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Divine Invasions is the sophomore release from Welsh electro post-rock duo Ritual Cloak. The album builds on the cinematic soundscape themes of their debut, with the addition of vocals scattered throughout the record.
Work on Divine Invasions began as soon as the first album had been finished back in September 2019. The first album saw sparing use of guitar, instead mainly writing around piano. When it came to writing the second, Sanders and Barnett didn’t want to fall into the same routine, choosing to embrace exploring new sounds, experiment with new effects, making guitars sound like synths and using vocals for the first time.
The title Divine Invasions is inspired by the Philip K Dick biography. Dick was plagued by nervous breakdowns and driven to near insanity by visions of God.
For Fans Of:Mogwai, Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Kiasmos

Four albums in, the convenient and generalized catchphrase for Here Lies Man’s erudite sound — if Black Sabbath played Afrobeat — might seem a little played out. But Ritual Divination is perhaps the best rendering of the idea so far. Particularly on the Sabbath side of the equation: The guitars are heavier and more blues based than before, but the ancient rhythmic formula of the clave remains a constant.
“Musically it’s an opening up more to traditional rock elements,” says vocalist/guitarist/ cofounder Marcos Garcia, who also plays guitar in Antibalas. “It’s always been our intention to explore. And, as we travelled deeper into this musical landscape, new features revealed themselves.”

The L.A. based band comprised of Antibalas members have toured relentlessly following their breakout 2017 self-titled debut. Their second album, You Will Know Nothing and an EP, Animal Noises, both followed in 2018. Third album No Ground To Walk Upon emerged in August 2019. All of them were crafted by Garcia and cofounder/drummer Geoff Mann (former Antibalas drummer and son of jazz musician Herbie Mann) in their L.A. studio between tours. Ritual Divination is their first album recorded as the full 4-piece band, including bassist JP Maramba and keyboardist Doug Organ.
Ritual Divination continues with an ongoing concept of HLM playing the soundtrack to an imaginary movie, with each song being a scene. “It’s an inward psychedelic journey, the album is the trip,” Garcia says. “The intention and purpose of the music is to create a sonic ritual to lift the veil of inner space and divine the true nature of reality.”

Likewise, musically and sonically, the album is self-reflexive. “On this album the feel changes within a song,” Garcia says. “Whereas before each song was meant to induce a trancelike state, now more of the songs have their own arc built in.” Similarly, the guitar sounds themselves herein eschew the fuzz pedals of previous recordings, going for the directness of pure amp overdrive and distortion using an interconnected rig of 4 amplifiers. And, here, the well-versed live band is able to record as a unit, giving it much more of a live and dynamic feel.

Rough Trade named the band’s self-titled debut in their prestigious Top 10 Albums of 2017. BBC 6 & Classic Rock Magazine deemed it among the year’s best, as well as countless other press outlets singing its praises. Each subsequent album furthered the band’s reputation for genre-smashing rhythmic experimentation, topping many year-end lists as well as earning features from countless metal and indie rock outlets, plus cover stories in weekly papers.
“We’re very conscious of how the rhythms service the riffs,” Garcia explains. “Tony Iommi’s (Black Sabbath) innovation was to make the riff the organizing principle of a song. We are taking that same approach but employing a different organizing principle: For Iommi it was the blues, for us it comes directly from Africa.”
Ritual Divination will be available on LP, CD and download on January 22nd, 2021 via RidingEasy Records.

Four albums in, the convenient and generalized catchphrase for Here Lies Man’s erudite sound — if Black Sabbath played Afrobeat — might seem a little played out. But Ritual Divination is perhaps the best rendering of the idea so far. Particularly on the Sabbath side of the equation: The guitars are heavier and more blues based than before, but the ancient rhythmic formula of the clave remains a constant.
“Musically it’s an opening up more to traditional rock elements,” says vocalist/guitarist/ cofounder Marcos Garcia, who also plays guitar in Antibalas. “It’s always been our intention to explore. And, as we travelled deeper into this musical landscape, new features revealed themselves.”

