Axel Karakasis returns to Remain with his new 12" EP Stave Off.
Delivering four powerful techno cuts, this release captures his signature sound, precise, driving, and built for the dancefloor.
A solid addition to the Remain series, REMAIN018 once again underlines Axel's consistency and his timeless yet forward-thinking approach to modern techno.
Edition of 200 hand-numbered records, each housed in a custom Rosy womb French paper jacket with letterpress + a unique hand-cut found photo memory fragment on each cover with newsprint insert. Every copy has a different cover.
An archival release by short-lived post-punk, Brooklyn duo Möthersky. Xander Hing, with South African origins, vocals and guitar on Side A, bass + vocals on Side B. Richard Vergez, visual artist and Noir Age label owner, fuzz bass + drums on Side A and guitar + synths + drums on Side B. Played the Nothing Changes party in 2013. Shared bills with acts such as Cindytalk, Black Rain, Eric Random, Das Ding, and Drew McDowall.
Reviewed in The Wire magazine:
First single by this Brooklyn based duo named after the classic track on Can's Soundtracks LP. Their basic approach remains bottom-heavy in the vein of early Factory and 4AD units, but the guitar angles up top have gotten more slithery. Far less doom-ridden than their earlier work, this still stirs up dark waters aplenty. And it has a lovely package of which I think Peter Saville would approve."
-Byron Coley, The Wire
Pic Cover[14,92 €]
Aussie techno innovator Alpharisc returns to Mutual Rytm for a second standout EP.
Shane Yates, aka Alpharisc, has been living and breathing techno for over 30 years. He first began producing in the mid-90s and has amassed a fine hardware collection that lends his sounds a raw, rugged feel. After breaking through with the Wetmusik party and label collective, he has let his music do the talking and isn't afraid of colouring it with a hint of nostalgia. Previous material has come via several notable labels over the years, but his most recent outings have been on SHDW's Mutual Rytm imprint, with his solo EP 'Ram Face' from 2023 becoming an underground favourite alongside a fine outing as part of the label's 'Federation Of Rytm II' and 'Federation Of Rytm III' compilations. Once again, he returns in style, uncovering an impactful selection of gems across his new 'Remain Seated' EP.
The opener 'Peace Be With You' is a straight-up techno weapon with urgent synth flashes peeling off the groove like a police siren. The drums hit hard in true Alpharisc style before 'Hail' builds on that with a more hard-edge groove topped with frosty waves of white noise that electrify the dance floor. 'Remain Seated' brings a hint of trance-leaning energy with its bright sheets of synth lighting up the driving drums and saw-tooth bass loops. Next, 'Look At This' is another brilliantly forceful techno sound with slamming drums and rusty synth loops, layering melancholic pads up top and adding a cerebral edge, while closer 'In Your Mind' is from the Jeff Mills school of synth-laced and serene deep techno with lush pads radiating cosmic light. As a bonus, digital-only cut 'Expedition' brings some backlit celestial synth work to a rubbery and pummelling drum pattern for pure techno escapism.
Bulbous Monocle focuses its lens further into the legacy and archives of the Thinking Fellers Union Local 282. These Things Remain Unassigned—a phrase coined by Brian Hageman, one of the band’s musical snake appendages emanating from its Medusa crown—is presented as a double LP (gatefold jacket with a twelve page libretto). It gathers together the band’s singles, compilation tracks, outtakes and never before released gems encompassing the arc of TFUL’s musical corpus. Every track has been surgically remastered by Mark Gergis (Porest / Sublime Frequencies / Mono Pause) with his signature craftsman approach. This collection is an auditory and visual feast. The extensive booklet included features band ephemera, concert flyers, photographs, and commentary about each track from Mark Davies. Beyond the rare singles and unreleased tracks from the TFUL archives, are cover versions from such disparate artists and composers as Ennio Morricone, Krzysztof Komeda, The Residents, The Shaggs, Caroliner Rainbow and Pérez Prado. “…In addition to these compilation one-offs, there were also a few studio recordings that were never quite completed or released. Throw in an alternate mix or two and the handful of singles that came out on various labels over the years, and you end up with what I feel works well as its own body of work, a bunch of adopted oddballs that somehow fit together as a family. I hope youʼll agree with me that these things are now no longer unassigned, but part of a somewhat cohesive whole, stitched together into something mysterious and glistening.” —Mark Davies (2023)
Uni Cover[11,72 €]
Aussie techno innovator Alpharisc returns to Mutual Rytm for a second standout EP.
