Search:quiet force

DVS NME is a Colorado-based Electro producer and DJ originally from Southern California. Active since 1999, he crafts stark, machine-driven music rooted in analog hardware and recorded live in single takes. Influenced by Drexciya, AUX88, and Anthony Rother, his sound blends dystopian textures with precise rhythm programming. He’s released music on respected underground labels like Solar One Music, Transient Force, and Ukonx Recordings, and now Future Tones Rcoeds. A key advocate for the genre, he also curates the long-running Dark Science Electro podcast, supporting global Electro since 2010.

1. Beam
A slow-burning opener built around a TR-606 groove, chopped vocal fragments, and delicate string flourishes. At 116 BPM, it's the most restrained cut on the EP—staccato and skeletal, but quietly emotional.

2. Carveout
Driven by a classic four-on-the-floor pulse, "Carveout" rides a surging bassline and tightly layered synths. Functional on the surface, but subtle shifts in tone give it depth beneath the structure.

3. Debt Trap
The most club-oriented track on the record. With a jerky low-end and nimble 606 programming, "Debt Trap" combines dancefloor impact with off-kilter synth work that refuses to settle.

4. Ratchet Effect
A standout cut that channels DVS NME's signature sound—sharp, modular arpeggios, machine-funk rhythms, and intricate modulation. At once clinical and soulful, it’s the EP’s most complex and defining moment.

5. Land Reform
TB-303 acid lines coil around melodic string pads and skittering hi-hats in this mid-tempo closer. "Land Reform" balances raw rhythmic motion with introspective synth textures, ending the record on a reflective note.

Four tracks under pressure. The reverb snaps with accuracy. Without permission. A reward through a concrete hall.

Interactions is a new vinyl imprint based in Mallorca, emerging from an event series dedicated to connection, collaboration, and the exchange of sound. What began as intimate gatherings with handpicked artists now evolves into a label, extending its ethos from the booth to the studio. With a focus on minimal house aesthetics and a detailed approach, Interactions aims to highlight the subtle edges of groove-driven electronic music through artist exchange and collaboration.

The debut release comes from Veruh, an artist whose refined productions strike a balance between rhythmic detail and emotional restraint. The EP’s title track, Eurivor, is an atmospheric roller built on intricate FX and fleeting vocal snippets — minimal but with character, playful yet anchored by a persistent groove made for the club.

On the remix front, Sepp delivers a peak-time tech-house rework. A defining force in the minimal-tech scene, his version is a tight, rolling burner packed with late-night tension and summer-floor energy.

The B-side shifts into broken-beat territory: Abil Revis & Olab bring emotion to the surface, pushing the vocals forward in a remix made for after-hours sessions, where subtlety, mood, and movement take over. Finally, For·at craft a stomping reinterpretation — minimalist yet forceful, teeming with fractured rhythms and deep pressure.

Eurivor marks a confident first step for Interactions — a label grounded in collaboration, rooted in minimalism, and dedicated to the quiet magic that happens when artists connect.

I turned the page and will never forget what I then saw.

The fountain pen scratched against the paper, whistling like fur on an abandoned tire in the
middle of the night at the centre of the universe in the core of whatever it is I’m trying to believe.
I am a patient human and I live and breathe. I know this for sure.

I read about a whispering stillness of the Stadsnacht as my blood levels gradually even out again. Beneath the ink, the words take shape. This is a secret correspondence with the Book of Change – a dialogue not meant for eyes or ears, but for the soul. Are you still with me?

The Snake Rope tightens, its Coils Dive into the deep well of patience, where waiting is an art, a
dance with the unseen. The Scientists Say we should measure, predict, contain—but here, in
the shadow of the deepest of nights, the only truth is the Celebration of Ignorance. Love is the
force that binds as it untangles the invisible thread that refuses to sever. The next page quotes the mystical figure Daim: “Never Dissever Us.”

There, in the dawning light, the Dageraad reveals the Icequeen in her frigid throne, the Topiary Man standing guard in his sculpted silence. In this quiet landscape, I wait. I continue to wait, for I have good fortune on my very hands.

If You Won’t, I Will.

Can we exhibit the power to possess conformity? Can we redeem the benefits of crossing the water? Yes. The choice, the act of breaking through the barrier of convenience, is both a burden and a liberation.The words swirl, abstract and concrete, like action and inaction. The Book of Change is a paradox to puzzle over.

The evening cool rests its shoulders on my fluffy neck. I inhale as my pen lifts itself from the
paper once more, shedding ink as though it were tears of joy. I know that I have touched the
edge of something vast, something that moves beyond the grasp of reason into the heart of the
I Ching, the ever-turning wheel of change. This is the correct orientation. This is the vivid
imagery of clouds falling from the heavens and into our laps. This was never meant for your
ears. This was meant for you to feast on as the seasons bestow upon us

Portland's finest practitioners of Great Black Music offering to the planet! All Is Sound could not be a more apt title for this. Through saxophone, cello, piano, and flutes The Cosmic Tones Research Trio created a truly beautiful record. All Is Sound breaks new ground. At its heart, it's healing/meditation music, but the Gospel and Blues roots are in there too...as well as hints of forward-looking Spiritual jazz.

As sincere a record as you could ever hope for. Music is indeed the healing force of the universe. Formed by alto sax player and composer Roman Norfleet, cellist and multi-instrumentalist Harlan Silverman, and pianist Kennedy Verrett—who also plays a wide variety of wind instruments—, The Cosmic Tones Research Trio focuses on healing music. In All is Sound, delicate, profound melodies create peaceful, immersive soundscapes, which the group develops through their combined background in acoustic ecology, sound meditation, mindfulness, and active community involvement.

A noteworthy follow up to Norfleet’s first length with Mississippi Records (the self-titled Roman Norfleet and Be Present Art Group, from 2023), All is Sound offers the chance to engage with songs intended for healing. Following the steps of musicians such as Sun Ra, Alice Coltrane, and Pharoah Sanders, The Cosmic Tones Research Trio delivers music that is both restorative and sonically rich—each tone falling into perfect place, as if by magic. Praise for Roman Norfleet and Be Present Art Group: “A free-flowing suite.” — The Quietus // “Life-affirming music.

Polish saxophonist, producer and composer Jerzy Mączyński fuses utopian electronics and organic improvisation on sci-fi jazz odyssey, DO 555ps. Building on his 2023 collaboration with Jamal Moss aka Hieroglyphic Being, DO 555ps is Mączyński’s first self-produced album – a tour de force of spacious, galactic sound design that leans into drone, minimalism and the rich history of sci-fi soundtracks for a 10-track suite of astral proportions.

Mączyński’s sound is both maximalist and restrained, sensitive to detail and atmosphere, defying categorisation and swirling in an orbit of its own making.

Set to be released on Eivind Vullum’s Vibrasjon label in Norway, DO 555ps follows the 2023’s TUNE IN, made under Mączyński and Hieroglyphic Being’s Universal Harmonies & Frequencies moniker.

Described by The Quietus as one of the most interesting records of the year (“as bold as it is massive”), TUNE IN laid the foundations for Mączyński to strike out alone on DO 555PS, inspired by Moss’s skewed production and arrangements to striking and unique effect. - Anton Spice

A 3rd culture kid immigrant & a half Finnish North Stockholm are join forces to produce an unique electronic sound.

Taking reflections & refractions from late 70s, early 80s and present day analog & digital musicians they mix outré influences with a dark pop sensibility.

