228 page photobook, printed on high quality Japanese paper.
Paperback
Size: 257 x 182 x 7mm
Enclosed in a printed clear plastic bag
Soi48 proudly presents this book, a photographic document of the unique dance music clubs
and culture of Southeast Asia and East Asia. The photos, from the years 2017 through 2025,
were taken in nightclubs, discos, festivals, raves, sound system parties, private parties and
migrant worker clubs — the places where Asia’s unique dance music genres are born and
thrive. ADM, with its exclusive on-the-spot snapshots, provides an extraordinary visual
archive of Asian contemporary dance music. Journeying through Thailand, Vietnam, Laos,
Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Myanmar, Taiwan, Korea and Japan, Soi48 captures
glimpses of how people create their nights, visually comparing the differences between
countries in fashion, dance style, lighting, club interiors, flyers and more, showcasing the
distinctive entertainment culture that each country has created. The 167 photos also feature
the pioneering DJs and track makers who built unique music genres in each country, such
as Budots (Philippines), Vina House (Vietnam) and Saiyo (Thailand). Also of note: the book
provides a valuable record of nightlife during the COVID-19 pandemic; captures the energy
that migrant workers release in clubs on weekends; and in general showcases the ingenuity,
wit and passion of music lovers throughout the region.
Soi48:
A duo, comprising Tokyo natives Keiichi Utsuki and Shinsuke Takagi, that promotes the
magic of Asia and Asian music through DJ-ing, writing, design, and party activities. Their
interests range from traditional music to cutting-edge dance music, released on physical
media as well as on the internet. In addition to supervising the film Bangkok Nights (Kuzoku)
and the EM Records Thai music series, they introduce the joys of Asian music and travel
through talk events, TV, radio appearances, etc. Their books include TRIP TO ISAN: A
Traveling Thai Isan Music Disc Guide (DU BOOKS), OMK#001 (OMK), and ADM: Asia's own
unhinged club culture. As ever, they enthusiastically continue to research dance music and
sound system culture in Asian countries.
'Museum Of No Art is the pseudonym of the artist and musician Mona Steinwidder. The pieces on the album A Serpent Called Emit document a two-year engagement with the clarinet and other woodwind instruments. In the search for simplicity, one encounters complexity. But the Museum discovers connections between the poles and lets them circle around each other. Impurities have found their place in it and hard cuts are intended to underline the volatility of the moment, to highlight and admire imperfection.'
Gilla Band are happy to announce their brand new album ‘Pugnello’ released on the 25th September 2026 on Rough Trade Records. The album was recorded from 2022 - 2026 across three studios, Hellfire, Yellow Door Music Studio, & Sonic Studios in Dublin, the album was produced by Gilla Band & it was recorded and mixed by Daniel Fox.
Gilla Band never know where they’re going next. For over ten years now, the Dublin quartet (vocalist Dara Kiely, guitarist Alan Duggan Borges, bassist Daniel Fox, and drummer Adam Faulkner) have been redefining what you could loosely call “rock music” in the 21st century, influencing a wide swath of similarly forward-thinking guitar acts along the way. Across 2015’s Holding Hands With Jamie, 2019’s The Talkies, and 2022’s Most Normal, the band perfected a vision that wasn’t quite post-punk, wasn’t quite noise-rock, wasn’t quite anything besides an idiosyncratic, ground-breaking hybrid that could only come from the four of them.
In the four years since Most Normal, each member embarked on other artistic endeavors. Kiely fostered a newfound love of painting, Faulkner played drums for Lankum on the road, Fox became an increasingly in-demand producer guiding ascendant acts like Sprints, Lambrini Girls, and Mandy, Indiana, while Duggan Borges launched his solo project the Null Club with collaborations featuring Mandy, Indiana’s Valentine Caulfield, the Horrors’ Faris Badwan, Miss Grit, and Brooklyn MC Elucid. All their extracurricular activity existed in parallel with the exploratory route towards Pugnello, but also informed the band as they reconvened to crystallize the album’s vision.
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Gradient returns to Alt Dub with Random Layers, a deeply focused EP built around his exceptional control of minimal elements.
With a restrained palette of kick, bass, chords and texture, each track evolves with patience and precision, allowing subtle shifts and carefully placed layers to create a powerful sense of depth and space
Sound layers are introduced with such control that the music evolves naturally, revealing its depth over time. Nothing feels rushed and nothing is unnecessary.
Gradient’s productions have a rare ability to make minimalism feel rich and alive. Nothing is excessive; every sound has a purpose. The result is four timeless, immersive dub techno pieces that balance classic dub techno atmosphere with a distinct sense of detail and control.
The EP also features a timeless remix from Echospace Detroits CV313, One of the most respected figures in the deeper end of dub techno, he brings his unmistakable sense of space and depth to the release, making this a particularly fitting and exciting collaboration.
Elegant, restrained and deeply atmospheric, Random Layers is another strong statement from Gradient and a perfect fit for Alt Dub.
Mark Funk and Danny Cruz's Cruise Music label continues to offer-up the best of its digital-first EPs via the popular Vinyl Jams sampler series. There's a real sun-splashed, dancing-on-the-terrace feel to much of the music contained on this 14th volume in the series. Mark Funk steps up first with the loopy, filter-rich disco-house release of 'Never Never', which rises and falls in all the right places in search of hands-aloft action, before Makito drops the vibraphone solo-laden deep house-meets-garage-house flex of 'Heavy Vibes' (think Masters at Work collaborating with Roy Ayers and you're close), Over on side B, Danny Cruz serves up 'Sugar', a tooled-up, house-style re-edit of a joyous disco gem, while Filth & Smell's 'Panama Sweet Spot' is an electric piano and sax-loop-fired slab of thickset house funkiness.
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Violeta García & Hora Lunga return with 4ever, their second album and the follow-up to I’ll Wait For You In The Car Park. Released in 2025 on -ous, their debut received airplay on BBC and NTS and was selected for Bandcamp’s Best Experimental Music year-end list. 4ever picks up where that record left off: in ordinary moments, small scenes and the strange emotional weight of being somewhere between places. But here, these moments are stretched across a much larger, darker screen. A night flight, a terminal, a bad connection. When too many feelings are carried from one place to another, everyday situations begin to feel epic, empty, or apocalyptic.
