Search:prima j

For this uniquely personal retrospective spread over twelve vinyl discs, Sven Väth takes us back to the early days of his DJ career. On What I Used To Play we meet great pioneers of electronic music, gifted percussionists, obscure wave bands, and innovative producers of a bygone 'new electronic' era. Rough beats and irresistible grooves from the identification stage of house, techno, and acid remind us not just how far electronic music has evolved over the past four decades, but how great it was to dance to EBM, techno, and house for the very first time.

If there is one protagonist of the electronic music scene who has remained curious, innovative and at the very cutting edge of music for over four decades, it's Sven Väth. His multi-layered artist albums and Sound of the Season mix compilations have been defining the genre for over two decades, and even today, he is constantly on the lookout for the next top tune to add to the highlights of his next set. At least, that's the case when he's not producing them himself as an artist or remixer. "Actually, it's always been part of my DNA to think ahead," and nothing had been further from his mind than looking back at his past, but when in spring of 2020 the international DJ circuit had to be scaled down to virtually zero, the 'restless traveler' suddenly had time. Time to stop and reflect on "how it actually was back then, at the very beginning of my career..."

"It was a great trip and with every track, beautiful memories came flooding back".
In the London apartment, he had just moved into, Sven has set up a "little music room", where he cocooned himself for several days, "to look way back for the first time and review my musical journey through the eighties, so to speak."

The interim result was six thematically oriented playlists with a grand total of 120 tracks from 'early 80s' to 'Balearic late 80s', together with excursions into afrobeat, European new wave, and EBM sounds and a few epochal techno/house tracks from the USA in between. From these 'Best of Sven Väth's favorites', the project What I Used To Play crystallized. Sven remembers how the Cocoon team reacted to his proposal: "They found the idea of making a compilation out of it MEGA from the beginning and everyone said 'Sven, go for it', but then, of course, the work really started, namely, to clear the rights and to get clean sounding masters of the up to 40-year-old tracks. There was also disappointment, of course. We couldn't clear certain titles because the rights holders in the USA had fallen out with each other or simply disappeared from the scene. In short, it wasn't easy, but now I can safely say we got the most important tracks."

Finally, after two years of research, curation, design, and administrative fine-tuning, the "little retrospective" from 1981 to 1990 is available. The exquisitely packaged, and three-kilo heavy box set is not only physically impressive, WIUTP is also the definitive record of Sven Väth's musical development. On each of the twenty-four sides of vinyl, you can trace track by track, what influenced him during which phase, and how he took off as a DJ from his parents' Queen's Pub straight into the spotlight at Dorian Gray. There and at Vogue (later OMEN), Sven became the style-defining player in the DJ booth that he still is today.




1981 - 1990: Future Sounds of Now

In the early eighties, the crowd in clubs like Vogue and Dorian Gray danced to what nowadays we call 'dance classics' - mainly disco, funk, soul, and chart pop. It was up to a new generation of DJs, including Sven Väth, the youngest protagonist in the Rhine-Main area at the time, to create their own club-ready music mix. Good new tracks and potential floor-fillers were rarities that had to be sought out and found, in order to prove oneself worthy.
Without MP3s, internet streaming, or other digital download possibilities, music didn't just gravitate to the DJ, instead, it had to be tracked down. In well-stocked record stores in Frankfurt and Wiesbaden or even in Amsterdam, London, or New York, Sven and friends sourced the material for countless magical nights. On WIUTP we can follow Sven's very personal journey through this wild, innovative era in which synth-pop, funk, hip-hop, and disco were successively replaced as 'club music' by house, techno, acid, and breakbeat. By the end of the decade, it was clear to see that these once exotic 'fringe' phenomena would soon become 'mass' phenomena.



Early 80s

Dirty Talk by the Italian-American duo Klein & M.B.O. represents the most innovative phase of the Italo-disco genre in the early eighties like no other track. Mario Boncaldo (I) and Tony Carrasco relied entirely on the original synthetic drum and percussion sounds of the Roland TR-808, coupled with the raunchy vocals of Rossana Casale and guitar accents of Davide Piatto. Of course, other tracks from this period were also influential in style, most notably Unit by Logic System, which worked as the perfect soundtrack to the laser lighting system at the legendary Dorian Gray club. With stomping beats and robotic rap interludes, Bostich by Yello also belongs on Sven's eternal playlist - after all, it caught the attention of Afrikaa Bambaataa, who invited the Swiss duo to perform at the Roxy in New York in 1983.



EBM Wave - Mid 80s

From today's point of view, the almost ten-minute-long, downtempo track Giant by Matt Johnson's band project The The, would probably not be considered an obvious club classic. However, a closer (re)listen reveals the rhythmic intricacies of the percussion overdubs by JG Thirlwell (aka Foetus) on Johnson's composition, and it becomes clear why this exceptional piece of music is one of Sven's absolute favorites. Other classics from this phase include Kaw-Liga by the mysterious The Residents, the hypnotic-synthetic Our Darkness by Anne Clark (and David Harrow), and last but not least, the somber, monotonous anthem Where Are You? by 16Bit, one of Sven Väth's projects together with Michael Münzing, Luca Anzilotti from 1986.



US House - Late 80s

You certainly can't talk about Chicago house without mentioning Frankie Knuckles. The resident DJ at the Warehouse not only gave the name to an entire genre, but also produced epochal floor fillers on the Trax label like the timeless Your Love, sung (and moaned) by Jamie Principle. Acid house protagonists Phuture also hail from Chicago, and on We Are Phuture (also released on Trax) we hear the chirping acid sounds of the legendary Roland TB-303 in full effect. Another featured classic is No UFO's by Detroit's Model 500 aka Juan Atkins, who is rightly considered the 'Godfather of Techno' even if the genre-defining track from 1985 still breathes with the spirit of hip-hop and electro from the first breakdance era.





Afrobeat

Le Serpent, by Algerian-born Abdelmadjid Guemguem, is a track that sounds completely different from everything else on WIUTP. Made in 1978, it's a monumental, rousing groove created without bass or synths, just with five congas! Even though Guem sadly passed away in 2021, his immortal, acoustic beats are understood all over the world and will continue to enrich many thousands of DJ sets for years to come. Another classic that not only Sven appreciates beyond measure is Hugh Masekela's Don't Go Lose it, Baby. In addition to being one of the most important jazz pioneers, the trumpeter and freedom fighter from Johannesburg was very experimental, integrating electronic sounds into his music in later years, in a similar vein to Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock. Dutch jazz pianist Jasper van't Hof's afrobeat project Pili Pili has also aged well. The trance-like, almost sixteen-minute-long track of the same name, manages to fill a whole side on the seventh of twelve vinyl discs in the WIUTP box.