The L.A. based band comprised of Antibalas members have toured relentlessly following their breakout 2017 self-titled debut. Their second album, You Will Know Nothing and an EP, Animal Noises, both followed in 2018. Third album No Ground To Walk Upon emerged in August 2019. All of them were crafted by Garcia and cofounder/drummer Geoff Mann (former Antibalas drummer and son of jazz musician Herbie Mann) in their L.A. studio between tours. Ritual Divination is their first album recorded as the full 4-piece band, including bassist JP Maramba and keyboardist Doug Organ.
Ritual Divination continues with an ongoing concept of HLM playing the soundtrack to an imaginary movie, with each song being a scene. “It’s an inward psychedelic journey, the album is the trip,” Garcia says. “The intention and purpose of the music is to create a sonic ritual to lift the veil of inner space and divine the true nature of reality.”

Likewise, musically and sonically, the album is self-reflexive. “On this album the feel changes within a song,” Garcia says. “Whereas before each song was meant to induce a trancelike state, now more of the songs have their own arc built in.” Similarly, the guitar sounds themselves herein eschew the fuzz pedals of previous recordings, going for the directness of pure amp overdrive and distortion using an interconnected rig of 4 amplifiers. And, here, the well-versed live band is able to record as a unit, giving it much more of a live and dynamic feel.

Rough Trade named the band’s self-titled debut in their prestigious Top 10 Albums of 2017. BBC 6 & Classic Rock Magazine deemed it among the year’s best, as well as countless other press outlets singing its praises. Each subsequent album furthered the band’s reputation for genre-smashing rhythmic experimentation, topping many year-end lists as well as earning features from countless metal and indie rock outlets, plus cover stories in weekly papers.
“We’re very conscious of how the rhythms service the riffs,” Garcia explains. “Tony Iommi’s (Black Sabbath) innovation was to make the riff the organizing principle of a song. We are taking that same approach but employing a different organizing principle: For Iommi it was the blues, for us it comes directly from Africa.”
Ritual Divination will be available on LP, CD and download on January 22nd, 2021 via RidingEasy Records.

Formed in 1985, Jane’s Addiction are an American rock band, hailing from Los Angeles. Released in 1990, Ritual de lo Habitual is the RIAA double-platinum selling second album by Jane’s Addiction. The 2LP set features the hit singles “Stop!” and “Been Caught Stealing”.

After their first issue focus on Benga, a Kenyan musical movement, FLEE is proud to present its new project: «Tarantismo: Odyssey of an Italian Ritual», available on 2LP Gatefold and as a bundle with 2LP Gatefold and a 168 pages Book.

Please note that the book only is not available

Dedicated to Tarentism, this project tells the story of a centuries-old choreo-musical ritual from Southern Italy, mobilizing frenetic rhythms and maniac dances, to exorcise women of a mysterious evil caused by the bite of a spider. Trans-disciplinary, this effort of documentation and artistic re-interpretation of one Europe’s most mysterious trance phenomenon is comprised of a double LP vinyl compilation including original recordings from Italian Maestro's Carpitella, Lomax and De Martino with reinterpretations from Don't DJ, Bottin, LNS, Bjorn Torske & Trym Søvdsnes, KMRU, Uffe and a hardcover Italian/English book.

Albinos returns to Astral Soda with 5 tracks of psychedelic percussion-heavy house music.

After a short hiatus Phonica Records revives its deep-house focused Karakul imprint for Harry Wolfman's new 12" 'The Ritual'!

Having produced a dozen 12's for labels such as Dirt Crew, Omena and Outplay, Harry has been honing his craft for the best part of a decade and you can hear how his sound has refined over the past few releases, reaching new heights with this latest record for Karakul.
'SMBC' kicks the 12" off in a laid-back style with its woodwind and brass samples complimenting bright pads and drums, reminiscent of MCDE, while the mellow and sultry 'Eva' is up next.

