quête:pocket

2026 Repress

"To make authentic Jungle you’ve got to get the breaks right sonically and LMajor does that without effort. Something in the tone of his drums really spoke to me and I knew immediately I wanted a record for Astrophonica. Authentic UKG is also all in the drums and it turns out he can do those too. Throw in some killer hooks and riffs and it’s the perfect combination - full of vibe and character” - Fracture

‘Can’t Do It’ is raw dance floor Jungle in a drawn out and journey like fashion. They don’t make ‘em like this anymore. Incredibly fun to mix - can you do it?

‘Spinnin’ is all blissed out UKG with dizzying chord stabs and vocal ticks. Wait for the irresistible walking bass line to take you by the arm and go for a stroll.

The drums in ’Feelin’ are so in the pocket that there’s no space for your wallet and keys so forget them and just bubble. Heavy sub bass will have the rest of your jeans flapping.

‘Hush’ closes the EP on a high with trademark LMajor breaks and drawn out arrangement. No need to rush this one, just tune out to the rhodes and Think break workout before the lashing and metallic Amen ramps up the excitement. Shhh, just listen.

Cloud Machines is the extraordinary debut collaboration between M.C. Schmidt of legendary electronic duo Matmos and John Berndt, the Baltimore avant-garde institution and band leader behind High Zero Festival, the Red Room collective, Geodesic Gnome, and radical sonic concepts like Spectral Relay (a bespoke signal processing architecture) and Relabi (a conceptual genre defined by a Rorschach-blot pulse. These two iconoclasts have delivered something genuinely unexpected: an oddly sweet electronic opus that"s as immediately engaging as it is a series of delicious puzzles. When two of experimental music"s most irascible characters spend twelve years crafting an album, you don"t just get another release - it is an anthology of pocket universes. The record is a love letter to two of their strongest mutual influences of the 1980s - the delirious comic books of French auteur Jean Giraud (AKA Moebius) and the beautiful miniatures of the SKY Records Cluster/Eno/Conny Plank collaborations. Cloud Machines honors the spirit of those ineffably "hermetic" creations by reinventing their legacy through the lens of decades of accumulated experimental practice and the duo"s singular creative personalities. The result feels simultaneously like rediscovering a lost classic from 1978 and receiving a transmission from an alternate, somehow better timeline in 2026. Yet unlike so much "difficult" experimental music, Cloud Machines maintains an uncanny and sneaky accessibility - each track a self-contained world, inviting and alien in equal measure.

Cloud Machines is the extraordinary debut collaboration between M.C. Schmidt of legendary electronic duo Matmos and John Berndt, the Baltimore avant-garde institution and band leader behind High Zero Festival, the Red Room collective, Geodesic Gnome, and radical sonic concepts like Spectral Relay (a bespoke signal processing architecture) and Relabi (a conceptual genre defined by a Rorschach-blot pulse. These two iconoclasts have delivered something genuinely unexpected: an oddly sweet electronic opus that"s as immediately engaging as it is a series of delicious puzzles. When two of experimental music"s most irascible characters spend twelve years crafting an album, you don"t just get another release - it is an anthology of pocket universes. The record is a love letter to two of their strongest mutual influences of the 1980s - the delirious comic books of French auteur Jean Giraud (AKA Moebius) and the beautiful miniatures of the SKY Records Cluster/Eno/Conny Plank collaborations. Cloud Machines honors the spirit of those ineffably "hermetic" creations by reinventing their legacy through the lens of decades of accumulated experimental practice and the duo"s singular creative personalities. The result feels simultaneously like rediscovering a lost classic from 1978 and receiving a transmission from an alternate, somehow better timeline in 2026. Yet unlike so much "difficult" experimental music, Cloud Machines maintains an uncanny and sneaky accessibility - each track a self-contained world, inviting and alien in equal measure.

Night at the Opera’, the EP by Emei, on Red Marble vinyl. The 1LP, single pocket jacket includes a 10x8 print and 12x24 poster.

A little drama never hurt anybody. Emei knows how to bring it too. With a bold voice that’s as vibrant as her personality, the New Jersey-born Chinese-American songstress delivers clever and catchy anthems meant to be blasted out loud. Emei made major waves with 2022’s “Late to the Party,” surging on TikTok and igniting her End of an Era EP.

