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Als Watchtower im Jahre 1985 ihr Debütalbum "Energetic Disassembly" veröffentlichen, stellen sie die Metal-Welt auf den Kopf. Das Material setzt völlig neue Maßstäbe. Innovativer (und extremer) geht zu dieser Zeit niemand zu Werke. Unbeholfene Stilbeschreibungen wie "Jazz Metal" oder "Techno Thrash" werden kreiert. Ursprünglich werden Watchtower im Mai 1982 in Austin, Texas, aus der Taufe gehoben. In jenem Monat schließt sich Sänger Jason McMaster Bassist Doug Keyser, Schlagzeuger Rick Colaluca sowie Gitarrist Billy White an. In ihrem frühen Stadium zeigen sich Watchtower stark von der NWOBHM inspiriert und spielen Songs von Iron Maiden, Angel Witch und Raven nach - dazu natürlich etliche Nummern der kanadischen Prog-Götter Rush. In der Folge entwickelt die Band sukzessive ihren individuellen Stil und nimmt Demos mit eigenen Stücken auf. Aber die Plattenfirmen wollen nicht anbeißen. Aus diesem Grunde entschließt man sich dazu, auf dem eigenen Label Zombo Records das wegweisende Album "Energetic Disassembly" zu veröffentlichen (gepresst werden 3.500 LPs und 1.000 Kassetten).
"Ich kann mich noch lebhaft daran erinnern, wie ich Demokassetten an Fanzines verschickt habe und nahezu täglich Briefe mit Tapetradern ausgetauscht wurden," erinnert sich Sänger Jason Mc Master heute. "Ich erhielt u.a. Briefe von Gene Hoglan, Mike Portnoy, Jason Newsted und sogar Alan Tecchio Die Reaktionen waren fantastisch, aber wir klangen einfach so andersartig. Die Labels wussten nicht, wie sie uns seinerzeit hätten vermarkten sollen. Waren wir zu extrem? Ich denke schon." Pünktlich zum 40. Jubiläum von "Energetic Disassembly" erscheint über High Roller Records nicht nur eine De-Luxe-Edition des originalen Albums, sondern auch eine neue Abmischung. Die Re-Mixes wurden im Jahre 2009 von Jared Tuten, einem engen Freund von JasonMcMaster, in den Top Hat Studios angefertigt. Als Sahnehäubchen gesellen sich dazu vier Bonus-Stücke: eine Art Drum-Soundcheck namens "Rick On Parade", das kurze Gitarren-Instrumental "BW115" sowie frühe Fassungen von zwei Songs, die später auf dem zweiten Watchtower-Album landen sollten, hier aber noch mit Jason McMaster am Gesang - "Instruments Of Random Murder" und "The Eldritch". Jason McMaster verließ Watchtower im Jahre 1988 in Richtung Dangerous Toys. Sein Nachfolger war Alan Tecchio (von Hades). Zusammen mit ihm wurde 1989 in West-Berlin das zweite Album "Control And Resistance" für Noise Records aufgenommen.