UK-US-Euro - Late 80s

Time for a change of scene, in the truest sense of the word, and from a musical perspective, this section is like landing on another planet. First up is Andrew Weatherall's classic remix of Primal Scream's Loaded, featuring the iconic Peter Fonda sample (lifted from the 1966 biker film Wild Angels) that came to personify the mood triggered by the British Second Summer of Love in the late eighties: "We wanna be free to do what we wanna do, and we wanna get loaded...". This period also saw the emergence of M/A/R/R/S whose only single, 1987's Pump Up The Volume, became a club classic with support from DJ legend CJ Mackintosh. In this most eclectic of sections, we also encounter New York house and reggae producer Bobby Konders and his seminal Nervous Acid.



Balearic - Late 80s

Those who know him, know that Sven had already lost his heart to the 'magic island' of Ibiza as a teenager, so with that in mind, the WIUTP project couldn't end without a Balearic chapter. Inspired by Manuel Göttsching's E2-E4, the immortal, eponymously titled Sueño Latino belongs in there without question. Equally popular on the island was, and still is Break 4 Love by Raze, which thinking about it, would also fit perfectly into the house chapter. Last, but not least, there's an overdue reunion with Sven Väth himself, in his role as frontman of the successful Frankfurt trio OFF. Together with Michael Münzing and Luca Anzilotti (later of Snap!) this 'Organization For Fun' created the off-the-wall club hit Electric Salsa in 1986 which incidentally turned into an international chart smash, putting Sven in the enviable position of having to decide between pop stardom and a DJ career. Well, we all know how that decision turned out and the rest, as they say, is history. A not insignificant part of his story is What I Used To Play. Enjoy!

Great Dane Denis Horvat is back on Afterlife with an epic four-track odyssey.

Denis’ penchant for synth-driven melodic techno is evident across all four of these scintillating cuts. Title track ‘Cha Cha’ percolates and throbs, using a distinct vocal clip and exhilarating synth arrangements to create indelible memories. ‘Precious Unica’ brings in vocalist Lelah for a dour journey into our mind’s emotional centre. ‘Momentum Of The Arapaima’ merges unusual percussive elements with a moody bassline and an earworm vocal clip for ultimate dance floor effervescence. Finally, ‘Majstor’ utilises minimal framework to awaken our primitive state, encouraging deep primal expression.

Presented together for the first time, American composer John McGuire’s Pulse Music series (1975-1979) blurs the popular narrative that Minimalism was a reaction against Europe’s angular, intellectual, inscrutable high-modernism. McGuire, born in California, studied at Occidental College in Los Angeles and UC Berkeley before going to Europe to study with Karlheinz Stockhausen, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Gottfried Michael Koenig. His compositions lock serialism’s warped geometries onto an evenly spaced grid, perfectly preserving serial music’s multi-dimensionality while smoothing its wildest disjunctures and sharpest angles. If serialism is Montreal’s Habitat 67 modular housing complex, McGuire’s Pulse Music compositions are the primary-colored grids of Le Corbusier’s L’Habitation apartment complex — an exuberant expression of the same materials and principles.

Every layer of pulses is made distinct through its timbre, register, and tempo. We hear them as a plurality, organized like stars in the sky. Every so often the sky rotates and the stars appear in a different arrangement. Our ear naturally starts to draw connections and, as it sweeps between one layer and another, what was discrete becomes continuous. Pulses become flows; quantitative reality becomes qualitative experience.

‘Blemish’ was David Sylvian’s first solo album to be released on his own Samadhisound label following his departure from Virgin Records in 2003. This is the first official release on 180gram vinyl. Working primarily as a solo artist, Sylvian created an impromptu suite of songs for guitar, electronics and voice. The compositions were crafted from improvisational sessions by Sylvian and the acclaimed free-jazz guitarist, Derek Bailey on 3 tracks. “A Fire In A Forest” features the haunting electronic arrangements by Austrian guitarist / producer Christian Fennesz.

Spanning over 14 tracks, the new Grimes album features collaborations with Janelle Monae and newcomer, Taiwanese rapper Aristophanes. It was recorded primarily in her home studio in Los Angeles, CA, where she relocated to in 2014. Like all of her previous albums, 'Art Angels' was written and recorded entirely as a solo endeavor. The new album features more live instrumentation than ever before on a Grimes record. She plays piano, guitar and violin, continuing her evolution as a musician and a producer for her most ambitious album to date.
LP - with 14 Exclusive Art Prints designed by Grimes and Download.
CD - With two bonus tracks to the LP.

Polish composer Olga Wojciechowska and veteran electronic producer Robin Rimbaud aka Scanner, combine on A Strangely Isolated Place to revisit a beloved Strie album - Olga's more electronic and experimental alias. With previous releases on Serein and Time Released Sound as Strie, Olga Wojciechowska's 'Struktura' was released in 2015 to a limited audience due to its physical-only format.

As Olga's work becomes increasingly more coveted, through her more recent releases on A Strangely Isolated Place (Unseen Traces & Infinite Distances), and with Struktura praised as one of her finest albums to date, the discussion to breathe new life into the album resulted in a unique pairing with Scanner, an electronic music producer and multimedia artist responsible for some of the most defining works of the genre since the early 1990s.

Blurring the line between harmony and dissonance, Struktura's original recordings paint an eerie, haunting and beautiful picture, conceptualized around abstract art, with intricacies and mystery abound. Here, Strie's original recordings remain untouched, albeit lovingly remastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri, and it is left to Scanner to provide further interpretations of Olga's original recordings. Scanner productions can typically traverse a myriad of styles, but here, Robin took a primarily live-hardware approach to the remixes, allowing the rawness of his recordings to add story and depth. Recorded in one take, with no overdubs, the reinterpretations strip the melodies and textures to their original essence, bringing an entirely analog element to Olga's intrinsically detailed originals. Featuring artwork by Rep Ringel and mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri, Struktura Revisited will be available on Gatefold 2LP in a black/grey half-and-half vinyl, with 6x6" soft-touch heavy art card.

Biosphere is the main recording name of Geir Jenssen (born 30 May 1962),(1) a Norwegian musician who has released a notable catalogue of ambient electronic music. He is well known for his works on ambient techno and arctic themed pieces, his use of music loops, and peculiar samples from sci-fi sources. His 1997 album Substrata was voted by the users of the Hyperreal website in 2001 as the best all-time classic ambient album.

Patashnik was originally released by R&S Records/Apollo in 1994. It was number 1 in NME´s Independent Chart in March 1994 and reached number 50 in the UK official album chart.