However, she reached critical mass with the release of her single, Scatterbrain. Touted as one of Spotify’s “Best Pop Songs of 2023,” the title track eclipsed 71 million Spotify streams followed by “Irresponsible” with 31 million Spotify streams. OnesToWatch christened her, “one of the most promising alt-pop artists to watch.” Plus, she has incited the applause of Billboard, People, Wonderland., and Lyrical Lemonade in addition to BBC Radio 1 in the UK and Triple J in Australia.

Spotify handpicked her as one of Pop Rising’s “Artists To Watch” for 2024. After gathering over a quarter-of-a-billion streams, selling out shows, and attracting multi-GRAMMY® Award-winning mega-producer Ricky Reed to her corner, she embraces her theatricality on her Night At The Opera EP

First released in 1976, "Metallic K.O." was the fourth album from IGGY & THE STOOGES, a classic, memorable recording of the Stooges confrontational last gig. The Stooges had not been heard since "73"s "Raw Power", and the sound of kamikaze Iggy in between new songs dodging eggs and glasses thrown by Hell"s Angels gave him a new audience in the embryonic punk crowd. It defined Iggy as a punk originator, sold 100k+ and become the Stooges best-selling album. Previously re-issued as an extended, two-CD set with two complete shows (FREUDCD070), it"s now been condensed down to the exact original album edit that shocked and inspired so many. In the 2007 remastering from the original tapes an original tape-speed fault was found - now for the first time the album can be heard in the correct pitch! As Lester Bangs said: "IT"S THE ONLY ROCK ALBUM I KNOW WHERE YOU CAN ACTUALLY HEAR HURLED BEER BOTTLES BREAKING AGAINST GUITAR STRINGS". Recorded 1973 & 74. Inner bag with historical background.

Spaceships on the Blade is the 2022 solo album from San Francisco legend, entrepreneur and rapper, Larry June. The 20-track album features the singles, “Private Valet,” & “In My Pockets,” and sees production from a wide range of producers such as, The Alchemist, Jake One, DJ Khalil, Cardo, DJ.Fresh, Chuck Inglish, Turbo & more. Enlisting the help from fellow rap luminaries such as 2 Chainz, Babyface Ray, Curren$y and more, Spaceships on the Blade shows that Uncle Larry always has an eye on expanding and diversifying income steams and will continue to do numbers for a long time. Good Job, Larry. 2xLP, Black Vinyl, Widespine Jacket, Printed Sleeves.

Karates trotziges und letztes Studioalbum rundet eine 12-jährige Diskografie ab, die von harDCore-artiger Katharsis bis hin zu feedbackgesättigten Improvisationen reicht. Dieser Klassiker aus dem Jahr 2004 verzichtete auf die Friendster-Migration zugunsten eines zurück zum Wesentlichen gerichteten Songwritings, das von Jazzphrasierungen und beatinspirierter Lyrik durchdrungen ist. Mit Chris Brokaw, dem Gitarristen von Codeine/Come, wurde ,Pockets" von den originalen Analogbändern neu gemastert und kommt in einer Deluxe-Hülle mit reproduzierten Songtexten.

Ten years ago, Anderson .Paak didn't just release an album; he staged a full-scale takeover of the soul and hip-hop landscape. Released on January 15, 2016, Malibu served as the definitive arrival of an artist who had spent years grinding in the underground before a star-making turn on Dr. Dre’s Compton. While his previous work hinted at his potential, Malibu was the moment the world met the "Cheeky Andy" persona in full—a virtuosic drummer, a raspy-voiced crooner, and a sharp-witted rapper all rolled into one. The album is a sprawling, sun-drenched journey through the Southern California coast, blending 1970s funk, church-reared gospel, and gritty boom-bap into something that feels both nostalgic and entirely futuristic. With a heavyweight production lineup including 9th Wonder, Madlib, Kaytranada, and Hi-Tek, the record maintains a warm, analog texture that was a breath of fresh air in an increasingly digital era. It’s an album that breathes, full of intentional imperfections and the kind of "in-the-pocket" groove that can only come from a seasoned live performer. Beyond the infectious, dance-floor-ready energy of tracks like "Am I Wrong" and "Come Down," the album is a deeply autobiographical masterwork. .Paak uses the 65-minute runtime to unpack his life story with startling clarity, touching on his mother’s gambling addiction, his father’s incarceration, and his own brushes with homelessness with a sense of resilience that never feels heavy-handed. He weaves these heavy themes through a lens of triumph, grounded by vintage surfing documentary samples that give the project its cinematic, coastal atmosphere. It’s a celebratory record born out of struggle, anchored by his impeccable technicality on the drums and a guest list—featuring ScHoolboy Q, Rapsody, and The Game—that feels hand-picked to complement his specific brand of West Coast swagger. A decade later, Malibu stands as a modern classic and the blueprint for the soulful revivalism that would eventually lead .Paak to global superstardom and Grammy-winning heights. It remains a testament to the idea that the most profound music often comes from the most personal places, proving ten years on that the best way to move forward is to stay rooted in the groove.