Als Watchtower im Jahre 1985 ihr Debütalbum "Energetic Disassembly" veröffentlichen, stellen sie die Metal-Welt auf den Kopf. Das Material setzt völlig neue Maßstäbe. Innovativer (und extremer) geht zu dieser Zeit niemand zu Werke. Unbeholfene Stilbeschreibungen wie "Jazz Metal" oder "Techno Thrash" werden kreiert. Ursprünglich werden Watchtower im Mai 1982 in Austin, Texas, aus der Taufe gehoben. In jenem Monat schließt sich Sänger Jason McMaster Bassist Doug Keyser, Schlagzeuger Rick Colaluca sowie Gitarrist Billy White an. In ihrem frühen Stadium zeigen sich Watchtower stark von der NWOBHM inspiriert und spielen Songs von Iron Maiden, Angel Witch und Raven nach - dazu natürlich etliche Nummern der kanadischen Prog-Götter Rush. In der Folge entwickelt die Band sukzessive ihren individuellen Stil und nimmt Demos mit eigenen Stücken auf. Aber die Plattenfirmen wollen nicht anbeißen. Aus diesem Grunde entschließt man sich dazu, auf dem eigenen Label Zombo Records das wegweisende Album "Energetic Disassembly" zu veröffentlichen (gepresst werden 3.500 LPs und 1.000 Kassetten).
"Ich kann mich noch lebhaft daran erinnern, wie ich Demokassetten an Fanzines verschickt habe und nahezu täglich Briefe mit Tapetradern ausgetauscht wurden," erinnert sich Sänger Jason Mc Master heute. "Ich erhielt u.a. Briefe von Gene Hoglan, Mike Portnoy, Jason Newsted und sogar Alan Tecchio Die Reaktionen waren fantastisch, aber wir klangen einfach so andersartig. Die Labels wussten nicht, wie sie uns seinerzeit hätten vermarkten sollen. Waren wir zu extrem? Ich denke schon." Pünktlich zum 40. Jubiläum von "Energetic Disassembly" erscheint über High Roller Records nicht nur eine De-Luxe-Edition des originalen Albums, sondern auch eine neue Abmischung. Die Re-Mixes wurden im Jahre 2009 von Jared Tuten, einem engen Freund von JasonMcMaster, in den Top Hat Studios angefertigt. Als Sahnehäubchen gesellen sich dazu vier Bonus-Stücke: eine Art Drum-Soundcheck namens "Rick On Parade", das kurze Gitarren-Instrumental "BW115" sowie frühe Fassungen von zwei Songs, die später auf dem zweiten Watchtower-Album landen sollten, hier aber noch mit Jason McMaster am Gesang - "Instruments Of Random Murder" und "The Eldritch". Jason McMaster verließ Watchtower im Jahre 1988 in Richtung Dangerous Toys. Sein Nachfolger war Alan Tecchio (von Hades). Zusammen mit ihm wurde 1989 in West-Berlin das zweite Album "Control And Resistance" für Noise Records aufgenommen.

Faun Fables, the long-running collaboration between Dawn McCarthy and Nils Frykdahl, have returned with Counterclockwise, the follow-up to 2016"s Born of the Sun. With the longest space between albums in the band"s twenty-seven year history, the nature of time and experience spent raising a family and negotiating life"s changes have much to do with the incredible listening companion Faun Fables have gifted us here. Counterclockwise"s songs and production are the most encompassing, richly lived-in sonic world of their seven full-length albums. From start to finish, it is an exquisitely etched portrait of their aesthetic and worldview: colourfully studded with fine-hewed jewels of song, tinged with the traditional sounds of past and future nations. Their timeless "songtelling" practice is entwined with a holistic view of a life in music - embracing and celebrating the mundane details of home, partnering and family, elevated by a mystical and fantastical perspective. The new discovery here is their creative relationship with time.

"Something of a love letter to New Orleans," Alec Ounsworth's Mo Beauty is finally available again on vinyl redesign featuring gatefold, spot gloss varnish, and marble smokey vinyl. The Steve Berlin (Los Lobos) produced "Mo Beauty" features Ounsworth's trademarks alongside New Orleans finest musicians (George Porter Jr., Stanton Moore, among others). The songs were written in conjunction with CYHSY material but, with this material, Ounsworth tried a different look. The limited deluxe reissue is being released in the wake of the 20th anniversary of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, the classic self-titled debut album, and its celebratory 2025 worldwide tour.

*****INFOTEXT NUR ZUR INTERNEN VERWENDUNG. BITTE NICHT AUF DIE ONLINE-PORTALSEITEN
STELLEN****
JEREMIAS veröffentlichen ihr nun drittes Studioalbum ”trust”. Mit dem Song Meer, der #3 der Spotify Charts erreichte, ist bereits vor Release ein Hit auf dem Album. Auch live geht es erfolgreich weiter mit
einer ausverkauften Clubtour und ihrer bisher größten Tour im Herbst mit Locations wie Max-SchmelingHalle und Sporthalle.

