. The result is a dynamic and deeply personal exploration of sound, filled with both reverence and reinvention.

Both musicians have extensive backgrounds in jazz, improvisation, and experimental music. Zethson, a prolific pianist and composer, has worked with ensembles like Fire! Orchestra and Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, and plays keyboards in ensembles such as Vilhelm Bromander Unfolding Orchestra, Goran Kajfes Tropiques, Vathres, and Angles (current with the jazzopera The Death of Kalypso). Jutterström, a saxophonist with an artistic PhD, has performed internationally and runs the ensemble STHLM svaga, a band who have performed commissioned pieces by jazz legends such as Ron Carter, Archie Shepp and Roscoe Mitchell.

With It could / If I, the duo crafts an intricate, ever-shifting dialogue—an ongoing attempt to "stick jazz music," as they put it, constantly approaching, never quite arriving, and finding beauty in the pursuit.

H.D. Reliquary is the first eponymous release from Ben Shirken a.k.a. Ex Wiish, and finds him returning home to his own label, 29 Speedway. The songs sparked during sessions with close collaborators - across 11 pieces, artists such as Pavel Milyakov, MIZU, Dorothy Carlos, Kevin Eichenberger and Muein breathe personality into the record. H.D.R. coaxes beauty from a serrated, raw, yet subdued palette drawn from improvised recordings of trumpet, violin, upright bass, cello, and modular synthesis.

The title references the hard drive as a sacred container for relics, contemplating how digitally archived fragments of one’s existence can burn eternally after death. Archives, and in this case recordings, splinter and warp. Some distort what they contain. Some vanish, and others are eternally preserved, immune to deletion. Your information on these digital drives becomes archival shrapnel, the music that survives the remnants of collaboration. Pieces of recordings were fed into a series of proprietary neural networks, generating MIDI information and audio that reacted to on-the-fly soloing, imaginary sessions between players and algorithms invented posthumously (in post).

Shirken will release H.D. Reliquary alongside a sound installation on April 11. Where his prior work was geared towards dissociation, H.D. Reliquary invites us to contemplate how our tools for understanding and containing the world fundamentally alter our relationship with it. He has performed in spaces such as The New Museum, Pioneer Works, Public Records and Nowadays in New York City; Dripping Music And Arts Festival in New Jersey; La Station in Paris; and Cafe Oto in London.

Techno tastemaker Enrico Sangiuliano returns to his influential NINETOZERO label with his bold new Transcendence EP featuring two very different but equally powerful sounds; one track is to dance to, the other one to listen to.

This new release caps off an impressive year for the Italian underground icon. Coming just a couple of months after his Interconnection EP and a packed season of headline shows, it marks yet another subtle evolution of his always hard-to-classify sound. The EP is a collaboration with psychedelic trance pioneers GMS, who have been making their mark since the 90s. The award-winning pair have had their music used in a trio of Tony Scott movies and have dropped several vital albums and EPs.

“GMS and I met many years ago in their studio in Ibiza and spontaneously cemented our relationship through our passion for sound”, says Enrico Sangiuliano. “They are a pillar of psytrance, and collaborating with them to interpret the concept of Transcendence was the perfect way for us to finally merge our creative visions. With this release, we transcend our individual musical paths to create something entirely new. We explore the theme of elevation, challenging ourselves to move beyond the tangible. Here, music becomes a portal, expanding consciousness and providing an escape from material reality. Together, we shaped our sounds to build an immersive experience, with a guiding voice to lead you through it. Transcendence is an invitation to let go, release mental constructs, and flow with the sound. It's a journey into a timeless realm where what you feel and who you are become one. To transcend is to connect with your deepest self—and beyond.”

Superb opener 'Transcendence' is a sleek and futuristic soundscape with dynamic drums that take you up amongst the stars. The smeared pads bring a cosmic atmosphere, the lush arps layer in plenty of trance-tinged emotion, and smart spoken words add a cinematic feel to this most escapist track. 'The Inner World' is then a suspenseful two-minute synthscape with wise spoken words that muse on inner strength. It is a rousing piece of emotional electronic grandeur.

The Transcendence EP is another strong statement from the forward-looking creative mind of Enrico Sangiuliano.