Fierce and forlorn, Swarm Intelligence’s “The Shattered Self” delves into the complexities of human existence in an era dominated by technological advancements. In this thought-provoking exploration, the artist challenges listeners to confront the consequences of a near future where physical and mental augmentation are commonplace. In a world where limbs can be upgraded, where consciousness can be uploaded, where memories can be digitally archived and shared on social media, where our AI clones can liberate us from menial tasks… What remains of our selves? Who is our self?

Swarm Intelligence draws influences from black metal, industrial-tinged dub and post rock, splicing these with his distinctive take on techno to devastating effect. "Dejected," the inaugural track, unleashes grinding walls of feedback against a relentless broken beat, its foreboding atmosphere heightened by a menacing low growl of distorted bass that permeates the unease. It's a disquieting overture that sets the stage for the tumultuous journey ahead.

The second track, “Eros” envelops the listener in a visceral soundscape, where haunting atmospheres intertwine with grinding feedback and pounding percussion. Initially tense, the track evolves into an unexpected and almost euphoric climax, adding an unforeseen emotional depth to the sonic narrative. Yet, beneath the surface, an undercurrent of tension remains—an ever-present reminder of the fragility of our self.

On the flip side, "Inciter" channels inner fury through a guttural chant punctuating a Birmingham-styled broken beat, marching forth with unyielding force.

Finally, "Portal" offers a moment of quiet introspection, as haunting pads echo a mournful refrain while micro recordings of whirring machinery are assembled into the percussion section. It serves as a poignant curtain-closer.

Through "The Shattered Self," Swarm Intelligence challenges listeners to reconsider their perceptions of identity, consciousness, and agency in an age where the machine and the human converge. It's a haunting and profound journey—one that invites introspection and contemplation long after the final reverb tails fade into silence.

Across the past decade, KAS has established herself as a unique voice in experimental electronic music, a composer and synthesist whose work dissolves the boundaries between ambient electronica, contemporary classical, composition, and immersive sound design. Her new album “Ruin: It’s Not Just Music” arrives with a distinctive gravitational pull. The record moves with greater physical force, placing rhythm and impact at the centre of its architecture, revealing a more confrontational and embodied dimension of KAS’s musical language.
The first single “Ruin” arrives May 22nd, with the full album released October 2nd via SOMEONE SPECIAL the new label co-founded by KAS.
Where much of KAS’s earlier work explored harmonic environments, the forthcoming album is built around tension and release. Inspired by the sound of drum and bass, breakbeats fracture through dense fields of synthesis, percussive patterns and her signature melodic fragments – motions that feel closer to the kinetic language of club music than the meditative spaces often associated with her past catalogue. The result is a body of work that feels both recognisably hers and newly charged, music that moves through the body as insistently as it engages the mind.
For listeners who first encountered KAS through the glowing synthesis of “Ears” (2016) or the intricate experimental pop of “The Kid” (2017), this direction may feel initially surprising, yet the shift has been quietly unfolding across the past several years. KAS’s practice has steadily expanded beyond the expectations placed upon experimental electronic artists, moving between orchestral composition, audiovisual installations, film scoring, and large-scale commissions while retaining the unmistakable sonic signature that defines her work.
The 2022 albums “I Could Be Your Dog / I Could Be Your Moon” (2022) and “Let’s Turn It Into Sound” (2022) explored a deeply immersive approach to composition, expanded her reputation and instinct for constructing detailed sonic ecosystems while continuing to blur the lines between experimental electronics and contemporary pop structures. KAS’s most recent output has continued to widen that field including the rhythm oriented electronic album “Gush” (2025) and her return to more orchestral roots with “Thoughts on the Future” (2025). Together these releases underscored the breadth of her practice.
Her prolific collaborators and creative partners have ranged from Patti Smith and Suzanne Ciani to Danny Elfman, Tycho, Glass Beams, RY X, Caribou, Four Tet, Reggie Watts, and Max Richter, while her compositions have appeared in projects with Apple, Chanel, Meow Wolf, the BBC Orchestra, and major film and television productions.
On “Ruin: It’s Not Just Music”, that vocabulary becomes more kinetic than ever before. The record draws energy from jungle, drum and bass, and dance-floor focused electronic music while retaining the intricate synthesis and tonal curiosity that have defined KAS’s work from the beginning. The result is a record that feels equally at home within club culture, contemporary composition, and the experimental spaces that have long championed her artistry.
On May 27th KAS will present a major performance at London’s Barbican Centre alongside the London Contemporary Orchestra, marking the ten-year anniversary of her landmark album Ears. The evening will trace the arc of her creative evolution while also introducing material from the new album.

For the past decade, Personal Trainer has served as the ever-evolving creative outlet for frontman and songwriter Willem Smit, growing from Amsterdam's underground scene into an internationally successful touring band An electrifying force in modern indie rock, Personal Trainer blend sharp wit, chaotic energy, and irresistible hooks. Their upcoming third album Human Assholes balances playful absurdity with a quiet undercurrent of doubt, Smit has been ever reluctant as the quote unquote frontman of a band.

The twelfth release on Early Morning is a collaboration between Fauxplay and Anthony Pappa, two producers whose shared roots in progressive house give the record its coherent, unhurried identity. Four tracks, nearly thirty minutes, built around a single piece and its transformations.

Forever Seeking is the foundation. A seven-minute arc that settles into its groove with patience, opens into a melodic break that creates genuine space, and returns with a drop that carries weight without force. The Ambient Mix closes the record as its quiet resolution - the same melody stripped of rhythm, allowed to exist on its own terms.

Between them, Simon Vuarambon contributes two interpretations. The Remix maintains the emotional core of the original while moving with greater urgency, cycling through two distinct breaks and drops across eight minutes. The Dub Mix takes a more stripped approach, emphasizing space and low-end, giving each element room to breathe.

This is music for the later hours, where the dancefloor and the inner world become the same place.

Maqom Soul Launches Its Reissue Series with a Cult Classic from Uyghur Ensemble “Yashlik”.
Maqom Soul, a newly founded Uzbek label dedicated to reviving rare and overlooked music from Central Asia, proudly announces its debut release: a vinyl reissue of the seminal album by the Uyghur vocal-instrumental ensemble Yashlik, originally recorded and released in 1978.
Founded in 1973 as part of the Uyghur Music and Drama Theater in Almaty, Yashlik (which translates from Uyghur as Youth) quickly emerged as a groundbreaking force in the regional music scene. Though born out of a theatrical setting, the group transcended those boundaries with a unique blend of Uyghur folk melodies, jazz influences, Soviet estrada, and traces of psychedelic rock.

The ensemble’s founder and artistic director was Murat Akhmadiev, a prominent figure in both the musical and cultural-political life of Kazakhstan. The album being reissued is one of the rare recordings where synthesizers, electric guitars, and drums appear side by side with traditional Uyghur instruments. More than a musical experiment, it stands as a cultural document of its era a creative attempt to preserve identity through the language of modern sound. Originally recorded at the Melodiya studios in the late 1970s, the album’s initial pressing was distributed only within the Soviet Union. Now, over four decades later, listeners finally have the opportunity to experience this music in a lovingly remastered and reimagined edition.
According to the team at Maqom Soul, beginning the label’s journey with Yashlik was a conscious and symbolic choice: “This was a group that embodied youthful energy, deep respect for tradition, and a genuine thirst for innovation. Their music once played at festivals and on television, and then quietly disappeared. We’re bringing it back — not out of nostalgia, but as a living piece of art.”

Maqom Soul is committed not just to reissuing rare records but to restoring the presence of culturally significant music that helped shape the sonic identity of Central Asia. Forgotten music is also part of the future. Maqom Soul brings it back to the stage.

