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Do you like Love songs After spending a lifetime spent avoiding this subject in song, Joel Sarakula finally admits that he does. On his new album "Love Club" Sarakula relives the golden age of Soulful and Romantic Pop music and connects it with a modern aesthetic. While a deeper message of love and peace flows through the record, Joel Sarakula is no old fashioned hippie: ",Love Club' is about connecting to reality and re-framing the idea of romantic love and loss in the present, loveless age ". Featuring eleven songs touching all genres from disco to blues, from soul to soft-rock, Joel Sarakula's "Love Club" is a profound pop statement.

Joel Sarakula has travelled the world in search of his muse, experiencing everything from being a victim of Caribbean carjackings to performing in the remote fishing villages of Norway, via the dive bars of Europe and the US. It was the hodge-podge musical tapestry of England's capital that finally drew him to a settling point, in the wake of seemingly never ending run of shows. With personal tastes that span from the more avant-garde to soul and pop greats like Sly Stone, Todd Rundgren and Hall & Oates, there are clear nods to contemporaries like Unkown Mortal Orchestra, Erlend Oye and Toro Y Moi in terms of ambition and style.

With his last two albums "The Golden Age" and "The Imposter" collecting strong radio plays at BBC Radio 2, BBC 6, BBC London, XFM Joel Sarakula has been play-listed nationally in Europe including Flux FM, WDR 5, Radioeins, Bayern 2, Deutschlandfunk and Deutschland Kultur Radio in Germany as well as in Benelux and Italy and Spain. He is a regular fixture on the live festival and club circuit in the UK, Europe and internationally including appearances at SXSW, Primavera Sound, Glastonbury, The Great Escape, Liverpool Sound City, Scala London, Tallinn Music Week, V-ROX (Vladivostok) and Reeperbahnfestival Hamburg.

"Love Club" is Sarakula's bold and unashamedly emotional next step. In essence the album is a homage to the soulful singer & songwriter artistry of the Seventies filtered through a darker contemporary lens - fitting for these uncertain times. "I always shied away from generic love songs," the Sydney, Australia born songwriter admits, "but on this record I embraced the subject wholeheartedly... and intellectually, looking at themes of love, lust, loneliness and everything in-between." Take the first single "In Trouble", co-written with Michele Stodart of The Magic Numbers, as the best example for Joel Sarakula's unique, and honest approach to making music. "We Used To Connect" questions the changing nature of relationships in our social-media addicted world: 'We used to connect in the real world too, now the touch of your hand is a digital cue'.

"Coldharbour Man", on the other hand, examines the identity of the song's narrator and the artist vs. fan dynamic all wrapped up in a disco love song: "There's a lot going on in this particular track. I feel my writing has grown emotionally...", explains Joel Sarakula. "Just best to listen yourself and make up your own interpretation!: 'We met in a song come to life like some fantasy cliché, though I'm known for my moves in the dark you flooded sunshine on my day'. Then there's "Baltic Jam", capturing romantic love and loss in authentic 70s confessional singer & songwriter style and of course "Dead Heat", a song about how there is struggle in the most perfect relationship pairings as the match is so even: "I recall an ex-girlfriend of mine... when we first met, we thought we hated each other but we eventually flipped that emotion and realised we had a deep passion and love for each other, there just was a lot of underlying sexual tension!" : 'It's a battle we could only win, if we lose. We'd be stronger if these lonely ones became two'.

More than a year in the making, Joel Sarakula recorded "Love Club" in various studios around London and Berlin capturing soulful performances from his many musical comrades on vintage analogue equipment. "This record has truly been a labour of love. Recording and privately sharing these performances amongst my collaborators started to feel like a bit like a club - I guess that lead to the album title! I was surprised how much I actually enjoyed the 'love-making process' and I look so much forward to playing these new songs on stage with my band." We can't wait, Joel Sarakula.

A wonderful companion piece to the totemic Fed, we proudly announce the first ever vinyl edition of Korp Sole Roller by Plush. Liam Hayes' magical fourth full-length LP was previously only available on a rare Japanese import CD. Produced and arranged in 2010 by Pat Sansone (Wilco / The Autumn Defense), it finally arrives in a limited edition of 500 copies.

The common impression of Plush is that of an underground rock myth, lent greater poignancy by the lofty vision that galvanised his music. Yet while he has long been a cult concern, clued-up celebrity fans periodically declare their profound love for Hayes' maverick genius. Indeed, after Jason Schwartzman introduced Plush to Roman Coppola, several stunning songs from Korp Sole Roller soundtracked Coppola's A Glimpse Inside The Mind Of Charles Swan III.

As ever with Plush, it's easy to imagine you are listening to a privately pressed rarity from the mid-late 1970s. Or one of the criminally neglected jewels from the discography of Jimmy Webb or Burt Bacharach. The sound on Korp Sole Roller does differ crucially from Fed, however. It is more streamlined. These 10 gorgeously seductive creations careen around ornate string and wind instrument arrangements and producer Sansone's deft work is likely the reason for this. Yet, brilliantly, it still possesses that sun-warped take on classic pop-rock, that Plush specialises in. That peculiar "down-lifting" phenomenon of performing upbeat songs in an enigmatically mournful way.

Upon completion, Korp Sole Roller barely received anything resembling a release. Press coverage was zero because none of the major magazines or blogs knew of its existence. His management at the time essentially buried the album in order to concentrate on other releases. Looking back on this decision, it really made little sense. Everyone involved in its creation of these near-perfect gems is extremely proud of it. Liam himself has described it as the favourite of his albums. Pat's delicate work is astounding. Remastered especially for this special limited edition, it is presented in a sumptuous gatefold jacket with high-end art photography throughout, including full colour inner sleeves. Finally, here's your chance to own a slice of kaleidoscopic pop history.