A deeply intimate and cinematic body of work, My Goddess unfolds as a self-contained emotional universe; an album about grief, depression, healing, and the enduring human urge to find beauty in a world that often feels unrelenting.
Composed against the backdrop of Lebanon’s ongoing political and economic collapse, My Goddess captures what it means to process personal heartbreak and collective trauma simultaneously. Across nine emotionally charged tracks, Etyen draws from profound loss, existential reflection, and the tragic death of his beloved cat Lucy to craft a record that is as fragile as it is resilient; both a personal reckoning and a universal portrait of survival through art. “This album is a conversation with myself. It’s about loss and grief, about finding beauty and trying to hold on to it,” says Etyen. “It’s about confronting the painful parts of life while still believing there’s something gentle and divine to hold onto.”
Blending cinematic textures, Etyen's unique and inspired electronics, and minimally sculpted yet immersive melodies, My Goddess pushes further into the raw introspection first glimpsed on Etyen’s 2022 debut album Untitled. But this time, the sonic architecture is more distilled, the emotional stakes more immediate. The result is a record that gently lingers in the spaces between memory, absence, and hope.
The album’s first single, the title track “My Goddess,” drops May 5 with a self-directed music video, one of three cinematic visuals accompanying the album. The trilogy further expands the emotional world of the record and affirms Etyen’s role not only as a musical artist, but as a multidimensional storyteller.
With over a decade of work that spans Netflix scores (Jinn), international festivals (Sonar Barcelona, Mutek), and critical acclaim and editorial support from Bandcamp Daily, BBC Radio and much more, Etyen has carved out a singular voice in electronic music—bridging personal, cultural and political resonance through sound. As the founder of Thawra Records, he also continues to champion independent artists from the region, building a vital platform for forward-thinking music in and beyond the Arab world.

10 years ago, the Southern Rock Americana album 'Catawba River Fox' was released independently and in a small edition, with 9 songs written by Pablo van de Poel and recorded analogue in 9 days, with the collaboration of, in addition to his DeWolff mates Robin Piso and Luka van de Also pool Mischa Porte, Joep Bollinger and Stefan Wolfs. It was the first time that Pablo recorded and mixed an album himself, and in his own words “you could hear that”. To mark the 10th anniversary of this album, we are now releasing a remastered version.

Oasis Records is a Portuguese outlet that marks its 10th release with its first vinyl outing, and the music is certainly deserving of that treatment. Vros is a collaboration between three siblings who use real instruments to blend hypnotic sounds from the worlds of deep and dubby electronica. Each track symbolises an elementiwind, earth, fire, and wateriso has a real connection with nature and encourages self-reflection as well as plenty of shape-shifting. 'Space Marimba' is perfect for outdoor dancing with its happy marimba melodies and elastic bass, 'Don't Be Afraid' is pure Balearic house bliss and 'Fusion' brings subtly trance induing chords while 'Release Your Mind' is a deep, mind-bending opener.A

Margaux Gazur presents her debut album „Blurred Memories“ on Smallville- almost 70 minutes into a very special search for her musical origins.
Margaux Gazur is a French-Vietnamese composer, musician, producer and DJ, now based in Berlin. Having lived in Vietnam for 5 years from 2012, she found herself searching for the sounds of her roots, played-back in form of field-recordings combined with traditional instruments and the sounds of her blurred childhood memories.
The tracks of her debut-album unfold the magic in a very subtle way, filled with vivid rhythms of Hanoian street sounds, evolving layers of mesmerizing tones and organic textures to create an intimate and unique atmosphere. Each track offers yet another something to discover while listening- mysterious voices and fragile elements next to beautiful melodies and trippy glitches, organic grooves and hypnotic wonkiness- and a lot of magic moments implemented. Woozy pads meandering and moving along – there is so many things to discover within „Blurred Memories“.
Margaux released her first track on vinyl on Smallville 55 back in 2019 and she has played endless live-sets and DJ performances at amazing spaces like Panorama Bar/Berghain, Heideglühen, Club der Visionäre, Berlin, La Station, Paris, Giegling events, Smallville and Kann Parties as well as beautiful festivals such as Waking Life in Portugal, Fusion, Berlin Atonal, Meakusma Festival or Equation in Vietnam amongst others.
Smallville is extremely happy to present „Blurred Memories“, music to stay with you.