In Sheep’s Clothing announces the long-awaited vinyl pressing of Marc Leclair’s beloved 2005 album Musique pour 3 femmes enceintes. The album will also be available on streaming for the first time via Community Music Group.

For years after Marc Leclair released Musique pour 3 femmes enceintes, he heard from listeners who had lived with the record in an unusually intimate way. Many described how the music became part of the emotional landscape of the months leading to birth. “I never expected that,” Leclair says. “Many women told me they listened to the record throughout their pregnancies. They said it made a real difference, that it helped them. It became more than just a record.”

First issued on CD in the early 2000s, Musique pour 3 femmes enceintes (Music for Three Pregnant Women) now returns in a new edition from In Sheep’s Clothing Hi-Fi, appearing on vinyl for the first time as a double LP. The record is being pressed in Detroit at Archer Record Pressing, the historic plant behind deep-groove classics by Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, Underground Resistance, UR’s Jeff Mills, and J Dilla.

Listeners who know the Montreal-based Leclair through his better-known work as Akufen might be surprised by the tone here. During the same years he was shaping the intricate micro-sampling tracks that made Akufen a cult figure on labels including Perlon, Force Inc. and Trapez, Leclair was quietly developing this far more personal project. The meticulous craftsmanship remained the same, though the focus shifted from the hyper-detailed cut-up rhythms of his dance records toward something slower and more atmospheric. “I always compare my work to a jeweler,” Leclair says. “It’s really very precise. I’m a bit of a detail freak. I can spend hours or days on just one phrase in one song. Everything has to be perfectly put together.”

The project began almost accidentally. A few members of Leclair’s circle became pregnant nearly simultaneously, including one who had long believed she couldn’t conceive. The first track he recorded for the project wasn’t meant to advance a larger concept, he says. “It was meant to highlight the fact that three of my closest friends became pregnant at exactly the same time.”

Leclair was already a father with a three-year-old daughter, so the emotional terrain of early parenthood was familiar. Gradually the idea expanded. “I began thinking, why not make a whole album that celebrates this and also follows the entire pregnancy, the nine months,” he says. The music developed piece by piece, including a track originally commissioned by the Berlin experimental duo Rechenzentrum that would later become the album’s opening movement.

Nearly seven years passed between the first composition and the finished album, and the music mirrors the strange arithmetic of pregnancy itself. What begins as a single idea multiplies outward, sounds layering and branching until the album feels less like a sequence of compositions than a living process unfolding in time. “I work very slowly,” Leclair says. “Everything has to be something I’m completely behind. I never want to rush anything. I want things to come naturally.” Across its 72 minutes, the album blossoms with the patience of a long meditation on time, growth and emergence.

When Musique pour 3 femmes enceintes first appeared via Mutek, it circulated quietly but steadily. Critics who discovered it later recognized its unusual scope. In a 2006 Pitchfork review, Mark Richardson gave the record an 8.1, calling “150e Jour” “an unfailingly gorgeous and tightly sequenced quilt of guitar and piano samples reminiscent of Tangerine Dream,” and describing “85e Jour” as infused with “viscous pop ambient drift, the gauzy synth pads ebbing and flowing with rhythm.” Boomkat described the album as “a majestic opus from a producer that's always promised so much — here delving into a panoramic construction of almost visibly radiant music that works so beautifully through each and every second of its 72 minute lifespan.”

The new In Sheep’s Clothing Hi-Fi edition finally presents the record in the format Leclair long imagined. “I always thought that record deserved a vinyl edition,” he says. Spread across two LPs, the music now has room to unfold at its natural pace. More than twenty years after it first appeared, Musique pour 3 femmes enceintes remains what it was from the start: a carefully shaped meditation on transformation and the quiet miracle of life beginning.

2026 Repress

SK_eleven celebrates a decade of sonic exploration with a 13-track compilation showcasing its signature tension, technical discipline, and stylistic spectrum. Reuniting a tight circle of artists whose contributions have helped shape the label, the release offers an unrelenting sequence of pressure, mental twists, and textural collisions; a multifaceted snapshot of techno's enduring capacity to evolve, disturb, and seduce.

The compilation resists uniformity. Instead, it thrives on contrast: tension versus release, density against spaciousness, rhythm in all its permutations. From high-energy metallic openers and dub-inflected body rollers, to disorienting, delay-heavy experiments and stripped-back percussive tools, each contribution reveals a unique grip on groove and detail. Some tracks move like engineered machines: sharp, robotic, and syncopated to surgical precision. Others embrace sensuality and unpredictability, exploring spatial motion, layered harmonic friction, and states of controlled chaos. Each piece acts as a structural component in a larger sonic architecture, where tension is built, collapsed, and rebuilt. Friction becomes a form of choreography. Across the record, a shifting palette of emotional mechanisms takes form; granular and magnetic, haunting and quietly forceful, restrained, then disruptive.

More than a retrospective, SK_eleven's first compilation becomes a collective gesture toward techno's unresolved possibilities: its ability to hold contradiction, remain in flux, and mutate without conclusion.

Kēpa is built whole, even if life has broken a few bones along the way.

Back when he was a pro skater, he gave everything to the board. Today, he gives that same intensity to the stage, delivering hypnotic cine-concerts where motion, sound, and image blur into one. The only falls left now are the ringing final chords of his guitar — not just an instrument, but an extension of his body.

Fingerpicking is his native tongue. So much so that Kēpa no longer sings — he lets the strings speak. Percussive, alive, essential. This music isn’t about performance, it’s about living: a personal quest, a way to reach others by first going inward. Moving against the current without fighting the wind. Finding breath, essence, and remembering we’re all drifting on a spinning planet, surrounded by forces bigger than us.

It’s easier to look away. Easier to follow noise, fear, or false prophets. Harder — and braver — to truly connect.

Released in late 2025, Hotline Service opened the door, offering a wide-open, spiritual escape. With SOUL WASH SERVICES— produced by Timber Timbre — Kēpa goes further. Warmer, deeper, more focused. The album feels like sunlight on asphalt, a long drive with the windows down, time slowing just enough to let something real surface.

A kindred spirit to Hermanos Gutiérrez, Kēpa plays the role of a modern, pagan preacher — guiding us through a dusty, golden road movie that unfolds entirely inside the listener. His music doesn’t shout; it cleans.

Kēpa does it all: writes, plays, films, edits, mixes. Music becomes image, image becomes music. Nothing is separate, on record or on stage. There’s no excess, no showboating — just an open invitation to slow down, go deeper, aim higher.

Tracks like Solarium and Paradisiac reach the peaks with minimal gear: five strings, a few picks, and total control of touch and space. Listening to Kēpa feels like checking in with yourself — a quiet inner trip shaped by sounds from every corner of the world. Blues, not to feel them, but to leave them behind.

After years devoted to picking, his playing has become something sacred.

And if you let it, it carries you with it.

In Soft Power, Funk Assault turns their surgical precision toward the invisible forces that shape modern life - control not through force, but through aesthetics, etiquette, and algorithms. Across five tightly woven tracks, the duo dissects how obedience is engineered through desire, conformity, and digital seduction.

From the sterile luxury of Aesthetics of Desire to the algorithmic exhibitionism of Like Me, Watch Me, and the chilling calm of Obedience Spa, this EP is a reflection on how control has evolved -smoother, quieter, but no less powerful. Soft Power invites listeners to dance, reflect, and perhaps notice the strings they didn't know were there.