The Palm Tree needs no introduction to anyone who has visited this part of town. Diamond boozer and Blitz survivor, it stands solitary on the Regent's Canal between Mile End and the Roman Road, quietly resisting the urge to move with the times. On weekend evenings you can enjoy the jazz standards of the Great American Songbook played by the musicians who feature on the album, no ticket required.

Tom Oldham (@tommyophoto) is a London-based portrait photographer, shooting portraits of musicians, sports stars and talented folk all round the world. His work has been widely recognised by the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize, the Open Series in the AoP Awards and most recently the Sony World Photography Awards 2018.

Andy Gangadeen is a drummer of international renown, playing with bands as prominent and diverse as Duran Duran, Massive Attack, Spice Girls and Chase & Status. He a true pioneer of live dance music drumming and has been known to pick up the sticks at The Palm Tree from time to time.

Tommy Mandel's Mello Magic' on Invisible City Editions is a compilation of personal synth-laden pop songs created between 1980-87 in NYC. BIG BIG TIP!
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His professional work as a keyboardist and vocalist found him on stage and in the studio with many of the 80s greats from the Clash, Todd Rundgren, B-52s, Violent Femmes, The Ramones, Tina Turner, Mark Ronson, Dire Straits and Bryan Adams. While offstage and out of the major studio sessions, Tommy wrote in little books, made animation films and hooked up a massive amount of synthesizers, sequencers,microphones and recorded songs like diary entries. He self released almost 20 CDs, cassettes and one Self Titled 12' Ep. Each song selected here is stunningly simple, lush, desperate, playful, and harmonic, touching on disparate trangents like Brian Wilson, Egyptian Lover, Michael Shrieve,Holger Czukay, Ariel Pink, YMO, AOR FM West Coast Rock, Arthur Russell, Martin Denny, Peter Gordon, Drexciya, Prince and Private Issued New Age Boogie. Tommy recently jokingly coined his music corporate ambient' and and it all shouldn't work, but somehow he manages to effortlessly make each song a Tommy Mandel song - DIY, homespun,personal, stunning, and not too serious. This is perfect pop, charming, sincere, infectious and the work of a humble, good hearted, romantic savant. Tommy Mandel's Mello Magic' will be out on limited LP Vinyl release and available Spring 2018. Be sure to check his ambient new age LP from his cassette Music For Insomniacs'also out soon on ICE/Intelligent Instruments. Designed by Marko Vuleta-Djukanov. - Sesto F

DELUXE VINYL EDITION!!!
By the time of their performance at the Bizarre Festival on 17th August 1996, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds were enjoying their most successful era to date. Their latest album Murder Ballads, released in February that year, was their best-selling record yet, having topped the charts in three countries and reached the Top 10 in a further five. This was aided in no small part by Nick Cave's duet with Kylie Minogue on 'Where the Wild Roses Grow', which was a worldwide hit and earned the band two ARIA awards. The video received repeated airplay on MTV, who would later nominate Nick Cave for Best Male Artist at the MTV Awards. Nick and the Seeds toured Europe, Asia and South America in support of the album, and it is their entire performance at the Bizarre Festival that is included here. Recorded and broadcast on FM radio throughout the United States, who had curiously been left off the tour's itinerary, the group captured the dark, brooding nature of Murder Ballads perfectly in their set, which included too classics from their back catalogue such as 'The Weeping Song' and 'The Mercy Seat'. As a grand finale, the band were joined by PJ Harvey - with whom Cave was romantically linked at the time - for a rendition of 'Henry Lee'.

Taking advantage of his first Japan tour, Ortella is back with a strong EP rich in styles. Believe is mixing memories and fantasies, each track gives a deeper journey with a panel of emotions and feelings, keeping the french man own solid base with dance-floor oriented drums and enhancing them with some cosmic trippy loops, a very special romantic mood and a drop of acid : the perfect formula for evasion. Dancing is great, tripping is better!

- Astonishing solo debut by acclaimed cellist and composer Lucy - A daring, non-conformist and deviant approach to composition and instrumentation - One side of filigree, multi-layered autobiographical collage-work, the other of raw and phased cello glissandi - RIYL: Mark Leckey, Alvin Lucier, Beatrice Dillon, Nate Young, Valerio Tricoli, Popol Vuh

Lucy Railton is a prolific performer who has appeared on countless recordings and collaborations with many important figures in contemporary music over the last few years. Paradise 94 is, remarkably, her solo debut - featuring archival, location and studio recordings which serve as a time capsule of all the myriad disciplines and influences that have brought her to this point in time. It both plays up to and shatters expectations of her music, which harnesses a duality of energies - acoustic/electronic, real/imagined, iconic/iconoclastic, pissed-off/romantic; out of place and androgynous - resulting in a visceral emotional insight and rare narrative grasp. Variegated, asymmetric, and located somewhere between her usual fields of exploration, Paradise 94 gives free reign to aspects of her creativity that have previously been subsumed into collaborative processes and interpretations of other composers' work. Here, she's free to probe, sculpt and layer her sounds through a much broader range of techniques and strategies, placing particular focus on non-linear structural arrangements and exploring the way her cello becomes perceptibly synthetic through collaging, rather than FX. At every turn Paradise 94 is bewilderingly unique. The A-side unfolds an oneiric, inception-like sequence traversing temporalities, timbres and tones from what sounds like a spectral ensemble playing on a traffic island in Pinnevik, to bursts of rabbit-in-headlights trance arps emerging from meticulously dissected musique concre`te in The Critical Rush, and a collision of masked vocals, string eruptions and a deeply moving, light-headed Bach rendition in For J.R. On the other hand, Fortified Up on side B tests out a far rawer approach, sampling herself playing the same glissandi over and again, which she layers into a sort of perpetual, sickly motion, the Shepard Tone riffing on the listener's psychoacoustic perceptions before calving off into a cathartic dissonant folk coda in its final throes. In the most classic sense, you can only properly begin to f*ck with something from the inside once you truly know it. Railton's dedicated years of service have more than equipped her with the nous and skill to do just that, gifting us with what will no doubt be looked back on as a raw, exposed and important solo debut in years to come.

