2022 marks the 25th anniversary of Suction Records, the Toronto-based electro/IDM label founded in 1997 by two emerging producers, Lowfish (aka Gregory De Rocher) and Solvent (aka Jason Amm), the latter still overseeing the label to this day. The label’s inaugural release was a split Lowfish/Solvent 12”, marking both artists’ debut vinyl appearance.
Gregory and Jason had known each other since high-school, but a deeper friendship was forged during their university years, after Gregory introduced Jason to early Rephlex releases by Aphex Twin and µ-Ziq. Gregory had been making electronic music in his bedroom for more than a decade, but it was those Rephlex releases that ignited Jason’s passion to do the same. After several years of obsessive gear buying, music making, and playing tracks for each other, Lowfish and Solvent had hit their stride, and their demos even attracted the interest of legendary early IDM labels labels Skam (for Lowfish), and Isophlux (for Solvent). But things were slow-moving in those days — letters, faxes, phone calls… nothing was panning out. So that’s when they decided to start their own label, and put out 300 copies of this 12”, suction001.
The label was heavily inspired by contemporary artists like AFX, Autechre, and Panasonic, but on suction001, those influences collided with their ‘80s synth-pop and industrial roots to create something unique. 25 years later, it still sounds fresh, and like nothing else out there. On suction001, 808 drum machines are run through distortion and breakbeats are chopped and mangled, contrasting with melodic OMD-style leads and catchy synth-pop basslines — a sound the label would refer to as ‘distortion pedal new wave.’
Over the past 25 years, Suction’s sound has morphed and evolved, but in recent years has shifted back to it’s original Rephlex-inspired roots. That makes 2022 the perfect year to revisit this wild, 1997 debut, now reissued in a new, expanded edition for it’s 25th anniversary. The reissue adds 2 bonus tracks — a 1999 remix by Detroit electro-punk duo ADULT., along with a previously-unreleased version of Lowfish’s A1 cut, and also features new and improved artwork, including an insert with full label discography.
Limited to 500 copies, and comes with a Bandcamp download card.
Cerca:q unique
Moroccan Jajouka master Bachir Attar meets American experimental musician Elliot Sharp for a live jam of drum machines and traditional Moroccan instruments in 1990.
Bachir Attar's Career spans five decades and represents the transcendental sounds of Jajouka, a small Moroccan village situated between Fes and Tangier, known for its unique mystical sound. Fans include William Burroughs and The Rolling Stones with which Bachir recorded with in 1989. A year later Attar collaborated with the prolific avant-garde jazz musician Elliot Sharp on this very Album.
Both Sharp and Attar have dedicated their careers to exploring the meeting points between east and west and this album is a unique example of two brilliant minds creating a new, ultra trippy sonic experience.
This release is the first collaboration between Fortuna Records and our friends Dikraphone Records out of Morocco, serious unearthers of lost Moroccan music. Look out for more Dikraphone-Fortuna collaborations in the future!
The Dangerous Summer signed their first record deal as high school seniors and quickly established themselves among the alt-rock world’s elite. Passionate delivery, confessional authenticity, and deeply resonant musical storytelling define their sound. The band writes hooks that serve as soundtracks for important life moments for a diverse group of listeners spread across the globe. The audience is more family than a fanbase. The community feeling is apparent at every gig, from Slam Dunk to Riot Fest, from touring with State Champs to headlining shows. Reach for the Sun is the record that “shot them into the pop-punk pantheon” (Kerrang!). Powered by unshakeable, enduring alt-rock anthems, the Ellicott City, Maryland band’s debut album made them heroes of the Warped Tour world, all while they carved their own unique path. 2011’s War Paint was a sophomore-slump-smashing follow-up. Grantland likened the “tall and wide” riffs of 2013’s Golden Record to The Hold Steady and U2. (“Catholic Girls” even earned The Danger Summer praise from the famously discerning Pitchfork.) Alternative Press saluted The Dangerous Summer as a group that stayed true to their sound, praising the songs on their 2018 self-titled comeback album as equal parts charismatic and addictive. 2019’s Mother Nature conjured an emotional storm, with an uplifting bent. Underoath’s Aaron Gillespie appeared on the 2020 EP, All That Is Left Of The Blue Sky. Produced by Will Beasley (Turnstile, Asking Alexandria), 2022’s Coming Home ushers in a new era for TDS. The Dangerous Summer never sacrificed their unique, diverse sonic identity, one that appeals to fans of everything from Kings Of Leon and Coldplay to Jimmy Eat World and Bright Eyes. Coming Home is a triumphant summary of what The Dangerous Summer is all about, past, present, and future.
