Buscar:rose again

After many hints and teases MANIC STREET PREACHERS have confirmed the re-issue of a deluxe edition of their 1993 second album ‘GOLD AGAINST THE SOUL’ on 12th June 2020 for Columbia/Sony.   Available as a 120 page A4 book featuring unseen images from the bands’ long time photographic collaborator Mitch Ikeda, many personally annotated by Nicky Wire and original typed and handwritten lyrics from the bands own archive.  It will contain two cd’s featuring the remastered album, previously unreleased demos, b-sides from the era, remixes and a live recording of The Clash song ‘What’s My Name’.  There will also be a 180g vinyl version of the original album with download codes to the extra tracks on CD1 and a digital version featuring all the songs. 

Nicky Wire said of the release “We moved our studio a few years ago and I unearthed a lot of demos and pictures from the ‘Gold Against The Soul’ era and thought it would be a shame not to let them see the light of day.  We haven’t always been the most complementary about this album in the past, but with hindsight it was a strange and curious record with many fan’s favourites on it.  James always gets a huge response when he teases the riff to ‘Sleepflower’ live.” 

‘Gold Against The Soul’ entered the Top 10 on release just over a year after their debut album ‘Generation Terrorists’ and saw the band shift musically to a classic rock sound.  Lead single ‘From Despair To Where’ was followed by ‘La Tristesse Durera (Scream To A Sigh)’, ‘Roses In The Hospital’ and ‘Life Becoming A Landslide’.  Produced by Dave Eringa who had been working in various guises with the band and continues to do so to this day, the album was recorded over six weeks at Outside/Hookend Studios.

Lascelle 'Lascelles' Gordon - the driving force behind Vibration Black Finger – astonishes us yet again with a magnificent second album. Once more his inspiration is drawn from the obscure spiritual jazz collectives of the 1970s where he employs a vast array of like-minded collaborators to create a listening experience infused with an ever-present undercurrent of personal expression and cultural empowerment that's as enriched with ideas as it is progressive in its form.

Having earned his chops as founding member of the Brand New Heavies, Campag Velocet and Heliocentric World, Lascelle's latest album Can You See What I'm Trying to Say bursts with energy and vivid contrasts, flowing effortlessly between beat-laden grooves, oscillating improvisations, soulful recitations, audio verité and moody atmospherics. The album drops like a post-hip-hop reimagining of foundational genres, with a prayer to the future.

''Can You See What I'm Trying to Say' is a quote from Marion Brown, the great alto saxophonist' explains Gordon. 'The album was put together over the last three years, not in the conventional way of going into the recording studio with musicians, but starting from ideas I had on various formats (cassettes, mini disc, DATs & reel to reel). I also used field recordings. I did a lot of home recording with long time musical friends Ben Cowen & Diana Gutkind, some of them going back 20 years. The voices of my nieces (heard on Law of the Universe) were recorded 25 years ago. 'Only in a Dream' and 'Empty Streets' are the only songs that were recorded live in the studio.'

'I was blown away by the New Life Trio 'Empty Streets' (from 1978) and was fascinated by the vocals' continues Lascelles. 'I always thought it would be great to cover this tune'. Such is the power of this song, it's used to open the album, with vocalist Ebony Rose turning in a thoroughly haunting vocal performance. While not a concept album as such, Lascelles has nonetheless conceived and presented Can You See What I'm Trying to Say to be heard as a complete listening experience, with each track blending into the next, resulting in a seamless expression of music.

Following 'Empty Streets', some instrumental interludes segue into a dimensional drift of beats, space synths, horns and electronics; there's a vocal reprise of 'Acting For Liberation', sung with gusto by Maggie Nichols, and then there's the album's momentous finale, 'Only In A Dream', which takes off as an ominous drone before a delicious bassline from the late Ken Kambayashi transforms it into an intense, soaring epic which finally descends onto another world.

In a career spanning several decades, Lascelle Gordon remains an omnivorous musical force, whether as DJ, collaborator or radio broadcaster. As amply demonstrated on Can You See What I'm Trying to Say, he refuses to rest on his laurels and continues to impress with music that is as rich, vital and contemporary as anything he's done before, covering an incredible amount of musical ground in the process.