Dark Entries present the debut album from Bézier titled 'Parler Musique'. Bézier is Taiwanese-American musician Robert Yang who is also part of the Honey Soundsystem crew. A multi-instrumentalist, Robert grew up in Southern California then planted his roots in San Francisco in 2005. Over the years in SF he has built an impressive analog synth-based studio, which also serves as the creative hub for his riveting live performances.

Parler Musique clocks in at over 52 minutes with 8 tracks are spread across four sides for maximum loudness. The album title is a French transliteration on the phrase Parlor Music' and is evening music for a meeting of minds in a drawing room or a literary salon. To 'talk about music', the actual translation of the title, the album is a hotbed of ideas. Different genres are crisscrossed: punk, synthpop, jungle, new romantic, industrial and new wave. Airy melodies, surging arpeggios and symphonic breakdowns counterpoint cold digital drum sounds to convey beauty within inescapable and impending daily processes. The track titles for 'Parler Musique' zoom in on Romantic preoccupations with mystery, unknowns, depths--where themes combine to form an occult revelatory experience.

All songs have been mixed by Mark Pistel (Meat Beat Manifesto, Consolidated) at Room 5, San Francisco and EQed for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. The vinyl comes housed in a jacket featuring a surreal circuit board pattern with pink bubbles flickering on an abstract horizon of water designed by Eloise Leigh. Each copy includes a postcard risograph-printed in fluorescent pink and dark blue with Dadaist text by Justin Aulis Long.

Is the drum the successor of human sacrifice or does it still sound the command to kill' Adorno, Motifs (1951)

The Crispies sind Tino Romana (Gesang), Rob Wolfe (Gitarre), Parsa Sarraf (Bass) und Peter Ferdinand (Schlagzeug). Die Band wurde nach Schulabschluss 2014 in Wolfes Keller gegründet, teils aus Perspektivlosigkeit, teils aus Spaß. So speist sich auch ihr Selbstverständnis aus der Spannung zwischen Langeweile und Exzess, zwischen Selbstironie und der Ernsthaftigkeit von Rock 'n' Roll Klischees in Lederjacken und zerrissenen Jeans. Fragt man die Band selbst, so vergleichen sie ihre Musik gerne mit analoger Fotografie: spontane Momentaufnahmen, manchmal schön, manchmal etwas kaputt. Ihr Debütalbum "Death Row Kids" erschien im Oktober 2016 auf Seayou Records. Ihr zweites Album "Fake Leather" erscheint im März 2018, ebenfalls auf Seayou Records.

As the lead singer of George Darko's legendary Burger-Highlife hit-band, Lee Dodou became the number one voice of 80's Highlife. Born in Kumasi, the epicenter of Ghanaian Highlife, he came to Berlin in the late 70's - by then the uprising epicenter of Burger-Highlife - to work as a back-up-singer for Pat Thomas. After joining and leaving Georg Darko and running his own band "Kantata", he stopped releasing music in the early 90's. Now, Philophon is proud to present new recordings of his soulful genius to the world of 2018.

Basa Basa is a song in the classic "concert party" style, as it was played in the glorious 60's. After a firey horn introduction Lee takes over in that funny and entertaining manner typical for "concert party" music. Buzz Duncker joins Lee's phrases with some gentle clarinet. Highlife at its best!

Sahara Akwantuo is anything but a classic: it's the start of a kind of philophonic Highlife, labeled as Kraut-Life. Ghanaian love of life meets German romantic melancholy. Happy rhythms meet mysterious synth landscapes. Eternal summertime and mangos are meeting a wet winter world and roast apples. Kraut-Life at its best!

Finale Sessions is proud to annouce a new member to the record label Tolga Fidan. He is really big with the Romanians right now and we at Finale Sessions are big on his production and we bring this 4 track heater to let you know he does not fool around

After a first EP of the year from STL, the Solar Phenomena label now welcomes Romania's Romansoff. The Raw Tools label boss hails from Bucharest and has also released his gritty, stripped back house and techno on Creme Organization and Sportiv. Here he offers four new tracks, with one remix from Timedance man Ploy completing the package.

'Halo' epitomises Romansoff's style with its slow, heavy drums and sparse, scattered perc sounds. A lo-fi melody adds colour, while 'Coach Jacket' ups the ante with busier claps and crashing hits laid over a turbulent, unsettled bassline. Increasing the pressure further, 'Graded' grows manic with punchy drums, layers of fuzzy synths and bass and distant cries that are dark and unsettling. Ploy flips this one into a prickly and atmospheric drum track that keeps you on edge and Romansoff's digital exclusive 'Michigan Lake Tapes' is a slow motion workout with unsettling synths and tortured pads that grows ever more unhinged. It rounds out a leftfield house EP in style.

Rebirth On Wax are to present this official reissue of a hidden treasure of " Spiritual Maloya " from Reunion Island. Originally issued on a private press double LP in 1983.

Adding yet another Montreal Artist to the Lazy Days roster. This time, we welcome Bowly aka OJPB. A respected name in the Montreal DJ scene, he's also known for his releases on Parage Music and more recently on Tensnake's great True Romance label.

First reissue of this essential LP by Italian pioneer and Ennio Morricone cohort, Alessandro Alessandroni. Originaly released on Munich based experimental, progressive library label Coloursound.

Alessandroni at his best: very refined Italian cinematic sound, tense 12 strings guitar themes, synth sequences, beautiful sound of chamber classical music mixed with psych choir. You can feel Alessandroni's magical touch for melodies and arrangements on nearly each song and at the same time, some François de Roubaix reminiscence on themes like "Dramatic" and "Sad Farewell".

