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In the five years since Creep Show’s acclaimed Mr Dynamite album was released it’s fair to say that we’ve all been through a fair bit. Sitting here, in 2023, things don’t seem to be getting any better. There’s the cost of living crisis and political meltdowns; we're in deep water with global warming and to top it all there’s a war on our doorstep.

Back in 2018 everything seemed less complicated. Sure, there was stuff to get riled about, but we knew nothing about what was to come. Mr Dynamite was a fairground ride into the dark corners of a world that was on the brink of being blitzed in a blender. It was a record teetering on the edge. Five years down the line you’d expect the follow-up, Yawning Abyss, would double-down and bring the white-knuckled, teeth-gritted fury of the last five years to the boil. And yet….

A quick recap? No problem. Wrangler + John Grant = Creep Show. And Creep Show? “A band of musical misfits who have found a voice or two”, says Wrangler’s Ben “Benge” Edwards, whose Bond villain studio on the edge of a moorland is Creep Show Grand Central as well as home to an analogue synth arsenal that could sink ships.

Wrangler have known each other for a while. Tunng’s electronics wizard Phil Winter and Cabaret Voltaire’s trailblazing, pioneering frontman Stephen Mallinder go way back, while Phil and Benge crossed paths in the 21st century when they seemed to be increasingly in the same venues at the same times. Meanwhile, Mal had been living in Australia since the mid-90s and when, in 2007, he returned to the UK his old pal Phil suggested he meet Benge and the three of them immediately began working together.

Wrangler collectively bumped into Grant at their soundcheck for Sheffield’s Sensoria Festival in 2014 where they were playing with Carter Tutti. A friendship blossomed and when they were invited to perform together for Rough Trade’s 40th anniversary show at London’s Barbican in 2016, well, they jumped at the chance... and Creep Show was born.

Let’s talk about the new album... What is the ‘Yawning Abyss’? You might well ask. According to Mal, it’s “a cosmic event horizon that I can see from my attic window when stand on a chair”. Yeah. Thanks.

“On this album”, offers Benge, feet firmly on the floor, “Wrangler wrangled some vintage synths, mostly Roland, Moog, and the ‘Crystal Machine’ - then John Grant joined in the fun at Memetune Studios where lots of musical experiments were carried out. Then Mal and John ran off to Iceland with the master tapes and recorded a load of madcap vocals. Back at Memetune, me and Phil were left to try and make sense of it all. Which wasn’t hard because what they did in Iceland was totally magnificent.”

Which kind of brings us back to where we began. You’d imagine ‘Yawning Abyss’ would be blowing steam out of its furious ears. Mr Dynamite but kicking a wasps nest. Repeatedly. And yet…

Opener ‘The Bellows’ comes on like a modular ‘Radio Ga Ga’, the singalong ‘Moneyback’ (“You want your money back? / I didn’t think so”) sounds like Godley & Creme’s ‘Snack Attack’ meets Prince Charles And The City Beat Band (“Pennies, pounds, dollar bills, signed agreements, death wills”). ‘Yahtzee!’ is an unhinged electro breakdance party in four minutes and nine seconds.

Where Mr Dynamite was menace, a mélange of mangled voices, with Grant and Mallinder being heavily treated, pitched up or down, rendering their contributions largely indistinguishable, Yawning Abyss takes a more direct approach. You hesitate to say feelgood, but there’s a skip in the step here for sure.

The title track plays John Grant’s vocal straight. Completely. It’s good, so very good. Like ‘Axel F’ covered by Vangelis. The delicious shimmering synths of ‘Bungalow’ also plays those Grant pipes with a straight bat. ‘Matinee’ delves into darker, very funky territory. With Mal upfront it comes on like ‘The Crackdown’. Choice lyric: “You are starting to breakdown / And it’s so fun for me to see / You should have thought of that / You should have come prepared / You can see what’s happening and you look a little scared”.

So, you know, not all feelgood. But it does feel good. It’s probably best to draw your own conclusions... This is Creep Show after all.

BRIT Award & Ivor Novello Award Gewinner Ben Howard veröffentlichte bereits die erste Single „Couldn’t Make It Up” aus seinem kommenden Album “Is It?”. Nun legt er mit seiner zweiten Single „Walking Backwards“ nach und bietet seinen Fans damit einen weiteren vielversprechenden Vorgeschmack auf sein bald erscheinendes Album.

„Is It?“ wird sein fünftes Studioalbum sein, welches insgesamt 10 Songs umfasst. Es entstand in der Zeit, als der Brite ganz unerwartet zwei kleine Schlaganfälle erlitt. Ben Howard selbst beschreibt diese Zeit als „verwirrend“. Diese Verwirrung schlägt sich in den unterschiedlichen Nuancen nieder, die auf dem Album zu finden sind.