2LP black vinyl in a gatefold sleeve, polylined inners and download code. 2 x CD in 6 panel digifile sleeve.
When Darren Hayman made his debut in 1997 with the acclaimed indie band Hefner his lyrical remit was the broken hearted. His early songs told the story of the lonesome and lost, and broken dreams of love on the back streets of London. After Hefner, Hayman’s palette grew to include a unique take on place and memory. In the early 2000s he wrote a trilogy of albums around the history of Essex. In 2012 he made an instrumental album describing the tranquillity of Lidos. In 2016 Darren was awarded ‘Hardest Working Musician’ by the Association of Independent Music for his epic project on Thankful Villages, the 55 villages that survived the Great War with no casualties. His most recent record, 12 Astronauts, tells the personal story of the only men to have walked on the Moon. Darren is continually obsessed with the idea of what songs can be, and the stories they can tell. As he explains, “With projects like Thankful Villages, I became interested in what a record could be, using field recordings, interviews and songs to make sound collages. I wanted to return to the stricter art of song writing and try and make the twelve best compositions I could. I wanted to make useful songs, words that could be comfort, not just thoughts that would depress.” // "bold and unique" The Sunday Times // "Its delicately observed song cycle unfolds like a novella or short film, with tracks that might seem slight in isloation gaining resonance in situ." Q // “Bugbears is a rich and warming curio, and there’s something quietly noble about Hayman dragging the thoughts of these long-dead writers back into the light.” Mojo // “uniquely intimate and very satisfying” - BBC // “Hayman has hit a creative purple patch… a treat”. Mojo
REPRESS
The second LP compendium of Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru's early solo piano works, recorded throughout the 1960s - finally available again. Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru is a true original - her compositions and unique playing style live somewhere between Erik Satie, Debussy, liturgical music of the Coptic Ethiopian Church, and Ethiopian traditional music. It is some of the most moving piano music you will ever hear! These original compositions, performed by Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru herself on solo piano, were originally self-released in Germany in small editions as fundraisers for orphanages, support organizations for widows of war victims, and other philanthropic causes. We are humbled and proud to present this album in collaboration with the EMAHOY TSEGE MARIAM MUSIC PUBLISHER and Foundation, and to assist in continuing her life-long mission of using music as a vessel to care for those who have been abandoned by society, or harmed by strife. Black vinyl LP comes in black inner-sleeves and heavy cardstock jacket with color printing and gold-foil stamping, and song notes by the composer herself. Restored and remastered by Timothy Stollenwerk.
- A1: Opening (Lp1: Original Soundtrack)
- A2: Sky Palace
- A3: Advent
- A4: Fillmore
- A5: Beast Appears
- A6: Round Clear
- A7: Bloodpool - Kasandora
- A8: Aitos - Temple
- A9: Powerful Enemy
- A10: Pyramid - Marahna
- B1: Northwall
- B2: World Tree
- B3: Satan
- B4: Silence
- B5: Birth Of The People
- B6: Level Up
- B7: Offering
- B8: Peaceful World
- B9: Ending
- C1: Opening/Sky Palace/Advent/Fillmore (Lp2: Symphonic Suite: Actraiser 2018)
- C2: Birth Of The People/Level Up/Offering
- C3: Bloodpool - Kasandora/Beast Appears/Round Clear
- C4: Pyramid - Marahna
- D1: Aitos - Temple
- D2: Northwall
- D3: World Tree
- D4: Powerful Enemy/Satan
- D5: Silence/Peaceful World/Ending
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of ActRaiser, we have remastered the full original soundtrack composed by Yûzô Koshiro, and completed this divine tribute with the Symphonic Suite performed by New Japan BGM Philharmonic Orchestra at Ancient Festival in 2018! An unique chance to rediscover this intemporal classic with this new orchestral arrangement!