Always lurking amidst the underground Porto music scene is Spitbender, the most stable moniker of the ever-morphing Francisco Antão. Spin gathers a collection of tracks that demonstrate his experimentalism & coy sonic precision. Spitbender takes cues from Jungle & Hip Hop producers to create his own unique blend of Downtempo. What becomes clear throughout the album is the attention to detail: it is infused as much by Industrial's red-line spectra as it is by the dubplate logic of the Darkside Continuum, yet it does so at its own tripped out speed.

Spin begins with the laid-back but constantly shifting 'Global Overgroove'. Its breakbeat science moves in & out of DSP glitch-work & dub reflections. When its slinky bassline melody arrives, a certain dread sets in.

'Weyward Fold' drops into a driving, hard-edged chug, threaded with snippets of Malcolm X's disobedient pedagogy. The momentum carries into 'Headnod Doctor', where the bass distortion thickens & the cymbal circuit is overloaded, landing somewhere between Hip‑Hop grit & metal weight.

Side A ends with the downtempo roller 'Dogs and Moles (Skylurk Mix)'. The familiar break drifts into new territory, pulled along & wrapped in a slap-back echo. A quirky melody cuts through the haze, giving the track a fresh tilt. The mulch of the track forms a steady, unhurried pulse.

Spitbender's spacious atmospherics & groove-focused approach comes further into focus on 'Nothing Here But the Recordings'. Creating his own chapter in the book of Trip Hop, his minimalist touch is laid out in full.

'Force the Hand Ov Chance' pulls Boom Bap gently into dub mechanics, letting space do the heavy lifting. Its simplicity hides a deep pocket.

Returning to broken-up distortion, 'Mirrors of Flesh (Dub Mix)' finds Spitbender using the mixer as an instrument to push & pull the heavy drums of Benjamin Brejon of Méchanosphere alongside the voice of Rui intoning the title phrase.

Sitting between the album's two poles, 'Out Take Dub' fuses the clipped‑obsession timbres of Spin's heavier moments with its blissed out flow. Feedback & distortion are welcomed & drawn long.

In the end, Spin hits like a fully formed statement—lean, focused, & unmistakably Spitbender. Every track pushes its own angle, but together they land with a clarity that feels earned. It's a sharp marker in his trajectory, & it leaves a charge in the air.

Side A’s “Mysterious Vibes” comes from Action (1977), the later-era The Blackbyrds LP produced by Donald Byrd. By this point the group had fully locked into that hazy jazz-funk pocket—rhodes, bassline glide, & drums that feel tailor-made for loops. It’s been a quiet weapon for producers: Kurious (“I’m Kurious”), Paris (“The Days of Old”), plus later flips from Big K.R.I.T. & Dom Kennedy. The Jazz Dub leans into that—stretching the groove, letting the atmosphere breathe, keeping it playable.

Flip side is certified soul-collector territory. Tom Brock’s “When There’s Nothing Left…” is lifted from I Love You More and More (1974), produced by Barry White & Gene Page. Lush, aching, full orchestration—exactly why Just Blaze flipped it for Jay-Z’s “Girls, Girls, Girls” off The Blueprint. One of those samples that instantly connects eras.

This isn’t just a “nice edit” 45—it’s a bridge between jazz-funk heads, soul collectors & hip-hop producers. Both sides rooted in records that already did damage, now reworked for the floor.

