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“And now for a gentleman who’s come all the way from Kingston, Jamaica and a place called Cling Cling Avenue. We present to you the one and only, the Originator, the Godfather, Daddy U Roy!”

U Roy had visited Brighton before but there was something special about that balmy night in August 2017, when he walked out on stage at the Komedia to a hero’s welcome and immediately got the crowd cheering and dancing. There was so much warmth and excitement generated that night, and it’s all captured on this final live album of the reggae superstar’s illustrious career.

U Roy wasn’t quite the originator, but he was the first Jamaican deejay to dominate the Top 3 places on both radio stations and turn his predecessors’ simple exhortations into an artform – one that evolved into a global phenomenon. It was his performances on King Tubby’s Hometown Hi-Fi that made him the talk of Jamaica and led him to Treasure Isle studio, where he voiced hits like Tide Is High and Wear You To The Ball. From then on his catchy, uplifting rhymes could be heard on radios and jukeboxes throughout the island, as well as from behind the control tower of his King Stur Gav sound-system, where MCs like Josey Wales, Brigadier Jerry and Charlie Chaplin learnt their craft. The veteran deejay, who died in February 2021, continued recording and touring into his late seventies, and without abandoning either his musical standards or Rastafarian beliefs. At his peak, U Roy voiced for Jamaica legends like Lee “Scratch” Perry, Bunny Lee and Channel One, in addition to several European labels. What most of his recordings have in common is a sense of hope and often joy, because even Get Up Stand Up is delivered with optimism. They are the qualities that come across on this life-affirming set, recorded in front of an appreciative audience, and backed by some of the UK’s finest reggae musicians.

Blood On Satan’s Claw – AKA Satan’s Skin in the USA, is a cult British horror movie from 1971. It’s a film from the golden age of British horror, and one that ticks most of the horror connoisseur’s boxes - it stars the Devil, Olde England, it has nudity, strange ritualism, a fair smattering of blood and of course, sublime music. Produced by cult masters Tigon, this film was the perfect companion piece to their earlier Witchfinder General (1968). Set in rural 17th century England, it tells the fine story of a small village that quickly falls under the devil’s spell. It’s brilliantly told and quite beautifully shot with a very fine cast of superb character actors.
Over many years the film has slowly gained a cultish reputation, and there are rumours that good old Tim Burton is a very big fan and used the movie as an influence for his “Sleepy Hollow” production.
The score was never released. Written by Marc Wilkinson, former director of music for the National Theatre, this cult soundtrack takes its lead from “The Devil’s Interval”, but more about that in the next paragraph. Musical appearances from the Ondes Martenot (the earliest electronic instrument) and Cimbalom add to the overall spookiness of this recording. And in 38 years the music has lost none of its depth or addictive, evil hooks. The first pressing sold out many years ago and commands high prices. A repress has been requested for many years.
Here’s Marc Wilkinson’s thoughts…
“The descending chromatic scale which features throughout the music omits the perfect fifth (the only true consonant in the chromatic scale) and therefore highlights the diminished fifth, which ever since the middle ages in Europe has been known as the Devil's Interval!!”
BRIEF ARTIST INFO: Marc Wilkinson was musical director of the National Theatre throughout the 1960s. He scored a number of films in the late 1960s and 1970s including “If” for Lindsay Anderson. Wilkinson currently lives in France.

‘The Centre is Everywhere’ is our first album. We created it in rather extraordinary circumstances, at a time when we were all slowly sinking into the banal dystopia of a pandemic-stricken world. Our lives, it felt, had slowed to a crawl. Normally we’re fuelled by our audiences, but touring was off the menu. So, we made this record. For us, it was personal.

In such an uncertain time, we wanted to play music that we loved. We ended up with a set of work written over a 120-year period – weightless and transcendent new music alongside Schoenberg’s anguished fin de siècle storytelling.

Edmund Finnis’ work in particular (the titular ‘The Centre is Everywhere’) is important to us. He’s a friend and a colleague, and it’s been a profound experience for us to live with this piece, to tour it, and to make the first ever recording. Somehow in the writing of it, Edmund seems to have prefigured the lack of certainty that has been one of the defining characteristics of this period. His music spins freely through time and space, wraithlike and beautiful.

Whilst recording both ‘Company’ by Philip Glass and ‘Transfigured Night’ by Arnold Schoenberg, we found ourselves drawn to a pervading sense of wildness and nature. The hypnotic rise and fall of the rhythms and textures in Glass’ quartet (presented here in an arrangement for string orchestra) feel quite separate to industrial, man-made structures and forms. Like Edmund’s work, these short movements feel out of time and cyclical, like eternally repeating tides or moon-phases.