ActRaiser's original soundtrack was a true revolution at the time. Yûzô Koshiro's showed a technical prowess using the hardware's full ressources to create a majestuous score that inspired many composers.
Sababa 5 finally deliver their long-promised, and self-titled album of original instrumentals, built around the band"s distinct mix of Middle Eastern psych, funk and disco groove. Across these eight songs, the group blends the Afro disco, reggae, jazz, funk and a plethora of Middle Eastern traditions, whilst traveling time and space, drawing a musical, cultural and geographical line from Somalia to Iran, via Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt and Turkey, from the late 70s & early 80s to today. Thus Sababa 5 create a unique psychedelic groove that builds on the approach that the likes of the Daptones have taken to working independently, writing, producing and recording original music, with their own modern take on 70s soul and funk.
On the isle of Crete, the ancient practice of dipping your bread in different sauces and dips is called "papara". True to its music-as-sauce philosophy, Brussels-based groove formation M.CHUZI invites you to dip your ear into the sonic sauces that are on offer in its versatile menu.
Released 4th November via Sdban Ultra, the collective's debut album 'Papara' is an inviting mouthful of afro rhythms, funk, and prog jazz, combined with the spacey soundscapes of the Brussels metropole, as they look to Fela Kuti's afrobeat style for inspiration.
Winner of the prestigious Sound TrackIB1 contest held at Ancienne Belgique back in December 2019, the octet has gone from strength to strength, including having album track 'Tzatzìki' feature on the critically acclaimed various artist's compilation 'Lefto presents Jazz Cats volume 2', released earlier this summer. The track was arguably the highlight of the album and received radio support from leading radio DJs including Gilles Peterson of BBC Radio 6 Music and Worldwide FM fame.
It's the tasty 'Tzatzìki' that launches 'Papara', an exotica-spawned, merry bombardment of fizzing percussion and a subsequent brass freakout. Next up is the heavy acid rock of 'Mammoet' featuring rising trombonist Nabou, which soon breaks out into a groove-laden mix of Egyptian-inspired horns and Fela-style rhythms, before poetic warrior Joy Slam, adds her vocals to the dub-centric rhythms of the sweet 'Carbonade'.
Elsewhere, 'Intermetsauce' fuses skittish horns with funky drums while the spicy 'Tahini Miso' bursts into life with trance-inducing beats and mystical, Middle-Eastern seasoning. The album closes with the multi-rhythms of the burning 'Sambal', before we dive-dip into the funky 'Pickles', featuring Mixmaster Menno's (STUFF.) wildstyle scratching skills. With each track named after a band member or featured artists' favourite sauce, M.CHUZI serves you a diverse and flavourful plate of unique compositions, taking afro-groove and its descendants to a new level of eclectic dynamism.
Limited edition on green vinyl.The collective's debut album 'Papara' is an inviting mouthful of afro rhythms, funk, and prog jazz, combined with the spacey soundscapes of the Brussels metropole, as they look to Fela Kuti's afrobeat style for inspiration.
On the isle of Crete, the ancient practice of dipping your bread in different sauces and dips is called "papara". True to its music-as-sauce philosophy, Brussels-based groove formation M.CHUZI invites you to dip your ear into the sonic sauces that are on offer in its versatile menu.
Released 4th November via Sdban Ultra, the collective's debut album 'Papara' is an inviting mouthful of afro rhythms, funk, and prog jazz, combined with the spacey soundscapes of the Brussels metropole, as they look to Fela Kuti's afrobeat style for inspiration.
Winner of the prestigious Sound Track contest held at Ancienne Belgique back in December 2019, the octet has gone from strength to strength, including having album track 'Tzatzìki' feature on the critically acclaimed various artist's compilation 'Lefto presents Jazz Cats volume 2', released earlier this summer. The track was arguably the highlight of the album and received radio support from leading radio DJs including Gilles Peterson of BBC Radio 6 Music and Worldwide FM fame.