The promise of a Florry show, a now familiar caravan that has been honed over ambitiously trekked zig zags across America and Europe since the release of Dear Life Records debut The Holey Bible, is the redemptive promise and prodigal joy of rock and roll guitar music. Bred in the crackling warmth of the Philadelphia DIY scene, and forged with the alloys of community action, queer liberation and bedroom poetry, bandleader Francie Medosch and her absolute unit of collaborators have put in the work of sharpening their homespun tools to take up the mantle of the great lip-puckering rock and roll tradition pioneered by the likes of The Band and the Rolling Stones, but with proudly displayed Aimee Mann and Yo La Tengo bumper stickers on the rusty frame of the truck. At any second, the wheels could come off but they are steering just fine. For 'Sounds Like' Florry's sophomore effort as a fully realized band, Medosch and co. decamped to Drop of Sun studios in the nest of the Blue Ridge Mountains to record with Asheville wunderkind Colin Miller, a critical voice behind the records of MJ Lenderman, Wednesday and Merce Lemon and a powerful songwriter in his own right. Three powerhouse days in late 2023 solidified writing work done by the band earlier that summer in the now defunct Haw Creek compound under Miller's guiding suggestion. The result is a portrait of a ripping band cresting towards the height of their powers, uniquely equipped to capture a wildly loving, barn-burning camcorder clip of a turbulent trip with your best friends, without dipping into nostalgia bait. Lyrically, Medosch's utterances are both careful and excessive, the product of sifting through the rubble of classic good-time media, and finding what works for both her and her community to reach the heights of abandon. "The Jackass theme song was actually a really big influence on the new album" The expansive personnel and continent spanning footprint of Florry casts a wide net for this community. Florry the band rolls deep in the heard of North American DIY, featuring Jon Cox (Sadurn, Son of Barb) on pedal steel, John Murray on electric guitar, Collin Dennen on bass, Will Henriksen on fiddle, Katya Malison (Doll Spirit Vessel) on Vox, and Joey Sullivan (Bark Culture) on drums. Medosch's recent move to Burlington Vermont entrenches the Philly born project firmly within the ranks of fellow alt-country upstarts Lily Seabird and Greg Freeman, and gives them a vantage just outside of Pennsylvania at the thresholds of New England and the Midwest. There is a new life breathed into this music that confirms Florry as equally rooted in place work, and at home on the vast roads of America. For listeners who fell in love with Florry's infectious charm on sweeping tours with the likes of Kurt Vile, Real Estate, MJ Lenderman, Greg Freeman and Fust, 'Sounds Like', provides a refreshing memento of the band that surely left them smiling. If the support behind 'The Holey Bible' provided validation for the insistent vision of these young artists, 'Sounds Like' finds them reveling in and honing their vocabulary. Praise from outlets like Pitchfork, Stereogum, Paste, and Brooklyn Vegan touched on the potential of their wild idiosyncrasies, and accurately predicted that their next steps would see them continuing to write their own story, like a 10 car pileup that you can't take your eyes off if you tried. Florry proves that they can let the car spin just out of control whenever they want, and you are welcome to ride shotgun while Medosch does donuts in the WaWa parking lot. The ceiling, it turns out, is truly the roof.