Shane Yates, aka Alpharisc, has been living and breathing techno for over 30 years. He first began producing in the mid-90s and has amassed a fine hardware collection that lends his sounds a raw, rugged feel. After breaking through with the Wetmusik party and label collective, he has let his music do the talking and isn't afraid of colouring it with a hint of nostalgia. Previous material has come via several notable labels over the years, but his most recent outings have been on SHDW's Mutual Rytm imprint, with his solo EP 'Ram Face' from 2023 becoming an underground favourite alongside a fine outing as part of the label's 'Federation Of Rytm II' and 'Federation Of Rytm III' compilations. Once again, he returns in style, uncovering an impactful selection of gems across his new 'Remain Seated' EP.
The opener 'Peace Be With You' is a straight-up techno weapon with urgent synth flashes peeling off the groove like a police siren. The drums hit hard in true Alpharisc style before 'Hail' builds on that with a more hard-edge groove topped with frosty waves of white noise that electrify the dance floor. 'Remain Seated' brings a hint of trance-leaning energy with its bright sheets of synth lighting up the driving drums and saw-tooth bass loops. Next, 'Look At This' is another brilliantly forceful techno sound with slamming drums and rusty synth loops, layering melancholic pads up top and adding a cerebral edge, while closer 'In Your Mind' is from the Jeff Mills school of synth-laced and serene deep techno with lush pads radiating cosmic light. As a bonus, digital-only cut 'Expedition' brings some backlit celestial synth work to a rubbery and pummelling drum pattern for pure techno escapism.
ELEINE return with their 4th full-length studio ”We Shall Remain” that breathes everything that is ELEINE. Heavy, chuggy riffs that draws your mind to thrash metal, drumming with death metal hints and vocals that empower, lift and move you. "This combined with our melodic choruses and overall dynamics we feel that "We Shall Remain" gives the listener that signature ELEINE sound in a new and fresh format. Allow yourself to experience ELEINE, allow yourself to join the Eleine Legion", comment Madeleine Liljestam & Rikard Ekberg. This brand new re-pressing comes with a beautiful orange-red opaque-black marbled vinyl!
ACT OF CREATIONs intensives, komplexes und kompromissloses Melodic-Death-Metal-Album "Moments To Remain" fängt die Energie der Band perfekt ein und wartet mit einer massiven Soundwand auf, die stets genügend Raum für die feinen Nuancen des ureigenen Bandsounds lässt.
"Moments To Remain" kann man als die Fortsetzung der letzten drei ACT OF CREATION Alben verstehen, dennoch sollte man es als eigenständigen Release betrachten.
Das ganze Album beruht auf dem Konzept, einen kompletten Tag Revue passieren zu lassen und über bestimmte Themen nachzudenken, während man am Wasser sitzt.
Das Ergebnis ist ein Album, welches trotz aller Komplexität keinerlei Kompromisse bei der Durchschlagskraft eingeht und somit den Hörer auf eine hochemotionale Reise durch die musikalische Welt von ACT OF CREATION einlädt.
2023 markiert den Beginn einer neuen Ära für IN FLAMES mit der Veröffentlichung des vierzehnten Studioalbums Foregone - ein neues Meisterwerk einer Band, deren kreativer Output den Kurs und die Richtung des modernen Metals verändert hat.
Um den Aufwärtstrend fortzusetzen, markiert 2023 auch die Wiederveröffentlichung von vier bahnbrechenden Titeln aus dem umfangreichen Katalog der Band, nämlich A Sense of Purpose (2008) (15th Anniversary Edition inc. The Mirror's Truth EP, die noch nie auf Vinyl erhältlich war), Reroute to Remain (2002), Come Clarity (2006) (mehr als 400.000 verkaufte Exemplare weltweit + Gewinner des schwedischen Grammis-Preises für das beste Hard Rock-Album 2017) und Sounds of a Playground Fading (2011), die alle vergriffen und bei alten und neuen Jesterheads gleichermaßen sehr gefragt waren.