Howard sagt dazu: ”Ich fand es unmöglich, nicht über die Absurdität nachzudenken, dass man mit einem winzigen Klumpen alle Fähigkeiten verlieren kann. Das hat sich wirklich in das Schreiben der Platte eingebrannt”. Der englische Singer-Songwriter kann bis heute beeindruckende 800 Millionen Streams (über alle DSPs) verzeichnen. Ben wird diesen Sommer auf mehreren Festivals in der EU und Großbritannien auftreten und hat kürzlich seine großen Shows im Londoner Alexandra Palace Park für Juli angekündigt. Im Juli dieses
Jahres wird er außerdem auch drei Shows in Berlin, Hamburg und München spielen.

BRIT Award & Ivor Novello Award Gewinner Ben Howard veröffentlichte bereits die erste Single „Couldn’t Make It Up” aus seinem kommenden Album “Is It?”. Nun legt er mit seiner zweiten Single „Walking Backwards“ nach und bietet seinen Fans damit einen weiteren vielversprechenden Vorgeschmack auf sein bald erscheinendes Album.

„Is It?“ wird sein fünftes Studioalbum sein, welches insgesamt 10 Songs umfasst. Es entstand in der Zeit, als der Brite ganz unerwartet zwei kleine Schlaganfälle erlitt. Ben Howard selbst beschreibt diese Zeit als „verwirrend“. Diese Verwirrung schlägt sich in den unterschiedlichen Nuancen nieder, die auf dem Album zu finden sind.

Howard sagt dazu: ”Ich fand es unmöglich, nicht über die Absurdität nachzudenken, dass man mit einem winzigen Klumpen alle Fähigkeiten verlieren kann. Das hat sich wirklich in das Schreiben der Platte eingebrannt”. Der englische Singer-Songwriter kann bis heute beeindruckende 800 Millionen Streams (über alle DSPs) verzeichnen. Ben wird diesen Sommer auf mehreren Festivals in der EU und Großbritannien auftreten und hat kürzlich seine großen Shows im Londoner Alexandra Palace Park für Juli angekündigt. Im Juli dieses
Jahres wird er außerdem auch drei Shows in Berlin, Hamburg und München spielen.

Long out-of-print release available digitally for the first time. Extensive notes by a local writer in English and French. Previously unpublished family photos. Urbanized traditional music at a dance-floor-friendly tempo. The very definition of an "Awesome Tape From Africa". Roger Bekono made a deep mark in the contemporary history of Cameroonian music through the four-on-the-floor, ribald intensity of bikutsi. The Ewondo-language dance-pop style that forms an undulating tapestry of interlocking triplet rhythmic interplay came to international prominence in the European "world music" scene as the 90s began. But the relentless sound of bikutsi developed in Yaoundé at the hands of Bekono and many others, as it developed from a village-based singing style performed mostly by women into a cosmopolitan music force that rivaled the popularity of established musics like Congolese rhumba, merengue and makossa. With his unique—some say suave—voice, Bekono contributed much over a period of more than 10 years as part of the evolution of this traditional rhythm-turned-urban dance movement. Bekono worked with legendary producer Mystic Jim, who had built a prolific home studio along with a crack team of musicians. They joined as part of the production of his self-titled album, which became known locally as "Jolie Poupée," the name of the album's lead single and most popular song. For "Jolie Poupée" Mystic Jim programmed the kick or bass drum, adding effects to have a heavier bass. Overall the album represented a new level of finesse and professionalism for his second release. In the middle of 1989, Jolie Poupée was released by the label Inter Diffusion System and aggressively hit the radio, discos and national television. The music video for the title track was on loop on TV. It felt like everyone was talking about it, even artists in adjacent music scenes like makossa. The album came out on vinyl and cassette and remains Bekono's best-selling recording to this day. With Jolie Poupée Bekono finally made an impact outside Cameroon as the record captured listeners in some Central African countries like Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of Congo and Sao Tome & Principe. In these countries, we find the Fang or Mfan people (also known as Ekang), Bantu-speaking ethnic groups that are also found in Cameroon. This umbrella language group includes the language in which bikutsi is mainly sung. Most of Bekono's songs are in French, Ewondo (of which Beti is a dialect) and Pidgin. The four songs on Jolie Poupée are all considered bikutsi classics. On September 15, 2016, Bekono died of a long illness at the age of 62. In the wake of his passing the media published a wave of tributes, thanking him for what he did for Cameroonian music. He was an admired musician, songwriter and guitarist, and some of his old colleagues and some of the new generation of performers showered Bekono with vibrant tributes via social media, many of which noting something to the effect of: "The artist dies but his works remain."