The promise of a Florry show, a now familiar caravan that has been honed over ambitiously trekked zig zags across America and Europe since the release of Dear Life Records debut The Holey Bible, is the redemptive promise and prodigal joy of rock and roll guitar music. Bred in the crackling warmth of the Philadelphia DIY scene, and forged with the alloys of community action, queer liberation and bedroom poetry, bandleader Francie Medosch and her absolute unit of collaborators have put in the work of sharpening their homespun tools to take up the mantle of the great lip-puckering rock and roll tradition pioneered by the likes of The Band and the Rolling Stones, but with proudly displayed Aimee Mann and Yo La Tengo bumper stickers on the rusty frame of the truck. At any second, the wheels could come off but they are steering just fine. For 'Sounds Like' Florry's sophomore effort as a fully realized band, Medosch and co. decamped to Drop of Sun studios in the nest of the Blue Ridge Mountains to record with Asheville wunderkind Colin Miller, a critical voice behind the records of MJ Lenderman, Wednesday and Merce Lemon and a powerful songwriter in his own right. Three powerhouse days in late 2023 solidified writing work done by the band earlier that summer in the now defunct Haw Creek compound under Miller's guiding suggestion. The result is a portrait of a ripping band cresting towards the height of their powers, uniquely equipped to capture a wildly loving, barn-burning camcorder clip of a turbulent trip with your best friends, without dipping into nostalgia bait. Lyrically, Medosch's utterances are both careful and excessive, the product of sifting through the rubble of classic good-time media, and finding what works for both her and her community to reach the heights of abandon. "The Jackass theme song was actually a really big influence on the new album" The expansive personnel and continent spanning footprint of Florry casts a wide net for this community. Florry the band rolls deep in the heard of North American DIY, featuring Jon Cox (Sadurn, Son of Barb) on pedal steel, John Murray on electric guitar, Collin Dennen on bass, Will Henriksen on fiddle, Katya Malison (Doll Spirit Vessel) on Vox, and Joey Sullivan (Bark Culture) on drums. Medosch's recent move to Burlington Vermont entrenches the Philly born project firmly within the ranks of fellow alt-country upstarts Lily Seabird and Greg Freeman, and gives them a vantage just outside of Pennsylvania at the thresholds of New England and the Midwest. There is a new life breathed into this music that confirms Florry as equally rooted in place work, and at home on the vast roads of America. For listeners who fell in love with Florry's infectious charm on sweeping tours with the likes of Kurt Vile, Real Estate, MJ Lenderman, Greg Freeman and Fust, 'Sounds Like', provides a refreshing memento of the band that surely left them smiling. If the support behind 'The Holey Bible' provided validation for the insistent vision of these young artists, 'Sounds Like' finds them reveling in and honing their vocabulary. Praise from outlets like Pitchfork, Stereogum, Paste, and Brooklyn Vegan touched on the potential of their wild idiosyncrasies, and accurately predicted that their next steps would see them continuing to write their own story, like a 10 car pileup that you can't take your eyes off if you tried. Florry proves that they can let the car spin just out of control whenever they want, and you are welcome to ride shotgun while Medosch does donuts in the WaWa parking lot. The ceiling, it turns out, is truly the roof.

Amuleto Apotropaico has a way to fend off demons by channeling a secular spiritualism rooted in a rigorous but playful connexion to the infinite possibilities of noise. The propulsion of their continuous music ebbs into and flows out of this primordial flux through their unique brand of brutalist liturgy.

Amuleto Apotropaico is a Portuguese duo consisting of António Feiteira (drums & electronics) and Francisco Pedro Oliveira (guitar, flute & electronics) formed in 2021. Having grown up together, saturated in the lore of their hometown of Santa Maria da Feira, the duo now resides in Porto and continues to moor their rhythmic rituals in the traditions of Northern Iberia.

None of this is a nostalgic look back to a time-that-never-was. Amuleto Apotropaico's cycles are ouroboric: every step forward invokes a simultaneous step backward such that their observance of sonic ceremony (seeming to invoke a now-forgotten tradition) becomes a constructivist gesture that shapes its own legacy. If time-travel exists, this duo has found out how.