No doubt each track of this underrated masterpiece could have been a classic soundtrack theme.

Southend quartet Ghost Music release their evocative debut album I Was Hoping You'd Pass By Here via Arlen on 19 January. They create careful, considered songs, weaving lo-fi lullabies with gliding guitars and understated arrangements. Influenced by Silver Jews, Flying Nun and K Records, they explore themes of nature, love, loss and a melancholic English romanticism embellished with beautifully spectral melodies and executed with startling subtlety.

Despite this record being their debut, the band has produced a veritable wealth of music over the past 20 years in various guises. Ghost Music revolves around the songwriting partnership of Matt Randall and Lee Hall, who had played together in the 90s with John Peel favourites Beatglider. More recently Randall has received critical acclaim as Plantman, with his three albums Closer to the Snow, Whispering Trees and To The Lighthouse receiving praise from The Guardian, Uncut and Mojo. When Randall and Hall reunited to collaborate on another album together, they brought in the talents of Roy Thirlwall on bass (Melodie Group) and Leighton Jennings on drums (Dark Globes) to complete the band.

The original idea would be that the songs would be 'ghosts' and create 'ghost music' to resurrect and dust off old songs that they had already started. Lee had found the beginnings of 'Home Dog' on a dusty old 4-track and he had recorded 'Strange Love' on his iPhone in 2014, whilst Matt had written 'My Cloud' as far back as 1997 (the night he moved out of his parents' house). As the album began to take shape, the ghostly premise took a back seat, as they began to breathe new life into the songs they found the impetus to write new ones.

Randall explains the songwriting process; 'When we were in Beatglider together and in the past we'd made a 'thing' out of writing long songs with a lot of changes. This time we pared it back a bit and stuck to the melodies more. We really wanted to make a proper guitar record. Lee's my favourite guitarist and it was lovely to see him stretch out on these songs with his diamond fingers.'

Not afraid to wear their influences on their sleeves, Ghost Music's sound is instantly familiar, echoing beloved bands from the 90s such as Pavement ('Home Dog' has a definite 'Range Life' feel), Galaxie 500 ('Blindspot'), Yo La Tengo ('Heart Shaped Holiday' is influenced by the languid YLT songs that peak after a short intro) and even old-school rock'n'roll ('Strange Love' was born out of an appreciation for the instantly engaging opening riff in 50s songs). Yet Ghost Music's work never feels derivative, being instead effortlessly emotive, melancholic and affecting, creating a world of sound that is hugely reassuring and a tonic for the modern age.

Luciano e Valerio, Giacomo e Michele: Odeon are the union of two couples of Roman brothers who are not easily defined. Take the mellow melodies of Talk Talk and the celestial guitar riffs of Cocteau Twins bound together with some heavy Goblin-inspired bassline and you'll be close to picturing Odeon's signature sound. Drawing from '70 Italian B-Movies' soundtracks, psychedelic rock and early 80s new wave, and combining analog synths, dreamy guitars, melancholy vocoder and drum machine-driven percussion, Odeon put together a debut album that sounds fresh and classic at the same time. Ethereal and mesmerizing, Galaxies is the perfect soundtrack for a sonic journey through dying stars and forbidden planets.

It's the big 5! Berlin - Frankfurt based label House Is OK is celebrating its five-year long presence and has decided to mark that period with something special Label's story started with a sticker Homeboy printed in his former hometown, Zagreb, saying 'House Is OK'. Catchy, right It became an underground slogan of the local scene. It didn't take long for people to embrace the idea stating that it's OK to be into melodic, fresh, groovy yet, at times, a bit awkward dance music. Just around the same time Homeboy's Frankfurt based bro's Oliver Achatz and Janis played with the idea of starting a record label. Guess what the logical choice for the name was Ten records, dozens of original songs and remixes later House is OK continues to grow. Literally. What was once a platform for the original three founders is now an international family affair supporting the talented artists from Frankfurt, Stockholm, Alexandria and Orlando. Nurturing the friendly approach this musical family continues to grow. Looking back at the first five years, not only at the music that connected them all but at the bonds that deepened through the production process, House is OK crew wanted to take create a proper reminder and thank the ones supporting them throughout the years. A double 12' pack titled 'Gemišt' seemed like a proper way to do that. - Gemišt' will be released as two separate EPs featuring the original music from Kornél Kovacs, Roman Flügel, Gavri & McQueen, TCB, House Of Life and the label makers themselves. Oliver and Janis deliver tracks under their known names, while Homeboy introduces his new project with fellow Wilde Renate resident The Swift, called Longhair. Croatian artist Ugruv Smek marks his yearlong collaboration with the label delivering yet another smashing artwork.