More recently best regarded as soundtrack composer, Ben Frost here follows work with interdisciplinary sound artist Francesco Fabris on the »Dark« OST with a plunge into purest rock music, as in the actual sound of molten material rising to the surface and solidifying. With an impressionistic-artistic license also found in work by Chris Watson, Jana Winderen or Giuseppe Ielasi, the duo uncompromisingly revel in the sounds of nature’s biting point, using various production methods to make audible the sound of the earth beneath our feet in the process of creation, on location at Fagradalsfjall, Reykjanes Peninsula Iceland.

»As stable as we might choose to think it is, this planet is anything but that. A paper thin crust, the zone in which we find ourselves, and mostly concern ourselves with, exists as a modest veil cloaking a dynamic seismic turbulence that is as powerful as it is unknowable. There are moments though where ruptures occur. The pressure from within carves its way to, and through, the surface of the planet simultaneously delivering destruction and virgin landscapes, as primordial as any we might care to imagine. It is here, in these places, where we can literally see the living planet, that geologic time is condensed and world building is made visible, and audible to us, in an unrestrained and provocative detail.

These volcanic ruptures, such as those captured on Vakning by Francesco Fabris and Ben Frost, speak to the very living geology of Earth. These recordings, captured at close range, exist at a nexus where liquid rock becomes solid. They capture moments of transformation, of obliteration and of creation, often all at once. These are recordings of a living, material planet, dynamic and unrestrained«. (Lawrence English)

The next chapter of the Natural Information Society is here. Since Time Is Gravity, credited to Natural Information Society Community Ensemble with Ari Brown, presents a newly expanded manifestation of acclaimed composer & multi-instrumentalist Joshua Abrams nearly 15 year, 7 albums &-counting flagship ensemble. Joining the core NIS of Abrams (guimbri & bass), Lisa Alvarado (harmonium) Mikel Patrick Avery (drums) & Jason Stein (bass clarinet) are Hamid Drake (percussion), Josh Berman & Ben Lamar Gay (cornets), Nick Mazzarella & Mai Sugimoto (alto saxophones & flute), Kara Bershad (harp) & Chicago living legend of the tenor saxophone Ari Brown. Recorded live to tape at Electrical Audio & The Graham Foundation, cover painting Vibratory Cartography: Nepantla, by Lisa Alvarado. 2xLP on Eremite USA, 2xLP & CD on Aguirre/Eremite Europe. Out 14-04.

Since first developing Natural Information Society in 2010, Joshua Abrams has been gradually expanding the group’s conceptual underpinnings, its musical references & the sheer number of the group’s members. Its music is, in a sense, an expansive form of minimalism, based in repeated & overlaid rhythmic patterns, ostinatos & modality. Its roots, its scale & its meaning become clearer in time. If time is gravity, it also allows us to carry more. Having begun as fundamentally a rhythm section with Abrams’ guimbri at its core, the version here can stretch to a tentet, including six horns.

Abrams has been expanding his minimalism gradually, but he has long understood a key to minimalism’s potential: the breadth of its roots in the late 1950s & early 1960s, ranging from the dissatisfaction of young European-stream composers with the limitations of serialism to the simultaneous dissatisfaction of jazz musicians with the dense harmonic vocabulary of bop & hard bop. The former began exploring rhythmic complexity & narrow tonal palates in place of harmonic abstraction (Steve Reich’s Drumming, Philip Glass’ Music with Changing Parts; perhaps above all Terry Riley’s In C & his late ‘60s all-night organ & loop concerts); the later reduced dense chord changes to scales (signally with Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, but rapidly expanding with John Coltrane’s vast project). In the 1950s the LP record opened the world with documentation of Asian & African musics, key influences on both minimalists & jazz musicians. If John Coltrane’s soprano saxophone suggested the keening shehnai of Bismillah Khan, the instrument was rapidly taken up by two key minimalists, LaMonte Young & Riley, similarly appreciative of its flexible intonation, the same thing that kept it out of big bands.