Built from García’s cello and Hora Lunga’s synths, samples and field recordings, the album pushes further into emotion, letting fragile melodies, orchestral cello gestures, heavy low-end and compressed noise melt into something both dystopian and strangely familiar. Its warmth is not meant to be an escape from this world, but something that appears within it. Acoustically, the album lives through the closeness of the materials, the way sounds stay with each other, and in the feeling that even the most unstable moments are being carried together. The album presents itself in scenes that fade into each other: quiet melodic fragments that are interrupted and restarted, unpredictable changes of direction, held together by an inevitable melody, a bright synth harmony unfolding into an almost orchestral cello arrangement. Later, a broken organ-like sample turning in circles, cello melodies appearing as if they were trying to remember a song that never belonged to one voice alone. An endless loop that is placed under changing lights, briefly opening into emotional chords, then slipping back into emptiness.
It is this instability that Violeta García and Hora Lunga place at the center of their collaboration. They do not decorate the cello with production, or place electronics around an acoustic centre. They explain: “On 4ever, we become part of the same unstable surface. What holds the record together is not resolution, but the trust in staying together as things distort, overload, disappear and return.”
Violeta García, an Argentinian cellist known for her solo work and for her role in the punk band Blanco Teta, brings the instrument close to the body, as melody, pressure, texture, noise and sudden emotional weight. García has brought her distinct musical voice to KEXP, Rewire, Le Guess Who?, Bad Bonn Kilbi, Silent Green, TransMusicales, Roskilde and more.
Hora Lunga, a Zurich-based producer and composer working across unstable song forms, treats electronics less as a frame than as a weather system: something that can hold a scene together, distort it or make it disappear. In recent years, his compositions have ranged from experimental song forms, sound performances, ensemble compositions and film music. His ensemble WIRREN consists of up to fifteen performers.
The Garden, a magical place where lost dreams don't fade, but grow like silent flowers. Each petal holds an unfulfilled wish, each scent a memory left behind. In this garden, those who enter rediscover parts of themselves they thought lost and understand that nothing should be forgotten if it has touched their heart. The garden is the image that recurs most frequently throughout the album. We chose it as a metaphor for "refuge," a place where we can choose to nurture our natural inclinations, let them grow and blossom, but where we can also keep our shadows and our lights hidden. Where our secrets, our most authentic truths, our aspirations and our dreams, can therefore remain guarded until we are ready to reveal them to those who can contain and appreciate them.
Magenta Coloured Vinyl, limited to 400 copies. The Garden, a magical place where lost dreams don't fade, but grow like silent flowers. Each petal holds an unfulfilled wish, each scent a memory left behind. In this garden, those who enter rediscover parts of themselves they thought lost and understand that nothing should be forgotten if it has touched their heart. The garden is the image that recurs most frequently throughout the album. We chose it as a metaphor for "refuge," a place where we can choose to nurture our natural inclinations, let them grow and blossom, but where we can also keep our shadows and our lights hidden. Where our secrets, our most authentic truths, our aspirations and our dreams, can therefore remain guarded until we are ready to reveal them to those who can contain and appreciate them.
The works of Kansanturvamusiikkikomissio, the predecessor of Radiopuhelimet, reissued on vinyl in September Kansanturvamusiikkikomissio—better known as KTMK—was a hardcore punk band from Oulu, founded in the fall of 1983 by guitarist Jarno Mällinen, drummer Jyrki Raatikainen, bassist Pekka Salonsaari, and vocalist Antti Penttilä. The band managed to only play a handful of shows before their first five songs were released in the fall of 1984 on the praised Finnish Hardcore compilation Yalta Hi-Life, released by Barabbas Records. In the spring of 1985, KTMK released their now-classic album 666, which led to a breakthrough in the Finnish hardcore punk scene, even though the band didn’t really feel they belonged there. The album was the band’s first and ultimately their last, full-length record. Svart is now bringing this Finnish hardcore classic back to the turntables on a limited edition of 666 copies, completed with a insert. The band’s final concert took place at Mimmiteekki in Muhos, Finland on March 1st, 1986. Just a few weeks later, Mällinen, Raatikainen, and Kangas formed Radiopuhelimet, who have also played some concerts consisting entirely of KTMK songs during their career. One of these shows took place on February 18th, 2006, at the Vastavirta club in Tampere, Finland and was later released on DVD that same year under the title Radiopuhelimet Plays Kansanturvamusiikkikomissio.
The works of Kansanturvamusiikkikomissio, the predecessor of Radiopuhelimet, reissued on vinyl in September Kansanturvamusiikkikomissio—better known as KTMK—was a hardcore punk band from Oulu, founded in the fall of 1983 by guitarist Jarno Mällinen, drummer Jyrki Raatikainen, bassist Pekka Salonsaari, and vocalist Antti Penttilä. The band managed to only play a handful of shows before their first five songs were released in the fall of 1984 on the praised Finnish Hardcore compilation Yalta Hi-Life, released by Barabbas Records. After the 1985 debut album 666, internal conflicts within the band began to drive Kansanturvamusiikkikomissio into a dead end, which was resolved by bringing in Jukka Kangas as the second guitarist. Spurred by this renewed enthusiasm, KTMK recorded a six-song EP titled Seitsemäs pasuuna in early 1986 for Dekadenz’s Fuck label, featuring the underground hits Jeesus oli venäläinen kantoraketti and Boogie-mies. Now reissued for the first time ever, the EP includes five KTMK tracks originally released on the Yalta Hi-Life compilation as bonus material. The band’s final concert took place at Mimmiteekki in Muhos, Finland on March 1st, 1986. Just a few weeks later, Mällinen, Raatikainen, and Kangas formed Radiopuhelimet, who have also played some concerts consisting entirely of KTMK songs during their career. One of these shows took place on February 18th, 2006, at the Vastavirta club in Tampere, Finland and was later released on DVD that same year under the title Radiopuhelimet Plays Kansanturvamusiikkikomissio.
Two-time BRIT Award winner Becky Hill will release her eagerly anticipated third album ‘REBECCA’ on September 25th.
‘REBECCA’ was written during a period of intense personal and artistic reflection and sees Becky exploring ambition, identity, visibility and the contradictions of her life from a place of greater openness and creative freedom. Across the record, she examines the tension between desire and self-preservation with clarity, humour and brutal honesty, resulting in her boldest, emotionally charged body of work to date.
Described by Becky as “curated chaos”, ‘REBECCA’ also marks a significant evolution in her sound. It sees her reconnecting with the wider influences that shaped her early musical identity, pulling inspiration from guitar music alongside the dance and drum & bass foundations that have defined her career. ‘REBECCA’ blends that collision of worlds with heavy electro production, alternative influences and euphoric electronics into an album that feels both expansive and unpredictable.
Two-time BRIT Award winner Becky Hill will release her eagerly anticipated third album ‘REBECCA’ on September 25th.