Schoenberg’s masterpiece for string sextet opens on a moonlit forest scene, two lovers venturing through a bare, cold grove. We’ve tried to create a recording that paints the violent contrasts of this piece as vividly as possible, from the claustrophobic confessions that open the work through to the gleaming sound world of the second half. As the piece closes, our wooden, earthbound instruments seem to have been transmuted by the glamour and glow of Schoenberg’s music. We finish amongst the stars.

Headline performance at this summer's BBC Proms at the royal Albert Hall

On the A side we have the original tracks starting with
Split Secs - Accept The Answer which is quite the slow burner, easy building up and keeping you in a state of bewilderment with weird synths, sounds and melancholic vocals floating around.

When you're still reminiscing about the first track, Franz Scala decides to up the game with his ‘Overflash’ that contains a kick that makes the walls of every room buzz. His familiar sound can be heard throughout the whole track and will for sure make every dancefloor move.

Moving over to the AA side, Split Secs has made an absolute stellar of a remix of Franz Scala unrecognizable but surely not less danceable original. Heavy bassline, dark and dreamy pads and funky percussion alternate each other in this remix which can be described in so many words, but is best to just start listening to.

Which is exactly what also should be done to the remix by Franz Scala. Taking the slow burner by Split Secs to another tempo and level by adding his familiar sound but what makes this track so special is the synths that have been perfectly applied and will bring some heat and sweat to the dancefloor.



c B1 Franz Scala - Overflash Split Secs Remix 6:02
Franz Scala Remix 8:03

Fine Place is a new duo comprising Frankie Rose (Vivian Girls, Crystal Stilts, Dum Dum Girls) and Matthew Hord (Running, Pop. 1280, Brandy). Based in Brooklyn, NYC together they’ve crafted a crystalline full length of nocturnal, electronic pop music that charts a way out the post-global, cyberpunk dystopian environment it was crafted in. Their debut album This New Heaven drenches minimalist song structures in post-industrial washes of sixstring delay and gothic post-punk synths. Presiding over it is the most evocative, emotive vocal performance Frankie
Rose has committed to tape to date.

Following Hord’s relocation from Chicago, the pair wanted to explore new avenues apart from their respective bands or solo projects. “The sound we were going for was an attempt to capture the dystopian feel of New York during a period of desertion by the wealthy. It was produced in a time-frame saturated in both uncertainty and serenity, and the soundscapes we created felt fitting and almost organic as a response to our surroundings. The title also reflects this in an arguably literal, maybe even satirical way.” Sonically, Fine Place references the pioneering mid-to-late 80s pioneers of icy melodrama The Cure and Cocteau Twins, while reflecting both the individuals’; music trajectories thus far. Modular synthesis triggers rhythm boxes and fluttery arps chirp around clanging 808-patterning as Rose’s reverb-laden vocal layering envelops the remaining headroom. The result is massive; a towering, shadowy music that embraces darkness while offering Rose’s bright vocal as chinks of light in the cracks; the production filling the head space of the beholder with preternatural imagery and emotional resonances that are real but not quite defined.

The title song propels forth out of the fog, scintillating with delayed guitar before the reverb-immersed vocal injects the human drama. The chorus constantly teases a big release but holds back creating a taut, dynamic tension. Cover Blind’s slow march makes full use of Rose’s layered vocal sinking and emerging from Hord’s bank of synths. Stand out It’s Your House is pure honey pouring from the speaker on a bank of of arps and near-hymnal vocal layering, a syrupy light offering in the mist. It’s an emotive highlight that only increases as the album progresses; Impressions Of Me is the Lynchian ballad that glides onward into the sunset. The album finishes on a choice re-interpretation of the 1989 track The Party Is Over by Belgian group Adult Fantasies, one of the great over-looked ballads of the era given an almost ecclesiastical makeover by Matthew Hord and Frankie Rose in 2021.

Says Hord: “This record was an incredibly challenging endeavor to make, as I had just come home from a European tour with another music project and wanted to invest into and focus on this collaboration with Frankie. I essentially reimagined how to approach writing basic sequences with the synthesizers I had been rehearsing and performing with for months prior to make something more accessible and pop- like for Frankie to build upon. Frankie is an unsung hero when it comes to mixing, and she was constantly mixing down and processing elements of the tracks to create different atmospheres as we forged forward with every song.”

This New Heaven is an ecstasy of sorts, a half-dream in the border between sleep and daylight.

Northern Soul legend Lorraine Silver recorded Lost Summer Love when she was just 13 years old in August 1965. Whilst not a chart hit on its release, the track did become a massive anthem at the iconic Wigan Casino and was reissued on the Casino Classics label in the late 70s selling in excess of 30,000 copies. However, Lorraine knew nothing of her heroic Northern Soul status until the late 80s.