“Dancing is immediate. It happens in infinitely small blips of the present, strung together one into the next, direct and spontaneous. And as each moment fades out of the present and into the past, these blips coalesce and ferment and refract into memory.

Play is the first album from Sam Hall’s new project, Spinbeat. Sam has previously released glitch-inflected bedroom pop under the name Ghost Orchard, putting out albums on Orchid Tapes and Winspear. Spinbeat comes with a turn towards rawer sounds and something like the dancefloor.

The tracks on Play linger in the space between music for dancing and music for listening. They are the memory of a dancefloor- sounds, feelings, moments of darkness and color. In contrast with other recent music to come out of the dubby post-club zone, Play is marked by its lightness and warmth. Fragile, intimate moments come bubbling up from underneath the surface, glimmering in plain view for a moment before sinking back into the fog. These pockets of earnestness lend depth and substance to the mystique of the murkier stretches.

Dance music for post-rave romance, for August haze, for the frogs in the pond out behind the warehouse party.

Mastered by The Bastard.”

Following the release of the digital single, Berlin-based groove collective The Ruffcats and Chicago soul singer Doug Shorts return with a strictly limited 7-inch vinyl edition of “I Ain’t Worried” , pairing the original retro-soul cut with an exclusive remix by none other than Erobique. The original version is a timeless slice of analog soul: laid-back yet confident, driven by a deep pocket rhythm section, warm horn arrangements, and Doug Shorts’ unmistakably smooth, Chicago-rooted vocal delivery. Written by The Ruffcats and Doug Shorts, the song carries a quiet message of resilience and inner calm, echoing the spirit of classic late-’60s and early-’70s soul without ever slipping into pastiche. On the flip side, Erobique brings his unmistakable touch to the track: playful, groove-heavy, and full of character. Known for his ability to bridge deep musicality with infectious dancefloor energy, the Hamburg-based producer reimagines “I Ain’t Worried” as a loose, funk-infused roller, retaining the song’s soulful heart while nudging it firmly toward late-night dancefloors and sweaty club rooms.

Originally created in the wider context of the charitable Soul Rabbi – Shine On project, “I Ain’t Worried” has since taken on a life of its own. This 7-inch release celebrates that journey, honoring the song’s roots in community and friendship while expanding its reach through a fresh, club-ready reinterpretation. Pressed on classic 7-inch vinyl, this release is aimed squarely at soul lovers, DJs, and collectors alike: a record that feels just as at home in a crate next to vintage originals as it does in a contemporary DJ set.

"Monkey Mind" ist das neue Album des französisch-amerikanischen Duos Pearl & The Oysters, produziert von Jonathan Rado (Foxygen, Weyes Blood, Miley Cyrus, Father John Misty, The Lemon Twigs). Obwohl es vordergründig fröhlich und leicht wirkt, entstand das Album nach den verheerenden Waldbränden in Los Angeles im Jahr 2025 und Trumps zweiter Amtseinführung. Der Titel "Monkey Mind" ist dem buddhistischen Konzept eines ruhelosen, sich wiederholenden Bewusstseins entlehnt - das Duo nutzte seine eigenen "unruhigen Gedanken", um das Album innerhalb weniger Wochen zu schreiben und seine Sorgen durch Musik zu verarbeiten. Das Album markiert eine Abkehr vom leicht kitschigen Weltraum-Sound von Planet Pearl hin zu einem wärmeren, organischeren Klang, der vom Softrock der 70er Jahre (Todd Rundgren, The Beach Boys, Steely Dan) beeinflusst ist und Anklänge an City Pop und Exotica aufweist. Nachdem P&TO jahrelang ihre eigenen komplexen, im Homeoffice aufgenommenen Klangwelten erschaffen hatten, arbeiteten sie nun mit Produzent, Solokünstler und Foxygen Jonathan Rado zusammen und nahmen direkt auf Band mit minimalen Overdubs auf. Dabei kooperierten sie mit ihren Musikerfreunden aus Los Angeles. Das Ergebnis ist lockerer und stärker im Hier und Jetzt verankert als alles, was sie zuvor gemacht haben. Mintgrünes Vinyl mit Insert und Artwork-Design von Juliette Pearl Davis selbst.