‘REBECCA’ was written during a period of intense personal and artistic reflection and sees Becky exploring ambition, identity, visibility and the contradictions of her life from a place of greater openness and creative freedom. Across the record, she examines the tension between desire and self-preservation with clarity, humour and brutal honesty, resulting in her boldest, emotionally charged body of work to date.
Described by Becky as “curated chaos”, ‘REBECCA’ also marks a significant evolution in her sound. It sees her reconnecting with the wider influences that shaped her early musical identity, pulling inspiration from guitar music alongside the dance and drum & bass foundations that have defined her career. ‘REBECCA’ blends that collision of worlds with heavy electro production, alternative influences and euphoric electronics into an album that feels both expansive and unpredictable.
Founded in Germany in 2019, CONSVMER. have spent the last few years carving out a space that’s entirely their own: progressive metal, beatdown, and metalcore delivered entirely in German, with an unflinching focus on subjects most people would rather look past. Their 2024 record Seelenfrieden turned heads inside and outside the German metal scene, with coverage from outlets including Nik Nocturnal and a collaboration with Paleface Swiss that confirmed the band were operating at a level far beyond their years. Live, they have earned their place on stages at Summer Breeze, Core Fest and Bembel X Core Festival. Now, with new vocalist Jacques Gronert and a vision sharpened to a point, CONSVMER. return with Abgrund.
Where Seelenfrieden refined the template, Abgrund dismantles it. Across eleven tracks the band push further into territory that feels genuinely unique and uncompromising: the title track opens the record on collective collapse and a society steering towards the edge with no intention of stopping, while songs like "Gier" tear into systemic greed and exploitation with brutal clarity, "Willenlos" descends into dissociation and the erasure of identity, and "Sucht" confronts addiction and self-destruction with a rawness that is hard to shake. Closer "Gottverlassen" leaves the listener exactly where the title suggests. The collaboration with brutal deathcore veterans Acranius on "Sucht" hits like a freight train, their English-language verses locking into CONSVMER.'s German delivery to devastating effect. Fellow German hardcore outfit DOGBITE also appear, adding another dimension to a record that never loses focus.
“Man has such a predilection for systems and abstract deductions that he is ready to distort the truth intentionally, he is ready to deny the evidence of his senses only to justify his logic”
Fyodor Dostoevsky - Notes from Underground (1864)
The Intermittent Signal is the sound of resistance.
In the year since The Sick Man Of Europe’s debut album was released, the world has moved on. Steady hands have slipped from the levers of power, logic has shifted underground and the message grows more urgent with every passing day.
Repetition has been relearned and the machine rhythms repurposed, this time with increased intensity. Arrangements have moved beyond the bare bones economy of the first record and there’s a newfound melodicism in places. Clarity and conviction ring true through the static and noise, while utopian ideas to remodel a broken system gain traction. This is a rejection of the attention economy and a call to reconnect through community and organisation. Those simple acts that were once commonplace have become increasingly radical as new fractures emerge.
“Through repetition the message has gained weight and become something more urgent,” The Sick Man Of Europe explains. “The vehicle for this message needed to evolve, grow to gain the strength to carry it. We’ve landed on something more expansive, immediate and immersive. Less is more. Until it isn't.”
“Man has such a predilection for systems and abstract deductions that he is ready to distort the truth intentionally, he is ready to deny the evidence of his senses only to justify his logic”
Fyodor Dostoevsky - Notes from Underground (1864)
The Intermittent Signal is the sound of resistance.
In the year since The Sick Man Of Europe’s debut album was released, the world has moved on. Steady hands have slipped from the levers of power, logic has shifted underground and the message grows more urgent with every passing day.
Repetition has been relearned and the machine rhythms repurposed, this time with increased intensity. Arrangements have moved beyond the bare bones economy of the first record and there’s a newfound melodicism in places. Clarity and conviction ring true through the static and noise, while utopian ideas to remodel a broken system gain traction. This is a rejection of the attention economy and a call to reconnect through community and organisation. Those simple acts that were once commonplace have become increasingly radical as new fractures emerge.
“Through repetition the message has gained weight and become something more urgent,” The Sick Man Of Europe explains. “The vehicle for this message needed to evolve, grow to gain the strength to carry it. We’ve landed on something more expansive, immediate and immersive. Less is more. Until it isn't.”
Gilla Band are happy to announce their brand new album ‘Pugnello’ released on the 25th September 2026 on Rough Trade Records. The album was recorded from 2022 - 2026 across three studios, Hellfire, Yellow Door Music Studio, & Sonic Studios in Dublin, the album was produced by Gilla Band & it was recorded and mixed by Daniel Fox.
Gilla Band never know where they’re going next. For over ten years now, the Dublin quartet (vocalist Dara Kiely, guitarist Alan Duggan Borges, bassist Daniel Fox, and drummer Adam Faulkner) have been redefining what you could loosely call “rock music” in the 21st century, influencing a wide swath of similarly forward-thinking guitar acts along the way. Across 2015’s Holding Hands With Jamie, 2019’s The Talkies, and 2022’s Most Normal, the band perfected a vision that wasn’t quite post-punk, wasn’t quite noise-rock, wasn’t quite anything besides an idiosyncratic, ground-breaking hybrid that could only come from the four of them.
In the four years since Most Normal, each member embarked on other artistic endeavors. Kiely fostered a newfound love of painting, Faulkner played drums for Lankum on the road, Fox became an increasingly in-demand producer guiding ascendant acts like Sprints, Lambrini Girls, and Mandy, Indiana, while Duggan Borges launched his solo project the Null Club with collaborations featuring Mandy, Indiana’s Valentine Caulfield, the Horrors’ Faris Badwan, Miss Grit, and Brooklyn MC Elucid. All their extracurricular activity existed in parallel with the exploratory route towards Pugnello, but also informed the band as they reconvened to crystallize the album’s vision.
Gilla Band are happy to announce their brand new album ‘Pugnello’ released on the 25th September 2026 on Rough Trade Records. The album was recorded from 2022 - 2026 across three studios, Hellfire, Yellow Door Music Studio, & Sonic Studios in Dublin, the album was produced by Gilla Band & it was recorded and mixed by Daniel Fox.
Gilla Band never know where they’re going next. For over ten years now, the Dublin quartet (vocalist Dara Kiely, guitarist Alan Duggan Borges, bassist Daniel Fox, and drummer Adam Faulkner) have been redefining what you could loosely call “rock music” in the 21st century, influencing a wide swath of similarly forward-thinking guitar acts along the way. Across 2015’s Holding Hands With Jamie, 2019’s The Talkies, and 2022’s Most Normal, the band perfected a vision that wasn’t quite post-punk, wasn’t quite noise-rock, wasn’t quite anything besides an idiosyncratic, ground-breaking hybrid that could only come from the four of them.