The track Novelty Waves was used in Michel Gondry's Levi's 501 Jeans "Drugstore" spot, and holds - according to the Guinness World Records 2004, the record for "Most awards won by a TV commercial".

One reason why Jenssen's work stands out from the flood of early '90s ambient/techno releases is his strong sense of the quirkily creepy -- not in an Aphex Twin mode, but in his own particular way. The contrasting samples of a child quaveringly saying, "We had a dream last night," followed by a rougher sample saying, "We had the same dream," gives opening number "Phantasm" an unsettling feeling. Intensified by the, on the one hand, pretty, on the other, disturbing music, buried synth strings and a soft pulse accentuated by clattering noises deep in the mix, it kicks off the striking Patashnik very well. Though not as openly dark as acts like Lull, for instance, Biosphere still has an edge which isn't just melancholic, it's downright ominous at point. There's the slow crawl of "Startoucher," for instance, with its buried vocal snippets and deep bass drone, or the blend of the space signal atmospheres of "Mir" into the low, brooding intro to "The Shield." Not everything is so shadowy, though, Patashnik is primarily a relax and chill listening experience, but not without its gentle high points. "Novelty Waves," which became a crossover single in some quarters, has a good dancefloor sharpness to it even as Jenssen slyly sneaks in odd drones and samples through the mix. The opening snippet talking about an extraterrestrial disc jockey on "SETI Project" is good for a smile, as well as acting as a sharp lead-in to a fast rhythm track. Mostly, though, things continue on a deliciously unnerving pace throughout, gentle enough to go down easy but still just off enough to ensure you can't call this new age folderol for the rave generation.

Motown soul artist David Ruffin had one of the finest voices of the 60s and 70s, primarily as lead singer of The Temptations. He also recorded as a solo artist across three decades, and while still at Motown in 1977 recorded an album “In My Stride” with writers/arrangers/producers Van McCoy and Charles Kipps. Both the sides on this 7” release come from the album and are among the most enduring recordings by David the solo artist. “I Can’t Stop The Rain” has become increasingly more collectable on 7”, while “Questions” has never previously been available on 45.

talo-Iranian producer Sciahriar Tavakoli, commonly known as Sciahri, after releasing on renowned label as Ilian Tape, Mord, Opal Tapes/Black Opal and MANHIGH finally presents his first long playing record “Double-Edged”, and he does it on his own imprint, Sublunar Records.

The LP is an extended, carefully compiled exploration of the many facets of his signature sound, where emotional melodies collide with dense and rasping basslines.

The artist aims to express emotions with unsettling simplicity, showcasing techno compositions that are both thoughtful and primal.

Within the space of ten tracks, Sciahri’s sound design reveals his structure, pushing the listener through a labyrinth of textures and rhythms.

(Limited edition of 300 copies on clear & black marbled vinyl with full printed sleeve and textured coloured printed insert)

This is the 1st vinyl release on a quiet RIOT, an independent electronic music label based in Scotland.

Following his Interferenza cassette for Osiris Music, Berlin-based sound artist Adam Winchester returns with a new body of work that sees him embracing ever more forthright rhythms while adhering to his established lines of sonic enquiry.

With roots in the Bristol dubstep scene and a long-standing partnership with Christopher Jarman in Dot Product, Winchester has spent the past few years investigating alternative methods of sound generation that deal in hidden electromagnetic frequencies and spectral tones found lurking in circuitry. Bringing these extremities back to a more structured focus, Muutto is a highly personal work that captures the period of transition as he moved from Bristol to Berlin.

While the finely sculpted tonality and artful distortion of his recent work is plain to hear throughout, Muutto is also grounded in arrangement and melody, weaving a tangible narrative that pivots around steely rhythmic architecture, nodding to his roots in club music without expressing anything explicitly 'dancefloor.' Even at its most physical, as on the weighted march of 'Hold,' the emphasis is on atmosphere and mood, no matter how heavy the drums fall. In the distant murmurs of pads and poignant vocal threads, the bittersweet emotional backdrop to the record comes through in abundance.

There's space afforded for the more avant-garde tendencies in Winchester's music too. 'Metaphors' is caked in guttural feedback that comes on like a particularly noisy Albini studio session strapped to a chassis of the swampiest blues rock lurch you're likely to hear all year.

In its needlepoint detail, broad scope of sound palettes and potent expression, Muutto is an accomplished offering, but more significant is the way these facets are bound together by immediacy and form that transcend the freeform experimentation many of Winchester's traits are drawn from.

'a quiet RIOT' is an electronic music label based in Livingston, Scotland orchestrated by Nomad and is the sub-label of the highly renowned 'RIOT Radio Records.'

Since 20th February 2015, Nomad has run his own very successful fortnightly internet techno radio show called the "RIOT Radio Show.' Each show has a resident warm up set then a further hour with a wicked guest, the majority of whom are among the world's top electronic artists. The show gets thousands of listeners on each transmission with every set recorded exclusively for it. You will not hear them anywhere else.

A hoard of very well-known and simply stunning acts always feature on the show along with a whole host of very talented local music makers.

This was the build up to the record label being launched in April 2016 that will show-case major acts and amazing local talent.

Process Blue was formed in the fall of 1981, at Antioch College near Dayton, Ohio. The group essentially consists of Chel White (tapes, keyboards, percussion) and Dan Gediman (keyboards, vocals, bass). Additional members contributed at various points to both recorded works and live performance. Process Blue's original interest was in electronic music and the interfacing of electronic sounds with acoustic instruments, non-musical instruments, and tape-manipulated sounds. The group's primary objective has been to strive for creative experimentation within the format of contemporary pop music.

We are proud to release a 12-song LP featuring music recorded between 1981 and 1982. 7 of the tracks were originally self released on a cassette album in 1982. The only song in this batch to ever appear on vinyl is 'Control Panel' released on a French LP compilation called 'Folie Distinguee Alternative Funk.' The songs range from experimental dance music to quieter, more melodically-oriented pieces. They used an array of synthesizers used were Moog Sonic-Six, Casiotone MT-30, Korg MS10, Roland SH 101, Casio VL Tone. Analog instruments included electric guitar and bass, and drums. Guest musicians included Gil Belton (melodic rototoms percussion and synthesizer bird sounds) on Industrial Park, Eric Zimmerman (Korg synthesizer) on Up to $100 and Subterrania, Patricia Yarborough (vocals) on Pink Razor and Air, Mike Pummel (engineer) on Control Panel, and John Flansburgh (of They Might Be Giants) engineer on Up to $100. All songs have been remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. Each LP is housed in a jacket designed by Maycec featuring original drawings by Chel White and include a double-sided insert with photos and lyrics.