It's the tasty 'Tzatzìki' that launches 'Papara', an exotica-spawned, merry bombardment of fizzing percussion and a subsequent brass freakout. Next up is the heavy acid rock of 'Mammoet' featuring rising trombonist Nabou, which soon breaks out into a groove-laden mix of Egyptian-inspired horns and Fela-style rhythms, before poetic warrior Joy Slam, adds her vocals to the dub-centric rhythms of the sweet 'Carbonade'.
Elsewhere, 'Intermetsauce' fuses skittish horns with funky drums while the spicy 'Tahini Miso' bursts into life with trance-inducing beats and mystical, Middle-Eastern seasoning. The album closes with the multi-rhythms of the burning 'Sambal', before we dive-dip into the funky 'Pickles', featuring Mixmaster Menno's (STUFF.) wildstyle scratching skills. With each track named after a band member or featured artists' favourite sauce, M.CHUZI serves you a diverse and flavourful plate of unique compositions, taking afro-groove and its descendants to a new level of eclectic dynamism.
Armed with a disdain for pastiche and a penchant for experimentalism, rRoxymore has spent the last decade pushing the boundaries of what constitutes club music. Across a steady stream of releases, the Berlin-based artist has continually reinvented her sound, shifting from hypnotic leftfield techno to UK bass mutations, genre-eschewing dub oddities and so much more. On Perpetual Now, her sophomore album, she again displays this propensity for pushing the sonic envelope. It's a slow-burning record, and one that blurs the lines between the electronic and the organic. Subverting the traditional album format, Perpetual Now is made up of four extended soundscapes - each taking the listener on a journey through tempo, texture and emotional state. Downtempo opener `At The Crest' gently sets things into motion, allowing the sparse percussion to tentatively find its feet. `Sun In C' is a peculiarly meditative excursion, crafting a rich, intoxicating atmosphere across its nine minutes. `Fragmented Dreams', with its pulsating rhythms and fractured melodies, sees the album fleetingly burst into life, before `Water Stain' winds things down in the most effortless of manners. A daring, unconventional album, Perpetual Now is everything we've come to expect and more from one of electronic music's most unique producers. French-born, Berlin-based DJ, sound artist and producer rRoxymore first emerged on the scene with `Wheel of Fortune', a ten-minute epic released on Planningtorock's Human Level back in 2012. She has since put out music regularly, dropping her debut album Face To Phase in 2019, and more recently "I Wanted More", a four-track EP that veered from downtempo ambience to lush deep house.
Bristol has always been a hotbed of innovative producers within the UK's sound system and rave cul-tures. One of these music makers is without a doubt Lamont, whose massive hit Titanic came out on Loefah's influential Swamp 81 imprint in 2016. With a style sitting in between classic 808-driven electro and instrumental grime, his productions are authentic dancefloor slayers: minimal and effective, yet pro-duced with musical sophistication. Just listen to his drum programming and feel the funk. Lamont's latest 4-track EP on Version is his second release on the label. These are certified bangers, rinsed by the likes of Loefah. All tracks are 130 bpm, sub-heavy and fun to mix - translating the darker side of early dubstep into a unique, contemporary club sound. This one from Lamont and Version is not just deadly DJ ammuni-tion. It is also a testament to the label's longtime bonds with the UK's cutting edge. Out on vinyl and digital.
With this album I went one step further after years of mainly electronic production.
Except for a tape delay, it's all acoustic this time, piano and double bass. Hence the name of the album: "Off", all switches are off.
The focus is on my piano, a Danish small piano made by Brødr. Jørgensen from 1964. I have restored and partially prepared it, mainly with felt, recorded up close and personal. I tried to capture everything as naturally as possible to underline the character of this unique piano. Due to its organic sound and its own life, a few
distinctive pieces full of joy and warmth have emerged. Some of them are improvised, others have grown over time.
Armed with a disdain for pastiche and a penchant for experimentalism, rRoxymore has spent the last decade pushing the boundaries of what constitutes club music. Across a steady stream of releases, the Berlin-based artist has continually reinvented her sound, shifting from hypnotic leftfield techno to UK bass mutations, genre-eschewing dub oddities and so much more.
On Perpetual Now, her sophomore album, she again displays this propensity for pushing the sonic envelope. It’s a slow-burning record, and one that blurs the lines between the electronic and the organic.