For their self-titled first release (also the first release of the Perf label), António Feiteira has culled, recomposed and processed recordings from the band's last two years of concerts in order to create a exciting 4-tracker. Apotropia I & II, which open sides A and B on the vinyl release, are both textural meditations on subtle density. Feiteira's sensitive percussion flourishes are married to Oliveira's modular-enhanced flute and guitar patterns. Albedo e Rito showcases the duo's sense of melodic contour while crescendoing to a peak of lightness. Bruxa do Calhau Branco, lifts the whole journey into an astral dimension where multi-layered drums, synths and digital clicks breathe out, announcing that their moment of worship has settled back into the ubiquitous hubbub of room hum.

Ambient explorers SWIMS unpeel another heady debut, with the maiden effort by Korean artist Soo Kyung Kim, also known as soo:k. The curtain raises on Orchadia with an elysian glow: electro-acoustic compositions painting a golden topography of impossible fruit and uncanny astronomy.

soo:k's utopic brushwork finds obvious comparisons in the work of Hiroshi Yoshimura, and his meditations on the glacial pace of hidden, verdant spaces. Frida Kahlo's portraits of everyday life, intertwined with pain and magic symbology, also resonate in the album's exploration of fleeting moments.

Dissonance and experimentation take hold as the record progresses, Soo's Edenic vision creaking open to reveal ripe, fetid spaces between ribs of earth. Recommended if you like Ulla, Kara-Lis Coverdale, Visible Cloaks, Perila...

The visionary Walter Maioli (Futuro Antico, Aktuala) and the eccentric electronic musician John Zandijik first met in 1984 when they both gravitated toward the experimental Sound Reporters collective, participating in the release of Ethnoelectronics (1986). Shortly afterward, the two met at Zandijik's studio in Rotterdam, where they completed their journey of exploration to the edge of the Universe in just three nights. The recordings were made only after 3 a.m., when psychic energy is at its peak, and inspiration belongs solely to the realm of dreams. It was a ritual of long galactic fluctuation, where the mystical sound of the flute was filtered and expanded by the Aureal system, a device capable of breaking it down into cascades of aureal harmonies. Through its extemporaneous approach, the music transforms perceptions of ancient pyramids or tropical forests into phosphorescent nebulae, luminous fountain openings, and unprecedented planetary interstices—interstellar portals leading to new archetypal-ancestral visions. It feels like sailing through colored orbits in the red gases of Jupiter and Mars, lost and dissolved forever in the engines and gears of the most secret cosmos. Between Pink Floyd-esque psychedelic flashes and Tangerine Dream-inspired sidereal architectures, Maioli and Zandijik reveal the most phantasmagoric and unknown side of Sound Reporters.

"I loved Julia Sabra’s Natural History Museum—it was released at the end of the year and is quietly devastating. Her lyricism and sensitivity in timbre and harmony is akin for me to the great Linda Perhacs. The songs are intimate and infinite feeling at the same time—I love the raw and soft poetic settings of love and death." Julia Holter (Best album 2024- Fader)

“This album is a collection of songs written between 2020 and 2024 in Beirut. I wanted to capture them the way they were written by keeping the rawness and fragility intact, like the late-night voice memos I send to my bandmates as soon as I have a first draft of a song. Fadi and I decided to record them live on tape, with no overdubs, barely any effect - with all the imperfections. Most of the tracks were done in one take only. Some were recorded in the studio, and some in the church I grew up going to every summer in Dhour Shweir.

This is a collection of songs that slipped through the cracks, and some of the most personal ones I ever wrote. Songs about the port explosion, its aftermath, picking up the pieces and trying to move on, coming to terms with the past, regret and nostalgia for a childhood that lives only in memory, the uncertain future, learning to love, getting married, watching a genocide unfold on my phone screen, having it fill my every waking moment, imagining a better send off for all the dead, processing the violence and terror, and finding solace in community.
These songs would’ve probably stayed in my “songs in limbo” folder on my laptop had it not been for Pascal and Fadi, who pushed me to release them. And for this I’m eternally grateful.”