Photonz is the alias of Marco Rodrigues a DJ, producer and driving force of Lisbon's underground scene. For little over a decade now, he's been crafting his own deeply personal style of Portuguese house and techno for labels such as Créme Organization, 20:20 Vision, Don't Be Afraid, Skylax, Unknown To The Unknown and his own One Eyed Jacks. As a DJ, Photonz grew a reputation for deep crates and intensely euphoric sets and in 2017, together with Violet (co-founder at his Radio Quantica) and Lisbon's own Rabbit Hole collective, he started the now infamous Mina parties - a monthly, sex-positive, queer and intersectional-feminist techno party aimed at using the dissociative potential of intense raving to create a temporary space of suspension away from patriarchal expectations.

Etheric Body Music is Photonz's debut 6-track EP for Dark Entries and a simultaneous reference to hermeticism and EBM (Electronic Body Music). Marco loves that 'aesthetic when 80s industrial and EBM bands split up and start to make trance in the early 90s and all the ritual magick pushes them to zen stuff and they do ecstasy.' There's this concept in theosophy and hermetic philosophy of the Etheric Body, which is an energy body superimposed and connected to the physical body, similar to the acupuncture idea of an energetic body. That idea manifests itself as six primal club cuts, which also channel early techno, Drexciyan rhythms, balearic & old school jack. Raw arpeggiated synth lines and bass blast jut against metallic stabs and highly percussive shakedowns to create mournful atmospheric warped house. All songs have been mastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The vinyl comes housed in a psychedelic jacket with snakey green and purple velvet in an electric acid spewing weird biological alien energy form designed by Eloise Leigh.

Special vinyl re-issue of Trentemøller's groundbreaking debut album. Includes all of the 13 songs on vinyl for the first time. Triple-vinyl in gatefold sleeve.

Trentemøller's debut album remains one of the few genre-defining and groundbreaking albums in many regards. It's still being praised for its composition and sounddesign alike and sounds as fresh and breathtaking today as it did when it was originally released in 2006.
The Last Resort - a beautifully crafted, astonishing masterpiece, that will leave you breathless. The 13 instrumental tracks together form a wordless musical story, almost like the soundtrack of a movie. It
manages to capture a whole range of emotions in subtle melodic miniatures, dreamy ambiences, dusty beats, deep dub-tracks and driving groove-excursions. An ever-changing kaleidoscope of colours and moods. Although it's an electronic album, it also incorporates live-drums, guitars, bass and other acoustic instruments like celesta, glockenspiel, melodica and even DJ scratching to create a more organic feel. The album received fantastic acclaim from both music fans and journalists around the world and made it into the top-lists of the month, the year, the decade - alongside an array of awards for best production or best album.

Back in 2006, the original pressing only included a selection of songs from the original 13-track album release. It missed out on songs which had been released on singles or didn't "fit" on the so called "vinyl edition". Due to 'public demand' and simply because this album deserves a proper vinyl release we are happy to finally present, for the first time, the full album on vinyl. It spans of three vinyl discs and is packed in a beautiful gatefold sleeve which also holds a download-code. The recut has been carefully crafted from first generation, orignal masters by Calyx in Berlin. Since the album has been praised for its fantastic sound the primary directive was to cut the lacquers for the re-issue so that they would sound exactly the same as the original release, which has been the CD version of the album. No 'digital remastering' or any other alterations have been applied.
All 13 songs of the classic album on one vinyl release for the first time. Triple-Vinyl edition. Gatefold sleeve. download code. original sound-quality. NO digital remastering.

Based on the Irvine Welsh novel of the same name, the film version of 'Trainspotting' directed by Danny Boyle became a cult sensation. Focused on the heroin subculture of Edinburgh in the 1980s, the film is occupied with surrealism, black comedy and features a great soundtrack. This album includes tracks from Iggy Pop, New Order, Blur, Underworld and many more.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the iconic drama, the original soundtrack is being reissued on CD and vinyl. Having been out of print for a long time, the 180g vinyl features replica original artwork that includes special silver spot finishes throughout - front, back, booklet and picture labels, as well as bright pantones. There will be a limited run on orange vinyl before moving to black once sold out.

NTD005 adds a new artist to the collective - Metamethod aka Simon Haynes.From Adelaide, Australia, Metamethod (Undefined Recordings) returns from a long hiatus with a new EP.
The product of much time refining sounds and ideas, both tracks on the EP are essential synthesis. Sounds primarily sculpted from scratch, resulting in biochemical rhythms and algorithmic loops.
A must have record for anyone wanting to add some raw energy to their collection.

The second release on Modern Cathedrals includes an original mix by Altstadt Echo supplemented with remixes crafted by Donor, Luigi Tozzi, and Asop. The inclusion of Donor's remix represents a continued effort to link together the Detroit and Brooklyn scenes, while the Luigi Tozzi remix connects Modern Cathedrals to the ghastly, dark styles of techno that Italian artists have become so respected for. As a core member of the Modern Cathedrals team and a primary force behind the label's event series, Asop's remix is the very first public release of work by this incredible new Detroit-based artist.

But while the artist names change from record to record, the philosophy does not. We continue in a desperate attempt to generate meaning during the short spasm of a lifetime we are given in a world that seems to conspire to prevent this effort's realization. This situation might be inescapable, but through the rejection of complacency and dogma, we can approach our end with the bitter comfort that we were at least willing to be honest about our situation.

Compiled onto one vinyl album for the first time, Landlocked (Numbers, 2026) presents Hallucinator’s 1999 debut album originally released under Mark Ernestus and Moritz von Oswald’s label Chain Reaction. Writing much surrounding the culture of what would be later considered ‘Dub Techno’ and its’ primary distribution center, Hard Wax, leads one down roads of shifting primary sources and decades old overheard smoke break recollections. Maybe brevity primes the listener to the paralinguistic to approach the sound on its terms; focusing on how things are uttered and not what.

This theory will remain unconfirmed. Hallucinator original press release left us with three or so gestures to consider over the years since:

“A new act on CHAIN REACTION”s distinct productional thesis. HALLUCINATOR are 3 people from he UK/London and this their first release ever- that’s all what the artists want to let us know…. This record is dedidacted to the memory of Stephen Lawrence!”

The first gesture is one of personnel. Since ’99, we’ve gotten to learn a bit more about the artists behind the Hallucinator project. All London-based, all writers, composers, and sound-designers— Anna Piva, Edward George, Trevor Mathison. These three seem to flow between parameters as aesthetic tactic and tacit structure to the work itself. For example, other collaborative shapes have come from this lineup including Flow Motion (Piva, George and Mathison) as well as the now defunct Black Audio Film Collective of which George and Mathison are founding members.