If the guimbri, the North African hide-covered lute that Abrams plays with NIS, involves a rich tradition of hypnotic healing music associated with the Gnawa people, Abrams’ music also touches on other musics as well — other depths, memories & healings, different drones, rhythms & modes. As the group expands on Since Time Is Gravity, he has made certain jazz traditions in the same stream more explicit as well. If there is a mystical & elastic quality involved in the experience of time, both in direction & duration, you will catch it here. The parts for the choir of winds expand on the roles of Abrams’ guimbri, Mikel Patrick Avery & Hamid Drake’s percussion & Lisa Alvarado’s harmonium: at times, the winds are almost looping in the tentet version, each hitting a repeating note in turn, at once drone & distinct inflection on temporal sequence. The brilliance of the work resides in Abrams’ compositions, the NIS’ intuitive execution & in Ari Brown’s singular embodiment of the great tenor saxophone tradition, including the oracular genius of Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, & Yusef Lateef. The three pieces by the expanded NIS featuring Brown —the opening “Moontide Chorus” & “Is” & the ultimate “Gravity”— have an immediate impact, & togther might be considered a kind of concerto for tenor saxophone. Here Brown presses almost indistinguishably from composed melody to improvised speech, getting so close to language that he might have a text. Everything here is a sign. Note the tap of the Rhythm Ace that links “Moontide Chorus” to “Is”, the attentive heart always present, even when signed by a machine. There’s a link here to the methodologies & meanings of dub music & the linear & vertical collage of beats, textures & tongues: treated with reverence, a sample of a beat-box can be as soulful, as hypnotic, as a mbira or a tamboura. If those pieces with Brown are heard as a suspended concerto, the three embrace & enfold the other works, like the sepals of a flower. That placement will also touch on the mysteries of our perception of time.

Particularly in “Is”, but elsewhere as well, a phenomenon of transcendence arises in which time appears to be tripartite, at once moving backwards & forwards & standing still. This is an act of technical brilliance certainly, but also an illumination of music’s ability to represent temporal consciousness through polymetrics. This particular listener has only heard it before in a few places, including the horn shouts & bowed basses of Coltrane’s Africa, in moments of Charles Mingus’ The Black Saint & the Sinner Lady, in certain pieces where tapes were literally running backwards, & earlier still in Dizzy Gillespie’s Cubana Be, Cubana Bop, in which the composer George Russell & conguero Chano Pozo found a music that spoke at once in the voices of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring & the vestigial rites, rhythms & songs of the Yoruba language & Santeria religion of inland Cuba.

In Joshua Abrams’ compositions & the realization of them by the NIS, in the time of one’s close listening & memory thereof, distinctions between the “natural” & the “social”, the “quotidian” & the “transcendent” are erased, suspended or perhaps irrelevant. Consider two of the ensemble pieces, one named for nature, the other social science. In “Murmuration” the repeated wind figures of flute & alto saxophone combine with the interlocking patterns of harp, guimbri & frame drum (tar) to create a perfect moving stillness, not an imitation but a witness to the miracle of the starlings’ astonishing collective art, a surfeit of beauty that might be the ultimate defense tactic.

“Stigmergy” takes its name & concept from the Occupy movement’s Heather Marsh, who proposes a social system based on a cooperative rather than competitive models, one in which ideas are freely contributed & developed as ideas rather than an individual’s property. In its form, Abrams’ “Stigmergy” is the closes thing to traditional jazz, a series of accompanied solos by each of the wind players. However, the composed accompaniment is a radically collectivist notion: a repeated rhythmic figure, call it ostinato or riff, in which the different winds each play only a note or two of the figure, a concept both more collectivist & individualistic in its conception than any typical unison figure. It suggests another of the underlying recognitions that propel the Natural Information Society, the group as social organism, the teleology of hypnotic anarchy, all parts in place, functioning systematically, evolving & expressing itself, its nature & society, as a transformative organism.

George Lewis has described music as “a space for reflection on the human condition”. This suggests that, rather than a “distraction”, at least some music might serve as a distraction from distraction. It’s a focus, a clarity, a awareness, an external invitation to interiority, as if music itself is a model for form & contemplation, an organism contemplating for us or as us. If that is a possibility, & I am sure I have heard such musics, than this music is among them. How many of our rhythms, melodies & harmonies (cultural, historical, biological, psychic) might such music carry, translate & transform in the particulate ecstasy of our own murmuration? (Stuart Broomer, April 2022)

*The product of a move from South Carolina to Berkeley, CA and the subsequent extended separation from loved ones, Toro Y Moi's third full-length, Anything in Return, puts Chaz Bundick right in the middle of the producer/songwriter dichotomy that his first two albums established.

*There's a pervasive sense of peace with his tendency to dabble in both sides of the modern music-making spectrum, and he sounds comfortable engaging in intuitive pop production and putting forth the impression of unmediated id.