The sibling duo behind the music on Graceful Degradation — organ and drums, nothing more, nothing less — carve out a sound that feels unmistakably organic in a world drifting steadily toward the synthetic. Their interplay is entirely live, subtle in its details yet dynamic in its momentum, built on the kind of instinctive communication only brothers can share.
The music is fully instrumental, unfolding in a borderland where dreamy retro pop dissolves into the hazy textures of shoegaze and the unruly pulse of noisy, electronic leaning jazz. It’s a sonic world that feels both familiar and elusive, nostalgic yet inherently restless. Melodies shimmer and blur, rhythms swell and contract, and the space between the notes becomes as expressive as the notes themselves.
What emerges is a sound that resists easy categorization: warm but unpredictable, intimate yet expansive, grounded in the physicality of two musicians performing in real time. The organ breathes like a living organism, shifting from soft focus ambience to swirling, saturated harmonics, while the drums move with a fluid, human elasticity — sometimes whisper quiet, sometimes erupting with raw, kinetic force.
In this in between terrain, the duo has always found its identity and its freedom. Their music doesn’t chase perfection; it chases presence. It embraces imperfection, celebrates spontaneity, and insists on staying alive in a landscape where so much is becoming weightless and automated.
This is instrumental music with a pulse: subtle, dynamic, and unmistakably human.

Heavyweight psychedelic improvisers EarthBall are back with their third and most monstrous record to date: ‘Outside Over There’, released on Upset The Rhythm (Nov 7th). Born from the haunted basements of Nanaimo, Canada, the quintet thrives on spontaneity, shaping improvisation into jagged hallucinations and ecstatic eruptions.
Recorded live-off-the-floor in 2024 in Jeremy, Izzy, and Kellen’s basement, and mixed by drummer John Brennan, ‘Outside Over There’ is an album that feels both summoned and inevitable. Each track lands with uncanny purpose, as if uncovered rather than written.
The opener, 100%, features a cameo from comedian and English icon Stewart Lee, who lent his blessing for the band to use a fragment of his stand-up. The album was mastered by John Dieterich (Deerhoof), with liner text contributed by longtime comrade John Olson (Wolf Eyes). Olson describes the album in his unmistakable style:
“This eight-track odyssey unfolds like a dreamscape, where whispered incantations brush against the shadowy fringes of the cosmos, and wild, Cézanne-inspired rock anthems erupt like geysers of color in the midst of a western warm and wet rain storm… culminating in the sprawling eleven minute masterpiece, ‘And The Music Shall Untune The Sky,’ aptly dubbed the Earth Crusher. A creation so utterly deconstructed and intertwined with the pulse of nature itself that if AI was called upon to conceive ‘Outside Over There’ anew, it would just spit back, “F.U. in Tree Font”. An enchanting invitation for even the flat-earthers to join the circle, if only just a little.”
EarthBall’s trajectory has been relentless. Their 2024 album ‘It’s Yours’ was praised by The Quietus as “fully aggressive and fully life-affirming,” and by The Wire as "a boisterous mind-melting album”. The band’s live double set LP ‘Actual Earth Music Vol. 1 & 2’ (2025) captured blistering performances: a performance opening for Wolf Eyes at the Fox Cabaret, and a Café OTO improvised throw-down featuring Chris Corsano and Steve Beresford. These releases on their own confirm them as one of Canada’s most vital experimental exports, not to mention the impressive self-released discography on their Bandcamp. The band’s reach has stretched far beyond their west coast roots with a UK tour May 2024, plus this past June, EarthBall closed Montreal’s Suoni Per Il Popolo Festival alongside Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Raven Chacon. This November they will perform at Le Guess Who? Festival in Utrecht, with a European tour to follow (tour dates below). Outside of EarthBall, each member carries their own torch. Jeremy Van Wyck, founding member of the legendary Shearing Pinx, has toured extensively, released over 100 records, and has been a vital force in the Vancouver and West Coast underground for the past 25 years. He and Isabel Ford (Izzy) play together not only in EarthBall, but also in Psychedelic Dirt, Shearing Pinx, Behaviours, and Crotch.
John Brennan collaborates widely, including recently with Endlings (Raven Chacon and John Dieterich), Evichen (Victoria Shen), Francesco Fonassi, Plan Your Future (with Greg Saunier of Deerhoof), Brennan/Corsano duo and Physics with John Dieterich. Kellen Maclaughlin performs with KVMP and Ora Corgan, while saxophonist Liam Murphy is a west coast staple, playing with the best across Vancouver Island and the mainland. On three of the tracks of ‘Outside Over There’, the band is joined by their comrade Justin Patterson, who also plays with Brennan in the duo Modale. This cross-pollination fuels EarthBall’s sound - a collective improvisation, psychically overdriven, and grinding into bloom.
Outside Over There’ is more than an album though, it is a ritual, a gathering of sound at the forest’s edge; where feedback, saxophone screams, and ecstatic vocals dissolve the boundary between chaos and clarity. EarthBall invite you into their circle, to share in the joyful terror of spontaneous creation. ‘Outside Over There’ will be released on November 7th through Upset The Rhythm digitally and as a limited blue-in-black vinyl LP.

From the quiet desolation of earlier Iterum Nata now rises something heavier – more aggressive and defiant. With “Heartwood”, Finnish multi-instrumentalist Jesse Heikkinen (The Abbey, Henget, ex-Hexvessel) reshapes his progressive rock and neo-folk foundations through the crucible of metal, layering doom-laden riffs and blackened textures upon the project’s introspective core.

To give this vision its pulse, Heikkinen enlisted Ukrainian drummer Yurii Ciel (Stoned Jesus, Cailleach Calling, ex-White Ward), whose expressive performance transforms “Heartwood” into the most visceral Iterum Nata release to date. Together they carve a sound both expansive and immediate: progressive journeys steeped in folk atmosphere, driven by the weight and force of metal.

The record also features rare guest appearances: King Dude lends his commanding voice to “Forgiveness Undone”, Alexander Kuoppala (ex-Children of Bodom) unleashes a searing solo in “I Have Been Sacrificed”, and Sami Hynninen (Reverend Bizarre) delivers an unearthly vocal in “Only Ash and Bones Remain”.

“Heartwood” is an album hewn from fury yet tempered by revelation. Where past Iterum Nata releases drew from solitude and sorrow, here the wellspring is anger – but anger that points beyond itself, toward beauty, hope, and transcendence. It is a meditation on the spiritual war within the collective unconscious, channelled through music that flows between Anathema and My Dying Bride, Opeth and In the Woods…, Pink Floyd and Green Carnation.

Jeb Loy Nichols is at it again with a brand new 7” that pairs two sides of his soulful storytelling. On the A-side, the exclusive cut “Do The Get Together” makes its debut – a slow-burning southern soul dancer that gently calls people closer, both on the dancefloor and beyond it. With warmth, patience, and a steady groove, Nichols invites connection without force, offering a quiet reminder that togetherness can still feel natural and unpretentious.

Driven by Cold Diamond & Mink’s deep-pocket rhythm and understated analog textures, “Do The Get Together” unfolds with ease. The groove never rushes, allowing Jeb’s voice to guide the message with soft authority and lived-in wisdom. It’s a song that feels tailor-made for late-night spins, where movement and meaning find common ground.
On the flip, “First Night Away From Home” brings listeners back to the opening chapter of Nichols’ latest album This House is Empty Without You. Warm, melodic, and intimate, the track captures that mix of vulnerability and quiet resolve that defines Jeb’s songwriting. Together, these two sides form a perfect 7” pairing, pressed for those who value soul that speaks gently but stays with you

REVNOIR is one of the most exciting new forces to emerge in the rock and metal world. Officially unveiled in September 2023, the project has been quietly evolving behind the scenes for nearly two years, led by the talented trio Maxime Rodriguez-Medallo, Julien Ho-Tong, and Kaz Nakazawa. Blending elements of modern rock, crushing metal, and dark electro, REVNOIR crafts a powerful, melodic sound that resonates with both emotional depth and cinematic intensity. Since their formation, the band has made impressive waves—already surpassing 1 million Spotify streams across their four latest singles and building a loyal listenership with over 70,000 unique monthly listeners on the platform.