The second gesture is in the second line of the previous press release, “distinct productional thesis.” Much of Landlocked’s affect and sequencing seems to suggest an emotional study of entropy at the level of sediment. Rhythms play with space and capacity through polyvalence. The production chose subtractive vertigo, often switching and bringing back in elements that vanished from the track 6 minutes ago. Dubbing out so much of a track, one begins to associate sound akin to memories held in the experience of running your hand across a concrete block as a child. Felt (re)memberance in lieu of narrative tale. Using textures that flicker between colour and percussion, Hallucinator’s 12-tracker of loudspeaker perception music might be a mediation on the psychic wake of the Cold War. Intermittent strata of ambience and groove convects an active margin rifting event underneath a scorched geology of power in Western Europe. Again, this is all grapevine hearsay.

But it’s silence that voices the third gesture. The album’s sparse application of the written word touches on the ennui paradox of being landlocked on an island. Stuck. Trapped in the psychosis of occidental hypercentricism. A looping silence of Black British tragedy: “to the memory of Stephen Lawrence”. 18 year-old Lawrence was stabbed to death at a bus stop in southeast London by six white men in 1993. The rift of grief and implicit reiteration of modern subordination left by this hate act went legally silent for almost two decades until Lawrence’s killers were ultimately sentenced to virtually life in jail in 2012. Only six years removed at the time of Hallucinator’s initial invocation of rememory, the mind-numbing accretion of what Black Studies Professor Denise Ferreira da Silva might call “unpayable debt”, finds demonic ground across Landlocked, forming an aural sense of what continues to be refused.

The album ventures through spaces of overactive non-happenings: ‘Red Angel’’s factory floor dub flashes between smokestack and jungle visions, or the halfway mark’s stilted breath of ‘Dusk’ lending its mood to the sort of sedated dreams built from daily life under colony rule for instance. That linked rhythm links us back to our linked fates across Black and Brown folk is real, thus the syncopated signals through this work behave on the level of transnational radiotelegraphy, sounding out its windswept tension of a body negotiating a meat-grinder schema of linear production and wage for others to know that unspeakable thing can be broadcast in every drum tongue.

As the silence continues to reverb, we return to the sort of meaning-making that cannot be told but felt. Soothing to some, disturbing to others. Landlocked, a Rorschach test for a crumbled empire.

Often credited as the father of multi-media theatre, Alwin Nikolais (1910-1993) took complete creative control over his productions - including cutting-edge approaches to lighting and costume that transformed human bodies into shifting sculptural shapes, while also composing wildly innovative electro-acoustic and synth-based audio as accompaniment.

After initially experimenting with musique concrète and tape manipulation (as demonstrated on the 1959 LP Choreosonic Music of the New Dance Theatre of Alwin Nikolais) Nikolais became the first owner of Robert Moog's synthesizer at the Audio Engineering Society convention in New York in late 1964. Relying heavily on the Moog and later the Synclavier synth/sampler, these 21 tracks document Nikolais' highly-prescient compositions across the mid 1960s through to the late 1980s - existing not only as extensions of his other-worldly choreographic productions, but standalone pieces of foundational mid-century American electronic and experimental music.

"Born in Southington, Connecticut in 1910, Nikolais’s early years and early career were in acting, music and puppetry. It was not until the late 1930s that he began his work as dancer/choreographer in Hartford, Connecticut, where he was commissioned by the Avery Memorial Theatre, a part of the Wadsworth Atheneum, to create an evening-length work to the music of Ernst Krenek. Previously his work and study as a pianist-organist found him accompanying silent films. This sort of accompaniment required from the musician not only a playing skill but also a versatility in improvisation, matching movement to sound, and evoking mood to situation.

Nik was drawn initially to dance by his involvement with the percussion scores used by the illustrious early twentieth century German dancer Mary Wigman. In trying to learn more about percussion, he was lured into dance class and thus his career began. His development of music and dance occurred simultaneously. His introduction to the twelve-tone technique opened his mind to the expanding areas of atonal music, and his dealing with music as sound per se. In 1948, after being appointed director of the Henry Street Playhouse in New York, Nikolais formed the Playhouse Dance Company, later known as the Nikolais Dance Theater, and began his aesthetic orientation toward dance as a study of motion. By the 1950s, he had ceased creating literal dances and began his explorations and eventual milieu as an abstractionist.

Sound became an important part of his abstract theatre. For his first dances, which involved his new thinking of dance as both a visual and kinetic art, he used live percussion scores in which he directed his dancers to play instruments of all nature. There was a combination of children’s toy instruments as well as harsh and resonant automobile brake drums, and other pitched auto parts which he also used to accompany classes. Once he installed his own tape recording machines, he quickly used the limited range these instruments provided in a new way, slowing and increasing speed and reversing sound. He also made the sounds adhere to the choreographic structure (not the other way around), thereby giving the dance its independence from the musical phrasing. But the real need remained: the search for new sound. Nik made a sound library, recording noises and percussion and vocal sounds, which the French aptly called musique concrète. Needless to say, he became a master at splicing bits and pieces.

From 1956 to 1962 Nikolais composed eleven major scores for his theatre pieces using such techniques. In 1963, James Seawright, who at the time was assisting Nik in his productions and also working at the Columbia-Princeton Center for Electronic Music, recorded a sound bank for the production Imago (1963). With this material, Nikolais created his first synthesizer score. Imago won the Paris Grand Prix in 1968 and launched the Nikolais Dance Theatre towards its national and primarily international acclaim.

During the same period, Seawright came to Nik and told him of a young man who had invented and constructed a simplified synthesizer and insisted that Nik visit the electronic fair currently being held in New York. Nik did so and met Robert Moog. He was completely taken by the new machine and after making some suggestions to Moog, (which Moog made), Nik bought the inventor’s first machine with the aid of a Guggenheim Fellowship. Moog himself was astonished by what his machine could produce for Nik. This machine was later acquired by the Museum of Musical Instruments at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor as the first Moog synthesizer. The Synclavier was Nik’s next source of sound and since the mid-1970s remained the major instrument in the Nikolais soundroom.

Alwin Nikolais has been honored and awarded throughout the world. He has received the French Legion of Honor, the Kennedy Center Honors, National Medal of the Arts, two Guggenheim Fellowships, as well as Mellon, Ford, and Rockefeller grants. He has been a recipient of NEA grants since 1966, been awarded five honorary doctorates, all for his remarkable achievements in Dance Theater. His genius has influenced several generations of artists."
—Murray Louis

Kvrk makes a debut on Distant Gaze with Synthetic Memories, a four-track EP exploring shadowy electronics where organic textures and synthetic forms constantly blur into one another.