23 years after the original recording, Lorraine’s husband, agent Barry Collings, was reading Blues & Soul magazine which featured a top ten selection of favourite Northern Soul tracks that included Lost Summer Love. Lorraine called the editor and was flabbergasted to discover it really was her song. Following this, her story was told in a whole
selection of Northern Soul publications. She contacted the original record company PYE and was told that the track had sold some 34,000 copies worldwide and she could claim her royalties!

At around the same time Barry was involved in promoting Northern Soul weekends across the country and Lorraine was able to meet all the DJs who had been playing her record for years.
She was persuaded to get up and do a couple of PA’s of Lost Summer Love much to the delight of the audience who were queueing for autographs.

Since then, Lorraine’s resurrected career has gone from strength to strength, with airplay on BBC Radio 2, performances at Northern Soul events, and an appearance at the Edwin Starr Memorial Concert alongside the likes of Clem Curtis, Geno Washington, and Jaki Graham. In 2011 she was asked to join the line-up of a new touring show ‘The Mod All Star Band’ with artists she herself had idolised in the 60s including Steve Ellis and Chris Farlowe.

Now, at the age of 70, Lorraine continues to perform, record, and release new material in a career that now spans an incredible 57 years. Her brand-new single Fever Raging Out Of Control was produced by legendary Northern Soul DJ Ian Levine who has also produced pop hits for Take That including ‘A Million Love Songs’ and ‘Could It Be Magic’. The final mix of the track was done by Nigel Lowis who has also worked with Burt
Bacharach, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Stevie Wonder, Luther Vandross, Mariah Carey and Celine Dion to name just a few.

And…that original recording of Lost Summer Love, has now become quite the collector’s item, with a recent copy selling on eBay for some £700.00!

Recorded in a pool house surrounded by an evergreen oak tree forest just outside of Madrid; musician and composer Oliver Patrice Weder’s second artist album ‘The Pool Project’ combines textural and meditative sounds that touch on global influences from jazz, ambient and modern composition. In conjunction with the album, Spitfire Audio has released ‘The Pool Project’ sound library, inviting composers and producers to reimagine, recreate or completely pull apart Oliver’s sound world to facilitate their own vision. Capturing the unique acoustics of the pool house, the library is presented in Spitfire Audio's award-winning, easy-to-use plug-in and features a range of controls and effects. While ‘OPW’ was inspired by constant movement and travelling, ‘The Pool Project’ had quite a contrary motivation. Oliver explains “After making my debut album, it was clear for me that it was only the beginning of a long journey. I enjoy the process and idea of creating something deeply personal and connected to the situation I am in, a snapshot of time so to speak, so I had to start writing a second album sooner or later. I love change and find it very inspiring to creatively adapt to my surroundings and circumstances to see what comes out at the other end. I spent the lockdown time living in a countryside cottage just outside of Madrid, surrounded by holly oak trees. The combination of this and seeing my one year old daughter grow up, as well as expecting another baby boy, created a very unique and fruitful environment to draw inspiration from.” Confirmed press/radio: Future Music - Album review Electronic Sound - Album review Scala Radio -Ambient Track of the Week Scala Radio - Session Track/Interview Reviews: "Rich in beauty and emotion… one of the finest modern composers around" - 8/10, Future Music Mag "Sounds like a warm oasis of calm" - 8.5/10, Higher Plain Music Achievements: Recorded and toured across Europe with various bands including psychedelic rock band Time for T. Composed for the BBC. Lead composer at Spitfire Audio. In 2017, Oliver co-scored the feature film ‘The Haunted’ and made a vlog style series Inside the Score with Spitfire Audio, documenting the entire process — from meeting the director, to seeing the film shown at various international film festivals. Released OPW, a sample library and album, in 2019 with SA Recordings x Spitfire Audio. Interview with MusicTech.

Color Vinyl

'This is the story of a man, marked by an image from his
childhood.' Thus begins, with deceptive simplicity, Chris
Marker's La Jetée (1962). The film, by far Marker's bestknown
work, synthesizes many of the elusive filmmaker's
central preoccupations - time and memory, power and resistance,
the ephemerality and resilience of love - yet it also
undermines the very idea of film. Composed almost entirely
of still photographs, La Jetée quite literally pieces together
the tale of an unnamed, forsaken protagonist, drafted into a
series of time travel experiments in post-apocalyptic Paris.
While Marker creates some of the most hauntingly beautiful
imagery in cinema, what animates La Jetée's frozen
pictures is its sparse and unsettling soundscape. Whispers,
breaths and heartbeats offer an unnerving reminder of
bodily rhythms that, inside the film and out, will inevitably
cease. Fragments of symphonic music at once capture a
love affair and underscore the tragedy awaiting it. The poetic
momentum of the narrator's voice, our only guide: 'On
the tenth day, images begin to ooze, like confessions.'
Superior Viaduct is honored to present the first-time release
of the soundtrack from La Jetée. This vinyl album
features both French and English voiceover narrations,
along with organic textures and Trevor Duncan's impressionistic
score. More than half a century has passed since
La Jetée's theatrical release - now is the time to travel back
to the 'sudden roar' of this masterpiece in a completely
different light.