Their explosive live energy was on full display when they joined Future Palace on a European tour and later proved their rising star status with a sold-out headline show at La Maroquinerie in Paris (550 capacity) in April 2025. Now signed to Arising Empire, REVNOIR are gearing up for their next big chapter: supporting Coldrain on their massive UK/EU headline tour this winter. Spanning 17 dates across 10 countries, including major stops in the UK, Germany, France, Netherlands, and more, the tour marks Coldrain’s first European run in over four years and is set to draw thousands of fans each night. As main support on every date, REVNOIR will be performing in some of the biggest venues of their career so far—introducing their sound to a whole new wave of international listeners and firmly cementing their place among the most promising heavy acts of this new generation.

Caligula's Horse is a progressive metal band from Brisbane, Australia, and named after the trusted steed of the assassinated Roman emperor Caligula. This band should surely be on the radar of any Opeth, Karnivool and Haken fan.

The Tide, The Thief & River's End is their second record, originally from 2013, and contains everything you'd want of a progressive metal album: heavy riffs, melodic hooks and of course unbelievable technical prowess. The album once again proves that the prog scene down under is a force to be reckoned with.

The Tide, the Thief & River's End is available as a limited edition on blue vinyl and includes a 4-page booklet.

The small print:
• Due to rights restrictions, this item is only available in the EU.

Released in 2016, It’s Immaterial found Black Marble refining its coldwave and synth-pop foundations into a warmer, more melodic expression of isolation, longing, and quiet resilience. Guided by Chris Stewart’s unmistakable baritone and a palette of analog synths, pulsing basslines, and minimalist rhythms, the album feels simultaneously nostalgic and forward-leaning. Its songs drift between shadowy introspection and subtle hope, creating a cinematic atmosphere that’s both intimate and hypnotic.
With It’s Immaterial, Black Marble deepened its signature sound, offering a collection that resonates like a faded memory—soft, hazy, and endlessly replayable.

"Melodies twist inward and out of the comfort zone, but never overstep their boundaries or demand extra attention they don’t deserve. The fragments that have been found, from beginning to end, click and fall into place almost effortlessly. It’s surprising how nothing feels forced." - Drowned in Sound

Finnish dub-techno craftsman TM Shuffle, head of Vuo Records, resurfaces with a deep and distilled EP that goes straight for the late-night heart of the dancefloor. Rooted in Tampere’s raw, analog dub sound, his productions have long balanced weight and warmth, smoked-out chords, rolling low-end and subtle shuffle that keeps the groove in constant motion.
The lead track “Kellari” dives into basement mode: pressure-cooker drums, slow-burning stabs and a humid, lived-in atmosphere that feels equally at home on a huge system or in headphones at 4 a.m. On the second original cut, TM Shuffle links up once again with long-time collaborator Monoder, the alias of Jussi-Pekka Parikka, known for his dubbed-out explorations on labels like Statik Entertainment and Pakkas-Levyt since the early 2000s. Their joint track stretches time, letting echo, tape hiss and distant melodic fragments float around a rock-solid groove, channelling years of shared studio language into one focused, hypnotic flow.
On the flip, Anton Kubikov (SCSI-9) steps in with a lush reinterpretation of Kellari. A true Russian techno veteran with a catalog that spans Kompakt, Force Tracks, Mayak and beyond, Kubikov melts the original into a widescreen, dream-state trip, soft-focus pads, gentle yet insistent percussion and that unmistakable rolling pulse that made his work so enduring. The remix doesn’t just extend the track; it opens a new dimension, turning the basement pressure into a slow-rising, celestial drift.
Pressed on limited coloured vinyl, this EP is built for selectors who like their dub techno deep, human and timeless, a record that will quietly live in bags for years and keep resurfacing whenever the room calls for true late-night elevation.

Following her compelling debut EP Mending, Frida Touray returns with Homebody, a work of raw emotional clarity, crafted duringa time when her voice was literally fighting back. Diagnosed mid-process with a rare condition that forced her into silence andstillness, Touray chose not retreat, but rebuild. From the quiet corners of domestic life, she’s shaped a collection of songs thatradiate warmth, vulnerability and quiet endurance.Musically, Homebody expands on Touray’s jazz-soul foundations with sparse, atmospheric production that amplifies her voiceand message. There’s a newfound looseness in her phrasing, a deeper sense of presence in every word she sings. You can hearthe letting go, of perfection, of control, and the deepening of purpose in its place. Each track lands with unfiltered intimacy andemotional architecture, a subtle act of defiance wrapped in softness.This is music built on stillness and shaped by resilience. A reflection on self-worth, illness, femininity, community and healing.Songs that speak to the unseen parts of recovery and the small rooms we build ourselves back up in. Homebody is a record foranyone rebuilding from the inside.

London-via-Accra artist BLACK FONDU shares his seven-track debut EP ‘BLACKFONDUISM’, following the underground momentum of singles ‘im not sleeping’ and the Steve Lamacq BBC 6 Music-premiered ‘holla back girl’. Available on vinyl, and with a self-directed video for ‘#music’, the project marks the first full expression of a voice emerging as one of the UK’s most uncompromising new forces.

‘BLACKFONDUISM’ captures that evolution in its rawest form. The EP came together quickly through instinct and freestyling, recorded between his room in London and a short period in Paris. Each track reflects a world he understood only after living through it. ‘IN D4 CLUB’ channels the exhilaration of acceleration, ‘BOYS’ explores the foundation provided by maternal love, ‘im not sleeping’ confronts denial after more than twenty revisions, ‘C00N V2’ marks a moment of creative rebirth, and ‘BLACK1E’ navigates the tension between self-perception and the world’s gaze. Closing track ‘#music’ distills the entire project into one statement.

Working alone has brought challenges, but he has learned to trust the emotional volatility that fuels the work. “I care so much and would die for this, but I cannot let it kill me. I have to trust myself the same way I trust myself when I make music.”

At 21, BLACK FONDU has carved out a sound that collides hyperpop, noise, rap, punk energy and abstract grime into something instinctive and volatile. Influenced by everything from Rachmaninoff to MF DOOM to Xiu Xiu, he writes, produces and performs every element, including the fractured visuals that accompany his tracks. Praise from BBC 6 Music, Pitchfork, NME, The Quietus, Pigeons & Planes, METAL and Line of Best Fit has positioned him as one of the most intriguing new voices in the UK underground, with explosive live shows across London, the UK and Europe.

With BLACKFONDUISM, he introduces a universe that refuses to sit still. “I wanted this EP to act as an introduction to my worlds. It felt important to put this out so I can do anything after.” He hopes listeners feel alive when they hear it, and jokes that he wants the record to “evolve music, even just a little.”

BLACK FONDU’s sound remains a paradox, abrasive and fragile, chaotic and meticulous, always guided by instinct. Or, as he puts it, “A bit fucked. But alive.”