On the flip 'Obi 1' takes things up a notch both in tempo and energy, working around a lo-fi drum loop and cunningly filtered bassline.
Strings come to the fore halfway through making this a real uplifting gem, the mixture of instrumentation bringing to mind early Pepe Bradock.
Finally 'The Ritual' rounds out the record in a mesmerising way, slowly introducing more and more elements and stirring the pot before fading out again.
An original and fitting way to end the record.

4 underwater trippers extracted from another planet featuring Konsistent, Second Life, Jack Patern & Andy Rantzen.

To kick off 2019 Haven are setting their sights on the farthest reaches of the resurgence in EBM. New Zealand based hardware warrior Body Beat Ritual grew up in the UK exposed to the body music of the 80s and 90s and his experiments in industrial-tinged dance tracks inspired by the likes of Front Line Assembly, Ministry, Subpoena The Past, Nitzer Ebb, and Revolting Cocks were made in complete isolation from, and with no awareness of, the EBM resurgence in Europe's clubland.

This EP represents the first of Body Beat Rituals explorations into this sound. The A1 starts the EP with 'Instinct Primitive' - a certified body moving slammer featuring haunting screams, samples ruminating schizophrenia, a funky bass-line and drum rolls aplenty. The A2 welcomes Poland's VTSS to Haven for the first time with a bouncy gabber kick and distorted tones on her tough remix of 'Instinct Primitive'. The B1 begins the flip with the hectic drum workout, cutting bass and synth programming and political samples of 'Crash Report', followed by the destructive drums and scratchy timbre of Blush Response's remix on the B2. Not one to be missed for fans of dance-floor focused, gnarled industrial techno and EBM!

New Zealand based EBM auteur Body Beat Ritual makes his debut on Bergerac with an incendiary EP of full throttle intense dark wave bangers. Growing up in North West England immersed in hardcore punk and rave culture led to musical experiments and Body Beat Ritual is his unique splicing of both aesthetics.
Using a combination of hardware, audio samples and midi sequencing, Body Beat Ritual reclaims the moment when underground musicians in Manchester, Chicago and Ghent put down their guitars and picked up drum machines and sequencers bringing the intensity, rawness and aggression of the band environment to the dancefloor. Mortal Sin is a certified smasher. Absolute dancefloor decimation whenever it's played out. No more description necessary. No Mercy evokes the Lost Boys vibe with an equally high octane raw workout. Trent Reznor meets Jeff Mills at a DAF gig on a flatliner. The EP closes with Body Politics which lowers the tempo to a chuggier zone, with an ode to female empowerment which keeps up that Body Beat pressure and intensity.

Jonra & e:machinery are an electronic music performance and
recording duo comprised of long time Los Angeles based Designforms
Research label boss Jonra Babiracki and electronic music artist Eric Cowden aka e:machinery.

Combining analog hardware, software and processed vocals in a live performance setting, their music spans many styles including techno, house, acid, darkwave, and electro. Their improvisational technique results in tracks that twist and turn, keeping the listener's ears perked while always encouraging the dance floor. With releases on Designforms, Blaq Records, Superfreq and now Chem Club, this veteran duo plans to continue on their path of proud abnormality.

Frenzied and unhinged, the Ritual Casting EP by Jonra & e:machinery is the third vinyl release by Oakland based label Chem Club Records. The title track, Ritual Casting, coils into a bottom heavy head spinner that takes a left turn towards the end. The second A side track, Take A Trip, is indeed just that, a roller coaster ride using their signature vocal style paired with classic bass and percussive sounds. The DJ friendly B side kicks off with Douchebag Frog, a bubbling bass sequence centered track with pad stabs that get bounced around by those eerie vocals again. Lastly, Catch Me If You Can, with a heaving acid bassline, is a sure way to end the EP with a bang.

RISE MUSIC returns with the second instalment after the successful debut ""Masala EP"". Hyenah delivers two stunning original tracks. "You Made Me Who I am' is an epic, strings driven House tune. It keeps on building and building until it unfolds its entire beauty in a magical and epic breakdown.
On the flipside, ' The Ritual' is a quirky and at the same time deep African style tension-builder.