Die Wiederveröffentlichungen von 2023 enthalten alle Original Artworks mit einigen wenigen, sorgfältigen Retuschen. Alle Veröffentlichungen wurden von Justin Shturtz im legendären Sterling Sound Studio in Nashville, Tennessee, speziell für Vinyl neu gemastert. Alle Platten werden auf schweres 180g-Vinyl gepresst und sind mit dem unverkennbaren Jesterhead-Logo auf Seite D (z.B. A Sense of Purpose) versehen.
ELEINE return with their 4th full-length studio ”We Shall Remain” that breathes everything that is ELEINE. Heavy, chuggy riffs that draws your mind to thrash metal, drumming with death metal hints and vocals that empower, lift and move you. "This combined with our melodic choruses and overall dynamics we feel that "We Shall Remain" gives the listener that signature ELEINE sound in a new and fresh format. Allow yourself to experience ELEINE, allow yourself to join the Eleine Legion", comment Madeleine Liljestam & Rikard Ekberg.
blue vinyl edition[34,08 €]
standard edition[31,56 €]
Star B, aka Mark Broom & Riva Star, drop ‘Love Will Remain EP’ on Rekids.
Both Riva Starr and Mark Broom are respected DJs and prolific producers, with individual releases on the likes of Rekids, Hot Creations, and Starr’s Snatch! Records, amongst others. Together as Star B, the duo craft disco and funk-infused house and techno with expressive vocals and heavyweight production.
Leading the release, ‘Love Will Remain’ brings chunky, pumping drums, spoken word, and funky disco slices together for a grooving A-side. On the flip, ‘I’ve Got Joy’ heads for the club, combining synth stabs and rocking percussion under heavy-low end and spine-tingling vocals for a surefire party-starter.
"Bywater Call will be among the best new bands of the decade" - Nathalie
Leblond of Blues Quebec Toronto-based, 2020 Maple Blues Awards
nominees for Best New Artist, Bywater Call's self-titled debut album was
released in Canada, USA, Europe and Australia on November 22, 2019
The album received rave reviews across all territories and placed #1 on the Roots
Music Report Canada Top 50 for 11 straight weeks and continues to place today.
It was featured as album of the month on the IBBA chart, gained repeated top 5
placement on the International/ US Rock Blues, and top 20 placement on the
International/US Blues RMR charts.Bywater Call are geared to released their longawaited sophomore album 'Remain'. This album is for fans of roots/ blues rock
bands such as Tedeschi Trucks band, Marcus King, Beth Hart, and alike.
* Pressed on special RSD color wax.
* Includes bonus limited edition flexi of an ultra rare recording performed by Roky Erickson.
* Pressed at RTI.
Texan Roky Erickson was one of the true mind-blowing pioneers of psychedelic music. The original leader of the Austin-based 13th Floor Elevators formed in 1965, Erickson and band invented a brand new style or rock & roll, one that was slightly unhinged while it explored the consciousness-expanding influence of LSD on music. After three years, the group imploded with mental issues and legal challenges, ending with Erickson being incarcerated for several years in the Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Rusk, Texas. When he was released in the early '70s the musician continued on his own trail, recording songs that had come to him in his far-flung cerebral wanderings. Erickson, who passed away May 31, 2019, is now celebrated on this 12-track tribute to one of the most original rockers ever.
The participants range the whole world of modern music, and each chose one of Erickson's originals to stamp their own imprint on. They include Billy F Gibbons, Lucinda Williams, Mosshart Sexton (a/k/a Alison Mosshart & Charlie Sexton), Neko Case, Mark Lanegan & Lynn Castle, Jeff Tweedy, Margo Price, Gary Clark Jr & Eve Monsees, Ty Segal, Chelsea Wolfe, The Black Angels and Brogan Bentley. The album is co-produced for release by Bill Bentley, executive producer of the 1990 Roky Erickson tribute album Where The Pyramid Meets The Eye on Sire Records, and Matt Sullivan, co-founder/owner of Light in the Attic Records.
The songs range from Erickson's debut iconic original, "You're Gonna Miss Me," recorded when he was a member first in The Spades and then the 13th Floor Elevators during the early '60s in Austin, to some of Erickson's later songs, like "If You Have Ghosts," which heard him exploring some of the outer limits of the human psyche. Each new recording is a stunning modern take on the sound that Roky Erickson gave the world over a half-century of writing, recording and touring. No one has ever equaled those explorations.