In the four years since Most Normal, each member embarked on other artistic endeavors. Kiely fostered a newfound love of painting, Faulkner played drums for Lankum on the road, Fox became an increasingly in-demand producer guiding ascendant acts like Sprints, Lambrini Girls, and Mandy, Indiana, while Duggan Borges launched his solo project the Null Club with collaborations featuring Mandy, Indiana’s Valentine Caulfield, the Horrors’ Faris Badwan, Miss Grit, and Brooklyn MC Elucid. All their extracurricular activity existed in parallel with the exploratory route towards Pugnello, but also informed the band as they reconvened to crystallize the album’s vision.
Following the much-loved Library Music: Volume One (2022), and hot on the heels of this year’s critically acclaimed ‘After The Rain, Strange Seeds’ (9/10 - Uncut) , London group The Leaf Library return with a second journey through the margins of their catalogue. Gathering together rare recordings, compilation tracks, limited edition releases, collaborations and hidden gems from their ever-expanding musical world, Library Music: Volume Two is another vibrant and varied collection of electronic indie pop, in all its guises.
Far from a conventional odds and ends collection, the double LP compilation reveals another side of a band who have always treated the spaces between albums as places to explore. These are the moments where ideas stretch out; there are hypnotic drones, motorik rhythms, glowing analogue textures, pastoral electronics and the warm, melodic melancholy that has become unmistakably The Leaf Library. There is the electro-pop of Flowers At The Border, the psych rock-adjacent Building Better Worlds, and the gentle chamber shuffle of Kendrick Road. Tracks range from the 22 minute folk kosmiche epic Versatile Clouds to the 59 seconds, record skip punctuation mark of Harmonic Runout, with a whole array of trips, ideas and experiments in between.
Since forming in a pre-Ghost Box, Castles in Space and Clay Pipe world, The Leaf Library have carved out a unique place somewhere between dream pop, kosmische repetition and experimental songcraft — drawing comparisons to Stereolab, Broadcast, Yo La Tengo and the outer edges of library music, while creating a sound entirely their own.
“We’ve always loved making things outside the pressure of a ‘proper’ album,” says singer/guitarist Matt Ashton. “Singles, collaborations and compilation tracks give you permission to follow an idea wherever it wants to go. Looking back, those pieces tell their own story.”
Where their studio albums have shown the group carefully building immersive worlds, the Library Music series maps the pathways between them — the sketches, diversions and unexpected discoveries that often reveal the most about a band.
Across a lucky thirteen tracks, Library Music: volume two is a reminder that some of the best discoveries are found on the shelves you forgot to check.
[a] Flowers At The Border [4.21]
[b] The Long Dead King [7.16]
[c] Bowed Clusters [4.00]
[d] I Learned To Swim Under Water [4.32]
[e] Building Better Worlds [11.59]
[f] Harmonic Runout [0.59]
[g] Kendrick Road [3.36]
[h] Sailing Day (Wintergreen Remix) [3.59]
[i] Versatile Clouds [22.00]
[j] Bells and Thread [2.54]
[k] No Memories, No Plans [4.33]
[l] Everyone I Met Today [1.00]
[m] Tired Ghost In Orbit [9.19]
Jim Legxacy's mixtape homeless n*gga pop music arrives on LP & CD for the first time via XL Recordings. The 3x BRIT Award nominated and MOBO Award winning artist broke through with the 2023 project to critical acclaim, with the South-Londoner grappling with his relationships, identity, and homelessness. The mixtape is an impressive collision of midwest emo guitar samples, UK drill, afrobeats, and Jersey club, not only reshaping what UK music can sound like, but what it can stand for — a bold, fully-formed record that could only have come from one mind.
For acclaimed folk artist Martin Simpson, this release reflects not just a remarkable 50-year recording career, but over six decades shaped by song, tradition, and continual artistic growth. Yet this is not a retrospective, it's a forward-looking work, carrying the depth, skill, and passion of a lifetime into the present. Marking 50 years since his debut album Golden Vanity, Simpson describes Some Kind of Jubilee as "my best work to date." To realise this landmark project, he brings together an exceptional group of collaborators drawn from across his long and distinguished career. Among them are renowned pedal steel guitarist Greg Leisz, guitarist Zac Hobbs, cellist Liz Hanks, guitarist Louis Campbell, and double bassist Ben Nicholls. Together, they create a rich and textured soundscape that honours tradition while embracing fresh perspectives. Recorded at Groovemaster Studio in Santa Monica and completed in Yorkshire, the album blends newly written songs with reimagined traditional material and inspired reinterpretations from Simpson's own catalogue. The result is a deeply rooted yet vibrant collection that reflects both heritage and innovation. As Greg Leisz puts it, "This music has some profoundly deep roots - so dig in." With Some Kind of Jubilee, Martin Simpson honours his past while continuing to shape the future of folk music, reaffirming his place as one of the genre's most respected and enduring voices.
Nach der Breakout-EP „Discount Fireworks“ haben Roman Candle ihren Sound konsequent weiterentwickelt. Die jüngsten Singles zeigen eine Band, die emotionale Direktheit mit kontrolliertem Chaos verbindet; „Can We Watch Something Happy?“ basiert auf persönlichen Erfahrungen von Piper und unterstreicht den ungefilterten erzählerischen Ansatz der Band.
As always at U JAZZ ME Records we have limited edition (100 numbered copies) of 180g black vinyl with insert.
Astrocyrk (Astrocircus) is the next chapter in a story that began in 2123, when Captain Harrison Focus, after an emergency landing, finds himself on the mysterious planet Carmin. Following the events described in the previous album, the main character – Triceradiplodocus – leaves the planet's surface, following Ropuch’s instructions. However, the light on the horizon turns out to be the beginning of a new nightmare, and the dinosaur is trapped in the Astrocyrk. Under Klown’s guidance, he begins exploring this dark place. Only the finale reveals the true history of the Astrocyrk and
surprisingly intertwines Triceradiplodocus's fate with events from years past and the character of Captain Harrison Focus.
Musically, the album develops Twoosty Mayonez's distinctive style – one that focuses on improvisation and cinematic storytelling. Each composition represents a new chapter in the story, creating a cohesive musical journey through the world of Astrocyrk. Subsequent tracks lead the listener through the ship's dark attractions.
The new album is a natural continuation of the story from planet Carmin, while also opening a completely new chapter in the Twoosty Mayonnaise universe – one that is bigger, darker, and even more unpredictable.
The album features guest appearances by Szymon Białorucki (oud), Marek Konarski (sax), and Bartłomiej “Eskaubei” Skubisz (rap). The recordings were made at the Twoosty Room studio in Warsaw by the band's drummer.