Opening with Pulsewidth, the EP begins as a slow burn – a restrained piece of synthwave shaped by drifting ambience, hypnotic sequences and a steady sense of tension.

The pace gradually lifts with Void Caller and title track Synthetic Memory, pushing deeper into prog sound. Straight, driving rhythms form the backbone, occasionally dissolving into broken-beat passages, while warped synths and psychedelic details keep everything in constant motion.

Beneath the electronic framework runs something more primal: forest-like soundscapes, mystic undertones and subtly shamanic motifs give the music an earthy, ritualistic dimension.

Closing the release, Blu:sh reworks Void Caller through his signature deep and trippy approach, stretching the original into a spacious late-night interpretation with a submerged, dreamlike pull.

SIGNUM REGIS was founded in 2007 and stands for finest melodic Power Metal with both progressive and symphonic elements. Their upcoming new and eighth studio album „Beyond Spacetime“ will be released on October 9th through Fireflash Records and will feature different vocalists. Among them their current singer Mayo Petranen, who just returned to the band, his successor Jota Fortinho as well as top class names, such as Ripper Owens (ex-JUDAS PRIEST), Matt Smith (THEOCRACY), Ralf Scheepers (PRIMAL FEAR), Johnny Gioeli (HARDLINE, AXEL RUDI PELL), Tasos Lazaris (STEEL ARCTUS, WHITE WIZZARD), David Åkesson (SYMPHONITY; QUANTICE), but also Victor Smolski (ALMANAC, ex-RAGE), with a guitar solo on the first single-release „Throne Of Gold“.
„We are so satisfied and proud of it! Even though the last 3 years were not easy for the band, this is definitely not just a ""next"" Signum Regis"" album, we are a band, we are always aiming to create something special - for us and for fans“, comments guitarist Filip Koluš, who also mixed and produced the album.
„Beyond Spacetime“ is rounded up by an excellent artwork from Uwe Jarling, known for his work for acts like HEAVEN’S GATE, GRAVE DIGGER or recently FRONT ROW WARRIORS. „The result is awesome! We are definitely a band that considers the artwork a very important part of our artistic vision. Over the years this approach has only grown stronger, so having a real cover artist has become an absolute must for us“, comments Tommy.
SIGNUM REGIS will celebrate their 20th anniversary next year. „Beyond Spacetime“ already feels like kind of a best-of journey through their past, present and future. „We grew up on the values of traditional melodic metal - this focus will most probably never change“, says Filip Koluš and explains: „At the same time, we are also a group of great friends, who have a common goal - to make the best quality metal music together.“

Produced by François Tétaz and Luke Howard and recorded primarily at Melbourne's Synth Temple, Tina Arena's Way Of The World reimagines “True Faith” (New Order), “Way of the World” (Max Q / Michael Hutchence), “Enjoy the Silence” (Depeche Mode), “Ordinary World” (Duran Duran), “Torno Bambina” (Ada Mori) and “Cayendo” (Frank Ocean) through stunning orchestral arrangements, prepared piano, analogue synthesis and electronic textures.

Rather than traditional cover versions, these are complete artistic reimaginings that reaffirm Tina Arena as one of Australia's most expressive and enduring vocalists. Of first single “True Faith”, Tina says: “Making the deliberate choice to focus on the lyric of true faith was musically revelatory for me. It presented a blank musical canvas with endless vulnerability and space for me to explore.”

François Tétaz, a Grammy and ARIA-winning producer known for his work with Gotye, Kimbra and Architecture in Helsinki, contributes synthesisers, Rhodes, prepared piano and drum machines throughout, while pianist and composer Luke Howard shapes the EP's restrained, cinematic language. The pair are joined by an ensemble including the Budapest Art Orchestra, Peter Knight, James Rushford, Mindy Meng Wang and orchestrator Felix Watson, giving the collection its rich, orchestral backbone.

The EP announcement lands amid a landmark 50-year career anniversary for Tina — one of Australia's highest-selling artists of all time, having sold more than 10 million albums worldwide.

The Lemonheads release a strictly limited edition 12” single on 21st September featuring three classic tracks on white vinyl. Lead cut is ‘Roky’, Evan Dando’s homage to the late, great outsider genius Roky Erickson (of garage psyche legends 13th Floor Elevator and much solo strangeness).


"If Roky Erickson had vanished from the face of the earth after The 13th Floor Elevators released their epochal debut single, ‘You're Gonna Miss Me’, in early 1966, in all likelihood he'd still be regarded as a legend among garage rock fanatics for his primal vocal wailing and feral harmonica work." AllMusic


‘Roky’ is Evan's incisive take on the songwriter’s struggles and features a searing guitar break from the song's co-writer Nick Saloman (The Bevis Frond)


The Bevis Frond toured with The Lemonheads in support of the latter’s much-praised ‘Love Chant’ album of 2025 from where ‘Roky’ originally comes. And, to complete this unique package, the Frond cover two Lemonheads’ songs, ‘The Great Big No’ and ‘My Drug Buddy’; both sounding like the kind of UK-based left field power pop that inspired Kurt Cobain in the formative days of grunge – indeed, they could have snook out on the original Rough Trade or 53rd & 3rd labels at any time.


Fact fans looking for Roky-styled curveball ley line between events, might note that The Lemonheads covered The Bevis Frond’s ‘Old Man Blank’ on 2019’s ‘Varshons II’, the same year that Roky sadly passed.


Stars & Quotes:
“One of the most distinctive voices of the ‘90s” The New York Times
“The Lemonheads are one of my favorite bands” Jimmy Fallon
“Gloriously euphoric melancholy” MOJO (on Roky)

Die französischen Brüder Carl und Renaud alias Jersey verbinden UK-Rock-Energie, 2010er-EDM und French Touch zu einem emotionalen, live-orientierten elektronischen Sound. Nach gefeierten EPs, Arbeiten mit Justice und Phoenix sowie Shows bei Coachella, Portola und Primavera erscheint mit „Nothing’s Fake“ ihr Debütalbum – zwischen explosiven Electronic-Tracks, Pop-Hymnen und introspektiven Momenten.

Yesca is back on Shall Not Fade with ‘Paint on Walls’ 12” EP.

2024’s Yesca EP on SNF - “Mood Loops” - set a high bar, so when we say this record is something special you should take note. Of course if you already know Yesca’s music or have had the pleasure of a Yesca DJ set then you will have already this queued up.

Sweet Spot: Ben Sims, Deetron, Oliver Ho, Vince Watson, Grain (Artwork’s Techno alias). Planet-E, Primate Recordings, Paul Mac & Stimulus Recordings found the sweet spot.