What Ever Not is the variegated music outlet from experienced Dodi Palese and Dan Mela, Italian DJs and producers supporting, selling, playing and releasing instrumental and dance music for two decades. What Ever Not tenth record, 'Galegos Bar / The Ritual', sees a split release signed by Dan Mela and Marco Erroi. Label co-founder Dan Mela inaugurates a new moniker 'Man Dela' for 'The Ritual' - the original track gets remixed by Anton Zap, with whom Mela already collaborated for a digital release on his own Ethereal Sound. Flipping on the other side, Marco Erroi, head of Common Series Ltd, continues his production career with 'XXXV Gold Fingers' for the 'Galegos Bar' side - one of the many different aliases he personifies - also contributing by realizing the artwork. 'Galegos Bar / The Ritual' offers two sides of the same coin and we can have both things with one stroke. The common denominator is the ethnical ritual. It is fully expressed in the Man Dela side with deep and hypnotic ride out turned upside down by Anton Zap with a dynamic electronic waltz. The same item, however, is magically hidden in the XXXV Gold Fingers side, where we can find it in the form of drink beer and play cards just like in most terrible bars in South of Italy.

Floor Killer Alert. We welcome Vincent Vidal debut on ARTS,
3 Cuts with Surgery Basics in Techno on Prime quality level.

Belgium, not the first place you'd think of when it comes to Latin or Afro funk. Yet one of the greatest records to blend both styles came from the small northern European country, masterminded by Nico Gomez and his Afro Percussion Inc.

Ritual was originally released in 1971 on the Dutch label Omega International (Gomez was born in Holland before moving to Belgium in the late 40s) and is being reissued by Mr Bongo in 2013, bringing its blazing funk grooves to both new ears and those already tuned in to this masterpiece's legacy.

Across its 11 tracks Ritual delivers the kind of production, arrangement and musicianship that rightfully belong in a dictionary next to the definition of professional. Gomez' band was tight and they knew it, showing it off on their covers of Perez Prado's 'Caballo Negro' and 'Lupita' by injecting the originals with a deep funk that blends both Afro and Latin influences. On 'Samba De Una Nota So' and 'El Condor Pasa', another pair of covers, they switch to soulful downtempo with mesmerising ease. The title cut remains one of the album's highlights, a devastating dancefloor groove with horns to match that has aged beautifully and was heavily sampled by Liquid People for 'The Dragon'. 'Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!' adds touches of rock with fuzzy guitars for one of the album's headier experiences.

Repress!

Louie Vega remixes the seminal Sam Records Disco hit 'Bourgie', Bourgie'' by John Davis & The Monster Orchestra.
12' vinyl release on Nurvous Records on Sept 9, 2016
House Music legend Louie Vega continues to light fire to select tracks from the Sam Records 1970's Disco Catalogue. He previously remixed Vicky D's 'This Beat Is Mine' and Convertion's 'Let's Do It.' Now he has added his unique and legendary production skills to a remix of the Ashford & Simpon penned 'Bourgie', Bourgie'' by John Davis & The Monster Orchestra.
Originally released on Sam Records in 1979, 'Bourgie', Bourgie'' also features background vocals by Ashford & Simpson.
Louie Vega continues to be one of the most dynamic and respected dance music producers in the world. With a body of work that combines his timeless and trend-settings production with Kenny Dope as Masters At Work, and his own distinctive and equally impactful Louie Vega productions, he has always had a great knowledge and respect for the R&B and Disco music that laid the foundation of the current soundtrack of nightlife. The Sam Records catalogue is owned and administered by Nervous Records, with which Louie has a long history, dating to his creation with Kenny Dope of the label's signature tune, The Nervous Track by Nuyorican Soul. The distinctive string sections of 'Bourgie', Bourgie'' along with the Ashford & Simpson lyrics caught Louie's ear, and he has created a remix that has been destroying dancefloors and festival summer.