*The producer's hand is prominent- not least in the sampled "yeah"s and "uh"s that give the album a hip-hop-indebted confidence- and many of the songs feature the 4/4 beats and deftly employed effects usually associated with house music. Tracks like "High Living" and "Day One" show a considerably Californian influence, their languid funk redolent of a West Coast temperament, and elsewhere- not least on lead single, "So Many Details"- the record plays with darker atmospheres than we're used to hearing from Toro Y Moi. Sounding quite assured in what some may call this songwriter's return to producer-hood, Anything in Return is Bundick uninhibited by issues of genre, an album that feels like the artist's essence.

*Born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina, Chaz Bundick has been toying with various musical projects since early adolescence. Having spent his formative years playing in punk and indie rock acts, his protean Toro Y Moi project has been his vessel for further musical exploration since 2001. During his time spent studying graphic design at the University of South Carolina, Chaz became increasingly focused on his solo work, incorporating electronics and allowing a wider range of influences- French house, Brian Wilson's pop, 80s R&B, and Stones Throw hip-hop- to show up in his music. By the time he graduated in spring 2009, Chaz had refined his sound to something all his own. Music journals across the board touted his hazy recordings as the sound of the summer, and he released his debut album, Causers of This in early 2010.

*Since then, Bundick has proven himself to be not just a prolific musician, but a diverse one as well, letting each successive release broaden the scope of the Toro Y Moi oeuvre. The funky psych-pop of 2011's Underneath the Pine evinced an artist who could create similar atmospheres even without the aid of source material and drum machines. His Freaking Out EP, a handful of singles and remixes, and a retrospective box-set plot points all along the producer/songwriter spectrum in which he's worked since his debut, and Anything In Return is another exciting offering that shows he's still not ready to settle into any one genre.

Bone colour vinyl version of the recently released album (CD was released in May). Produced by Rick Rubin, this is a full bodied collection that flows like a stream of conscious journey through the psychedelic dark depths of the human psyche followed by basking in the cleansing light when finally reaching the surface. Continued promo/marketing activity.

Faith Discipline presents on the same release two of the proposals that best define its identity as a recording project. Two artists, or two bands, or a band and an artist, who coincide in some of their qualities and who also perfectly represent the sound line that the label has pursued since it was launched in 2015. German Army and Group have a lot in common, but their personalities are also unique, as are the objectives that influence their work.

German Army and Group coincide in several ways, both operate from anonymity and their approach to music production is also very similar. The style and sound of German Army and Group is mainly based on extreme and lo-fi treatments, and their music can be categorised as tribal, industrial, ethnic or experimental. However, German Army adds to their style a series of moral principles, as the project is based on a vindictive nature with continuous messages and appeals to the population and the rulers, the health of our planet is in extreme danger and with it the life and dignity of the underprivileged.

Formerly known as James Lascelles’ Quartet, Talking Spirits present a unique blend of world jazz. These highly respected London based session musicians - with a very mixed repertoire - have touched audiences wherever they play. The quartet mixes up world music, folk, jazz and Anglo/Caribbean grooves, inspired by influences from all over the world.

They have honed their skills over the decades working with some of the biggest names in music, including Frank Zappa, Joan Armatrading, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, L Shankar, Ginger Baker, Jeff Beck, Steve Winwood, Incognito, Van Morrison, Billy Ocean, Mick Taylor and Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel.

The new Talking Spirits album ‘Hands’ will be released on Zephyrus Records early June. Tracks feature regular band members James Lascelles (various keys and percussion), Tim Herniman and former bandmates from the legendary Breakfast Band Richard Bailey (drums and percussion) and Kuma Harada (bass and guitar). Guests appearances by Tony Maronie on congas, Didier Malherbe (once of “Gong”) on duduk and sax, and the wonderful Mongolian group Andaunion, for whom James specially wrote Grasslands to feature the haunting morinhuur (horse-hair fiddle) and hoomei or overtone singing.

Das selbstbetitelte Debüt von ENVY OF NONE, der bunten Zusammenrottung von Gitarrist/Keyboarder Alf Annibalini, Rush-Gitarrist Alex Lifeson, Bassist Andy Curran (Coney Hatch) und Singer/Songwriterin Maiah Wynne war eine der spannendsten Grenzgänger-Platten des Jahres 2022 und hat sich bis heute nicht abgenutzt. Die Band schreibt schlicht verdammt gute, emotional greifbare und musikalisch fesselnde Lieder in einem Spannungsfeld aus State-of-the-Art-Elektronik und Rock/Pop-Tradition.