This truly is the music of the spheres, as Erickson once sang about his sound, as seen through the eyes and ears of those who are united in their love and respect for a person who dedicated his life to rock & roll. Roky Erickson, through the trials and tribulations of a man both imbued with greatness and haunted by darkness, never quit in his quest to share with others what he heard and saw. As he sang on the 13th Floor Elevators last recording, "May the circle remain unbroken."
Global pop star and 3-time Grammy winner Angélique Kidjo has partnered with 2015 Grammy producer of the year Jeff Bhasker (Kanye West, The Rolling Stones, Beyonce) for a full circle re-imagining of Talking Heads' 1980 landmark album Remain in Light. The album features appearances by Alicia Keys, Questlove of The Roots, Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend, Blood Orange, Tony Allen, Angelique's longtime guitarist Dominic James, and Magatte Sow (percussionist for the 'Black Panther' film score). Visual artist Kerry James Marshall collaborated on the album artwork.
On A side, electronic music wizards Kompozyt team up with a Dub Legend Lee 'Scratch' Perry to bring you a heavy-hitting and instant bounce-inducing Dub Techno track 'Hidden Force'. Lee Scratch Perry's amazing and charismatic Dub poetry blends superbly with the neat fusion of spacey and subterranean sounds of Kompozyt productions. The single is not to be missed this summer.
On B side, Kompozyt brings you a 7' version of 'Homesick' - Dub and Trip-hop inspired Experimental Electronica with Olgierd Dokalski on the trumpet. Olgierd's incredible performances of real haunting beauty further reinforce the analog, live and improvisational aspect of Kompozyt's music.
Both tracks come from Kompozyt's debut album: 'Synchronicity' - out everywhere now on CD and DL.
Selected Reviews of Kompozyt's Debut Album and the Single
5/5 Decoded Magazine: 'Incredible album 10/10'
4/5 Lars Berhenrot (Deepershades): 'LOVE THIS .. never-ending deepness ..'
5/5 Pierre Ravan: 'Amazing work from the heart'
5/5 Queensradio.org: 'I'll definitely be playing these guys on air'
4/5 Garth Trinidad (KSRW Radio) 'Exquisite score without a film'
5/5 Hoxton FM (London): 'Incredible release!'
4/5 Stereo MCs: 'Nice vibes refreshing'
4/5 Robert Babicz: 'I love dub. in all forms'
5/5 Adam Hannibal (Balanced) : 'Neat fusion of spacey and subterranean sounds. Reminiscent of the Beyond Recs Ambient Dub compilations with some freshness... Well done'
5/5 Al Bradley (3amrecordings): 'This needs full love because it's excellent :) I can really picture myself just letting this play from the first sound to the last & becoming utterly immersed as it flows through! Gorgeous.'
5/5 Bartlomiej Blesznowski- 'One of the best electronic music albums this year'
4/5 Neil Brown (RMFM; Pro Mobile Magazine): 'Some nice tunes to get your head in gear to.'
5/5 Jorn Kirk (DJ Jay Kay) (Faith Sundays): 'very nice album !!! a joy to listen to'
2024 Repress!
Veneer made an indelible mark in its understated, expressive brilliance and cemented José González as a meticulous sonic craftsman and songwriter of singular talent. It’s hard to believe an album recorded with the most basic equipment in a cramped Gothenburg flat could end up going platinum, not only in Sweden but also the UK, selling well over 1 million copies worldwide. It’s harder still when one acknowledges that, aside from one brief trumpet solo and the slightest hint of percussion, the record features just one hushed voice and the dexterous picking of an acoustic guitar’s nylon strings. But 2003’s Veneer was such an album, charting in several countries in the world, and eventually making Top 10 in the UK, thanks in part to its delicate, evocative cover of The Knife’s “Heartbeats”.
Bremen finds two luminaries of the Swedish punk underground, Jonas Tiljander (Brainbombs) and Lanchy Orre (Totalitär, Brainbombs, Teenage Graves, etc), coming together to explore the dark side of kraut and progressive rock, early electronic and drone music, whilst also invoking the fathomlessly bleak interior landscapes conjured by Nico/Cale on The Marble Index and Desertshore.