The Berliners present an unusual live album that is a testimony of strange times: their Phanerozoic concept album performed live in its entirety at a time when no shows were happening anywhere in the world. 3 LPs / 2 CDs plus DVD and access to HD video download and streaming. Phanerozoic I was streamed live from Pier 2, a big hall in the port of Bremen, on March 25, 2021. Phanerozoic II, recorded at "Die Mühle" studio, aired on April 16, 2021 as part of the digital edition of Roadburn Festival, this year abtly named Roadburn Redux. Both shows couldn't have been more different: where the first part boasts with a pompous, mesmerizing lighting production on a big stage, the 2nd part is quite the opposite: intimate, almost cosy, focused on musicianship rather than performance. A stripped down setup in a dark barn, with moody, minimal but not any less efficient lighting. "We wanted to give people 2 totally different experiences", says band leader Robin Staps. "In Bremen, we had the chance to record a proper Ocean live show, the way people know us. We played facing towards the front of the stage, to an invisible crowd, essentially to a huge empty room_ but we knew people were watching, even if we didn't see them. There was the same rush of adrenaline right before going on stage as you get before going on at any big open air festival_ maybe with a little extra anxiety added, because knowing that so many people are watching you without being able to see them yourself was super weird." This release is yet another master class of record packaging from Norwegian artist and long term friend and collaborator, Martin Kvamme: the trifold is made from thick, rough and incredibly fibrous cardboard, adorned with a filigrane copper foil embossing of a bitmapped live fotography from the Bremen event. It contains 3 vinyl records in printed inner sleeves or 2 CDs, plus a DVD and a concert ticket with a streaming and HD video download link to both concerts.

The Italian singer Chiara Civello and the French producer Marc Collin are back together for a second time. After Eclipse, they present « Chansons: Chiara Civello Sings International French Standards ».


A tracklisting of 12 classic songs dating from 1945 to 1975 all by French song writers.

From Michel Legrand to Charles Aznavour, Charles Trénet, Édith Piaf, Jacques Brel or Gilbert Bécaud and Francis Lai. Household names for French music lovers, but not necessarily so for international audiences.

The long awaited follow up to Osaka's Hibushibire 'Freak Out Orgasm!' debut album from 2017 is almost upon us ...
 
Who are Hibushibire ?
 
821 (Hani) on bass
Ryu Matsumoto on drums
Changchang on guitar and vocals
 
It would be fair to say Hibushibire’s 2017 debut album ‘Freak Out Orgasm!’ went down well with fans of psych-rock (call it what you will). So far it’s had three vinyl pressings, two cassette pressings and a CD run back in Japan. It garnered quite a few influential underground (if not mainstream) reviews and seemed to sell through on word of mouth alone - which in these times seems to be the way things are going: thriving social media groups sharing their love of recent purchases and fellow vinyl lovers going out and scooping them up without the need to buy a magazine or read an online review to make their mind up. My favourite review of ‘Freak Out Orgasm!’ came from UK based music blog Dayz Of Purple And Orange as I think he nailed it perfectly...
 
“Fuck me! I think I've died and gone to psychedelic heaven! If anyone had asked me what I would really want from a freak out, heavy-as-fuck psych band I would have to say I would want the sheer guitar pyrotechnics of Acid Mothers Temple, the hard-as-nails scuzziness of The Heads, the lead heaviness of a fucked-up Blue Cheer and the instrumental dexterity of Hendrix on speed. Guess what, that band exists and they are called HIBUSHIBIRE!"
 
That, to me, said it all. Nail hit hard.
 
But let's get onto 'Turn On, Tune In, Freak Out!'
 
Once again the album is produced by Makoto Kawabata (Acid Mothers Temple, Mainliner) and for me it's the next logical step in the bands sonic development. As with its predecessor, side one consists of three tracks, "Ecstasy Highwaystar / Blow! Blow! Blow! / Overdose, Pussycat! More! More!", (they do like an exclamation mark). Some of these titles will be familiar if you've followed the band's live shows in recent times, and it's pretty much a guitar to the front, full gonzo-style hard-rocking psychedelic freak out from the first blast of Changchang's guitar panning from left to right before the main riff kicks it all off.
 