"Tranquilizer is, Ambience by force" - Oneohtrix Point Never

"Tranquilizer" klingt nicht nach Beruhigung, sondern nach Wiederauftauchen. Daniel Lopatin verurteilt nicht unser Bedürfnis nach Flucht, sondern erkundet vielmehr, was danach passiert. Sein neues Album zeichnet eine Bewegung von schwereloser Ruhe hin zu etwas Bodenständigerem nach – keine Heldenreise, sondern der notwendige Kreislauf von Rückzug und Rückkehr, der uns in einer ebenso überwältigenden wie banalen Welt den Verstand bewahrt.

Wir stürzen aus der triefenden Glückseligkeit von "Lifeworld" in die traurige Melancholie von "Cherry Blue" und die spastischen Grooves von "Rodl Glide". Wie immer bei OPN kollidiert das Reale mit dem Unwirklichen. Wer genau hinhört, hört das Kratzen von Fingern auf einem Griffbrett, einen Stein, der über einen Kerkerboden gleitet, das Quietschen einer sich öffnenden Tür. Lopatins Musik war nie ein abstraktes Farbfeld; sie hat Gewicht, Kanten, Schatten. Während "R Plus Seven" nur aus kristallinen Arpeggiatoren bestand und "Garden Of Delete" ein fieberhaftes Erbrechen gurgelnder Synthesizer war, fühlt sich "Tranquilizer" an, als würde man aus einem Traum fallen, den man noch berühren kann.

A miraculous collaboration comes to life! DJ Mitsu the Beats, a globally active member of the Sendai-based hip-hop crew GAGLE, joins forces with beatmaker and
producer STUTS for the new track "Stack Wave" now released as a 7-inch single.

The track features DJ Mitsu the Beats’ gently swaying, looped beats and layered choruses, combined with STUTS’ sophisticated multi-layered instrumentation.
The result is a delicate, immersive sound that evokes the quiet stillness of a seaside setting while capturing the beautiful yet fleeting reverberation of the vast ocean.

Included is the instrumental track "On the edge of the water" from the original album "New Horizon" scheduled for release in November 2025. With jazz-infused beats
and electric piano, the track reflects the theme of sea and chill, creating a relaxed, timeless atmosphere.

The jacket artwork is a collaborative design featuring ocean photography by Yasuma Miura, a photographer based in Shonan and Kamakura who travels the world while
surfing, and design by So Iguchi (soiguchi design), known for his work on outdoor brand catalogs and lookbooks.

Chicago producer Ellery Cowles lands on Apnea Records with three tracks that draw from the city's foundational rhythms while reaching for something more devotional. Walking by Faith isn't chasing nostalgia--it's after deeper ground. "Fall of Jericho" kicks things off with syncopated Chicago swing colliding with latin percussion and acid basslines that curl and bite in equal measure. "Fly" builds around a looped vocal fragment, letting raw drum patterns stretch and breathe as the track slowly reveals itself. Closer "Crying of Yahweh" is the most patient of the three--seven minutes of hypnotic techno coiling around latin rhythms, carrying a quiet spiritual weight that lingers long after it fades. Cowles moves between reference points with ease--Chicago house, devotional threads, latin heat--but never forces the connection. The music feels like it's been lived in rather than simply constructed, generous with its time and intentional with its space. Out now on Apnea Records.

After making her professional debut as the cool, breathy voice behind the historic 1964 crossover smash “The Girl from Ipanema”, Brazilian singer Astrud Gilberto became a major force in popularizing the bossa nova sound. Her understated yet magnetic delivery is spotlighted on this collection, showcasing her instantly-recognizable approach to songs drawn from a variety of sources—Brazil, pop hits and standards.

On »Empty Room,« David Granström works with slow transformations, cyclical and isometric patterns as well as just intonation as a way to create harmonic stability, allowing his long-form pieces to develop their own unique temporal and spatial qualities. A prolific figure in Stockholm’s experimental drone scene and a collaborator of Hallow Ground label mates Maria W Horn and Mats Erlandsson, the Swedish composer navigates through moments of quietude and crushing volume on these five tracks. Sonically and atmospherically, the pieces on »Empty Room« simultaneously call to mind Fennesz’s most meditative work or the physical experience of seeing Sunn O))) live, blending guitar recordings and synthesised sounds with forceful effects similar to those of Mario Díaz de Leon’s Oneirogen project while still being as moving and delicate as Alessandro Cortini’s solo work. The album is marked by melodies and harmonies that are the product of a peculiar working process that turned the composer into an intent listener collaborating with, rather than simply using technology.

Having been invited by the self-organising artist group The Non Existent Center for a residency to Ställbergs Gruva, a defunct iron ore mine in Sweden’s Bergslagen region, Granström took his guitar as a starting point for his compositional work that heavily relies on real-time sound synthesis. »I seldomly use the instrument as a sound source in the final compositions and rather transcribe and orchestrate the harmonic structures using sound synthesis,« he explains. »On this album however, I chose to include the actual recordings of the guitar in order to extend the spectra between non-referential synthetic sounds and embodied referential sounds.« Working with precise tunings in order to blend the timbre of the synthesis with the harmonic structures of the composition, he created composite sound objects in which the harmonic elements blend into each other.

Through the re-amplification of synthetic musical materials from the inside of the abandoned mine, his original compositions were enriched with site-specific sound qualities before he further refined them in a singular working process. Granström works with algorithmic and generative processes, using the SuperCollider programming environment and thus blurring the lines between generative and creative forms of composition. »One of the things that I like about this way of working is that it creates a distance between myself as a composer and myself as a listener of the music that is produced entirely by the system,« he says. Granström’s technologically aided eschewing of the conventions of composing doesn’t make the end result any less personal, however. By listening again and again to the newly generated output, Granström simply took on a different role in the process of finalising the music, with the technology and the sounds becoming his co-authors.

By creating systems that generate music, he gains a new perspective on (musical) time, says Granström. »There doesn't have to be a fixed length to the music at all,« he explains. »And by writing music with this in mind, my focus tends to shift towards writing cyclical structures that gradually change and transform over time.« Simple parts, in other words, that emerge as the five complex wholes that form »Empty Room,« a record that itself seems to take on different forms with every new listen.

The song titles on Van Halen's aptly titled Fair Warning don't lie. The likes of "Unchained," "Mean Street," "Push Comes to Shove," "One Foot Out the Door," and more indicate the mood the band channels on its double-platinum 1981 record — the nastiest, darkest, and fiercest album of the group's storied career. For the fourth time in four years, Van Halen throws down the gauntlet to all challengers and emerges victorious.


Sourced from the original analog tapes, pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl at Fidelity Record Pressing, and strictly limited to 5,000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity's UltraDisc One-Step 180g 45RPM 2LP set plays with unfettered clarity, dynamics, and immediacy. Benefitting from superb groove definition, an ultra-low noise floor, and dead-quiet surfaces, this vinyl edition captures what went down in the studio with tremendous realism and involving presence.

Taking a more controlled approach in the studio and still completing everything in less than two weeks, Van Halen and producer Ted Templeman relied on studio amplifiers to direct the sound. Further diverging from the live-on-the-floor approach of its earlier albums, the ensemble also employed overdubs to great effect. The result: Dense, stacked architecture that underlines the hard-hitting tenor of the songs — and which comes alive like never before on this reference edition that looks as good as it sounds.

The premium packaging and gorgeous presentation befit the reissue's select status. Housed in a deluxe slipcase, it features special foil-stamped jackets and faithful-to-the-original graphics that illuminate the splendor of the recording. Aurally and visually, it is made for listeners who want to immerse themselves in everything involved with the album, including the iconic cover art adopted from William Kurelek's haunting painting, "The Maze."