ossession Records proudly present the new album by Soft Riot, entitled 'The Outsider In The Mirrors'.Soft Riot is the stylised musical alter-ego of JJD, Canadian by birth and an ex-resident of London and Sheffield, now based in Glasgow (so not unfamiliar with sites of post-industrial decay!). With over twenty years of playing in various post-punk and synth-punk bands, he has been crafting the sound of Soft Riot since the early turn of the decade, releasing a slew of albums across a multitude of labels and touring obsessively around Europe and beyond.With 'The Outsider In The Mirrors', his sixth full-length, he has found a new home for his sound on Possession Records, a fledgling Glasgow imprint founded by JJD, Claudia Nova (aka Hausfrau) and Andy Brown (Ubre Blanca). Their aim is to bring together their pool of musical talents and provide a more permanent home for their future creative endeavours, whether it be music, video or otherwise and to experiment with what it is to be a 'label' in the ever evolving 21st century. Future projects and releases will see them getting a select group of their peers and friends involved in Possession's focused vision, locally or from further afield.'The Outsider...' is a consolidation of all the stylistic elements Soft Riot has pursued in the past; the manic propulsive energy of 'Waiting For Something Terrible To Happen', the infectious, off-kilter dynamics of opener 'The Eyes On The Walls' and the pulsing, elegiac synth washes of 'The Saddest Music In The World'. Throughout the album Soft Riot fuses his maximalist sonic palette with a sharp-edged sense of post-punk anxiety, unique synth interplay and brooding, claustrophobic new-wave dread. Comparisons to musical kindred spirits like John Foxx, DAF, early Depeche Mode, Fad Gadget and Virgin-era Cabaret Voltaire would be analogous, but JJD is defiantly fusing these basic references into something highly idiosyncratic and personal.
The music on 'The Outsider...' is evocative of an kind of nostalgic futurism, of a refusal to give up on a desire for the future (dystopic or otherwise) and the unpredictable nature of the urban situation. The music is tense, synthetic and precise, embodying and exploring issues of isolation, urban alienation and social paranoia. Yet despite these dark thematic preoccupations the Soft Riot sound is not without its warmth and humour. Wry and self aware without irony, the songs are hook laden, infuriatingly catchy and designed for dancing as much for static listening. It is a peculiarly Soft Riot take on the electro pop sound that will engross and captivate any adventurous listener.

Syncopated percussion and murky atmospherics form the basis of 'Mutual Romance' before Dicicco introduces an ominous melody to generate the duskiest track on the package. 'Virgo Love Affair' then meanders forward with tight kicks and a hypnotising chord sequence before making way for the deep and scintillating 'Filling Pieces'. Concluding the release, 'How We Live' combines organic drums with sweeping effects whilst distorted keys operate throughout.

Temperatures are dropping and we're all feeling the effects. Bordello A Parigi is letting the cold winds of the north swirl inside its doors with Russia's Volta Cab bringing a fresh 2LP to the table. A spread of influences come together for the eleven tracks of Rise Again. Take 'Emerald's Phantasy', a piece built on layers of percussion that blends elements of disco with notes of techno. 'Dark Room' is a different affair. Arctic chords are cut with electro and distant vocals for an unsettling treat. 'Kruger' stomps to a terse beat before lush pads bloom in a work that builds to dizzying peaks. Warm blasts balance these colder moments, the rich grooves of 'Savage Fury', the floor filling funk of 'Board Scandinavia' and the removed romance of 'Sweet Exorcist' all show another shade to the Volta Cab sound and of course there's more. Rise Again is an audio collection of vibrant colours and hues, tracks pitch from icy blues to autumnal ambers and fiery reds; a musical kaleidoscope that stretches across a spectrum of styles.

Don't wanna move to Southern California / I wasn't really meant for LA...' So sang Dent May once upon a time, now he's eating those words with a side of avocado toast in his new Los Angeles bungalow. What made the lifelong Mississippi boy pull up stakes and head west No one looks at you funny if you wear a tuxedo to the supermarket.' What he means is he moved there to shake up his surroundings, clear his head, and write the most accomplished record of his young career, the magical mystery tour de force Across the Multiverse.

Following the lead of musical-polymaths-with-LA-ties before him like Brian Wilson, Van Dyke Parks, and Harry Nilsson, Dent's style on Across the Multiverse will be familiar to fans of his previous work. Yet there's something more refined about this collection... Stately strings mingle with boogie piano like old friends. Synths weave a celestial backdrop throughout. Every verse, bridge and chorus in its right place, giving it the unmistakable feel of a true songwriting craftsman at work. Lyrically Dent has never been sharper, musing on themes like modern romance ( Picture on a Screen', Face Down in the Gutter of Your Love'), existential dread ( Dream 4 Me', I'm Gonna Live Forever Until I'm Dead'), and the distance to the moon ( Distance to the Moon') as he searches for meaning among the infinite scrolling feeds of our 21st century augmented reality. The title track, a duet with Frankie Cosmos, is a deep space love song about finding love beyond impossible boundaries.

Across the Multiverse was written and recorded in a sunny bedroom in LA's Highland Park neighborhood, with Dent producing and playing nearly every instrument himself. The tracks were selected from dozens of songs written after the LA move, a gold rush of productivity inspired by late nights DJing rare disco funk cuts at local watering holes. It's his first record for new label Carpark and will be released August 18th.

Dent May is a self-described hotel bar lounge singer and aspiring daytime TV talk show host - has been charming his way into the hearts of music fans since the release of his debut album The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele on Animal Collective's Paw Tracks label in 2009. The Mississippi-born, Los Angeles-based songwriter, performer, and Dolly Parton enthusiast has since released two more acclaimed records, Do Things (2012) and Warm Blanket (2013), dropped the holiday smash I'll Be Stoned For Christmas', and played hundreds of shows from Shanghai to Chicago. His latest album, Across the Multiverse, is an interstellar voyage of mythic proportions.

After his well acclaimed soundtrack lp on Hivern Discs,Brussels based producer Lawrence Le Doux is returning to homebase Vlek for his next offering. And what a project it has become: Le Doux, heads first, dived deep into the Belgian national history of electronic music, and came up with a   sampler covering the various fields the Belgians have explored over the last 30 years.  
From digi dub over simple drum computer house to one­man industrial cassettes: 'Host' has it all." 
Lawrence Le Doux opened for   Matias Aguayo in one of Brussels' major venues: Ancienne Belgique earlier this year.   
Lawrence Le Doux' latest album was released on Hivern Discs (Music For Documentaries' -  3,8/5 on RA)
VLEK designer Dimitri Runkkarri's take on the analog type press / glass printing process: With Lawrence Le Doux, from the beginning (with "Terrestre", 2014) we used different materials to print out the sleeves. We used cork, overlapping letters, plastic cross for wall carving.
This time, I had some glass left at the workshop. We wanted to try. We broke it on the press then printed it with all the texture, scratch, accidents caused by the pressure of the press..."