[h] 8.Dis, quand reviendras-tu? [Barbara cover]

Deerhoof haben sich schon vor langer Zeit als eine der großartigsten Rockgruppen des Planeten etabliert - wer das für übertrieben hält, hat noch nicht genug Zeit damit verbracht, Deerhoof zu hören - das wahnsinnig erfinderische Quartett behandelt jedes seiner neuen Alben als eine Gelegenheit zur kreativen Wiedergeburt. Und doch sind sie irgendwie auch zutiefst zuverlässig, eine seltsame, aber wahre Beschreibung für eine Band, die so kreativ rastlos ist. Man weiß nie, wie ein neues Deerhoof-Album klingen wird, außer dass es immer nach Deerhoof klingen wird. Die Band wird durch solche Paradoxien definiert, wie "Noble and Godlike in Ruin" erneut bestätigt. Ihr neuestes Album ist entweder ein Porträt einer Welt, die in monströsen Hass, Entmenschlichung und Dollarzeichen abgleitet, oder ein eindringliches Selbstporträt der Band als Monster: ein intelligentes, sensibles, hybrides Wesen, das unermüdlich von Liebe singt, sich aber zunehmend von dieser Welt entfremdet. Die Musik ist fröhlich und ahnungsvoll, kybernetisch und zutiefst menschlich, alles zugleich. Streicher, die an avantgardistische Kammermusik und klassische Horrorfilm-Soundtracks erinnern, prallen auf Gitarren- und Basslinien. Das Schlagzeug ist manchmal gefiltert und klingt fast elektronisch, aber kein Computer könnte einen so funkigen und dynamischen Rhythmus erzeugen, bei dem jede winzige Variation von einem Snare-Schlag zum nächsten Welten der Möglichkeiten vermittelt. An der Spitze steht die unnachahmliche Altstimme von Satomi Matsuzaki. Eine Stimme der Einsamkeit, deren schlichte Ruhe seltsam außerhalb des Mahlstroms der Band zu stehen scheint, zu dem sie mit ihren zackig-präzisen Bassläufen selbst beiträgt. Als Einwanderin der ersten Generation in den USA hat sie nie versucht, ihren japanischen Akzent oder ihre Karaoke-esken Vortrag zu verbergen. Auf "Noble und Godlike in Ruin" wirkt dies abwechselnd als Ausdruck von Einsamkeit und als kühle Provokation gegenüber Systemen der Unterdrückung und Kontrolle. ,Kindness is all I needed from you", singt sie auf dem epischen Albumabschluss ,Immigrant Songs`. ,But you think we're in your house." Nicht lange danach explodiert der Song, sein eng gewickelter Art-Pop macht Platz für mehrere Minuten heulenden Lärm. Auch wenn das Thema düster sein mag - wie könnte es anders sein - tragen die Songs trotzigen Optimismus in ihrer Weigerung, sich den Konventionen oder überlieferten Weisheiten zu beugen. Da ist diese berühmte Zeile von Dylan Thomas über das Wüten gegen das Sterben des Lichts: "Noble and Godlike in Ruin" fühlt sich ein wenig so an. Die Welt mag untergehen, aber Deerhoof gehen schwungvoll unter.