Isolated frames from Kurelek's childhood-inspired work — including a man bashing his head into a brick wall, a guy pinning down an adversary as he delivers bare-fist blows to his face and others watch with apparent glee, a boy tied down on a conveyer belt and being sent through the equivalent of a meat saw — adorn the front and back covers. The sunnier visual disposition of Van Halen's prior efforts gives way to something sinister and tortured, traits reflective of the music within. The band members, too, are visually depicted not in glamorous shots but in a serious black-and-white portrait in which the quartet is clad in black leather jackets.

Tough, aggressive, stark: Fair Warning comes on like a series of bare-knuckled punches to the solar plexus and boasts lyrical narratives to match. Though not a concept record, the concise album revolves around themes of roughing it on the streets and struggling to survive amid dim prospects. Singer David Lee Roth reportedly penned many of the initial lyrics after traveling to Haiti and observing extreme poverty. The characters and situations populating Fair Warning reflect hardscrabble existence, last-chance desperation, and underlying danger.

Witness the crazies, poor folks, and hunters of “Mean Street”; the former prom queen turned pornographic actress on “Dirty Movies”; the menace and vice of “Sinners Swing!”; the streetwise hustle of “Unchained”; the isolation and alienation of “Push Comes to Shove”; the desire for escape on “One Foot Out the Door”: A carefree California beach party Fair Warning is not.

Having said he felt angry and frustrated during the sessions, guitarist Eddie Van Halen uses the forceful arrangements as a playground for his seemingly unlimited arsenal. Supported by a crack rhythm section and a hyped-up Roth, he performs with an almost impossible combination of punk-like intensity, technical finesse, lyrical fluidity, and unbridled emotion. The virtuoso was increasingly butting heads with Templeton and seeking a freedom in the studio he believed denied him.

No wonder he plays like a bat out of hell. Listen to the rapid-fire manner in which he slaps the high and low E strings on the 12th fret of his instrument on “Mean Street,” instilling the tune with funk flair and metal-spiked sharpness. For the pouty strut of “Dirty Movies,” Eddie Van Halen contributes slide guitar magic made possible after he sawed off the lower portion of a Gibson SG so he could reach further down the fretboard.

Related intensity, urgency, and daredevil momentum punctuate the surging “Sinner’s Swing!” A heavily flanged, delicately melodic introduction frames the attitudinal “Hear About It Later,” among the most creative arrangements of Van Halen’s career. And do riffs come any bigger or magnetic than those on the high-wire kick of “Unchained”? As for the out-of-left-field “Sunday in the Park,” an instrumental composed on an Electro-Harmonix micro-synthesizer: Who but Eddie Van Halen to supply creep factor in such an ingenious way?

Despite selling fewer quantities than Van Halen’s prior efforts, Fair Warning remains for many diehards the record that epitomizes all of the band’s immense strengths —Roth’s manic energy and tongue-wagging humor, Alex Van Halen’s rhythmic heartbeat-in-your-chest bombast, and Michael Anthony’s lucid bass lines included. Arriving when the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and new-wave movements were taking flight, it signaled a shot across the bow from a band determined to stay a step ahead and provide proof nobody could touch what it delivered.

More than four decades later, Fair Warning still sounds that alarm.

Repetitive Rhythm Research presents: FW25/26 The sound of the season? Or a tongue-in-cheek reflection on fleeting trends? Techno has always moved in cycles--styles fade in and out of focus, but true character stands the test of time. As the genre enters its fourth decade, it's fascinating to see how experimentation sometimes becomes formula, and how fresh ideas can either break the mould or quietly slide into the mainstream. This new compilation on Repetitive Rhythm Research explores exactly that tension. 12 tracks by 12 artists--ranging from rising talents to established names--each bringing their own distinct approach. This isn't your typical 'cut from the same cloth' compilation. It's a diverse journey through contemporary techno with all its depth, quirks, and raw energy. From Marcel Dettmann's dark and spooky slow-burner This Is a Test, to Peder Mannerfelt's forward-thinking Alternate Current. Force Reaction dives into trippy terrain with Mysteries Unfolding, while Sanna Mun and Dynamic Forces channel classic Detroit vibrations. Section 6 (a well-known Dutch producer) and Sonic Propaganda (aka Earwax and Rosati) deliver peak-time power. UFO95 takes you on an epic trip with Apollo95, while Conrad Van Orton's Plaintive Drift operates in a lane of its own--fast-paced, hypnotic, and emotionally rich. And then there's the ever-consistent Jeroen Search, the fierce energy of Kerrie, and the unmistakable sonic fingerprint of Aleksi Per?l?--each contributing to this wide-ranging exploration of techno's current landscape. This Fall/Winter 25/26 release isn't just another techno compilation. It's a curated statement that embraces contrast, personality, and forward momentum. Pick your favorites. Revisit the outliers. Let the rhythms unfold.

Mathew takes inspiration from the weirdness of Aldous Harding and Amen Dunes while embracing the songcraft of greats like Neil Young and Jeff Buckley. Due for release on 3rd October 2025 via Tip Top Recordings (Mandrake Handshake, Japanese Television, Pearl & The Oysters), EP 'Full Weight' is a six track offering of emotionally driven, lyrically agile, eccentrically produced indie- rock. Released on limited edition (300) heavyweight white coloured vinyl.

Mathew's journey began with a childhood guitar and quietly grew into a private archive of hundreds of songs, never meant for anyone but himself. After stints with local outfits The Velotones and Violet May, he broke away to carve out his own space, one where every note and word belonged to him. Stepping into the studio with friends and trusted collaborators, he found the freedom and confidence to let the world in. The result is 'Full Weight', a bold new chapter in Mathew's musical story. '5:32' is the natural way to introduce Mathew's gloriously unique voice and songwriting, evoking Sheffield's musical royalty such as Richard Hawley.

As the single artwork depicts, '5:32' was conceived by Mathew "in bed, during COVID, eating cereal and taking my meds. As Thom Yorke once said, 'no one is really a solo artist'". The surging, cathartic anthem 'Weight Of Love' is about a simple case of unrequited love. Mathew says, "In my case, it's a story of my dad leaving. The cover artwork is of me and my brother around the age he left" . Further tracks like 'Lady Luck' lean into a slowburning groove of shimmer and snarl, while the fully exposed 'Creature Of Comfort' is built on skeletal instrumentation. 'Full Weight' captures the duality of refusing to choose between fragility and force. It's music that aches, bleeds, and ultimately triumphs: a testament to the strength in showing your cracks. Mathew J Hall celebrates the EP with a live show on 24th October at Hallamshire Hotel, Sheffield.

Acclaimed Scottish composer Craig Armstrong releases his new work Pacific via his own label CMA Records. Written for piano, cello, and electronics, the three-movement piece was originally commissioned in December 2024 by Christian Kellersman, a pioneering figure in contemporary classical and jazz music, for his new live event series Berlin Confidential, co-curated with Alexander Szlovák. The series aims to promote innovative new music projects, with a particular focus on emerging musicians and composers.

Armstrong was among the first artists invited to perform as part of Berlin Confidential, premiering Pacific at Berlin’s historic Meistersaal concert hall in March 2025. The concert featured Armstrong on piano alongside cellist Lena Angelina von Almen and producer and musician Guy Sternberg, combining acoustic instruments with live electro-acoustic treatments to create a rich and atmospheric sound world.

Recorded in May 2025 at Lowswing Studios in Kreuzberg, Pacific continues Armstrong’s ongoing exploration of blending acoustic and electronic sound in a natural, seamless way. Over several days in the studio, Armstrong, von Almen and Sternberg developed the work’s intricate textures and dynamic interplay, resulting in a recording that captures both the intimacy and expansiveness of the original live performance.