Nach zwei ausverkauften 7inch Singles, Festivalauftritten auf so ziemlich jedem namhaften deutschen Musikfestival und Opener-Slots für Bands wie Balthazar, Future Islands oder Battles veröffentlicht das Kölner Quartet Xul Zolar mit - Fear Talk am 19.01.2018 seine Debut LP

auf dem von der Band mit-gegründeten Label Asmara Records. Um diese Vision in die Realität umzusetzen hat sich die Band sowohl mit dem Kölner Produzenten Marvin Horsch (Woman, Keshavara) zusammengetan, als auch die Besetzung mit Dennis Enyan zum Quartett erweitert.

Vielleicht ist es kein Zufall, dass die Musik auf Fear Talk, dem Debütalbum der Kölner Band Xul Zolar eine gewisse malerische Qualität aufweist. Immerhin hat sich die Band nach einem Maler aus dem 20. Jahrhundert benannt, dem Argentinier Xul Solar (mit bürgerlichem Namen Oscar Agustín Alexander Schulz Solari).
Genau wie die Bilder der Impressionisten vermittelt ihre Musik ein Gefühl der Nostalgie und Unmittelbarkeit und versprüht eine Aura, die man romantisch nennen könnte. Trotz der deutlich hörbaren Einflüsse von Künstlern wie The Smiths, Talking Heads oder sogar Phil Collins, ist Fear Talk - das vom visionären Kölner Produzenten Marvin Horsch aufgenommen wurde - ein Album auf der Höhe der Zeit, wie der Einsatz stark prozessierter Vocals, an frühen Dubstep erinnernde Sub-Kick Samples und von Electronica beeinflussten Clicks-and-Cuts belegt. Das Alte wird verbogen, verformt und in etwas völlig Neues verwandelt.
Textlich kreist das Album um persönliche Themen wie Liebe und Verlust, wenngleich auf höchst abstrakte und metaphorische Weise. Doch das Persönliche ist immer schon politisch und findet niemals in Isolation des Individuums von seiner Umgebung statt. Dies spiegelt sich auch im Titel des Albums, Fear Talk, wieder, der sowohl als Anspielung auf die wachsende Unsicherheit einer Generation verstanden werden kann, als auch als Kommentar zu der weltweit um sich greifenden Panikmache durch Populisten und Demagogen, die der Zeit, in der Fear Talk entstanden ist, ihren düsteren Stempel aufgedrückt hat.
Fear Talk wurde im Sommer und Herbst 2016 von Marvin Horsch (Woman, Keshavara) im Gottesweg, Köln aufgenommen und produziert. Gemischt wurde das Album von Marius Bubat (Coma) und Jan-Philipp Janzen (Von Spar, Cologne Tape), gemastered von Robin Schmidt. Die Album PR übernimmt Nordic By Nature, Berlin. Das erste Video wird premiert von Intro.de.

"Happy Freedom Tour 2017
präsentiert von INTRO, DIFFUS Magazin & Musikbox
24.11.17 Köln, Arthefter
01.12.17 Essen, Hotel Shanghai
05.12.17 Hamburg, Über & gefährlich
06.12.17 Berlin, Kantine am Berghain
07.12.17 Leipzig, Kulturzentrum So&So
08.12.17 Stuttgart, Kellerclub
09.12.17 Frankfurt am Main, Lotte Lindenberg
Tour 2018 TBA

Here is the 1st Part of 2 Eps of remixes for Djebali's first Album « 5 »The Legendary Andres and the romanian Arapu

Coney Island Baby is a 1976 solo studio album by Lou Reed, released in January by RCA Records. The album has been described as perhaps the most romantic album of Reed's career .' Many of the album's songs were inspired by and dedicated to Reed's girlfriend and muse at the time, a trans woman named Rachel. Pressed on standard black vinyl.

Super deluxe lo fi 7" grape-colored vinyl housed in DIY low-budget sleeve, + includes "I love my VCR Sticker"

WRWTFWW Records is thrilled to announce the release of the long anticipated, always delayed, 30-years-in-the-making PSYCHOS IN LOVE Original Soundtrack, available at last and for the first time ever in a super deluxe low fidelity _7" grape-colored vinyl edition, housed in a DIY no-budget sleeve, and loaded with extras, including words from film director Gorman Bechard, lyrics of the theme song, a promotional postcard with a picture of the cast, a poster of a woman attacked in a bathroom, and the infamous as-seen-in-the-movie "I LOVE MY VCR" bumper sticker!

Filled with sleazy funk, macabre synths, homemade electronic kitsch, anti-grape propaganda, and rewind-worthy dialogue excerpts, Psychos In Love is the ultimate lo-fi horror-romcom soundtrack adventure with a theme song so memorable you'll find yourself humming it every morning. In Gorman Bechard's words, "For the Psychos In Love theme I purposefully wrote what I hoped were the worst lyrics of all time, giving them to Carmine Capobianco with one note, 'use them to write the worst song of all time.'"

The movie Psychos In Love (1986) is a trenchant, laugh-out-loud indictment of slasher films, romantic comedies, and grapes (that's right, pal, grapes), a true genre-defying post-modern cult classic that will wind its way into your heart as its characters work _their way through vats of gore. Packed tight with sly homages to - and parodies of the work of such cinema legends as Alfred Hitchcock, Woody Allen, Roger Corman, Groucho Marx, and Gerard Damiano, Psychos In Love foreshadows the grand guignol culinary delights of Silence of the Lambs, served up with a healthy portion of wry wit and all-American t&a.