LP 1 is Original Reissue, LP 2 is the Instrumentals. This album, originally released in 2019, was highly lauded with esteemed praise, topping many Album Of The Year lists inlcuding NPR, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Time Magazine. This vinyl has been out of print and in high demand, repress is restricted to limited quantities and will be out of print again in under a year. Now includes a 2nd LP featuring the never before available Hiding Places instrumentals from Kenny Segal. Fully produced by Kenny Segal, (Project Blowed, Kenstrumentals beat tape Series, Happy Little Trees). LP has unique gatefold artwork by Myra Musgrove and features custom “oakwood” coloured vinyls. Hiding Places is a collaborative album from Brooklyn-based rapper billy woods and Los Angeles beat scene veteran Kenny Segal. As a label, we at Backwoodz take a lot of pride in our physical products; in creating original artwork that will stand the test of time, and in issuing limited-pressings that stay limited. We had always resisted repressing a piece of vinyl and even when the demand for Hiding Places built to a fever pitch during 2019, we stuck to our guns. Still, by the end of the year, as the AOTY nominations kept rolling in, we knew that we needed to do something. But we also were determined not to sacrifice the uniqueness of that first pressing. So we decided to commission all-new artwork, and press up the instrumentals as well and put it all together as a GATEFOLD 2XLP. So, on top of the best album of 2019, you get Kenny’s incredible instrumentals, available on wax for the first time! On its face, it seemed an unlikely pairing; woods who moonlights as ½ of dissonant rap duo Armand Hammer is a chaotic force, the warped relic of an NY indie-rap wave that never happened. Meanwhile, Segal has been in L.A. for twenty years; from paying dues with Project Blowed to pushing the culture forward with Busdriver and Milo. All the while, his soulful, dreamlike production precariously tethered to earth by the right drums or rumbling bass. But look closer and it makes more sense. After all, Segal lent his production to a couple of songs on Paraffin, Armand Hammer’s critically-acclaimed opus, and the two artists have more than a few shared collaborators: Open Mike Eagle, ELUCID, and Hemlock Ernst amongst them. Hiding Places finds both artists deep in the labyrinth. Segal’s lush soundscapes have a new edge, woods’ writing is, paradoxically, at its most direct. Hiding Places is a child’s game: funny and cruel, as brutal as a fairy tale. The album features familiar names from both artists’ well of collaborators with ELUCID, Self-Jupiter, Blockhead and MOTHERMARY making contributions.

"Donald Duck, kill Minnie!" These words, ordered with urgency against a circular series of drum strikes and manipulated guitar/electronic textures, come over three fourths of the way through the album known as SYR 5 (aka "Olive's Horn"). While the words and sounds taken on their own may shock, their appearance within this collaborative effort between Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth, Body/Head, solo efforts), Ikue Mori (DNA, solo) and DJ Olive (We, solo) by this point in the album are not surprising. Taken on whole, SYR 5 sees its creators' respective histories forged in the 80s downtown noise scene, No Wave zone and Marclay-inspired club collide head on to create the audio equivalent of a slow-playing J.G. Ballard novel. Starting from the album's initial impressions where shimmering tones are interrupted by the sounds of winding clocks and bird calls before giving way to a cinematic sweeps of percussion, alien samples and blown out wasteland subs, the listener is constantly taken on a guided journey through a waking dream state where anything is possible. It is a world where dub samples, gurling beats and plaintive vocals (as only Gordon can deliver) fit together like the final locking puzzle pieces, the only elements needed to fully grasp a new reality. Re-appearing on vinyl for the first time in 25 years, these sounds have proven to be jaw-droppingly timeless. - Cory Rayborn, 2025

Rosettes are finally here with their debut album on Timmion Records, Lifestyles, a compelling journey into psychedelic soul, jazzy funk, and introspective grooves. For the listener, it creates an experience that manages to be both sophisticated and raw to the bone. Expanding on the sound they refined with their previous singles, this 10-track album captures the group in top form while crafting intoxicating sonic potions that pull you in. Featuring standout tracks like the soulful opener "The Call," the Isaac Hayes-inspired title track "Lifestyles," and the introspective groover "Spirals," the album weaves together cinematic instrumentals, intricate horn arrangements, and deeply personal storytelling, courtesy of lead singer Tytti Roto. Drawing inspiration from a range of vintage and contemporary masters_Cymande, SAULT, and Sade, to name a few_the rest of the eight-piece group doesn't linger in the shadows. Instead, they make it their mission to position the groove front and center. The album closes with "The Queen," the sole instrumental track, which evokes the spirit of 1970s blaxploitation soundtracks with its wah-wah and fuzz guitars and jazzy changes. Every track on Lifestyles is a testament to the Rosettes' ability to craft genre-blending masterpieces that are as emotionally gripping as they are musically intricate. For fans of adventurous soul and funk, this album offers a rich and rewarding journey.

Edinburgh-based three-piece funk band High Fade are set to release their debut album 'Life’s Too Fast'.

Capturing the raw, on-stage energy that has been the driving force behind High Fade’s meteoric rise was never going to be easy, but that’s exactly what Harry, Oli and Calvin set out to do with a clear creative vision to record their album live at the iconic RAK Studios in London.