According to the OED the first use of the phrase “Sweet Spot” was in 1976 in reference to tennis rackets and golf swings. It’s where everything hits just right. And that’s what this EP does, hits just right. What strikes me is how descriptive the phrase ‘Sweet Spot’ is. Given enough swings and some luck we all know what it feels like to hit the sweet spot in some regard. Finding the sweet spot regularly though takes time and skill. But being able to hit the sweet spot by design every time, well that’s something different. That’s what makes the greats great.

For us at SNF there’s a consensus that in the lineage of electronic music there have been many moments where artists & labels converged on a sweet spot. One such sweet spot for us is in Techno
around 2003 when at the tail end of Hardgroove tempos began to slow and a groovier more refined tech house infused goodness appeared in the racks from a group of killer techno labels & artists (some mentioned above) that moment before the fuller emergence of the 2nd wave of Tech House in the mid 00’s.

That sound, while often emulated, never quite hit the same for us at least – until Yesca came along. His music has everything that we love about that sweet spot. Raw driving groove, rolling basslines and hip shaking percussion. What’s different on ‘Paint on Walls’ is that Yesca stepped on - he had already found the sweet spot on 2024’s Mood Loop EP - now his sound (or swing) is natural. Repeatable, refined and seemingly effortless. To revisit the tennis and golf analogy, this is the start of a Grand Slam run from an artist ready to etch their name in dance music history. Tiger..... Serena......Yesca.

Run the Tracks:
‘How I Do It (They Wonder)’ - A masterclass in less is more, and a serious DJ tool. Full of groove - slow it down and it will light the touchpaper in a house set - speed it up and you’ve got techno weaponry. Forget gatekeeping, this will make you feel like you just found a 2004 techno white label from the likes of Grain or Ben Sims.

‘I Desire’ - House music that I reckon Deetron would be proud of... Blissed out machine funk, whispered vocals, slick jazzy chords and dubbed out techno stabs are all grounded by Yesca’s impeccable, loopy drum programming. The best tunes always end too soon.

‘Domination’ - The ever rising bass, err, dominates this track and this track will dominate on many a dancefloor, but Yesca's knack for dubbed out swinging synth lines has to get a shout out here too. He turns what would be melodic elements into what feels like part of the percussion. Double Threat. Hands Up and Heads Down business.

‘Paint on Walls’ - It would be a tough call to say Yesca’s saved the best til last with the EP’s eponymous track given what’s come before, but Paint On Walls works all the highlights from the rest of the EP into a latin techno/house infused anthem. Skittering percussion, a hint of Detroit goodness and a deep deep rolling bassline and THAT vocal. In every way hopeful yet resistant, and that is what techno is all about.

TIM HECKER’s latest work approaches a form of secular musical transcendentalism from within the battered temple of spirituality.

Recorded in a church in Reykjavik, Iceland and using a pipe organ as the primary sound source, this new piece is essentially a live recording. In reality, it exists in a nether world between captured live performance and meticulous studio work, melding the two approaches to sonic artifice as a unity. It is in parts a document of air circulating within a wooden room, and also a pagan work of physical resonance within a space once reserved for the hallowed breath of the divine.

While the title of the piece “Hatred of Music” might be a clue, the album is also partly an attempt to confront a pervasive negativity surrounding music. Historical rituals of destroying pianos, mountains of pirated CDRs pushed by bulldozers in Eastern Europe, or the melancholy of the digital music era began as sideline motifs which quickly informed the work on this record. They also really didn't at all. Despite that the context is wide open in such a form of musical abstraction, the substance of these immersive compositions showcases Heckerʼs continued mastery of organizing sound into a visceral near entity. It is an almost physical presence that the listener feels as much as hears.

This work is a significant contribution to Hecker's oeuvre, one which spans over ten years of musical production. Ravedeath is an enigmatic document of beauty and force. The album was recorded mostly over the period of one day in July of 2010. Iceland-based musician Ben Frost assisted with the engineering and performs on this recording.

RECEIVED AN 8.6 BEST NEW MUSIC RATING FROM PITCHFORK.

4/5 REVIEW IN MOJO: “HEARTBEAT TONES DISSOLVE INTO BEAUTEOUS SHIMMER AND STELLAR SYNTH MEDITATIONS GIVE WAY TO CAREFULLY ORCHESTRATED ELECTRONICA.”

4/5 REVIEW IN UNCUT: “IT'S MASTERFUL, THOUGH IT WILL LEAVE YOU FEELING LIKE A SPECK OF GRAVEL IN A SELF-DESTRUCTING WORLD.”

NME - 8/10 review (w/c 14 October) "He’s mastered this stylistic skittishness and you’ll do well to find much dispute about his talent."

NARC - 5/5 review (October issue) "An immersive soundtrack to your own personal psychodrama."

WIRE - ONE PAGE REVIEW (October issue) "The sentiments it stirs to life are shadowed and ambiguous, simultaneously personal and impersonal. It is also fantastically immersive, dragging the listener into its turbulent undertows, then washing them back on dry land, intact but changed.’’

Virgins was recorded during three periods in 2012, mostly in Reykjavik, Montreal and Seattle, using ensembles in live performance.

While this album remains committed to a painterly form of musical abstraction, it is also a record of restrained composition recorded live primarily in intimate studio rooms. This record employs woodwinds, piano and synthesizers towards an effort at doing what digital music does not do naturally—making music that is out of time, out of tune and out of phase.

Some pieces go off the rails before forming into anything, others eschew crescendo
compositional structures or bombastic density while going sideways instead. It points to the ongoing development of Hecker's work. It suggests illusory memories of drug- hazed jams or communal music performance that may have never been performed or been heard.

It is an offering of music into the void, a gift of digital filler between distractions. Yet hopefully it also stands as a document of the enduring faith in the narcotic, enigmatic function of music as long-form expression.

Mixed by Valgeir Sigurðsson and Tim Hecker. Additional assistance by Randall Dunn and Ben Frost. Mastered by Mandy Parnell at Black Saloon Studios in London, UK.

The sun sat high above the desert outside Joshua Tree on October 17, 2024, baking the rocks and shrubbery outside the Farrington Observatory as a small group of invited guests ventured up a steep path towards the telescope. Kyle Simon, the artist and printmaker who founded the Observatory, was standing outside the print studio sat below the towering cylindrical building, greeting friends alongside his wife Sarah and lifelong friend Brian Weitz, the musician widely known as Geologist of Animal Collective. Simon and Weitz had spent the previous day testing and retesting a system that would transform the light of the oncoming full moon captured by the gigantic telescope into a signal that would modulate the control voltage of Weitz’s modular synthesizer. As the sun dipped below the horizon line, the audience gathered on a small wooden patio surrounded by speakers while Weitz readied himself behind the array of patches and knobs. Simon addressed the group, presenting the history of The Sirens, the sonic exploration of the night sky’s mystical and scientific significance about to unfold.