A friend of mine told me he had visited the place that Cancer House live and record.He said they jammed together all afternoon. In the moment, in the zone so to speak,he became more and more convinced that what they were making together was thebest music he had ever been involved with. As the afternoon drifted by, second byrevelatory second, he began making grandiose plans to release the recording. By the timeit was dark outside the windows he imagined it as a future lost classic, a key livedocument of a scene, a moment and an aesthetic. He thought about all the recordshe loved. He thought about the great, little known, statements of lo-fi, downer indie:dark, sweet, crawling guitar music by bands like Farewood, Bedhead, UN, orThe Sonora Pine. He could even picture the sleeve down to the last detail.

The session ended and as they were all packing up he asked about the recording.And someone said ‘oh, we weren’t recording.’ ”- Jack Rollo

Phwoar! TD go four for the floor on Volume 9, letting loose with a set of sure-shot hits from all corners of their sonic spectrum.
A tag team match up, this action spectacular trades peak-time pump, Balearic cool, Italo thrust and dance-punk theatrics on its way to snatch the championship.

Obviously TD ooze subtlety and taste, so as we sat sipping Schnapps from our Stanley cups, we couldn't help but take a little inspo from our kitchen decor. 'Live Love Pump' - what a mantra. In musical form, this philosophy takes the shape of a capital D-isco delight, equal Pats Cowley & Adams, EQ-freaked and filtered into something dafter than a pair of chrome clad millionaires. Big room mirrorball magic if ever we've heard it.
The A2 sees the drunk AOR funk of 'Sure Line' take a leisurely stroll down the coast, a Gauloises in the gob and tattered Baldwin in the back pocket, flipping and flopping along the prom to buoyant bass, melting brass and more than a little melancholy.

Booting off the B-side, 'Un America' is a massive mid-tempo chugger replete with laser fire, synth scree and nipple high guitar. Powering along on a serious bass sequence armed with hooks-a-plenty, mostly incomprehensible lyrics and a groove which won't quit, this has all the ingredients required for an Italo all-timer.
The finale finds us in the company of some punk pioneers at their absolute silliest, bringing the kind of whacky vocal vibe, surf-centric style and off kilter groove the B-52s made a career of. Add in animal chatter and scratchy guitars and you've got the sort of secret weapon the Idjuts unleash waaaay post peak.

Limited Press - Numbered Insert - Drum Fun Guaranteed

First Word Records proudly present the second single from Above The Clouds (aka kidkanevil & Magic Manfred), taking on another underground hip hop classic, 'Change'.

'Change' was originally performed by Shadez of Brooklyn, produced by Da Beatminerz and most notably appeared on DJ Premier's legendary 'New York Reality Check 101' mix compilation back in 1997.

This 7" vinyl release follows on from last Summer's MF DOOM cover 'Arrow Root', which received strong support from the likes of Japan's DJ Koco and Philadelphia's DJ Jazzy Jeff.

This new instrumental reinterpretation also features cuts by Leicester-based turntablist, Jon1st - a DMC World Online Champion, as well as being a producer & musician in his own right, collaborating on music with a number of hip hop, D&B and electronic artists.

One of the original First Word roster, UK Producer/DJ and all-round laptop music geek kidkanevil has developed a distinctive and progressive sound over the years, gleefully exploring the beats and bleeps of the electronic music universe to international recognition. Leeds born, sound system bred and raised on a (un)healthy diet of video games and anime, his solo work inhabits the curious space between bass frequencies and otaku culture. But as a devoted teenage backpack rap nerd, somewhere in the back of kid's mind was a lingering desire to reconnect with his first love, hip hop.

Not long after moving to Berlin he joined a studio space in graffiti plastered Kreuzberg, where he met multi instrumentalist wizard Magic Manfred; a disciple of all things boogie, disco, funk and soul. Born and raised in Berlin, and currently a touring musician for many an act, Manfred's musical map joins the dots from piano lessons at four, to starting a band with his teenage friends, leading him to his true calling - the bass - via the club vibrations of his hometown, which introduced him to the world of DJing and production, and a stint studying in the explosive London jazz scene to finalise his Jedi training.