Die nun nachgeschobene EP "That Was Then, This Is Now" dient ihrem Titel entsprechend als Standortbestimmung und enthält zwei Tracks aus den Debüt-Sessions, zwei Remixe und das erste nach "Envy of None" komponierte ´That Was Then´. Stilistisch war das Quartett von Beginn an so vielseitig, dass man nun nicht von einer zusätzlichen Erweiterung ihres Repertoires sprechen kann - doch das famose Songwriting bleibt erhalten, und für Rush-Fans noch besser: Lifesons Spiel schimmert noch einen Tick präsenter durch.

´Lethe River´ ist dem Album-Opener ´Never Said I Love You´ relativ ähnlich, aber insgesamt doch ruhiger. Darauf folgt mit ´You´ll Be Sorry´ sachte brodelnder und zischender Industrial light, der ebenfalls auf "Envy of None" hätte stehen können - was ja auch plausibel erscheint, weil beide Stücke im gleichen Rutsch entstanden sind.

Since we've known him, Robert Lloyd has made quite clear his enormous affection for the songs and sounds of Freakwater, the duo of Janet Beveridge-Bean and Catherine Irwin who've been wrongly denied their place as rightful and willful progenitors of alt-country's 'movement', which (frankly) is to their credit. Their genius in offering absolute authentic to the sound old-time Appalachian folk music with a modern façade that in no way negates tradition (one of their albums is titled Feels Like The Third Time) is unparalleled within the genre, and Freakwater remain under-appreciated. After the start of Covid, Robert dared approach Janet with the idea of recording together. Over the course of the long pandemic, songs were bandied about for months, and when recording was finally practical, a band was assembled with dates set up for a recording session in Valencia, Spain. Robert and Janet were joined by Robert's long-time ally, Pete Byrchmore, the musical foil for Robert's solo album on Virgin and a former Nightingale, Mark Bedford, the bassist for Madness and Terry Edwards' Near Jazz Experience, and Pablo Roda, Spanish mystery drummer, couldn't have worked out more perfectly. Tracks were selected without regard for collective presentation, just the goal of walking out of the studio with an album of perfect gems. Forget Lee & Nancy or George & Tammy, Rob and Janet have an immediate chemistry that only sounds long-lived - and too uniquely them to merit any comparison. The title track, Black Cat, Dark Horse is the sole Lloyd / Bean / Byrchmore composition and one of the record 's highlights. Jim Elkington, collaborator with Jeff Tweedy and Richard Thompson, contributes Heavy Reckonings and a song written with Janet, The True Lovers' Knot And The Lie, while Robert adds reworkings from past releases - Sweet Georgia Black and Black Country (with Pete) - not to mention the unreleased Eggs And Bacon. Janet brought One Shot and the unheard Freakwater song Arc Of A Smile. Covers of tunes from Dion and The Monkees and a magnificent Jon Langford song, "Tears Like Stars" round out the album. We daresay the album is among the finest you'll hear in 2023. That it doesn't fit perfectly into any preconceived genre is a testament to its quality. "Songcraft" is a word used infrequently today, yet Black Cat, Dark Horse will show that good songs endure. We're proud that Robert and Janet will find some new admirers through this album's release. The Michael Cumming / Stewart Lee film King Rocker made a case for Robert Lloyd-as-losthero; this album furthers that idea and shows a compelling side of Janet's talent and abilities which will be a surprise to her fans and serve as an entry point to exploring her many other compelling projects.

Teenage Waitress returns with the new album 'Your Cuckoo'. This album is the follow up to the critically acclaimed debut Love & Chemicals. “Melodies and storytelling. . basically" is how Daniel J. Ash of Southampton’s Teenage Waitress describes his eagerly anticipated second album Your Cuckoo. “It’s a bunch of characters singing songs about love, youth, drugs, boredom and of course, dancing”. ‘Your Cuckoo’ is a leap forward in every way for Teenage Waitress. Ash’s trademark ‘story songs’ are set to a backdrop of irresistible melodies, colourful arrangements and impeccable production. While noticeably a more focused effort than Ash’s previous effort Love & Chemicals, this album still offers a little something for everyone. For the recording of ‘Your Cuckoo’ Ash recruited some of his musical friends to join him in the studio, adding a rich new layer of musicianship to his latest songs. “We basically wanted to go a step ahead from where we got to last time. . and I think we’ve done that” smiles Ash “I’ve been a perfectionist in every sense and annoyed a lot of people to get to this point. I hope it was worth it!

More than four years after his previous EP and after having released some remixes and collaborations with Agar Agar, Black Devil Disco Club or the Italian design studio Burro Studio, LeonxLeon comes back with a new EP, passing to the electronic shaker the styles of music listened since the last release.