Subverting the traditional album format, Perpetual Now is made up of four extended soundscapes - each taking the listener on a journey through tempo, texture and emotional state. Downtempo opener ‘At The Crest’ gently sets things into motion, allowing the sparse percussion to tentatively find its feet. ‘Sun In C’ is a peculiarly meditative excursion, crafting a rich, intoxicating atmosphere across its nine minutes. ‘Fragmented Dreams’, with its pulsating rhythms and fractured melodies, sees the album fleetingly burst into life, before ‘Water Stain’ winds things down in the most effortless of manners.
A daring, unconventional album, Perpetual Now is everything we’ve come to expect and more from one of electronic music’s most unique producers.
Strut present 3 separate reissues of the 1970s album trilogy from Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids. As students at Antioch ollege, Ohio, alto saxophonist Idris Ackamoor, flautist Margaux Simmons and bass player Kimathi Asante created three lasting monuments in sound — Lalibela, King of Kings, and Birth / Speed / Merging, a trio of albums produced without any label backing or distribution between 1972 and 1976. Their music is unique among the varied canon of avant-garde and experimental music of 1970s America: high intensity African-styled percussion topped with songs, chants, and horns, laced with African instruments and arranged into long, flowing suites that surge and roll.
King Of Kings was recorded in 1974 and features a wider array of instruments including Ugandan Harp and Balafon. Perhaps best known for the expansive "Nsorama (The Stars)" a seminal work of Spiritual Jazz.
- 1: Aomawa
- 2: Birth / Speed / Merging - Part 1
- 3: Birth / Speed / Merging - Part 2
- 4: Birth / Speed / Merging - Part 3
- 5: Birth / Speed / Merging - Part 4
- 6: Reaffirmation - Part 1
- 7: Reaffirmation - Part 2
- 8: Reaffirmation - Part 3
- 9: Reaffirmation - Part 4
- 10: Jamaican Carnival - Part 1
- 11: Jamaican Carnival — Part 2
- 12: Black Man And Woman Of The Nile
Strut present 3 separate reissues of the 1970s album trilogy from Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids. As students at Antioch ollege, Ohio, alto saxophonist Idris Ackamoor, flautist Margaux Simmons and bass player Kimathi Asante created three lasting monuments in sound — Lalibela, King of Kings, and Birth / Speed / Merging, a trio of albums produced without any label backing or distribution between 1972 and 1976. Their music is unique among the varied canon of avant-garde and experimental music of 1970s America: high intensity African-styled percussion topped with songs, chants, and horns, laced with African instruments and arranged into long, flowing suites that surge and roll.
Birth/Speed/Merging was recorded in 1976 after the band's move to San Francisco. The album closes the Pyramids' 70s trilogy and makes more use of studio technology: adding overdubs and other effects, a marked departure from the previous two releases, though at no cost to the urgent message and energy of their earlier works.
Scottish fire-brands Bleed From Within have reached a career tipping point. Rising above the multitude of challenges the pandemic spewed up, the metal 5-piece have transformed themselves over the past two years, in a story of sheer resilience. Reaching their strongest career position yet, momentum has been snowballing since the release of 2020’s critically acclaimed record Fracture, bolstered by recent significant successes in both touring and digital streaming.
2021 saw the band dominate the UK live scene, selling out their largest ever headline tour in November, capturing hearts as support on Bullet For My Valentine’s arena tour (several critics stating they shone brightest on the line-up), slaying a Lamb Of God livestream support slot, alongside blazing performances at Download Festival + Bloodstock Festival.
Last year also delivered Bleed From Within’s most successful single release yet, track ‘I Am Damnation’, which has since racked up more than 2.8 million combined streams. It landed impressive playlisting such as Spotify ‘New Metal Tracks’ (#1), ‘Kickass Metal’, ‘Adrenaline Workout’, Apple Music ‘Breaking Metal’, YouTube Music ‘New Metal’, ‘Metal Hotlist’, ‘Today’s Metal’. Their monthly Spotify listeners have almost doubled in that time, now reaching more than half a million.