2024 Repress

Funky Chicken brings together some of the best Belgian dance tracks from the early seventies. Emerged in a country where virtually every musical wave passes through, most of these tunes were created and recorded by hired guns, in this case a few clusters of gifted session musicians and composers. The music on Funky Chicken is their take on (afro-)funk, soul and Latin. Some of their releases were hit parade cannon fodder, but occasionaly, some spare studio time or the urgent need for a B-side allowed for memorable musical experiments.

Funky Chicken is a post-fact documentation, the result of a quest into a period on which information is few and far between, the 'black hole' in Belgium's history of popular music. The barren wasteland between the variety orchestras of the sixties and the electronic revolution of the late seventies and early eighties. This series explores the ground the dance pioneers built upon.

B-movie junkies, gather round and prepare yourselves for what could only be described as a cinematic speedball. Take a combined hit of two of the most potent strains of toxic cinema, dress it up in ritualistic robes and make it dance to the beat of a stoned, motoric, country commune soundtrack. Like an exploito double bill where both films merge into a single feature, this directorial debut by an ex-Roger Corman protege and future Russ Meyer art director (another heady cocktail) is the product of one writing duo's fleeting time in the driving seat as the moviedrome marathon approached its dwindling finish line.

Werewolves On Wheels emerged in 1971 in a climate where the B-movie genre of the previous two decades began to make way for the early glimpses of imported slasher films and video nasties. Entirely out of popular context in 1971, the soundtrack music of Don Gere would perhaps reveal him as the most versatile actor involved in the whole production. Until this point, Don Gere had been a pop folk songwriter and a country music devotee, but while riding with the werewolves, Don Gere became a disjointed psych rock stoner making ritualistic commune country with more coincidentally in common with Germany's emerging Krautrock scene or the more localised stoner psych of Skip Spence (whose radically ahead of its time LP OAR was recognised by Columbia Records as their lowest selling record in the company's history). Imagine guitarist Sandy Bull jamming with Munich's Amon Duul 1 or some Swedish prog outfits like Trad, Gras och Stenar or a sedated Kebnekaise. In comparison to the Curb/Allan scores, for films like Wild Angels, Devil's Angels, Thunder Alley, and Born Losers (often released on Curb's own Sidewalk or Tower records), the new music made by Don Gere, only three years down the line, sounds like it's from an entirely different generation...

"Pre-certified biker psych from the hillbilly Haxan. Amazing!" - SEAN CANTY (DEMDIKE STARE)

Fresh off their latest VA, The Press Group hand the reins over to up-and-coming Ukrainian producer Sasha Zlykh, here delivering his debut 12" effort. Clocking in with a quartet of club-oriented weapons and off-road house-y pumpers that shall bring dancefloors to a slow but steady simmer, the Kyiv-based producer blends in an avalanche of breaks-strewn rhythms, bleepy melodies and reshuffled UK bass patterns to create his own distinctive hybrids, halfway straight dance functionality and non-formulaic experimentality.

As playful in essence as it is serious in its execution, 'Lie To Your Mom' EP starts off with the title-cut, which works a wonky swagger that proves all the more infectious as bars fly by. Engineering a finely-woven mix of off-kilter drum programming, raucous analogue belches and volatile harp stabs distorted to the max, the track's shadowy intro is eventually offset by overlapping tides of luminous pads, released as one lets the light break through a vampire den. 'RnB Ritual' follows up close in the vein, meshing a brooding late-night-ish atmosphere with playful percussive mechs and sustained rhythmic accidents.

Flip sides and you'll be treated to a choice pair of remixes from in-house groove traders Rupert Marnie and Youthman. First in line, Marnie turns 'Lie To Your Mum' into a straight jacking and shuffling Chicagoan chugger. Going deeper into soulful terrains and lavishly-textured expanses, TPG's main operator exploits the whole melodic potential of Zlykh's original, bringing its anthemic power to further completion beautifully. More on the dubby end of things, Youthman adds his uniquely vibey touch to the main cut, deftly navigating betwixt a classic deep house kinda vibe, post-rave'y electronics and a Basic Channel-esque sound spectrum, which all in all should have people instinctively clapping their hands as their mind begins to sink into a weirdly introspective sense of euphoria.