4 tracks all as different as each other with first Itanewa, where the Parisian producer tries for the first time to give voice, without vocoder, well aware that on a track inspired by South African productions of the 80s, an instrumental version only would not be enough to do justice. It is thus in a kind of invented Esperanto that the lyrics, a call to lightness and simplicity according to the artist, are distilled between synthetic bass, keyboards and other percussions.

On Piano Mondo, we leave rather in the direction of South America with pianos of Bossa inspiration on a bass italo-disco, rises and descents as if we were in Val d'Isere and breaks just long enough to catch its breath.
The idea of Solid Dose is completely different since it was a question of taking the post new-beat dance sound of the beginning of the 90s, with a big blow, hence the title, of the synthetic bass sound "Solid Bass" which will be used in a lot of ways at this period and which is coming back in force nowadays, and to mix it with the Nordic touch of dance music for a soaring, evolving track, with arpegios which cross each other and an acid line which finally makes its appearance here.

The last track is a wink to the well-known movie that gave its name to the whole project: it is indeed Luc Besson's Léon that we are talking about, re-cut on the dialogues of Nathalie Portman and Jean Reno, supported by a simple rhythmic, analogical bass and electronic kick at the service of a dark atmosphere, closing the record at the antipodes of the first track, without ever having left the universe of melodies and percussions that already characterized the previous releases of LeonxLeon.

Fast-rising pianist and producer Yoni Mayraz presents his debut LP ‘Dybbuk Tse!’ revealing the story of a malicious possession that is taking over one’s body and soul.

Dybbuk, known from Jewish folklore, is a malevolent wandering spirit that enters and possesses the body of a living person. It’s a cursed soul of a dead one that wanders tirelessly for sins committed during their life. The most vulnerable victims are the young and the sinful. Possession can be taken literally or as an analogy to the burden that young people carry generations back, which they have no influence on, and which they have to accept. Dybbuk can only be removed by exorcism. The titular ‘Dybbuk Tse!’ is a command to remove the spirit from the possessed body. The album is a story about possession but also about exorcism through music.

Recorded live with his band in a dusty wooden studio, ‘Dybbuk Tse!’ is indeed experimenting with the ‘darker side of things’, but yet with a somewhat lighthearted approach which is so typical of Yoni’s work. He easily combines jazz with the sound of 90’s New York hip hop and raw old school breakbeat. The album interweaves unique Middle Eastern melodies, sophisticated structures and sounds, and beautifully crafted solos played by some of the promising talents on the scene.

London based Israeli born pianist and producer Yoni Mayraz has set foot in the instrumental music scene with his EP ‘Rough Cuts’ released in 2020. Since then, Yoni and his band have been playing major venues and festivals around the world including the legendary Ronnie Scott’s and The Jazz Cafe, to name a few, bringing raw energy to stage with live versions of the studio materials, and stretching the melodies and structures into a Dancefloor-focused take on jazz.

‘Dybbuk Tse!’ album will be released by Astigmatic Records on LP in regular and limited (B1 poster included) editions, as well as on all streaming platforms.

Please take the five stars not as a statement that this is the best record of 2013, but as a delighted endorsement of a genre classic. With his fifth record (3 with Harpoons, and 2 solo) Ezra Furman has made an album of classicist rock'n'roll that never feels like an exercise, but a living, breathing piece of self-expression. The foundations are obvious, but the simple touches that adorn them are what elevates Day of the Dog. Been So Strange, for example, is the Velvet Underground's chugging R&B reincarnated, but with the delicious addition of a horn section. It leaves you wondering why Lou Reed never thought to do the same, so well does it work. Slacker/Adria is nervy, jittery powerpop until two minutes in, when the bottom drops out of the song and it turns into a doomy riff over which Furman appears to be telling us his nightmares: "I see white crosses burning across a dark landscape." He's seen his critics coming, too: the liner notes contain an index so you can check off the references. Clever, funny, sharp and tuneful – a great rock'n'roll record.” Michael Hann (The Guardian).

Carla Durisch unveils her debut EP ‘I Just Wanna Dance’ on Crosstown Rebels, with long-standing label favourite and close friend Seth Troxler on remix duties.

An exciting name who looks set for a breakout year in 2023, DJ/producer Carla Durisch is an artist whose passion and deep- rooted understanding of electronic music led to her being marked as a talent to keep an eye on. An integral part of the Swiss electronic and club landscape through residencies at the likes of Nordstern (Basel), plus both Hive and Zukunft (Zurich), her recent explorations within the studio have seen her deep and groove-led style translate into her own productions. These explorations are on display for the very first time as she debuts on Damian Lazarus’ renowned Crosstown Rebels imprint, following appearances at Get Lost in Miami and Watergate Berlin, plus forthcoming Ibiza sets alongside the label boss this summer at Hï.