Bonding over their mutual love of '90s hip hop, a friendship and musical kinship developed, coupled with a desire to honour past eras but push things forward, Above The Clouds was born; named after their joint favourite DJ Premier beat, with a touch of irony regarding their basement based studio of a windowless variety.

kidkanevil explains further "We started the project with a few covers, just as a way to get warmed up and in a certain creative headspace, of which 'Change' by Shadez Of Brooklyn was one. We both loved DJ Premier's 'New York Reality Check 101' mix when we were teenagers and this track was a favourite. The elements really lent themselves to live interpretation, and as an instrumental there was space to bring some nice movement with the bass and stuff. Hopefully we found the balance between paying tribute and finding our own pocket. For the final seasoning we hit up the homie and turntable wizard Jon1st to recreate the cuts, of which he did an immaculate job of course.

The b-side 'Urgh' is one of our favourite beats we've made so far; the title is just how it makes us feel! We actually recorded the piano with two iphones as left and right and it sounded kinda cool so we went with it..."

'Change / Urgh' is released on limited 7" vinyl & digital platforms, April 24th 2026.

Gap Mangione's monumentally influential Diana In The Autumn Wind. AKA BEWITH200LP. And, without question, Be With's White Whale.

They said it could never be done. And with good reason.

We've spent the past 12 years trying to license this legendary 1968 recording from Gap and, after much work, it's finally here. Remarkably, this is the first ever vinyl reissue of Gap Mangione's Diana In The Autumn Wind, produced with the full and extensive participation of Gap. An exceedingly rare album, it's been coveted by funk, soul, jazz and hip-hop sample fiends for decades.

It's unarguably *the* most sought after album for J Dilla / Madlib sample collectors. It has also been brilliantly sampled by A Tribe Called Quest, Large Professor, Ghostface Killah, Kendrick Lamar and Talib Kweli.

But this record is so much more than a sample-spotters curio. It's solid gold throughout. Bursting with killer funky-jazz grooves and tracks adorned with warm electric piano, the release is notable for featuring some extremely significant players at the very outset of their careers; Tony Levin, at 21, whose superb playing on both acoustic and electric bass was the harmonic mainstay of the trio and Steve Gadd, at 23, one of the greatest drummers of his generation.

With acceptable copies of this holy grail changing hands for $400, to call this reissue "much-needed" underplays just how vital it is. Gap's story is told in his words alongside rare photos across a sumptuously designed 2-page insert and, to augment this deluxe edition further, its all wrapped up in a beautiful, no-expense-spared luxury tip-on sleeve, as per the original hens-teeth release. And, while we're talking packaging, just take a look at that cover - a work of art in and of itself.

The tracks are short but complex, with that extraordinary rhythm section backing the beautiful piano, organ and electric piano work of Gap. It's like the best ever library funk breaks record you never heard - but all your favourite golden age rap producers were all over it, long ago. It's a stunning blend of the vibrant, driving music of the Gap Mangione Trio coupled with the sensitive composition and superb orchestration of Gap's legendary brother, Chuck Mangione, who helmed an amalgam of seemingly disparate elements – rock, big band jazz, solo improvisation and "classical" music - into a spectacularly cohesive whole that has aged wonderfully well. As Gap himself notes in the liners, "with this group I was able to explore and add new and exciting elements from rock, Brazilian and then-current pop music."

Opener "Boy With Toys" triumphantly swaggers out the gate, all big band horns, flutes and dextrous organ work. The synthesis of everything going on is nothing short of stunning. When one wise YouTube commentator called this tune "old school superhero music", Gap agreed. Rap luminaries did, too, amongst them Talib Kweli, who rapped over DJ Scratch's chopped up intro for "Shock Body" on his Quality album back in 2002.

You've barely recovered from that incredibly affecting opener when you get hit over the head with the exquisite title-track. And now you see how two of the greatest beats of all time emerged from one single track produced nearly 50 years earlier. Unforgettably utilised by Dilla for Slum Village's heartbreakingly good "Fall In Love" and then Madlib for his "Official" beat for Dilla to rap over, on the Jaylib record. Regardless of the records it went on to spawn, this is just a staggering tune in its own right. Be beguiled by the flutes and the flutter tonguing, the counter-melody from the trombones, the soprano sax solo. All of it. Simply beautiful.