"Echtes Nu-Metal-Erbe auf Vinyl: eigenständige 1LP auf klassischem 140g Black Vinyl – das wegweisende 2010er Album, mit dem Korn zu ihren rohen Wurzeln zurückkehrten.
Legendäre Kollaboration mit Ross Robinson: Produziert vom Ur-Mastermind des Nu-Metal (u.a. Korn-Debüt, Life Is Peachy), eingefangen in schmutziger, ungeschönter Vintage-Produktionsweise ohne Pro-Tools-Politur.
Sammlerfreundliche Ausstattung: Hochwertiges Single-Pocket-Jacket mit 4/4-farbig bedruckter Innenhülle, Inlay-Design und exklusivem Marketing-Sticker direkt auf der Folie."
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Die britische Singer-Songwriterin und Musikerin Martina Topley-Bird wurde durch ihre Zusammenarbeit mit
den Trip-Hop-Pionieren Tricky und Massive Attack in der Musikbranche bekannt. Besonders hervorzuheben
ist ihr gefühlvoller Gesang auf dem Track ”Teardrop” von Massive Attack aus deren Album ”Mezzanine”,
der zu seiner atmosphärischen Wirkung beiträgt. Auch auf Trickys Debütalbum ”Maxinquaye” (1995)
hat ihre eindringliche Stimme den unverwechselbaren Sound geprägt. Als sie 2003 zu einer Solokarriere
überging, erntete sie mit ihrem für den Mercury Award nominierten Debütalbum ”Quixotic”, das bei Independiente Records erschien, großen Beifall der Kritiker. 2004 erweiterte Topley-Bird ihre Zusammenarbeit
und lieh ihre Stimme den Gorillaz-Tracks ”All Alone” und ”Kids with Guns” von deren Debütalbum ”Demon
Days”. Seitdem hat sie weitere Alben veröffentlicht, darunter ”Anything” (2004), ”The Blue God” (2008)
und ”Some Place Simple” (2010).
Martina Topley-Birds von der Kritik hochgelobtes und für den Mercury Award nominiertes Debütalbum
”Quixotic” wird zum ersten Mal auf Vinyl veröffentlicht. Diese erweiterte Ausgabe enthält das Originalalbum sowie drei B-Seiten und einen unveröffentlichten alternativen Mix der ersten Single ”Sandpaper
Kisses”. Sie wird auf Doppel-Vinyl gepresst und in einem Gatefold-Sleeve verpackt sein.
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Marcal has emerged as one of the most distinctive voices of a new generation of techno producers, combining rhythmic precision with an instinct for detail, tension and movement. On Four Small Escapes, he delivers four tracks built around subtle shifts and carefully placed moments of surprise, where intricate sound design and groove remain in constant dialogue. Opening with Smoke from Respawn, Marcal immediately establishes the record's character. Syncopated rhythms, intricate percussion work and subtle sound design details unfold within a streamlined framework, creating a groove that feels both spacious and forward-moving. Wooden rimshots and glassy textures interact across an open arrangement, giving the track a fluid and trippy quality. Arapuca shifts into darker territory while maintaining the same sense of control. Organic percussion, rolling low-end momentum and sharply placed accents continuously reshape the groove, creating a track that feels alive through movement rather than dramatic intervention. On Ultimamente, Marcal introduces one of the record's most immersive moments. Fleeting sonic details appear and disappear throughout the arrangement, while a carefully integrated vocal element adds depth and emotional weight without disrupting the flow. The result is a track that invites complete immersion while remaining firmly focused on the dancefloor. Closing the EP, The Surprise Test delivers its most direct statement. Rough and driving without leaning into industrial aesthetics, the track is powered by rolling energy, syncopated claps and a series of subtle electronic details that continuously animate its surface. The contrast between rawness and precision gives the record a powerful closing moment. Across all four tracks, Four Small Escapes highlights Marcal's ability to create tension through detail rather than excess. Reduced yet expressive, the EP balances functionality with a strong sense of character, allowing small gestures and unexpected shifts to leave a lasting impact.
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Curses' dark, romantic take on electronic music is often linked to EBM, new beat, synth-pop, and the offshoots in between - but, as the artist states, it's feelings, not genres, that motivate his music. Especially the underground and its niche sounds, brimming with collective energy, drive and passion, make for a major impetus. It's no coincidence that he's drawn to the era when man turned to the machine, as a collaborative force, and a new kind of liveliness, timelessness, emerged. In Curses' practice, this synergy translates into an enticing mix of synthesisers and voices, electronic drums and guitars. Nostalgia operates as an influence rather than a motive, though: despite its affinities with the past, his music is stridently contemporary and idiosyncratic. On the "Perfect High" EP, this approach is rendered in a resolutely dancefloor-oriented selection. It's rich in detail and constantly evolving; each time a new element appears, it's treated with such delight and care that you could imagine the track to flit off and turn it into the main theme. This doesn't happen, however, as the sense of cohesion and momentum is paramount: there's a relentless forward drive that keeps engagement tight from start to finish. The detuned, chorus-heavy leads of title track "Perfect High" and the clockwork-tinged percussion of "Weapon Of Time" jell with lustrous hooks. The ominous choirs on "Dare To Dream" and the proto rolling-and-scratching squelches of "Killer Instinct" similarly fall into place. Bravado never stands in the way of flow. Everything is kept in check by gated R-50 rhythms, and in the vocal department, Curses finds the sweet spot between his own voice and a slew of off-kilter samples. On closer "Blasted" NYC royalty Andi joins for a slab of synth-driven groove. It's shiny and sensuous, like patent leather - a perfect distillation of club music channeled through pop aesthetics, and thus a right coda for ALT028.
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Deas joins the CROWD family with 'Silent Tension', a refined EP that channels the Polish producer's signature blend of hypnotic groove and hardware driven production. Known for his precise studio craftsmanship and deeply intuitive approach to groovy techno, Deas has steadily built a reputation as one of the standout figures of the contemporary Polish scene. Through years of releases and international touring, he has developed a sound that feels both timeless and unmistakably personal, as proven on the label's 12th record. Opening track 'I Won't Cry' immediately sets the tone with classy vocal sampling from Loleatta Holloway, warm chord progressions and rolling swung percussion anchored by Deas' characteristically rich bass. Following up, 'Waterfall' introduces bleepy modular sequences and chopped vocal fragments, with a sweeping drone synth cutting through the mix above the track's rolling bass. On the flip side, 'Silent Tension' continues deeper into minimal territory, combining crisp clap fills, subtle vocal chops and delayed chord repetitions into a slow burning groove. The vinyl's closing cut 'Where Do They Go' brings dense low end weight and fast dubby chord stabs, accompanied by sharply placed vocal cuts, creating a track that balances restraint and impact. The digital addition 'Here Again' is a classic Deas production, characterised by repetitive synth stabs that gradually transform the cut into a hypnotic hook, while stripped back percussion and a powerful kick give the track a commanding presence. Throughout CROWD012, Deas remains firmly focused on groove and subtlety, while retaining a strong impact. The tracks unfold patiently, with a focus on tension, repetition and gradual escalation, maintaining the hypnotic functionality that has become both Deas' trademark and a defining characteristic of the sound of the label founded by FJAAK and Ellie Acula. The 'Silent Tension' EP stands as a sophisticated and deeply effective club record that further cements Deas as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary techno.