'Following a trio of sprawling, planet-gargling double-LPs, 2013's self-titled LP on Skrammel, and Second Launch (2015) and Eclipsed (2017) on Blackest Ever Black, Bremen - J. Tiljander and Lanchy, previously best known for their contributions to Brainbombs' long rapsheet of genius-and- brutality, but latterly exponents of a rarefied cosmic melancholy - return with Enter Silence, their most concise, and powerful, album to date. Once again the Uppsala multi-instrumentalists combine elements of trogged-out psychedelic rock with a deadly serious Arctic minimalism and weeping modal improvisations that owe more to the outer limits of jazz and burnt-out free music from Japan. It's connoisseur's space music, grown-up and grievously honed; outwardly inclined towards the epic but studded with details that reward attention and introspection. There's always been a strong undercurrent of sadness animating Bremen's work, and that existential burden is present and correct on Enter Silence, culminating in the all-out cosmic anguish of 'Palladium'. Even 'The Middle Section', whose ragged chords are nothing if not the sound of optimism and defiance, sounds like it's navigating some kind of unsayable trauma. But this band has always allowed plenty of room for bonehead slash-and-burn as well: see here especially the Stoogeian/39 Clocks-ish rock'n'roll of 'Aimless Cruising' and the pulpy quasi-cinematic tension of 'Sinister', or the brilliant 'Too Cold For Your Eyes', a blast of voidal motorik that sounds like a cranked-up Clean. It's a cold, cold world out there'
Two long-time friends Juho Kusti (Deep Space Helsinki, Parabel) and Ville Vähäsaari (Rezonans) bring you their brand new label, No Future But What We Make.
The label's first release features two broken beat burners on the A-side from Detroit-based Uun (Mord, Ego Death) coupled with a more straightforward remix from acid mammoths Boston 168 (BPitch Control, Odd Even, Enemy Records) on the B-side.
Make a difference. Get involved. There's no future but what we make.
Debütalbum des britisch-nigerianischen Electronic-Produzenten und Singer/Songwriters Tony Njoku, ein Globetrotter, aufgewachsen zwischen Lagos und London, dessen bewegende Klangbilder aus den kürzesten Popsongs epische Abenteuer machen. Vocal-Club-Beats für Ästhetiker. "Exciting blends of African percussion, falsetto croons and dark synths." - Fact. "Fusing abstract beats with his angelic tones." - Mojo. "Expansive electronics flirting with psych and soul." - Clash.
Two pioneering heavyweights unite for this stellar 4 track EP forthcoming on Eglo Records.It's fair to say that the legacy of Dego's musical output can be heard in just about every genre in the contemporary dance music spectrum, from hardcore and drum n bass, to house and of course Broken Beat.Kaidi is of the highly skilled keys player that lent his hand to many of those legendary productions.. recording with Bugz In The Attic, Domu, IG Culture etc not to mention his own releases.
Eglo fulfil a life long goal of bringing the pair together to release a brand new EP of broken beat bullets!
Daniel Steinberg debuts on Rekids the Berlin-based Arms & Legs boss drops the ‘Free Living’ EP
Berlin-based producer and DJ Daniel Steinberg lands on Rekids for the fi rst time with the ‘Free Living’ EP, 13th March 2026. Active for over two decades and emerging at the height of the stripped-back, funkier end of minimal house, Steinberg has built a reputation for pairing infectious hooks with tightly programmed grooves, and has ploughed his path via his label, Arms & Legs Records, as well as labels like NuGroove, Front Room, and Southern Fried.
The title track of Daniel Steinberg’s ‘Free Living’ EP sets the tone with slow-slung, dusty House pressure, where restraint and subtlety shape a deep, immersive groove. Blues-tinged vocal fragments sit low in the mix alongside understated trumpet motifs and tender chords, forming a warm-up cut that gradually raises the energy. ‘Concrete Master’ shifts gear entirely, delivering raw, in-your-face house driven by sleazy rap snippets and snarling hits, built for peak-time impact. ‘Seven Sense’ follows with turbo-charged momentum, pairing vamping piano lines with gospel-leaning vocal stabs for hands-in-the-air release, before ‘Perfect Catch’ closes the EP with loopy chords, chopped grooves, and a playful, party-starting sensibility, delivered with characteristic precision. Founded in 2006, Radio Slave’s Rekids expanded with the techno-focused Rekids Special Projects in 2017 and its latest sublabel, REK’D, in 2024. With Matt Edwards as sole A&R, Rekids continues to champion emerging and established artists alike, remaining a trusted home for house and related sounds, with recent releases from DJ Minx, Echonomist, Tal Fussman, and more.