Again, as with their debut, side two comprises of just one epic length track. 'Rollercoaster Of The Universe' clocks in at seventeen minutes and is, in my humble opinion, the sound of the band moving onto the next level during its journey. It's a shudderingly beautiful piece, with many hypnotic twists and turns. I can't wait to hear how they play this live.
 
The band did initially attempt to produce this album by themselves, but got 'brain fever' in the studio and called their old friend Makoto to come down and help them finish it off. As he had no preparation in advance, he knew nothing about how the recording was going in the studio, and moreover there was little time left for adjustments to be made. But his technique of mixing was, as always, both mighty and almost destructive.

Hedvig Mollestad must surely be one of the hardest working musicians on the Norwegian music scene at the moment, with “Tempest Revisited” being her third album in a mere 18 months, all at a consistently high artistic level. Her first solo album, “Ekhidna” (2020), received a Spellemannpris (Norwegian Grammy), appeared on several jazz and rock best of the year lists and got her into Downbeat´s “25 for the future” selection. “Tempest Revisited” draws lines back to 1998 and the very beginning of Rune Grammofon. This was the year we released “Electric”, the collected electronic works of Arne Nordheim, one of Norway´s greatest composers. It was also the year when parts of “The Tempest”, possibly his most cherished and well-known work, was chosen to be performed at the opening of Parken, the new cultural house in Ålesund, birthplace of Hedvig Mollestad. To celebrate 20 years, the culture house was ready for a new storm, and the first name that came to them was Hedvig, a local artist that was already making waves on the international scene with her power-trio. Hedvig took inspiration from the front of the house, adorned with Nordheim´s score for “The Tempest”, at the same time making a direct connection to the sometime heavy weather conditions of this coastal area in the northwest part of Norway. One could say it´s a big paradox that over all this might be Hedvig´s most lyrical and less aggressive collection of music. On the other hand it´s quite a dynamic record, lots of light and shade and enough sonic parts at work to evoke the elements, the mighty Gran Cassa drum only one of them. The music included here was adapted from the initial performance in 2018 and produced by Hedvig in the studio the following year for this album release. The musicians included are old friends Marte Eberson from the Ekhidna band, Ivar Loe Bjørnstad from her trio and Trond Frønes (Red Kite) on bass as well as three sax players. Yet another triumph in a more than impressive discography.

A limited-edition, hand-numbered L.P. dedicated to the previuosly unreleased 1990 project by Manrico & Nicola - featuring two special new Balearic versions by Ed Longo. Manrico & Nicola are comprised of Italian artist, singer, composer and author Manrico Mologni, together with saxophonist, composer and sound engineer Nicola Calgari. Manrico and Nicola were collaborating for some time in artistic harmony, and decided to form a duo to undertake their own album. Nine songs identified, arranged and recorded on a wave of enthusiasm - their "alchemy" gave excellent results. At the last stage of the work unfortunately, misfortune struck - Manrico fell very ill. For the respect of a unique creative moment, and for a sort of psychological "removal" all of this was forgotten until recently. By chance, Manrico had an old cassette with a couple of those songs - the memories resurfaced and it was immediately a race to meet again. Going though many recording studios, Nicola found the DAT with the temporary mixes which had been waiting for years with their emotional content.
But finding a way to transfer the songs was not easy. Quite by chance, a miracle took place. Their friend Massimo Parretti, in his post-production studio, was still equipped to transfer from DAT, and everything worked - with the sound intact as 30 years before!
The rest is news, and now a 1990 album - and piece of history - resurfaces.
Archeo Recordings is a re-issue record label that regenerates old, lost, or forgotten rare gems, of mostly Italian music, but also 70's, 80's and 90's music from across the world.
All releases are licensed audio tracks, re-mastered in their original form. The sleeves are re-created for today, but all based on the original images.
Archeo would like to make the music available to a wider audience of collectors, DJs, music lovers of a forgotten time.
Artwork by Filippo Sala, Milan, 1990.

Shkema's debut EP 'Kronikos' is a double release with four originals and four remixes. The author describes it as 'world news show, where each song represents a different story'. Some of them he has experienced himself, some are hearsay from TV news programs, and some are actually imaginary. Stories are not really related - just like in the news. 'Ispanija' was created during a friend's band rehearsal. Psychedelic vocals sounded interesting in Shkema's headphones while he was watching soundless singers and the muted musicians. The true reason why this track is called 'Ispanija' is still unknown to this day. According to Shkema, 'Ola' is an allegory of Plato's cave. It's a story about prisoners, chained in the cave and the only moving thing they could see was a passing shadow - quite deep, uh? Justin Strauss and Max Pask recently have joined up to form new project Each Other. True dance floor legends delivered bass-busy remix of 'Ispanija'. It could probably be best described as 'juicy distorted badboy from New York you don't want to mess with'. Moscow's finest - Simple Symmetry - joined the pack and went back to the roots. Their remix for 'Ola' is future clubbing classic, four to the floor banger with a drop perfect for pogo.