What makes Bleed From Within unique is their immense inter-personal bond, characterised by resilience and self-reliance - firm friends and colleagues, they are a close-knit unit, bound by common goals. Having existed as a band for 17 years, more than half of most of their lifetimes, they are an authentic home-grown success story, having achieved everything to-date off their own backs as a self-managed unit. Their swelling success is a testament to their talent, focus and sheer resolution, backed up by a positive mentality and drive to construct the most killer metal anthems in existence. Not forgetting their devoted global fanbase, who track their progress eagerly.
With new record ‘Shrine’ on the horizon, a key turning point moment, Bleed From Within are set to become a future kingpin of our scene and make history.
Aggressive Blackened Death Metal with hooks and technical finesse that invokes the Ancient Gods! Aurora Borealis has been around for years (going back to as far as 1994! and it has mostly self-released their albums. Underground fanatics might remember the band reaching out to promote its music on forums back in the day and tracking its progress, each album was a large improvement over the earlier ones. And through time Aurora Borealis had great drummers ranked in its line-ups: Tony Laureano, Derek Roddy and Tim Yeung, which indicates the quality and level we talk about here. Aurora Borealis plays Black/Death Metal, remaining gritty not unlike Angelcorpse, but being more dynamic comparatively. It has got unique themes and the album artworks represent that. As the band name suggests, they are indicative of the Aurora Borealis phenomenon although the band has progressed to involve sci-fi imagery not far removed from Nocturnus, where artworks are concerned. Musically, the band remains true to its original Black/Death sound but it’s doing it with far more potential and competency than the others. The band’s definitely got a solid US death metal sense, it is not flirting too much with the European style of melody-infused death metal as it may appear. One will be surprised to find it so hard-hitting and gravelly and yet be rife with some of the most driven and enthusiastic activity. It is not solely focused on being technical (which in a way it is) but it is varied and it is catchy. Floridian Death Metal bands have much in common with the way Aurora Borealis structures its songs and there is the ever-present Morbid Angel influence, infected with some early Malevolent Creation rabidity. This is what makes death metal so good, few could contest with that. It’s got Death Metal in its genes, but Aurora Borealis takes the vitriol from Black Metal especially in the vocal department and gives the music an edge that is hard to miss. Here there is that special spice, that sizzling quality that comes from the rasps, adding a certain Thrashiness to it as well. The hooks make this album special, because writing good songs can be safely left in the hands of founding member Ron Vento.
From the moment that German producer, Fejká, burst onto the scene at the age of 17, he has captivated listeners with an unrivaled ability to sit comfortably at the intersection of expression and introspection. Where night and day, dreaming and dancing, the fast and the slow, might naturally diverge, he is able to balance them delicately, creating sounds which are, in the same moment, wonderfully ethereal, but also thrillingly dynamic.
His new single Hiræth, meaning ‘long gone’, offers a soundscape full of warmth and calm, enhanced by the unique soothing quality of Kim van Loo’s distinctive vocals – a sound which Fejká accidentally discovered during their time as roommates in lockdown. The track describes a certain sense of nostalgia for a place that might never be reached, or a place that might never be returned to, with an overarching feeling of longing throughout. Working from his studio in
Stuttgart, Fejká processed synths, pads and piano with a tape machine to heighten the nostalgic ambience and, through grainy imperfections, establish a more intimate relationship with the listener. The track is restrained and subtle, yet it cycles through the ups
and downs of an ever-changing landscape keeping listeners on their toes, “Like the feeling of being taken on a journey for the last time“, says Fejká Delving into a vast range of emotions and musical approaches, Fejká’s most recent album,
Reunion, cemented the young producer’s position in the downtempo electronic scene. The album’s single, Svanur, has been streamed over 15 million times with Fejká having recently performed sold-out shows at EartH London, Cross Club Prag, Kater Blau, and Klein Istanbul.
By freeing himself from the labels that have made D.L.i.d.'s career, Casini turns to more pointed and experimental sounds, he is now part of a purely electronic current, at the electronic current, at the crossroads of the influences that have forged his unique musical identity. For this adventure, the objective is simple: to let the creativity of its author take him to where he where he wishes it. From Trap to house through more hybrid styles, he lays his deep and catchy voice on 6 tracks that will be unveiled one after the other in the heart of an evolving EP.




