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Japanese acid pop outfit Cho Co Pa Co Cho Co Quin Quin channel the globe-trotting spirit of Haruomi Hosono’s 1970s tropical boogie on their debut album, Tradition.
Named after one of the basic rhythms of Cuban folk music and drawing on influences from across the globe, Cho Co Pa Co Cho Co Quin Quin are quite simply a world unto itself.
Comprised of three childhood friends, Daido, Yuta and So, who reconnected during the coronavirus pandemic, Cho Co Pa initially emerged as a playful way for the three 23-year-olds to pass the time. Tapping into their youthful connection, they created a sound that exudes confidence and curiosity, a homage to the masterful world of YMO’s and Happy End’s Haruomi Hosono, rooted in the trio’s own idiosyncratic experience of the present.
Recorded at home and promoted on hugely popular DIY TikTok videos, their debut album Tradition is a technicolour exercise in armchair travelling – a kind of lockdown exotica for the housebound whose nostalgic flights of fancy are laced with a sense of whimsical melancholy for the lost freedoms of youth.
Referencing everything from Afro-Cuban percussion to lo-fi beats, Buddhist spirituality to trap, each member of the band brings different musical inspirations to the table. Latin American and Middle Eastern styles sit adjacent to a fascination for the electronic music of Aphex Twin, Dorian Concept, Underworld and Daft Punk. At times, the music verges on acid pop bliss, at others, it grooves with the instrumental funk sensibility of BADBADNOTGOOD.
“In the first place, when I create a song, my goal is to transport the listener to a mysterious place,” vocalist Daido explained in a recent magazine interview. Using lyrics as another sonic texture in the composition of ideas, Cho Co Pa paint beguiling sonic postcards of far-flung moods across 12 highly original tracks.
Marrying the organic and the electronic on rhythmically sophisticated compositions like ‘Chichibu’ and ‘Watatsumi’, it is on the album’s standout track ‘Gandhara’ that the experimental sound of Cho Co Pa comes to the fore. Referencing the ancient city of Gandhara through which Buddhism made its way from India to China, the track is a vocoder-trap-inspired, Udu drum-driven pop jam that lilts with unmistakable Balearic flair. If that’s difficult to imagine, then know simply that ‘Gandhara’ sounds like nothing else on this side of Saturn. Even Daido seemed surprised by the outcome: “I feel like we were able to create something that exceeded our abilities. That was huge!”
Hugely popular in Japan, with festival appearances lined up alongside BADBADNOTGOOD at Asagiri Jam in October, it's safe to say the success of Tradition has taken Cho Co Pa by surprise. You won’t have heard anything like it."
In the ever-evolving landscape of the underground music scene, few bands have made an impact quite like Selofan, an immensely talented duo of Joanna Pavlidou and Dimitris Pavlidis, has carved a niche for themselves within the international pantheon of darkwave, post-punk, and '80s synthpop, blending these influences to create a sound uniquely their own. Their journey, marked by a commitment to artistic integrity and evolution, has taken them from the cozy confines of local venues to the grand stages of international festivals, earning them a dedicated following and critical acclaim along the way. Their sixth album, Partners in Hell, released in October 2020, navigated the band through unprecedented times, testing their adaptability and resilience. Despite the hurdles to performing live and the global pandemic's challenges, Selofan emerged stronger, embarking on international tours with a newfound appreciation and connection with their global audience, during this period of introspection and isolation, Joanna Pavlidou embarked on a new venture, GIOVANNA, released under Selofan’s house label, Fabrika Records. GIOVANNA, which places Pavlidou at the helm of vocal and lyrical composition, represents a full on foray into synth-pop. showcasing a different facet of her artistic identity, with lyrics entirely in Greek. In 2023, Selofan hit the circuit hard, lighting up revered festivals with their presence. They stood shoulder to shoulder with heavy hitters like Molchat Doma and Lebanon Hanover at Grey Scale and performed with with the likes of The Sisters of Mercy, VNV Nation, and She Past Away at the Death Disco fest in their hometown of Athens. With each album they have released Selofan made significant strides in their evolution, deepening their engagement with their art. And their forthcoming seventh full length studio release, Animal Mentality, is poised to be their most compelling work yet. Animal Mentality unfolds as a labyrinthine journey through the elemental aspects of human emotion and experience, set against the backdrop of Selofan's signature darkwave sound. Each track on the album delves into different facets of the human condition, from the depths of desire to the pangs of isolation, encapsulating the duo's profound understanding of the intricate spectrum of human emotion and subjective experiences. The album kicks off with "Sticky Fingers," a track that melds cinematic scope with a haunting storyline, reminiscent of Jean-Michel Jarre's icy synths and a lyrical nod to Joy Division. This opening salvo revisits the tragic allure of classic car accident songs, weaving a tale of joy turned to sorrow amidst the snowy Alps. "Love's Secret Game" delves into the depths of forbidden desire, with vocals that echo the melancholy timbre of Xmal Deutschland, Lebanon Hanover, and Nico. It's a tale of passion and ephemeral connection, promising an enduring presence despite the inevitable fracture of time and distance. In "Lucille," sung by Dimitris Pavlidis, the plot is ensnared in the machinations of a tempestuous affair, with gothic undertones evoking the dramatic soundscapes of Ultravox and Clan of Xymox. The lyrics are steeped in danger and desire - a dance with the shadows. "Sacrifice Me" plunges into the abyss of despair, driven by a Bauhaus-esque bassline. It's a plea for release from the chains of alienation, a yearning for a final gesture of solace in the face of overwhelming darkness. "Bluebirds" offers a poignant reflection on solitude, with the fleeting imagery of bluebirds symbolizing the elusive quest for happiness. The song serves as a meditation on the internal struggle to maintain hope in a world shaded by sorrow. The narrative shifts with "Glassplitter," where German lyrics paint a portrait of deceptive allure and toxic entanglement. We are confronted with irresistible danger, masked by a veneer of beauty. "Ignoranz" continues the exploration in German, pondering the universality of misunderstanding. It's a reflection on the subjective nature of truth and the shared human experience of ignorance. "Behind My Eyelids" closes the odyssey, a contemplation on melancholy and metamorphosis. The phoenix rises from the ashes of betrayal to the brighter realm of renewal - a beautiful homage to the resilience of the human spirit amidst the often harrowing cycles of life. More than just an album, Animal Mentality is a milestone in Selofan's career, marking a decade of musical innovation and growth. It's a testament to their enduring spirit and a bold step into new realms of artistic expression. As Selofan continues to evolve, they remain at the forefront of their genre, pushing boundaries and exploring the depths of the human psyche through their haunting melodies and poignant lyrics.