Germany-based metal band OBSCURA launch trilogy concept on stunning new album “A Valediction”. The group’s first (sixth overall) album for Nuclear Blast pivots on many fronts. Advanced, elegant, and yet refreshing, “A Valediction” sums up past endeavors effortlessly as it gazes with purpose and conviction into the future. OBSCURA are fan-renowned and critically acclaimed for challenging and then expanding upon norms. From “Cosmogenesis” (2009) through “Diluvium” (2018), the band flourished and made significant progress in a musical genre unprepared for a creative shot of German invention. “A Valediction” spearheads OBSCURA into a new era of extreme metal.

Guitarist/vocalist Steffen Kummerer founded OBSCURA in 2002. Early on, he set out to improve, redefine, and push forward. Under his self-label creation, the Bavarian released debut album “Retribution” (2006), followed by heavy touring throughout Europe. Word quickly spread that a brand-new band from the south of Germany was on the rise. Buzz lead to a deal with U.S.-based Relapse Records. The first record out was “Cosmogenesis”. In Europe, Metal Hammer Germany awarded the album 6/7 while in the U.S., “Cosmogenesis” hit the Billboard charts at #71. The cross-continental praise and fevered momentum landed OBSCURA on high-profile tours in Europe, North America, and Japan.

When follow-up “Omnivium” arrived in 2011, they upped their chart success (Billboard #11; Media Control #14), received more accolades from publications like Terrorizer, Rock Hard, and Decibel, had another massive round-world tour cycle, while enhancing and making progress on their clever brutality. OBSCURA further developed their sound on “Akróasis” (2016). Moored by jaw-dropping tracks like ‘Sermon of the Seven Suns,’ ‘Ode to the Sun,’ and the title track, “Akróasis” elevated OBSCURA to the highest levels of international renown, having climbed up the Billboard charts (#5) as well as earning top marks in Rock Hard (8.5/10), Metal Hammer Germany (6/7), and Revolver (4/5). The Germans toured the world yet again, playing over 100 shows in support of “Akróasis”.

OBSCURA’s most significant accomplishment was, however, just around the corner. The final part of a tetralogy, “Diluvium” (2018), fiercely pursued OBSCURA’s multi-album transformation into musical innovators and metal powerhouses. Music videos for the title track, ‘Emergent Evolution’ and ‘Mortification of the Vulgar Sun,’ in concert with a substantial interest in virtuosic, forward-thinking metal, posited OBSCURA in the good graces (yet again) of the worldwide press in addition to rocketing up, for the very first time, the official album charts in Germany (#58) and Switzerland (#93). The Germans also topped out at #3 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart with “Diluvium”.

OBSCURA‘s stats have been impressive: Twenty years active; six highly prized albums; over 600 shows on four continents. Worldwide fan and press engagement—the videos for ‘The Anticosmic Overload,’ ‘Akróasis,’ and ‘Diluvium’ have over 4.5 million views—is only getting stronger the longer OBSCURA continue to offer up and interact with (via play-throughs and member/gear spotlights) their very captive audience. This is only the tip of Kummerer’s custom ESP guitar, however. A Valediction finds OBSCURA turning the page to a new chapter in the band’s evolution. A year in the works, the songwriting sessions followed a new approach, where the framework was relaxed, allowing new inspirations, imagining, and opportunities to arise. Songs like the opening epic ‘Forsaken,’ the '80s-tinted ‘When Stars Collide’ (featuring Soilwork/The Night Flight Orchestra frontman Björn Strid), the brutal groove of ‘Devoured Usurper,’ the ethereal artistry of ‘Heritage,’ and the fleet-fingered title track benefitted compositionally (refined structures) and aesthetically (more dynamism) from OBSCURA’s restyled songwriting stratagem.

OBSCURA wrote, recorded, and finalized “A Valediction” during the pandemic. The stipulations of working during this time allowed OBSCURA to work cross-country, tracking each respective part—drums, guitar, and bass—in national studios across The Netherlands, Austria, and Germany. Once the pieces were completed, the recordings were shipped off to award-winning producer Fredrik Nordström and Studio Fredman (In Flames, Architects) in Gothenburg, Sweden, where Kummerer and Münzner completed vocals and acoustic guitars using custom-built ENGL amps. Nordström was also tapped to mix and master. The final result is a deeper, heavier, yet more rounded production.