Memory Remains unveils a deeply emotional and intimate Unknown Artist release, a record driven by feeling rather than form.
Shaped and refined through careful dancefloor testing across 2025, these tracks revealed a rare sensitivity: minimalist structures wrapped in warm grooves, gentle tension, and soulful, intimate vocals that connect on a subconscious level.
This is music that doesn’t demand attention. It breathes, resonates, and stays.
Free from names and narratives, the release invites the listener into a private emotional space, where sound speaks louder than identity.
The journey is visually completed by an original artwork from Alisa Kirik, capturing the same fragile beauty and timeless mood that defines this release on Memory Remains.
The ‘Haris – Fourtrack EP’ marks the debut release from Shimmy, a new reissue label with a sharp ear for overlooked gems. Originally released 25 years ago and long coveted on Discogs, this sought-after EP finally returns to the shelves, breathing new life into a classic of the tech house underground.
Haris made his mark in the late ’90s and early 2000s with releases on iconic labels like Oblong and his own imprint, Laus Records, collaborating with scene heavyweight, Terry Francis. Renowned for his mastery of rolling, groove-led tech house, Haris crafted a sound that remains timeless and endlessly playable.
Each of the four tracks delivers a distinct flavour for different dancefloor moments, offering real depth and versatility across the EP. Expect snappy tribal percussion, eerie synths, haunting vocals and deep, driving basslines - all the essential ingredients for a late-night shimmy.
Death Is Not The End collaborate with Uzbek label Maqom Soul to deliver an LP counterpart to last year's mixtape of the same title, compiling specially picked & fully licensed individual belters from the ex-soviet studios of Central Asian republics between 1978 and 1989 - incl. Uzbek, Tajik, Kurdish & Uyghur artists pulling traditional folk motifs together with pop & rock and psych elements.
"These recordings do not form a smooth or coherent history. They feel more like a sequence of discoveries made at different moments and in different circumstances. Songs and instrumental pieces that once lived inside specific contexts radio broadcasts, philharmonic programs, touring routes now sit side by side, revealing hidden connections as well as clear fractures between them.
Nasiba Abdullaeva appears here as a voice from the end of an era. Trained within a conservatory system, she worked inside the format of the Soviet pop song while filling it with melodic logic that did not come from Moscow or Leningrad. Her voice is soft and sustained, shaped by Eastern melisma, and it never functions as decoration. Even in tightly structured songs there is a sense of resistance, an effort to preserve a musical language rooted in Uzbek tradition rather than fully adapted to an all Union standard.
The ensemble Sintez, later renamed Navo, represents a different path. Beginning as a student rock group, the band was gradually absorbed into the official VIA system with all its limitations and compromises. Yet it was precisely within those boundaries that Sintez and Navo developed a recognizable sound. Electric guitars and jazz rock harmonies do not overpower the folk material but remain in tension with it. Their recordings feel like negotiations between what the musicians wanted to play and what they were allowed to perform.
The Tajik ensemble Gulshan reflects an institutional approach carried to a high professional level. Formed under television and radio structures, the group treated folk material almost as a written score. Carefully constructed arrangements, close attention to orchestration, and restrained use of pop techniques define their sound. There is less spontaneity here, but a strong sense of discipline and structure, where national melody becomes part of a carefully controlled sonic framework.
Koma Wetan occupies a very different space. Formed in the 1970s, this Kurdish rock group approached poetry and folklore as tools of cultural assertion. Their psychedelic rock never feels like a stylistic borrowing. Instead it functions as a contemporary vessel for language and themes that might otherwise have remained unheard. Even today these recordings sound fragile and stubborn at the same time.
The Uyghur ensemble Yashlik, closely connected to a musical drama theatre, operated somewhere between stage performance and popular music. Their songs are built on folk melodies but shaped for wide audiences. What emerges is a constant attempt to preserve the recognizability of Uyghur musical identity without freezing it in a folkloric frame. Yashlik's music exists in a state of balance between representation and development.