Genre blending and audience crossing drummer/percussionist Eric Thielemans is proud to present a brand new, exciting combo together with Rudy Trouvé , Mauro Pawlowski , Roman Hiele and Jean-Yves Evrard . With this eclectic band ET sets out to explore, or rather rub against the obscure repertoire by Jazz masters such as Ornette Coleman, Alice Coltrane, Sun Ra and Albert Ayler .Are The Mechanics a Jazz combo The Mechanics don't know. As of yet, The Mechanics have no real memory of their own. What they do know is that they are impatient to check out the mechanics behind those musics that tick their tock. They will do so as they are feathered. In colours, primal and expressive. And what better way to understand something than by breaking it and then trying to fix it .Tagging The Tag : The Ex, Liquid Liquid, Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra, James Chance, Alice Coltrane, Aphex Twin, Roland Kirk, John Cage, The Love Substitutes, Hiele, Evrard, Trouvé, Pawlowski & Thielemans.
Tag Away ! The Mechanics is an exciting new band operating out of Antwerp, home base to bands and musicians such as dEUS, Evil Superstars, Dead Man Ray, Chantal Acda, Tape Cuts Tape, Gruppo Di Pawlowski, The Love Substitutes, Kiss My Jazz, Mâäk's Spirit, The Mechanics bring together 2 generations of musicians out of the avant jazz, improv, rock, songwriter and electronics scenes. Mixed into an exciting cocktail of energies childishly bald and raw, maturely tender and constructive, spiritually curious and rocking loud with electronic burning sonic edges.

This November will see Elia Perrone launch his new Jun'Ai imprint with his very own 'Flowers' EP, accompanied by a remix from Romanian minimal powerhouse Vid.

Tuscan producer and DJ Elia Perrone has long been one of the most respected figures in Italy's underground electronic music scene having co-founded the Klang Club in Arezzo which has seen him play alongside the likes of Simoncino, Juju & Jordash and Move D. Amongst this Elia, alongside brother and production partner heads up Unclear Records which plays host to their collaborative works as Easy To Remember as well as material from the likes of Baby Ford, Roman Fluegel, Christopher Rau and Dandy Jack amongst others.

Here though we see Elia turning a new chapter with the launch of his Jun'Ai imprint and taking the lead on the inaugural release is 'Flowers', a mind-altering slice of micro house fueled by pops, whirrs, clicks and sample cuts while fluttering atmospherics and bright string plucks ebb and flow throughout the murky depths of the composition. Vid aka Egal 3 steps up on remix duties to follow, delivering a straight edged take on things via crunchy organic percussion, billowing echoes of the original's atmospherics and a robust sub driven bass line.

Opening the flip side is 'Rain Smell', a slow brooding, hypnotic number employing dynamic string licks, modulating synth drones and bumpy 4/4 drums before 'Moshishi' closes out the package with airy ethereal textures, glitched out off-kilter percussion and rumbling low end tones.

First release from the Tunisian rising star Salem Jabou, Maximum Reach the new Mad Recordings EP comes with a panel of flavor, from Maximum Reach a floor oriented percussive track to Project A, cypher futurist deep house groove to 41 a romantic looped melody perfect for a summer mood.

fter the world applauded sascha funke for his latest album 'lotos land', he gave away some tunes to friends for remix duties.
düsseldorf based tolouse low trax formed 'twirl' into a foggy dark mpc-seducer for romantic nighthawks that love dancing.
also australian boy dreems prepared a remix that grooves odd and uncommon. his percussive version of 'im feiern und feuer' is a slow whirlwind, perfect to start and end a great dj night.
with tuff city kids a duo formed a remix that is good for big room love affairs. their version of 'purple hill' is a heartfelt melange between trance and house deepness that works on any dance floor.
the final edit comes from glasgow's junto club, who transformed 'comola', a tune that they already produced originally with sascha funke, into a longing dark melodic synth stepper.
four versions, four hits, four atmospheric dimensions beyond words. tune it loud!

«Prelude» EP is the inceptive release of Oxmose, which marks the first entry in an ongoing catalogue, and the beginning of a journey with various artists. At its heart, the «Prelude» EP is a dialogue between two composers, a conversation that traces the line between abstract, electronic experimentalism and gliterring interpretive jazz. Parisian producer Shcaa takes control of Side A with 'Core', a near 20 minutes exploration into sound, which skirts the fringes of avant-garde minimalism and experimental rhythms. The song's acute cadence lays a dense and atmospheric foundation for the EP. - Side B sees Romanian artist Traian - Chereches offer-up an absorbing - counterpoint to Shcaa's opener on 'Cage'. The energy of Chereches' rebuttal fuses organic and interpretive sounds into a deft jazz reinterpretation, revealing a wide and surprising cinematic ambience. Mastered by Rashad Becker from Dubplates & Mastering Berlin, « Prelude » will be released on limited edition 12'', 180g heavyweight vinyl - with an outer sleeve featuring handmade artwork created by graphic designer Alice Voinea. The organic materials used in her work, emphasizing the interchange of the record, adding a further layer of continuity, one that streches between the artist, the music and the listener. - Written by Tom Fenwick

he Copenhagen based pop wonders Blaue Blume return with a new EP - 'Sobs'. The band formed around 6 years ago in a provincial Danish town, drawn to each other's love for rich, playful music. Blaue Blume (blue flower) is the epitome of a romantic band, their songs are brimming with love and yearning. Now 'Sobs', the follow up to their 'Syzygy' album in 2015, continues to build their reputation as a best kept secret, about to find a whole new audience of devotees. All four tracks for the EP were recorded in late 2016 in a three story villa, formerly owned by a religious cult. The band used the weird space away from the city to create a framework for the lyrics and the music. The band explains: 'Blaue Blume has been our band for about 6 years. In a bigger provincial town we started playing right out of highschool. At the moment we live in Copenhagen and every day we play, write and work on sounds. It's sort of become a life project. In our heads we make music that is playful, rich in detail and popish or somewhat smiling. For some beautifully inexplicable reason we ended up doing music together. In a way it seems sacred or at least meaningful. Macabre is a happy song about being afraid of dying. Some of us find that even the best life can be lonely sometimes. We found it interesting to address this taboo within the frame of a song that people could potentially dance or sing along to.