Lyrically, “A Valediction” is layered in structure and meaning. The word ‘valediction,’ by definition, deals with goodbyes and farewells. In a way, this is auf wiedersehen to the four-part album series while also addressing complex topics of Kummerer’s personal life. Instead of obscuring issues of loss, death, and abandonment in metaphor and allusion, the German laid bare his torment across songs like ‘Forsaken,’ ‘Solaris,’ ‘In Unity,’ ‘The Neuromancer,’ and ‘In Adversity.’ But for every line of desperation, he also offers positivity. Indeed, new beginnings—physical, emotional, or environmental—can provide light in the darkness. Lauded artist Eliran Kantor (Testament, Helloween) was brought on board to visualize the leitmotif. The bronze-themed colourway Kantor used exemplifies OBSCURA’s resistance to individual and sonic corrosion.

In 2021, OBSCURA will lighthouse their musical prowess, thematic complexity, and lyrical ambition on “A Valediction”. The group continue to be a beacon for change. No doubt OBSCURA’s new stats will amaze, but what they’re focused on is the release of “A Valediction” and then taking it on the road. Several high-caliber tours of Europe, North America, and Asia are planned through to 2023, with routes are in the works for the band to visit Australia, South America, and beyond. Truly, there is no band quite like OBSCURA. “A Valediction” proves that persistence, perseverance, and enterprising minds can achieve anything. Welcome to the next level!

This is the 26th release on RIOT Radio Records, a fiercely independent techno label based in Scotland.

Moscow based Trust True is a producer and DJ who’s quite literally off his rocker. Displaying agonizing and often deranged broken beats which seize the very beat of your heart, his music rushes, grinds and pulsates with so much ferocity, even your living breath will be succumb to its lethal effect.

Continuing with our ‘Limited As Fuck’ series of releases, this additional hard hitting ‘OUTBURST’ will further provocatively attack your gnarly senses in an additional unrealised beguilement stemming from this mental Russian’s 1st ever vinyl release on RIOT Radio Records, ‘Outburst – The Red Mixes’, in April 2021.

Four tracks from that menacing beast have been given the full-on remix treatment and oh boy, what a bunch of hard as nails remixers are on this obliterating follow up release. The Scottish contingent kicks proceedings off with Duellist at the helm followed by Argentinian duo 909distortion & AxggaA literally melting the wax it’s printed on their remix is that fierce. It continues at a relentless pace with Canada’s Patrick DSP mangling the howls of ‘AAIRAA’ to ravenous levels and the mechanical mind of Italian Max Durante finishes the release off with borderline hardcore vengeance.