Digging Central Asia does not attempt to establish hierarchies or offer a single wayof listening. Names and dates matter less than the sound itself. Tape noise, abrupt transitions, and unexpected timbres remain part of the material rather than flaws to be corrected. This music existed at the crossroads of multiple routes geographic, cultural, and ideological. Heard today in a new context, it no longer feels peripheral. Instead it stands as a reminder that the history of popular music is far more fragmented, layered, and polyphonic than it is usually allowed to be."
Finally repressed. The only legitimately licensed anthology of the Iranian Psychedelic rock legend. 28 page full color booklet with an extensive, first-person treatise by Kourosh himself. 21 fully restored tracks from Kourosh's original master tapes. Contains rare photos and ephemera of Iran's 70s rock scene, many never before seen. Now-Again Records is proud to present Back from the Brink, the only legitimately licensed collection of the godfather of Iranian psychedelic rock, Kourosh Yaghmaei. Known within the Iranian diaspora simply by his first name, Kourosh's Pre-Revolution recordings were thought lost after Islamic fundamentalists took control of Iran. They weren't: Kourosh had protected them - along with key ephemera from the 70's. Their collection here - spread over 3LP bolstered by Kourosh's first person recollections of Iran's 70s rock scene and its death after the Revolution, tells the story of an immensely talented artist's desire to persevere in the face of terrible adversity. Kourosh Yaghmaei and his brothers Kamran and Kambiz were amongst the few inspired Iranian musicians determined to change Tehran's musical landscape in the late 60's and early 70's. The trio, armed with rented, second-hand instruments and records by The Ventures, The Kinks, The Doors, merged Western garage rock, psychedelia and Iranian folkloric music to create a sound unlike anything that came before them. Later, inspired by the unlikely duo of Elton John and James Taylor, Kourosh's music took a sophisticated turn, and he churned out funky, progressive rock that is as imminently enjoyable as it is impossible to categorize. His star on the rise was knocked off course by the Revolution, and its backdrop of Islamic fundamentalists burning record companies and harassing musicians. But while most Pre-Revolution musicians - including his brothers - fled Iran in 1979, Kourosh stayed, loyal to the country of his birth. He has suffered a performance and recording ban for twenty-two out of the last thirty-two years. Yet he remains stoic and resolved to continue bolstering Iranian musical tradition. Kourosh still lives in Tehran and is pleased that his story - and his glorious 70s recordings - will finally spread the world over. This essential piece of Iran's musical history is also accompanied by a full color book and contains never-before-seen photos and ephemera.
Due to overwhelming demand for our 5LP boxset which sold out on the day of release, here are the first ever official individual re-issues of all five of the iconic Lansdowne recording sessions by the legendary UK jazz combo, the Don Rendell/Ian Carr Quintet.
The five albums; Shades Of Blues (1965), Dusk Fire (1966), Phase III (1968), Change Is (1969) and Live (1969), have reached almost mythical status in the collector's world. Regarded as holy grail artefacts for even the seasoned aficionado, the collective second hand market value comes to an astonishing £6000.
The complete Don Rendell & Ian Carr Lansdowne recording sessions are now available as individual LPs. We located and acquired the original analogue master tapes from the Universal vaults and created masters at Abbey Road Studios to produce audiophile quality 180g pressings replete with replica artwork - shape, design, and even paper stock. No stone has been left unturned to deliver this absolute labour of love to the highest possible standard! Inside is a link to a printable online pdf which contains never before seen photographs, interviews with the remaining living band members and liner notes from BBC Radio 3 presenter and award-winning jazz writer Alyn Shipton.
The band played together for seven years and during this fruitful time they made a plethora of deeply melodic, post-bop British jazz compositions that later on took influences from Indo and more spiritually guided jazz. Produced by the influential Denis Preston and recorded at his Lansdowne Studios in London, the band was primarily made up of saxophonist Don Rendell, trumpeter/composer Ian Carr, and pianist/composer Michael Garrick. This is UK jazz at its absolute finest and is a treasure not to be missed.