Jazz, Soul, Highlife and spoken reflection co-exist without apology on 13 new songs co-produced with Benjamin James and featuring his group The Cavemen as well as saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin. For the Grammy-nominated vocalist/songwriter Somi, each new album is an act of place-making. The catalogue of the Rwandan/Ugandan-American artist reads like a map of migration and memory, with records rooted in Lagos, in Harlem, and in the spirit and political inheritance of Miriam Makeba. 'What Does It Take To Bloom? Is her ninth album overall and her first collection of original songs in six years. Musically, it also represents a new chapter in collaboration. During sessions in Lagos, Somi connected with Benjamin James, whose partnership would become pivotal. As one-half of the Nigerian duo The Cavemen., James brings a contemporary approach to heritage-centred sound. The collaboration proved so seamless that Somi invited him to co-produce the full album, with moods and rhythms ranging from upbeat Highlife-Soul-Fusion ('Aiwah'), via jazzy statements ('Throw Something'), to soulful reflection ('What Does It Take To Bloom?').
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Following earlier appearances on Time Horizon IV and a remix for Pushlock's "Journey at the end of the Brain", Low End Activist returns to further cement his link with XCPT — this time with a full-length that extends into a shared message.
It’s a record that deals in pressure and placement where the rhythms carry weight without dominating, allowing tones to dissolve at the edges. Space isn’t decorative here, it’s structural — carrying as much intent as the low-end itself.
A respectful and meticulous approach emerges in the spectral handling of samples — spooked, finely cut, and quietly rooted in a jazz-derived sphere.
The album stays locked into its own logic of reduction, control, and tension. What emerges is a fluid listening experience less about peaks, more about persistence, 8 Tracks spanning the various palette of bass music through the art of good sampling; both for the floor but also for intimate momentum of introspection. A Journey into the sound merging the new with the old school.
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A major independent figure on the global electronic music scene, Petit Biscuit returns with Movement, a new album featuring a striking rework of “Everything In Its Right Place,” the acclaimed track “Let You Know” with Sonia Ammar, and the new single “Midnight Sky Pt II,” a tribute to his fans that reconnects with Petit Biscuit’s signature sound, both powerful and emotional.
The album will be showcased on the biggest stages of French festivals this summer.
LMajor makes his Over/Shadow debut with Deep Deadly Dub, delivering four heavyweight cuts rooted in classic jungle, breakbeat and drum & bass.
From the deep, rolling title track and the rave-ready Bun Down The Place to Screamer with Gilsun and the soulful Be My Light featuring Amy Kisnorbo, this is a versatile release with plenty of dancefloor pressure.
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Portugal's Dextro returns for second EP of stylish deep techno on Mutual Rytm with ‘Planets And Stars’. Dextro’s tunes have long been a staple of Mutual Rytm label head SHDW's sets, with the esteemed veteran previously landing on the label with his ‘Covil Dos Abutres’ EP last year. His return with ‘Planets And Stars’ features a selection of his most requested IDs from recent times, with the Portuguese DJ/producers featuring as a longstanding favourite within the European underground since the 90s through his stripped-back, economical sound that is rooted in masterful design and intuitive grooves. He is a true studio craftsman, whether going deep or more destructive, and that range is on show here as he makes a splash for his sophomore outing. SHDW notes, “‘Planets And Stars’ feels like his most refined and focused work to date. It also further strengthens our relationship, rooted in a shared vision and values around music and how it should be presented.” The EP kicks off with the heavyweight ‘1000 Places’, a track that will rattle walls as eerie synth whispers and sonar blips snake through the mix. ‘Industria Acéfala’ is just as hypnotic with a deep blend of rolling bass and rooted kicks, while unsettling tension comes in the one-note synth loops and scratchy texture. ‘Planets and Stars’ provides an intergalactic trip with cosmic dust, conscious spoken words and an infinite horizon that has you gazing off into the distance. The all-consuming ‘Perpendicular’ is shadowy with impish motifs darting about the mix as watery droplets fall into cavernous kicks. ‘Winter Letter’ is the final 12”cut and is perfectly deep, linear techno with gorgeous ambient details that turn your thoughts inwards. Three digital bonuses expand the trip: ‘Torresmos com Pão’ is unsettling and sparse, ‘Historia da Vida’ ramps up the tension with oversized hi-hats and rising synth turbulence and finally ‘Ghost Particles’ has shimmering bell sounds evoking a spooky moon-lit church in the dead of night.
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The record is largely sung in Scots language, one of Scotland’s three official languages along with Gaelic and English. “Scots gives me a way of expressing myself which is connected directly with the landscapes I love. It brings the songs alive and it is a fascinating language. The name of the record is in Scots - Forefowk means the people who came before, or ancestors. When we say ‘mind me,’ we can mean a few things- remind, remember, watch over or care for me. The record explores how tradition needs to be constantly reconnected with, built upon, looked after, and shared.”
Quinie sings with a style inspired by Scottish Traveller singers. “I began singing unaccompanied Scots Song in 2015 after hearing Scots Traveller singer Sheila Stewart on the radio. Initially I felt like I shouldn't sing these songs because I'm not a Traveller, and I saw people around me doing that in a way that made me uncomfortable. But on the other hand this music made sense to me and I felt driven to learn. Over the years I have met Traveller friends who taught me that settled people sharing these songs could contribute to raising awareness. Scottish Travellers are marginalised and discriminated against in modern Scotland, despite being custodians of so many of our important traditions. So I started to perform them and tell this story. From there I built on my repertoire and started writing my own songs”.
To develop this record, Quinie travelled across Argyll with her horse. They went on a pilgrimage of sorts through the ancient landscapes of the West of Scotland to explore the interconnected relationships between people, ancestors, animals, and place. The album’s vinyl release is accompanied by a book and film, documenting this unusual research process.