'We recorded in RAK Studios, with the desk built for the Rolling Stones in ‘76, with the same cigarette burns still on the faders. It instantly had a vibe of raw energy and liveliness to it that matched the way we wanted to record - live.' – Calvin

The result? 'Life’s Too Fast' – a blistering 10-track debut from one of the UK’s most exciting bands that manages to deliver the same tight, groove-laden funk rock that has put the group on the radars of Jack Black, Cypress Hill and Rage Against the Machine’s Brad Wilk, has seen them tour with The Cat Empire, and tick off iconic venues including Glastonbury, Jazz Cafe, and Boomtown Festival.

'We decided to record the album live rather than through the normal single track overdubbed method – we felt this would help to fully convey the band’s power, sound and energy across to the listener! More like we’re playing a gig and having it recorded – it was a tough process, but we went about it in the best way for both us and the audience, to ensure they’re getting the most authentic High Fade sound and experience possible.' – Oli

Having spent much of the last three years on the road seeing to a punishing tour schedule, 'Life’s Too Fast' is a chance for the band to stop and take stock, to reflect on their whirlwind success, and create an artistic milestone that demonstrates who High Fade are today. 'It’s the most accurate representation of what High Fade is, what we sound like, and who we are' explains Harry. Telling a clear story that matches their own experiences over the last few years, the album is a snapshot taken by a band who are accelerating towards real success and recognition.

'I’m glad we finally have a body of work that we’re proud of and feels like a collection of songs that nicely represents where we are right now. It’s organised chaos and shows that we like to play, but can also write a catchy tune.' – Calvin

Launching into proceedings with the effortlessly uplifting 'Take Me To The Floor', every track is a demonstration of the band’s technical prowess and broad sonic palette. A forward-facing selection of completely original material, the album also gave the band the opportunity to re-imagine fan-favourite 'Sharpen Up' as a stripped-back cut that reflects the band’s current lineup.

'Honestly, I kinda feel like I could explode with excitement about getting it out for everyone in the world to hear because it has been a long time in the making! A culmination of what all the singles have been working towards! I guess the album represents us and the direction we’re taking the music, it represents us as a trio and the gel that is High Fade.' – Oli

Variophon is Philophon's newly established sub-label. As the name suggests, Variophon is designed to release variations, or more commonly expressed, remixes of songs taken from the Philophon catalog. The beginning on Variophon makes the all around the world beloved Jimi Tenor by remixing himself.

Jimi has chosen one title each from his two albums released on Philohon. From his first, "Order of Nothingness", it is the gently dancing "Myteria" and from his recently released "Aulos" the driving "Vocalize My Luv" (featuring Florence Adooni and Lizzy Amaliyenga). He electrified both pieces in his own very personal, subtle way in order to achieve what he does best: make people happily dancing!


b B1: Vocalize My Luv (Electric Remix) feat. Florence Adooni & Lizzy Amaliyenga

Reissued for the first time on classic black vinyl, since its original release in 1980/81, this pivotal minialbum from The Saints was a turning point for Chris Bailey's latter incarnation of the band, after the departure of Ed Kuepper. An exceptional piece of rock 'n' roll ephemera with spikey horns, like Iggy on an upbeat take from 'Kill City', or Mink Deville fronting The Heartbreakers. This 1981 timeless slice of swaggering bravado is Chris Bailey's Saints at their finest, it is released by the late singer's estate. "I can only simply repeat, for the record, that, in my opinion, the Saints were Australia's greatest band, and that Chris Bailey was my favourite singer." Nick Cave

Japanese bamboo flute maestro and goat (JP) cohort Rai Tateishi makes an impressive debut statement with his holistic attempts to transcend the limits of ancient instruments to reveal gently delirious insights.

‘Presence’ is a triumph of improvised, elemental musicality that distills aspects of myriad folk traditions in pursuit of the artist’s own truth. For 40 minutes of singularly weird, locked-in performance, Rai Tateishi diverges his formative training in the shinobue (a bamboo flute) to applications for its elder sibling, the shakuhachi, and its distant relatives in the khene mouth organ of Northeastern Thailand and Laos, and even the Irish flute, with remarkable results returned from each.

Piece to piece, Tateishi adapts a spectra of unusual and extended instrumental experiments to articulate uniquely animist sound arrangements, with judicious use of a ring modulator and delay effects only subtly altering his sound in real-time, gelling the harmonics and smoothing off its contours. Some 15 years of studies and accreted knowledge of histories, timelines, and spirits are deftly tattered in the air and rebound in precisely complex ribbons that become all the more impressive by virtue of its in-the-moment recording.

Presented with no overdubs, the six works were recorded by label head and KAKUHAN/goat lynchpin Koshiro Hino across three days of adventurous improvisation capturing the breadth of Tateishi’s vision in a mix of succinct flights of fancy and one durational wonder where he really cuts loose. An opening piece of rapid percussive fingering and rasping sets the tone for increasingly intricate explorations of the shinobue, and bluesy cadence of a reedy Thai khene - antecedent of the shō - whipped into headier harmonic overtones, whilst his 5th piece for Irish flute best recalls Ka Baird or Michael O’Shea’s lysergic impishness, and a 13 minute closing piece most boldly fucks with folk and jazz traditions, in-depth and with the genre short-circuiting audacity of Rahsaan Roland Kirk.