The questing organ and horn workout "Long Hair Soulful" deserves a lot more attention, overshadowed somewhat by the opening two monsters but no less fantastic. It swings, it grooves and Gadd and Levin truly cook. Up next, Gap's wonderfully percussive, mellifluously piano-heavy cover of "Yesterday" by some fellas called The Beatles. It's a subtly arresting gem. "The XIth Commandment" is damn fine, with thick, gorgeous electric piano and snappy drum work underpinning chaotic soundtracky horns. To close out the side, "St. Thomas" showcases the "fourth" member of the Gap Mangione Trio, conga drummer Dhui Mandingo. Having performed with the Trio since 1965, Dhui‘s African-based and jazz-latin-influenced style amazed listeners and its way to hear why.

Opening the B-Side, standard "You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You" breezes along in the late-night jazz club fashion before things get super deep with the outstanding and - up to now - un-sampled "Pond With Swans". It's simply heavenly, and how its moody, melancholic intro has yet to be pilfered is anybody's guess. It oscillates between gentle, sombre movements and bombastic grooves, equally hypnotic and joyous. The rendition of "You Are My Sunshine" is yet another showcase for Gap's virtuoso playing and Gadd's mastery of the pocket. Indeed Gadd's drumming on "Free Again" is nothing short of neck-SNAPPING! Ghostface took it for not one but two "Iron's Theme" tracks across his seminal Supreme Clientele. It's got that Galt MacDermot "Coffee Cold" feel. Suuuuuper cool. The frantic "Dream On Little Dreamer" hurtles along and must've surely had the whole room absolutely swinging from the chandeliers back in Rochester in the late 60s. The album closes with the magnificent Graduate Medley, featuring memorable renditions of "Scarborough Fair", "The Sounds of Silence" and "Mrs. Robinson". The warm electric piano lines of the former were sampled by The Ummah (Dilla again!) for Tribe's "Pad & Pen" from their reappraised final album, The Love Movement, as well as by Large Professor on his much-loved "The LP (For My People)".

Under the watchful eye - and extremely attentive ears - of Gap Mangione himself, the audio for Diana In The Autumn Wind has been carefully remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, with a few much needed tweaks here and there, according to the artist's wishes. At the prestigious Abbey Road Studios, Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at the always stellar Record Industry in Holland. The artwork restoration has taken place here at Be With HQ and has that drop-dead gorgeous cover artwork popping like new. Buy on sight!

Gold Vinyl Represss

*A MODERN JAZZ REINTERPRETATION OF THE MUSIC FROM THE LEGEND OF ZELDA*

WRWTFWW Records is happy to announce the release of Casimir Liberski ReTRio's The Z Suites, a full-length jazz album reinterpreting the music from iconic Nintendo video game series The Legend of Zelda. The epic Z-Jazz journey is available in the following formats: limited edition 180g half speed mastered vinyl double LP housed in a heavyweight sleeve with obi, digipack CD with cavalier, and digital.

Casimir Liberski reimagines the golden era of video game soundtracks with jazz versions of Zelda favorites The Legend of Zelda (1986), A Link to the Past (1991), Link's Awakening (1993), and Oscarina of Time (1998) - plus a few Easter eggs! Dancing between nostalgia and avant-garde, the Brussels-born pianist and composer crafts a sonic world of pixelated folklore where melody and improvisation coexist in harmony.

Music critic Arthur Meurant perfectly explains:

For many video games are a journey of the mind. Since its inception - dating back to the early seventies - this avant-garde artistic medium has nourished the imaginations of a digital age. Casimir, like many others, has been fed a steady diet of pixels from an early age. From simple squares to cultural cornerstones they have become the trail on which playful travelers of the mind retrace the steppes of history. A shared universe, familiar yet endless, of pocket-sized mythology. Its name? Hyrule. Its goal? To amaze. In these few tracks - selected with care - the Casimir Liberski ReTRio invites you, finally, to visit a space which does not exist yet holds us all. A land where all feel welcome. Where all are happy. But also... to rediscover under another timbre the classical compositions of Master Composer K?ji Kond?. A man who, unbeknownst to him, composed our dreams as well as music. That single noble pursuit, where an artist gives soul without losing his own, is yet again a statement of humanity in its purest of forms: art as that which brings us together and makes us whole in a world eroded by modernity. Pick up your key. Gather your maps. Open the door. Adventure calls.

Long live Hyrule jazz!