The album opens with the ominous guitar-driven Hollow Sky, accompanied by its haunting music video's verdant vistas. The song, with Iceglass ghostly vocals, shimmers with that sounds like an Omnichord flittering like sonic firefly lights and brooding bass. This perfectly scores the less traveled wanderings through the dark wooden path of Dante's perdition, leading to the titular well that graces the album cover. The Crater opens with an unsettling riff and bass, with low, repetitive frequencies on the synth create a sense of unease. Here, Iceglass recounts a fatalistic requiem for the king of romance that is cataclysmic and leaves a scar upon the earth. With Fall Industrial Wall, once again, Iceglass channels a silky and Nico-like emotive deadpan; against a dirgelike melody backed by minimal synth, bass, and drum. Almost medieval and plaintive, with its folk droning horns, deep and shallow in their resonance. This song is anachronistic, setting the scene of ruins centuries-old with crumbling edifices strewn about like memories lost in time. With the poetic lyrics of The Chamber do we find the eponymous abyss. Here, dualities are laid bare; besides love, there is heartbreak, and without this sorrow, what meaning would there be to love if one knows not what it is to lose? This song encapsulates the idea that love is heartbreak, and love lost is reaching the deepest chamber of the heart. This is carried through a sombre horn, minimalist drum machine, and deliberate bassline overlaid with Iceglass german and english lyrics. The Well is led in with a softly distorted bassline overlaid with eerie banshee howls give way to Iceglass otherworld vocal refrain, echoing through time as if emanating from a hole in the ground, and encircling that hole is a garden of woe and despair. The sinfully seductive song The Moor features a captivating SAX SOLO courtesy of Perseas; a welcome shift in tone, juxtaposed well with the intensity of Iceglass tenebrous vocal purr. This hitherto unexplored foray into dark sensuality takes the song into sordid mid 80s territory, bringing to mind a dusky drive along a serpentine road, with equally haunting instrumentations straddling time with icy fire. Broken Characters is an acoustic folk interlude featuring Selofan's Dimitris Pavlidis on guitar. Here we find a more gentle approach with its earnest and romantic lyrics. The song's melodic hook is a soft caress along with the forlorn horn elements highlighting Iceglass at her most Nico-sounding vocal yet, singing the sorrowful truth that most artists are indeed broken characters. Chimerical opens with dirgelike synth organs. The chill of winter has befallen the lamentations sung by Iceglass carried by haunting chord progressions and minimal percussion, plaintively beseeching the song's subject to remain elusive, idealistic, and a dreamer. After an album highlighting more Jill than Jack, our male protagonist finally makes his ascent in the sonorous and breathtaking Dark Hill, a masterful march of sweeping synth horns, and trepidatious drum machine with William Maybelline's bellowing voice cracking like thunder, rattling the atmosphere like his heart against his ribs. Spirals swirls in a cautionary knell of cathedral-esque droning synth dirge, with Icarian lyrics shining like a sombre ray of hope; like the sun's rays creeping into the darkest of places. The song, minimalist in its tight percussion, echoes with the solace of Larissa Iceglass vocal litany; invoking elements of the supernatural, almost like a Casio preset sequenced to the beating of an angel's wings.
New pressing on black vinyl (500 units). Following the recently released and highly praised Trees 50th Anniversary box set on Earth Recordings, Trees reissue their debut album ‘The Garden of Jane Delawney’as a standalone release. It’s now over fifty years since Trees’ formation, a band who helped define ‘Acid Folk’, creating a sub-category in the lexicon of record dealers and music critics alike. “When we are talking about psych folk or acid folk, we are really talking about music like this by Trees” Stuart Maconie, BBC6 Music. Trees first album, ‘The Garden of Jane Delawney’ (1970) snuggles nicely into contemporary nu-folkies’ idea of the genre, and shares some of the pastoral-whimsy that characterised The Incredible String Band or Donovan, offset by some stunning interpretations of traditional material and Bias’ own songs. The record includes readings of ‘Lady Margaret’, ‘Glasgerion’, the old standard ‘She Moved Thro’ The Fair’, and the extended fade of the group’s own ‘Road’, presage the explosive instrumental duelling that would come to characterise the follow up album, ‘On The Shore’. // “The music’s arcane power remains intact” Mojo. // “A fantastic band” Record Collector. // “Spectacular” Uncut. // “Sublime” Shindig. // Timeless” Prog. // “It’s these two original albums that stand as pinnacles of form” The Wire. // Track listing: A1. Nothing Special A2. The Great Silkie A3. The Garden of Jane Delawney A4. Lady Margaret B1. Glasgerion B2. She Moved Thro' The Fair B3. Road B4. Epitaph B5. Snail's Lament