Landing in the wake of prism-shaking works by Will Guthrie & Mark Fell, goat (jp) and Kakuhan; Tateishi’s ‘Presence’ more than lives up to NAKID’s impressive levels, unflinchingly operating by its wits with a verve and dare-to-differ moxie that gets at it from the first hit to the last, harnessing the kind of skill and ingenuity that’s distinctive but still strikingly minimal and overwhelmingly physical. It's a remarkable achievement.

Night Keeper is a collaborative album by New York City-based artist Aaron Landsman and former Swans guitarist Norman Westberg that is based on the former's eponymous play. Westberg recorded it together with performer Jehan O. Young for the Swiss Hallow Ground label, with Landsman serving as the record’s producer. The original piece was first performed in the Spring of 2023 at The Chocolate Factory Theater in Queens and filled the stark industrial space with spoken text, choreography, projections, and music in dim light and, occasionally, complete darkness. Westberg and Young afterwards brought it to the studio to record it as a two-part
album in whose course his textural sounds, based on loops and samples, set the stage for her soothing, sonorous vocal performance. »Night Keeper« is a performance inspired by sleeplessness and the wanderings of the human mind at night—about time and memory.
Westberg and Young elegantly capture its essence in these roughly 44 minutes with a somnambulic album, letting sound and meaning flow into each other. The initial spark for Night Keeper was a run of almost sleepless nights in different neighbourhoods of a city that is perpetually insomniac. Instead of trying to force himself to go back to sleep by any means necessary, Landsman started writing down his thoughts. As he explains in the liner notes—accompanying the music along with drawings made by audience members during the performances—he started listening to the particular way in which the voice in his head navigates time and language. Accordingly, the texts that Young reads on the record form a diverse collection of specific moments, imagining different speakers and evoking different
situations. Westberg complements, accentuates, and juxtaposes these with different means. Ominous drones, soaring melodies, rhythmic bass sounds: the guitarist, whose latest release for Hallow Ground was 2021’s First Man In The Moon with Polish double bassist Jacek Mazurkiewicz, conjures up distinct sound worlds in which Young can let Landsman’s scenes unfold to gripping effect.
Landsman makes it clear that »Night Keeper« was intended as an invitation to »stay up, look out the window, let what’s happening outside spark reveries or predictions« or even take it on a stroll through the neighbourhood—at night, of course. Much like the original piece, this album is then one dedicated to wandering around, both mentally and physically.

Elori Saxl's soundtrack for the VR film Texada is an exploration of the smallness of human existence within the grand scope of geologic time, mirroring the film's exploration of Texada Island's limestone-rich landscape. Saxl, inspired by her own experiences of island life on Madeline Island, assembled a soundscape that captures both the vastness of Earth's ancient processes and the intimate moments of human existence. Using analog synthesizers, baritone saxophone (performed by Henry Solomon), and processed field recordings of water and rocks, she created ambient layers that evoke cycles, waves, and the transformative forces of nature. The score begins with an exploration of Earth's origins and the emptiness of a rocky planet before life emerged. This foundation grows into pieces like "The Quarry," where the central geological feature, limestone, takes on a dynamic presence. As loops and rumbling textures evoke the rise and movement of stone over millennia, as abstracted creatures spiral upwards, full of life. The album concludes with "The Most Special Place," which serves as a final bridge between the cosmic and the intimate, leaving a lasting impression of how deeply human lives are intertwined with the ancient geology beneath our feet. Saxl's compositional process itself mirrors the themes of transformation and cycles. Working with limited time and resources, she recorded Solomon's saxophone parts early in the project, later repurposing fragments through re-pitching, stretching, and digital effects. As she explains, "I experimented with bringing out the human character of the saxophone by highlighting breath and imperfections while also pushing it into an alien/unrecognizable/bigger world through digital processing and effects." The result is a soundtrack that feels both organic and otherworldly, capturing the grand scope of Earth's timeline while remaining grounded in human emotion and connection.

Debut EP from Sweden's most exciting new band, the Stockholm four-piece Clutter. Following their critically acclaimed Jesus/Holy Brother 7" released in late 2024, the band returns with their much-anticipated debut EP, Loves You. Six tracks that channel the spirit of grunge and post-hardcore through distorted guitars and fuzzy vocals, blending the tones of '90s rock into their post-modern indie core. A band that comes close to chaos but just holds on, Clutter's electricity is built around their own crackling potential. For Fans of The Breeders, Horsegirl, Sweeping Promises, Dehd, bar italia.