The music conjured under the Hunter’s Moon that night is now documented on this first official release of The Sirens, which was conceived by Simon and Weitz as a recurring performance piece and sound installation. Over a decade ago, Simon began immersing himself in literature on humanity’s sonic relationship to the celestial realm, including Homer’s Odyssey, Plato’s “Spindle of Necessity, ” Kepler’s Harmonices Mundi, and the field of astroseismology. He fitted homemade telescopes with photodiodes and optical sensors to make the images audible, finding latent patterns in the noisy sonic signals he began receiving from the stars. With Weitz, the process expanded as the signal was routed through an analog amplifier and set to modulate the pitch, filter, and other elements of his synthesizer. Together they developed a system of improvisation, with Simon adjusting the telescope to change the intensity of the light based on its relationship with the moon’s position (imagine a theremin player moving their hands in subtle, meaningful motion), and Weitz responding to that input in real time: bending it, amplifying it, or letting it stand on its own. The duo debuted the piece at the Integretron in Joshua Tree in 2018, providing a crucial proof of concept for the performance at Farrington featured here.

The first thing the listener hears on The Sirens is the opening of Farrington Observatory, the cranking of motor and metal. As the lens of the telescope is exposed to the evening air, a wavering drone emerges from the synthesizer, flickering at the margins, the tuning of the oscillators adjusting to the rapidly cooling desert air. The piece progresses and the drone becomes a luminous, spherical constant, bathing the listener in pure tone as Weitz draws out harmonically ambiguous melodies that spiral upwards. Electronics crackle and convulse, coalescing into dense dissonance before widening out into an open octave. Just as the moon orbits the Earth and the stars shift as the planet rotates, so each sonic element appears in flux, interrelationships slowly forming and falling away. Divided into two parts, The Sirens flows as a continuous conversation between the artists and the starlight completing its thousand-year journey across the galaxy.

The Sirens belongs primarily to a lineage beyond music: of sea captains navigating by looking skyward, of astrophysicists studying the formation of the Milky Way, of the modern myths of werewolves, of the stories embedded in constellations. As Simon writes in the album’s extensive liner notes, “These stories and explorations reveal a collective yearning to become conscious of our connection to the universe, our deep-seated desire to understand how we fit into it all.” This music underscores the history of the night sky as the place where poetry and science find common ground, where exploration hinges on the imagination. Driven by curiosity and ingenuity, Weitz and Simon look up and wonder.

"Life Is Beautiful Again" is the debut album of Nadine El Roubi, a Sudanese-born, New York-based singer, rapper, songwriter, and multidisciplinary artist.
The album is the culmination of music created over the last three to four years. While the album can be categorized as primarily neo-soul, its true genre remains fluid — shaped by influences in hip-hop, neo-soul,and indie music.

Both melancholic and powerful, introspective and self-assured, Life Is Beautiful Again explores personal and external chaos, womanhood, belonging, and the determination to maintain faith through struggle. Thematically, it marks a shift from her previous work. Where earlier releases were overtly political, defiant, and outward-facing, this album turns inward. It is softer, more reflective, and rooted in the belief that vulnerability can be its own form of strength.

Written and recorded over three years across four cities, the album carries the imprint of many different versions of a Sudanese woman navigating change, loss, love, ambition, and growth, these songs became a way of making sense of the world.
At its core, the album’s message is simple: even through the ugliest of times, life will always become beautiful again.

Two decades have passed in the land of Gnod, yet the psychic travelogue only becomes more enthralling as it goes on. And whilst this band has flourished via dauntless conviction, hive-mind magic and a fierce and uncompromising spirit, one ingredient has served as a crucial fuel for the fire – the monolithic singularity of the riff. 



This second chapter of Gnod’s sort-of-anniversary trilogy also originates in the same six day sessions as the first, at Hellfire Studios near Dublin with producer Spud Murphy (Lankum, Black Midi etc). Yet the focus this time is on the transcendental heaviness and repetition that the band have often used as a primary fulcrum of their approach. This volume captures the sound of strings flayed, throats shredded, skins punished by the organic chemistry of this formidably powerful band in a room.


The results are amongst the most fearsome and kinetic material that Gnod have summoned to date. As has often been the case for a band heavily driven by serendipity and intuition, the best plan is no plan at all. “We find quite regularly that spontaneity and the no thought approach works better than over analysis and detailed planning” clarifies the band's Chris Haslam


Maximal yet minimal, claustrophobic yet expansive, free in approach yet mercilessly disciplined in their intensity – Gnod like every truly great band are a mass of contradictions. On Chronicles Of Gnowt (Vol 2), this thunderous paradox has never sounded fiercer. To paraphrase Nietzsche: “Is man merely a mistake of Gnod's? Or Gnod merely a mistake of man?”

Confronting 2026, hope can seem in short supply, as the most divisive and toxic voices worldwide are amplified amidst an ever-rising temperature of conflict and alienation, yet hope is abundant in ‘Losey’, the latest release on Rocket Recordings from the mercurial duo Gnoomes. Just as this couple have taken a bold step into the unknown by leaving Russia and moving to Slovenia, so their music has thrown off all shackles to flourish in a defiant show of vibrant and revivifying colour. “The life of an immigrant is a strange thing.” says the bands Sasha Piankov “But luckily, that glow music brings us has never faded, even though the emotional landscape has definitely shifted.” Yet whilst the music that Sasha and his creative and life partner Masha Piankova came up with is testimony to a liberating triumph against oppression and adversity, it also goes beyond. What has emerged is a kaleidoscopic collision of styles which sends the ‘skygazing’ realm of their previous work spinning into electronic orbit. Whilst the opener ‘Foreign Agent’ explicitly tackles the pressures of the Russian state, it also throws a Stereolab-style motorik meditation through an in-the-red psychedelic prism. Elsewhere we can behold Bulgakov and Chris and Cosey as bedfellows amidst the mesmeric, 303-fried EBM of ‘Satan’s Ball’.
“Rave as therapy. Pop as resistance. Love as endurance. ADHD as a production technique.” These are the primary ingredients of Losey, by the reckoning of the band themselves. This is an album that exists purely on its own distinct frequency, driven by defiance and positivity. Losey is a soundtrack to set fire to the old order, the better to dance in the glow.

Isao Suzuki's third release for TBM showcases his remarkable versatility, not only on his primary instrument, the bass, but also on electric piano, organ, cello, and even vocals. The album's expansive, spiritual, and blues-infused title track stands out as a particular highlight. Supervised by Koki Hanawa as part of the series.