Forefowk, Mind Me was recorded in August 2024 at The Big Shed in Highland Perthshire with support from Creative Scotland. Quinie is accompanied by an ensemble of musicians: Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh (viola), Oliver Pitt (duduk, bouzouki, percussion), Harry Górski-Brown (small pipes, violin), and Stevie Jones (double bass, recording, and mixing). Each of these artists brings their own distinctive voice, bridging contemporary experimental practice with worlds of traditional and early music.
Inspired by a now-demolished artists' collective on the outskirts of Copenhagen, 'The House' is the debut album of Belgian-Dutch singer-songwriter Elis Floreen. Written during her years in the Danish capital, the album grew out of a place filled with decades of forgotten objects, artworks and stories. A temporary refuge for artists, dreamers and people caught between chapters of their lives.
As residents came and went, the house became a world of its own, shaped by shared meals, late-night conversations, evolving traditions and the countless stories left behind by those who passed through. When the building was eventually demolished, Floreen found herself holding on to its spirit through song. The result is an album that explores belonging, memory and the strange ways people become part of one another's lives.
Produced by Jo Francken and Pieterjan Maertens, known from their work with Tamino, 'The House' blends intimate folk, adventurous pop and richly layered arrangements into a musical world that feels both playful and deeply moving. Drawing on the storytelling spirit of Paul Simon, Kate Bush and Aldous Harding, Elis Floreen transforms everyday moments into something timeless, introducing a distinctive new voice with a debut album full of warmth, imagination and heart.
In einer Welt voller Lärm und Chaos bietet Harlans Musik eine Rückkehr zur Ruhe. ,Music for Stillness" entfaltet sich langsam und lädt zur Erholung und stillen Präsenz ein. Die Bansuri-Flöte gibt den Ton an; ihr gefühlvoller, gesanglicher Klang webt eine Melodie über Cello und ambienten Klangerlebnissen. Beeinflusst von indischer klassischer Musik, japanischer Kanky Ongaku und westlicher Ambient-Musik lässt das Album dem Zuhörer Raum, selbst zu entscheiden, wie tief er sich darauf einlassen möchte. Die Musik wirft eine einzige Frage auf: Wie könnte Frieden klingen?
Her sound remains vast and yearning, with gut-punch drums pushing through explosions of colored powder; her voice is a chrome-plated sigh, and her agile melodies soar effortlessly. - Pitchfork *BEST NEW MUSIC*
she achieves some serious cinematic grandeur. - Stereogum
Simply too sublimely crafted to ignore. - Consequence of Sound
A catchy ethereal piece of pop - Brooklyn Vegan
Rose's layered, reverb-laden vocals hit like waves of sunlight, warming her lines almost to the point of wordlessness. - Paste Magazine
"Hila. A record about loss. What persists beyond the range of ordinary perception? The place mourning keeps returning to - not quite transcendence, not quite doubt. The edge of what we can see."
Frankie Rose has spent fifteen years building one of the most quietly distinctive bodies of work in American independent music. Bursting out of the shackles of her legacy on 2024's Love As Projection, 2026's Hila builds on the muscular, dance-ready songwriting and transcendent melodies to result on Rose's most exploratory and affecting record of her career. Imbued with yearning melodies and brooding post-punk dynamics, Hila is Frankie Rose at her most impressionistic and expansive.
Self-produced at her home studio featuring collaborations with drummer Justin Welch (Elastica/Lush), Hila was recorded following extensive touring with The Jesus & Mary Chain and Swervedriver. The result is the most confident, searching music Rose has produced; muscular in its production yet emotionally vulnerable in its diffracted neon glow. A record informed by loss and the way grief mutates our senses, it's fitting that Rose channels the nuanced darkness of later Coil, at times the pounding EBM-production of Skinny Puppy and the near-spiritual alien-ness of Cocteau Twins. On Hila, the doors of perception are constantly melting, revealing the porous nature of the seen and unseen. The result is a synesthesia that flips the senses.
If Love As Projection was an outward-looking record looking to embrace the world, Hila brings the dark cosmos into inner space. Rose's love for 80s production and soaring melodies remain, they're cornerstones to her craft after all, but there's something more assured and gothic underneath the massive waves of sound. Opener Olo shimmers into a pulsating, cinematic brooder, Rose's vocal transcending and swan diving between registers in the chorus breakdowns. First single Cant Be Wrong serves as a transition from the optimistic pop of Rose's previous album, introducing a thumping 80s funk rhythm track under the soaring vocal performance. The ebullient Shadow Twin is that song's sibling, recalling major label-era Strawberry Switchblade melancholy mixed with Robin Guthrie's twinkling guitar work.
Hila blossoms darkly from here on in, blowing out into a glacial wide-screen sonic dynamic. On Rainman and the title track the listener is transported to a rain-soaked, nocturnal cityscape ridden with desire, moonlight cutting through blinds, intoxicating chasms without bounds. Rose's use of saxophone and digital synthesis recalls the nightmusic of Hats-era Blue Nile or the more ambient end of Emeralds' catalog. Indeed, in the towering synthetic cello sounds that climb into the mind on Hila, there's a distinct flavour of the instrumentals on Bowie's Low. This is musick to play in the dark, to light the way a little, just enough to trick the senses.
Leading into the strobe-filled haze, single Manifest pounds forward with a massive Industrial 4/4 beat and post-punk/goth musicality, an exercise in unlit ecstasy. For Best Of Times, the liberal saxophone passages feel like a suppressed, 80s Michael Mann soundtrack with Frankie Rose's effortless, melodic vocal performance probing, searching for connection. Navigating through the dry, iced landscape into a rising sun, closer Velvet Refrain flips the melancholy of the preceding passages. With a massive sound dripping with harmony, the clanging guitar and vocal duet feels they're sound-tracking an unexpected happy ending after bouts of darkness."
Bonnie "Prince" Billy veröffentlicht ein Live-Album mit neu arrangierten Songs aus seinem umfangreichen Katalog.
Am 18. September erscheint Ghosts of American Psychonauts, das neue Live-Album von Bonnie "Prince" Billy. Aufgenommen am Valentinstag im Pico Union Project in Los Angeles, führt das Album durch verschiedene Stationen von Will Oldhams Karriere als Bonnie „Prince“ Billy. Zu hören sind neu arrangierte Stücke von Letting Go und I See A Darkness bis zu jüngeren Songs wie I Made A Place und The Purple Bird. Begleitet von London May, Jacob Duncan und weiteren Gästen, rückt das Album Oldhams Qualitäten als Live-Musiker und seine ausgeprägte Fähigkeit zum musikalischen Storytelling in den Mittelpunkt.