Led by the captivating words of Nanghiti and Carla’s own vocals ‘I Just Wanna Dance’ is a warping and colourful ride through rich synths, refined drums and bright stabs as it builds and descends across an engrossing near-seven-minute journey. Next, ‘Be The Thing is a stripped-back, hypnotic house effort as snaking percussion merges with sharp lead melodies and further vocal interjections.

Needing little introduction, Seth Troxler’s remix of the title cut is an example of the American at his best, fusing bubbling acid-dipped bass patterns with skittering percussion and surging synth lines for a trippy, late-night take. To close, ‘4AM’ picks up those early hours sonics as crisp claps, echoed vox snippets and dubby grooves take a hold.

Ruhig verlief die Karriere von Sieges Even nicht. Nach den ersten beiden Alben verzeichneten sie den ersten Besetzungswechsel auf der Sängerposition, auf den Album „Sophisticated“ (1995) und „Uneven“ (1997) betrieben die Holzwarth Brüder (Bass und Drums) die Band weiter.
Doch man fand sich wieder mit Gitarrist Markus Steffen zusammen
und rekrutierte den Ausnahmesänger Arno Menses, der zuvor als Schlagzeuger aktiv war. Mit diesem Line Up eroberte man die Herzen der Progfans, aber auch die von anspruchsvollen Metalheads. Erneut waren Sieges Even zum richtigen Zeitpunkt am richtigen Ort.

„The Art Of Navigating By The Stars“ wurde in dem Black Solaris Studio von Uwe Lulis (heute auch bekannt als Gitarrist von Accept) aufgenommen und erschien bei InsideOut Music, damals im SPV Vertrieb. Es folgten traumhafte Kritiken, auch für die im Anschluss stattfindende Tournee.

Natürlich war 2005 nicht an Vinyl zu denken, so dass diese Wiederveröffentlichung bereits von vielen Fans erwartet wird.
Aber auch die CD ist seit einigen Jahren „out of print“, so dass auch hier Handlungsbedarf bestand. Die Grafiken der Doppel-LP im Gatefold wurde vom Originalkünstler Thomas Ewerhard erstellt und das Audiomaterial getrennt für Vinyl und CD remastert.

Das Konzept rund um „The Art Of Navigating By The Stars“ begeistert heute noch ebenso wie die sowohl vertrackte und harte, aber eben auch gefühlvolle Musik. Hier waren Sieges Even einfach die deutschen Großmeister.

Sieges Even‘s career has not been quiet. After the first two albums, the band had its first change of singer. On the albums „Sophisticated“ (1995) and „Uneven“ (1997), the Holzwarth brothers (bass and drums) kept the band going. But they ended up with the guitarist Markus Steffen and recruited the outstanding singer Arno Menses, who was previously active as a drummer. With this line up, the band has won the hearts of prog fans, but also of demanding metalheads. Once again, Sieges Even was in the right place at the right time.

„The Art Of Navigating By The Stars“ was recorded in the Black Solaris studio by Uwe Lulis (also known today as Accept‘s guitarist) and released by InsideOut Music, then distributed by SPV. This was followed by dream reviews, also for the tour that followed.

Of course, there was no question of releasing a vinyl in 2005, so this reissue is already expected by many fans. But the CD has also been „out of print“ for a few years, so it was also necessary to act in this context. The graphics of the double LP in gatefold were made by the original artist Thomas Ewerhard and the audio material was remastered separately for the vinyl and the CD.

The concept of „The Art Of Navigating By The Stars“ is still exciting today, as is the music, which is both complicated and hard, but also full of emotion. In this sense, Sieges Even were simply the great German masters.

Based in Berlin Max Newton & Matalo! have delivered percussion heavy funk and gritty Nuyorican rhythms on both GAMM and Take Away Records.
Their new release on Omena LTD continues on the same path and adds deep house and breezy latin flavours.

U-Bahn at Midnight sets things off sounding like a classic MCDE house jam with ringing melodies and sharp horns.
Walkin' On uses that classic Freddie Hubbard sample we all love and makes it even more classy.
On the flip Pao de Acucar vs Vesuvius is a 110% feel-good and summery TUNE, and finally Brooklyn Survivor ends things on a jazzier note with its deliciously deep, Disco-House groove.

A mighty fine way to close the Omena LTD series.