Long, long overdue reissue of this gem from the depths of The Skaters dreamweaving dimension, released as a limited tape through Spencer Clark's Pacific City imprint back in 2008. Comprising a period of extreme and vital activity for both Clark as Monopoly Child Star Searchers and Black Joker and his kindred spirit James Ferraro under his own name - 'Marble Surf' or 'Discovery' - and a myriad of identities like Liquid Metal or Edward Flex, this split finds these intrepid explorers on each side of a scrying mirror.
Conjuring the Angel Snake entity as a vessel for unlocking the unconscious, Ferraro takes up the A-side with hypnotic wooden percussion sustaining queasy tape processed keyboard lines that intertwine amidst a growing haze of hiss. About halfway through the digression an announcer boombox voice cuts up the scenery for a serpentine dance around the discarded remnants of civilisations past and future. Clark's Monopoly Child rides a beaming synth and muffled percussion accents on his trademarked keyboard thrills, all ascending and descending runs brimming on the horizon, not quite here, not quite out of reach, fading out to a galloping murk smeared by hallucinatory flute-like sounds and portamento accents that float in harmonic suspension.
Truly visionary and arresting stuff from these true purveyors of the netherworld, due to be rediscovered in these times of poor half-reassessments of the given past. It was never a dream, it was always a dream.

'Quiet Pieces' initiates Abul Mogard’s personal imprint Soft Echoes with a definitive self-portrait of calm, contemplative, and discreet inner landscapes made audible. It is the first solo album on vinyl in four years. RIYL Alessandro Cortini, William Basinski, The Caretaker.

While sifting through archived material left idle from earlier projects, a chance encounter with a late uncle’s trove of beloved 78rpm classical and opera records prompted the reworking and completion of what would eventually become the album. Spinning dusty records at 33 and 45rpm, Abul Mogard recombined their enduring spectres with unfinished sketches from his archive. The resulting soundscape blurs distinctions between his memories and those of another, exquisitely short-circuiting the senses with its waking, dream-like lucidity.

This was a process I hadn’t explored in my earlier works. I began sampling brief moments from these records, altering them with studio effects and playing them at slower speeds. In many cases, I wasn’t entirely sure how the original music sounded. These fragments, once further processed, became a source of inspiration for my new compositions. Over time, I realised that the old pieces from the archive and the new material derived from the samples naturally complemented each other.”

The resulting pieces hover over a threshold, a liminal space that harmonises the old and older material. Voluminous waves of quiet and loud undulate between consonance and dissonance, conjuring imagery of a decaying grandeur that humanity’s decadence has surrendered to the elements. Abul Mogard’s seemingly abandoned yet vast landscapes are nevertheless intimate with timbral frissons of red-lined distortion. Elusive, yet as tangible as sea spray or smog, they affect the olfactory senses with a rarified, synesthetic quality that modestly engages one’s emotional register – a hypnotic, distinguishing feature long hailed as one of the hallmarks of his work. A fidelity to memory and dream recall is sensitively probed in the journey from the stately symphonic stasis of 'Following a dream' to the almost industrial, untethered brutality evoked by a looming silhouette that’s never fully visible in 'Constantly slipping away', culminating in the foreboding coda of 'Like a bird'. Those pieces appear to shield the album’s sentimental core, where the tempestuous play of light and shadow of 'In a studded procession' escalates to breathtaking, panoramic climax, while 'Through whispers' evokes an out-of-body-like experience encountered with visceral poignancy.

Looking back, Mogard notes an unexpected influence: “I realise being inspired by Phill Niblock, whose work I had barely known at the time but explored after his passing in 2024. His album 'Boston Tenor Index' changed the way I approached dissonance. It encouraged me to push my sound further, to the edge of a space where I began to feel uncomfortable.”

The album artwork, created by longtime collaborator Marja de Sanctis, features a photograph taken at the Temple of Jupiter Anxur, an archaeological site overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Captured with an iPhone, the image traces the residual presence of construction techniques and architectural forms of the Romans, where material history is transcribed through contemporary tools. The convergence of ancient and modern technology aims to reverberate the site’s lasting spiritual presence – an echo persisting in what is now perceived as a quiet, emptied space. The spiral gestures towards infinity and light. Past and present dissolve into one another, reflecting 'Quiet Pieces' meditation on sound, memory, and time.

RIYL Alessandro Cortini, William Basinski, The Caretaker