Hot off the back of "On Top" that featured on our "Deep Love 2017" compilation, Lorenz Rhode returns to the label with his debut full length EP "Risa". A gifted musician, known for his fierce take on funk, performance prowess on German TV show "NEO Magazin Royale" and as part of Detroit Swindle's live outfit, he's sent us a three-tracker packed full of vibe and musicality.

Opening the A-side "And I Said" is an uplifting, funked-up house jam. Exuberant and alive it's built around a Rhodes riff with a romantic twist, swelling stabs and straight forward percussion direct from Lorenz' collection of Roland machines. The following "Risa" is loaded with energy. A gritty analogue snare and raw drums punch as central synth lines and rippling arps ramp up the intensity to bursting.

On the B1 the mysterious Amsterdam based K.98 returns with his second ever remix! After the huge success of the "Thrilogy" remix for WOLF Music in 2015, we are extremely happy to see Lorenz' original turned into a blasting 909 frenzy, 100% guaranteed dance floor action on this one!

Closing we have "Xpandau", a feel-good indie/disco gem reminiscent of Lindstrøm and Röyksopp. The central lead that sounds like something sampled from a dusty African guitar recording, actually came from a vintage Oberheim Lorenz recently fell in love with. Warbling key melodies dance over the top along with tuned percussion, maintaining the light hearted, tropical tinged tone to the end.

After the last years widely appreciated 12 with two extraterrestrial dancefloor cuts on Jon Rust's Levels imprint and a handful of now hard-to-find 7 releases, the estonian musician/producer Ruutu Poiss returns to his minimal funk and leftfield synth-pop roots releasing a debut EP on International Major Label. The six selected homerecordings from 2011-2016 reflect almost a chronological and kaleidoscopic journey through the authors musical explorations, instrumental storytelling and unique sound design, imaginatively non-locking to existing genres. From subtle vocals to vicious toms; celestial soundscapes over restless rubbery bass; shimmering synths over polyrhythmic structures - an environment of romantic futurism and organic transformation appears, surrounded by a warm psychedelic sound palette. Previous releases played and supported by Secretsundaze, Benji B, James Blake, Mary-Anne Hobbs, Call Super, Omar-S and many others.

- This four LP box set features some of the best studio recordings by Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, the ten-piece band that Bill
put together after leaving the Rolling Stones in 1992. Whilst the band features guest appearances by all-star musicians (including
Mick Taylor, Eric Clapton, Chris Rea, George Harrison,Gary Brooker and Peter Frampton on these recordings), it has an all-
star core line-up that features Georgie Fame, Beverley Skeete, Albert Lee, Terry Taylor and Bill Wyman himself of course.
- For this compilation, Bill Wyman has chosen forty three tracks that showcase the fantastic lead vocals of both Beverley
Skeete, perhaps the UK's busiest session singer, and Georgie Fame, a star (and legend) in his own right since 1964 of course.
- Each singer has two LPs: Georgie's features his renditions of songs by the likes of J.J. Cale, Mose Allison, Dan Hicks, and Bill
Wyman & Terry Taylor, while Beverley's features her take on songs by Nellie Lutcher, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, J.B. Lenoir and
The Rascals.
- This box set marks the first appearance of any Rhythm Kings recordings on vinyl. The four LPs are housed in an attractive rigid
outer slipcase and the inner sleeves feature all themusician credits.

Hailing from Helsingborg but living in Berlin since 2012, swedish street artist and electronic musician Erik Jaahalli releases his debut on Borft. With smudgy analog romantic morning theme tracks bordering between chicago house, detroit techno and european new beat influences. But what youre hearing is geographically the sound of Lichtenberg Berlin now and more specifically the morning vibe at the private continous party Domestic Affairs. Lennie the cat and Dong Xuan Center included. -DJ Joakim Cosmo

After more than a year of silence, the French duo VTCN RADIO releases its debut album "'Mydriase"

Mysterious and audacious odyssey, 'Mydriase' presents itself as a sensory and confidential journey. Fruit of a nocturnal composition guided by a need of musical introspection and a decisive encounter with an owl, the writing of this album will cut off its creators in an alternative reality for three years. Behind VTCN RADIO are the French producers Nathan Bokobza - a pianist fascinated by the romantic repertoire and the harmonic research of the impressionists - and Louis Martinez, a guitarist passionate about digital technologies and their uses in the process of sound creation. The group revealed its existence at the end of 2015 with the esoteric Riddle Song and continues to surprise the spirits with the release of the compositions Late Night Shuttle and Venus Flytrap in 2016, before creating in 2017 their own label "Five to Six Records". VTCN RADIO presents with Mydriase an experience based mainly on the dialogue between two entities - a dark, deep and a purer and luminescent - to constitute an elegant music, and ambivalent by its capacity to propose different interpretations. This self-produced album marks the first release of their label Five to Six Records, and presents us for the first time in a broader way the hallucinatory and singular universe of VTCN RADIO.

A new group strut their way down the Bordello boardwalk. The chameleon outfit of Yellocat, emblazoned with colour, arrive with Dans La Boutique and are true to their debut 12' title. A deep wardrobe of styles has been raided for this four track EP. First comes the latin funk of 'Mi Hermano', a lust laden duet of sweet chords and dancefloor desires, before the lounge romance of 'Tout A` Moi.' Language is played with, Spanish shimmies into French before English takes over the flip. 'Rivals of Mars' is brash interplanetary battle. Synthlines glisten against vocoder lyrics in an epic struggle between our world and theirs. The pop-scented warmth of 'Chasing the Light' leads the 12' out, a ballad of late night excess amidst the glass and steel of the city.