WARNING: FROM AFAR THE DEMENTED BRINGS FORTH IT’S DERANGED LUNACY ONCE MORE

We used to enjoy presenting Chapelier Fou's work using the idea of music in the form of a treasure hunt. However, while the phrase in itself it still just as relevant today, we would never have imagined that it would become such an integral part of one of his albums. Or two of his albums to be perfectly exact - Méridiens and Parallèles. Two records with twelve songs each which answer each other back in the form of anagrams. They are like the two sides of the same planet - similar but simultaneously so different. They need to be discovered one after the other taking the time necessary to travel through the sound territories produced by his imagination. The starting point is a sombre night in Uqbar… Chapelier Fou's opening reference to Borgès was obviously not made by chance. He subsequently confided in us the objective of his diptych, namely to combine reality with fiction to question certainties and our relationships with the imaginary sphere. He has continued with his traditional classical-contemporary electronic approach which, although now known to a wide audience, has the advantage of opening up a whole range of possibilities right up to the infinite scale. Moving away from an "État Nain" (Dwarf State) to take refuge on an asteroid...Throughout Méridiens, each composition can be seen as a universe in itself or a specific landscape with its own temporality. Proof of this is the introduction to the chamber music format composed for and performed by only strings which can only be given the date we want to give it. This is "État Nain" in which violins are played like guitars. In some parts we find the spirit of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra and the idea of cheering up classical instruments and not taking everything too seriously. In other parts, we find something close to a mischievous and childish unplugged grunge anthem that could be from the French series Les Shadoks. This mischievous view of things is shown to full effect in Am Scharchtensee. The introduction shows Chapelier Fou's whole classical universe and mastery of orchestration in which "modular" electronics provide a subtle and discreet backdrop. Then, the record suddenly switches to a surrealist dialogue between these classical sounds and modular synthesizers with the flavour of the German pioneers Kluster/Harmonia to name but one example. Timelessness and imaginary places. La vie de cocagne confirms this choice of total freedom. It's traditional music with old sounds, a kind of forgotten bourrée (old French dance) in which electronic sounds disturb the established order and thus reach another musical dimension. Le méridien du Péricarde followed by Désert de Sonora push this idea of a trompe l'oreille and a hall of mirrors even further. The latter track ends almost like a catchy 80s melody and we can no longer find any logical meaning. We let ourselves be carried away by this profusion of madness and are a little amazed by this mastery of sound, composition and space. It sometimes all seems like a succession of conjuring tricks. Chapelier Fou takes not being serious very seriously indeed. The end song Everest trail is the perfect conclusion, a deadpan track in which the primary aspect of a totally classical melody in all its straightness is underpinned by a permanent exchange of electronic tweets which mocks the main musical posture. This impertinence harks back to Pierre Schaeffer who directed the ORTF's very serious experimental department in another era and allowed the development of Jacques Rouxel's series Les Shadoks thus introducing the general public to the notion of concrete music. This is also perhaps why Louis Warynski's stage name is French – because he has opted to use his French musical heritage. Thus the first singles selected from this album, Constantinople with its groovy and jazzy allure and Le Triangle des Bermudes evoke composers like Michel Magne or Michel Colombier both of whom have totally open minds and consider all music to have the same importance, namely that of sound. In absolutely all the tracks that make up Méridiens, you will find at least one detail - a pattern, melody, sometimes a simple sound - that will draw you back to explore it a little more. And the words are carefully weighed for sure. It's quite simple. This is undoubtedly his most hypnotizing and catchy album. Chapelier Fou has become a complete master of his own universe. He draws the start and finish lines himself and no one can follow him in a field that now belongs to him alone. Composed imaginary spheres, illustrated territories...Music is just as meaningful as the more visual arts. Therefore the artwork of Méridiens had to project each of the twelve tracks considered individually and not just the whole album as such. Chapelier Fou therefore asked his old friend the contemporary artist Corentin Grossman to create twelve windows to represent glimpses of the twelve worlds composed for the record. Windows or mirrors when it comes to that? You can never be sure of anything...Space OK. But what about time? The years go by and sometimes we forget that fact. But a simple glance back is often enough to gently touch the time that has passed. It is over 10 years since his first official record and he has been composing, recording and sharing his music for almost 20 years. 20 years is a long time. It makes some people look old while others fall into reassuring but sterile nostalgia. Chapelier Fou, on the other hand, has released his most ambitious project and tried to take a higher view of his discography that was itself nevertheless irreproachable. Although the journey is over we can see Parallèles universes on the horizon. Chapelier Fou has announced 12 additional tracks which are like echoes of the compositions on Méridiens' and will be released on the album Parallèles next spring. They are neither twins nor opposites – they are instead totally original new compositions which go further in exploring a universe which is already richly abundant.

The Cool Feedback Quartet’s music is quite similar to a philharmonic orchestra manipulating new material:
feedback, or in other words, the unexpected beauty of sound when it is let loose. Becoming its master so as to make the
best use of it, like a new instrument, the guitar pick up plays again on request. Harmonizing sounds like a string section
gone wild would, like light piercing through ether, tearing up the background and taking us for good to unknown territory.
The bandleader, Grégoire Garrigues, who first got the idea of the concept and got the ball to roll, is a well-known and
respected French guitarist.

"Free Jazz " - Ornette Coleman (as); Eric Dolphy (b-cl); Don Cherry, Freddie Hubbard (tp); Charlie Haden, Scott LaFaro (b); Billy Higgins, Ed Blackwell (dr)

The term 'free jazz' was already inexistence – but it had a quite different meaning, namely jazz without paying for an entrance ticket. The album "Free Jazz", however, was intended to lend its name to a quite different style of jazz. 'Free' playing – now this meant that no one was bound to conventions, you could let your imagination run loose. Free jazz gave one the chance to find new rules for every new composition. And it was to be the greatest boost to innovation in the world of jazz. Ornette Coleman’s album from December 1960 stands at the beginning of the free jazz era like a massive portal. Coleman thought big: he brought two quartets into the studio at the same time, both with two wind instruments and no piano, and let them play together for 36 minutes without a break – a collective improvisation. There aren’t any precise themes, although short, fanfare-like motifs do exist in which the winds come together. A continuousdense rhythmic beat underlies the music almost throughout – and the pulse is felt rather than heard. One musician after the other comes into the foreground to improvise, almost like at a jam session. First Coleman, then Dolphy, then the two trumpeters. The other winds, however, never remain silent, then make comments and support one another continually – the energy level is immense the whole time (it was cold in the studio ...). Only when it is the turn of the bass and drum players do the winds remain silent for about eleven minutes. This album is not only a historic caesura, but a truly great experience over andover again.

This Speakers Corner LP was remastered using pure analogue components only, from the master tapes through to the cutting head. More information under pure-analogue

All royalties and mechanical rights have been paid.

Recording: December 1961 in A&RStudios, New York City, by Tom Dowd

Production: Nesuhi Ertegun