Speaking about the inspiration behind the piece, Armstrong says: “I wrote this work during a time of great instability in the world, I wrote “Pacific” as an Elegy dedicated to the many suffering in today’s conflicts and in the hope that peace will prevail.”

Across its three movements, Pacific 1 is elegiac in nature, with the main themes stated and developed throughout the piece, punctuated by recurring piano motifs. The movement is reflective and atmospheric, with subtle electronic interventions. The second movement is arrhythmic in nature, following shifting time signatures that reflect a sense of uncertainty - the music is searching and static, ending without resolution but leaving hope for one to come. Pacific 3 moves towards peace and resolution, bringing the work to a close with quiet strength and emotional release.

When speaking about the creative process and his collaborators, Armstrong said: “Lena’s beautiful playing , tone and expression worked so beautifully on Pacific, Lena was also a great collaborator and was always willing to experiment and try new musical approaches. Lena is such a natural musician and she brought so much emotion and beauty to the piece. I wish her all the best in her future musical journey.”

He continues: Guy is a unique combination of being a brilliant engineer and mixer and a prolific very talented musician/composer. I was very fortunate to spend time with Guy in his studio in Berlin. His sensitivity to the project and his electronic programming made a wonderful contribution to the composition. His collaboration and friendship made the days working in Berlin such a great experience I would like to thank Emma Ford for her dedication, enthusiasm and guidance on Pacific”

For both von Almen and Sternberg, the collaboration was equally meaningful. Von Almen reflects on the experience of recording the piece, saying: “As a musician, it is always a great privilege to work on a piece together with the composer, and of course I felt even luckier to go through the process of creating something new with an artist like Craig Armstrong. Figuratively speaking, it felt like knitting a silk scarf: using the finest materials and taking the utmost care during the recording, we have realised another beautiful and touching work by Craig, which will bring us and certainly many others great joy. I feel very honoured to have been part of this and to have experienced this warm encounter.”

Sternberg adds: “Diving into Armstrong’s music while working on this record felt like examining a diamond under a microscope, discovering endless beauty within simplicity. Perfection and complexity emerging from simplicity, where every note, tone, noise, and gesture has meaning. I’m deeply grateful to have been part of this process, and for the freedom Craig gave me to express myself through his music, to let our sonic visions merge into one. It’s been both a lesson in music-making and in setting the ego aside, if only for a moment.”

Reflecting Armstrong’s belief in the role of music as a force for empathy and reflection, proceeds from Pacific will be donated to charities working towards peace: Médecins Sans Frontières and the Red Cross.

The limited-edition vinyl release has been pressed on Eco Vinyl at SeaBass Vinyl, a sustainable plant near Edinburgh. The record features striking cover art by Dirk Rudolph, who has designed several of Armstrong’s previous releases.

Doomcannon Announces Powerful New Album 'Somewhere In Between' Capturing The Quiet Turbulence Of Transformation. New Single 'the Truth' Out Now Is A Soulful Prelude To A Record About Healing, Growth & Self-Belief.

DoomCannon is the alter ego of South London native Dominic Canning, a musical force who cut his teeth as part of genre-pushing groups TriForce and Project Karnak. A proud graduate of Kinetika Bloco and Tomorrow's Warriors, he has shared stages with Celeste (as her musical director), and has graced platforms from the BRIT Awards to 'Later… with Jools Holland'.

His 2022 debut album 'Renaissance'on Brownswood Recordings earned critical acclaim for its expansive sound and political urgency. Now, with 'Somewhere In Between', DoomCannon turns the lens inward—exploring personal growth, emotional honesty, and the hard-earned lessons found in transition.

In 2019, a brutal epileptic seizure changed my life - the first of more to come. I was forced into solitude, and in that quiet, music became my lifeline. In the following years, I poured everything I had into creating between you and me: a raw, DIY album that is a distillation of my lived experience during this time. The album explores emotional authenticity, freedom of expression, and acceptance: not as abstract concepts, but through visceral experiences that have fundamentally reshaped my art and my sense of self. As a listener, I invite you to explore your vulnerability by joining me in mine. This album is truly between you and me.

Ozzy Jones is a Dutch-Australian interdisciplinary artist whose music blends electronica with indie. Drawing from personal struggles and raw emotion after his seizures started, his debut album between you and me explores vulnerability, male identity, and authentic self-expression. Rooted in Amsterdam's vibrant creative scene, Ozzy's work fuses sound, visuals, and storytelling to create a deeply immersive and honest artistic experience.

"Tranquilizer is, Ambience by force" - Oneohtrix Point Never

"Tranquilizer" klingt nicht nach Beruhigung, sondern nach Wiederauftauchen. Daniel Lopatin verurteilt nicht unser Bedürfnis nach Flucht, sondern erkundet vielmehr, was danach passiert. Sein neues Album zeichnet eine Bewegung von schwereloser Ruhe hin zu etwas Bodenständigerem nach – keine Heldenreise, sondern der notwendige Kreislauf von Rückzug und Rückkehr, der uns in einer ebenso überwältigenden wie banalen Welt den Verstand bewahrt.

Wir stürzen aus der triefenden Glückseligkeit von "Lifeworld" in die traurige Melancholie von "Cherry Blue" und die spastischen Grooves von "Rodl Glide". Wie immer bei OPN kollidiert das Reale mit dem Unwirklichen. Wer genau hinhört, hört das Kratzen von Fingern auf einem Griffbrett, einen Stein, der über einen Kerkerboden gleitet, das Quietschen einer sich öffnenden Tür. Lopatins Musik war nie ein abstraktes Farbfeld; sie hat Gewicht, Kanten, Schatten. Während "R Plus Seven" nur aus kristallinen Arpeggiatoren bestand und "Garden Of Delete" ein fieberhaftes Erbrechen gurgelnder Synthesizer war, fühlt sich "Tranquilizer" an, als würde man aus einem Traum fallen, den man noch berühren kann.

Finding Ways is a new project from Sebastian Rochford (Polar Bear).

Sebastian Rochford is a singular force in British music, an extraordinary drummer, composer, and producer. His work with theiconic group Polar Bear helped redefine the boundaries of jazz and earned multiple Mercury Prize nominations. With a careerspanning collaborations with Patti Smith, Damon Albarn, Brian Eno, Adele and Grace Jones, and his 2023 ECM duo album A ShortDiary with Kit Downes, an album written for his father described as a “ quiet masterpiece” , Rochford has carved out a uniquespace in contemporary music.Finding Ways, his new major project, marks a bold new chapter for Seb Rochford. The first album focuses on the guitar, featuringamong others, the dynamic lineup of Tara Cunningham, David Preston, Adrian Utley (Portishead), and Simon Tong(The Verve,Gorillaz), exploring various combinations and layering up to three guitars at once. The result is a striking blend of jaggedexperimental grooves and raw emotional depth, with an unaffected, pedal-less sound that evokes a timeless, exploratory edge.Rochford’s music, as ever, defies categorisation—a sound that feels alive, fractured, and profoundly human, and all mixed by thesingular talent and master of sound, Tchad Blake.The title Finding Ways refers to a frame of mind he chose to adopt after multiple significant life events happening in a smallamount of time. "It’s about finding ways to keep ourselves moving forward and buoyant, transforming life’s challenges intosomething meaningful, also in a practical, everyday type of way.In Finding Ways, it’s direct, energetic music that refuses to be boxed in, a reflection of Seb Rochford's trailblazing spirit. For fansof his previous work and newcomers alike, this album is a testament to his ongoing quest to find emotional truth in sound.