2x12"

since long, chilean/swiss producer and dj luciano is a prominent figure in the global electron-ic club music circle. already from a young age on he was exposed to music profoundly, as his father worked as a jukebox repairman and possessed a large record collection.

when he was twelve, his mother gifted him a guitar, that turned luciano shortly into a mem-ber of a school punk rock band. soon after, his passion for electronic music rose. infected by detroit techno and engaged by close friends like producer dandy jack, he started to play rec-ords in local santiago de chile dance clubs and became involved in the minimal techno scene around friends like ricardo villalobos.

when luciano moved back from chile to switzerland in 2000, he established a residency at weetamix club in geneva, started releasing his own productions on labels like mental groove and joining the cocoon team in ibiza to play at the famous monday night at club amnesia.

since then he is a regular on the balearic island, holding residencies at clubs like dc10 or, with his “vagabundos” serial, at ushuaïa. besides playing around the globe with the likes of carl craig, richie hawtin or loco dice, he is releasing groundbreaking minimal techno and house on his label cadenza since 2003, featuring music by artists like nsi, ricardo villalobos, pikaya, reboot, maayan nidam and himself.

his very own music, so far issued on three albums and countless eps, was always ambiguous. there is his club leaning creativity that can dance slightly into pop spheres while never for-getting the power of precise sliced rhythms and subtle bass sensations.

and then there is a calmer luciano, that displays his love for “music to listen at home, done for a spiritual travel, an inner universe and a moment paralyzed in ether”, as he describes it.

on his first ever mule musiq album release “luci neu house”, luciano now delivers meditative journey music full of repetitive patterns that slowly playing tricks on the listeners subcon-sciousness. “i love music that has a dimension more than music designed for the radio or tv format. mu-sic, that is designed to bring you a higher level of energy and creativity.

so, there is no pretentious things in it ... more just sounds and dimension that will lead your head into the fall of jupiter” he reveals about the one-hour long composition “luci neu house”, whose esoteric deepness reminds on the intensely meditative class of his older pro-ductions like “behind my soul” from 2010.

an epic tune cut on vinyl into four 15-minute long pieces, who shift slowly, almost unper-ceived, whilst absorbing the mind of close observers into a micro-sliced world of moving gen-tleness.

maelstrom magnetism against the gravity of time, that also can be found on the additional mule musiq 257 12inch, which functions as a soothing footnote to luciano’s album.

the almost 13 minutes long trip “flags of himalaya” opens with restful percussions that unhur-riedly start to dance with soft string, piano and horn melodies. on the opposite, the nine-minute long “the evasion of the spiritual soldier” grooves laidback with jazzy rhythms and italo leaning melodies.

a perfect tune for slow dance sensations and endless sunset seaside drives. at a total length of almost 90 minutes, all new mule musiq music composed by luciano distributes a mesmer-izing healing spirit, that grounds organically, even if it is totally rooted in the digital, soft-ware driven world of composing music. “check your buddha” tunes, that somehow sound novel during each new listening circle.

In 1981, London-based E.G. Records released the debut album from a young Ghanaian group called Edikanfo. Edikanfo quickly rose to international notoriety following the release of “The Pace Setters” because of the infectious, forward-looking highlife meets afro-funk synthesis the band committed to tape. But the album also caught an additional wind of publicity due to its producer, the already legendary British musician and sound conceptualist Brian Eno. During that time, Eno was researching and openly propagating West African musics. He often mentioned his love of Fela Kuti and called his own rhythm-driven experiments the search for a “vision of a psychedelic Africa.” He had recently been collaborating with The Talking Heads on their Avant-funk masterpiece “Remain in Light” and with The Talking Heads frontman David Byrne on “My Life in the Bush of Ghosts,” an album which foretold the sort of cross-pollination and global music interconnectivity that today we take for granted. Eno and Edikanfo’s work together at Studio One in Accra (Ghana) was yet another inspired morphing of soundworlds and processes and a significant touchstone for both artists. As Brian Eno recently noted: “the actual recording sessions were joyful - the band played with such verve that you couldn't resist.”



But just when the sky seemed the limit for Edikanfo, the coup d’état in Ghana on the last day of 1981, tragically put the brakes on the band’s quickly developing fortunes. For years after that, the country endured enforced curfews at night, which of course ultimately gutted the live music scene in Accra and elsewhere. Because of this and other financial setbacks, the band ceased activity and its members spread out in exile, all over the world. It clearly seemed as though the story of Edikanfo, one of Ghana’s greatest bands of that era, had come to a premature end.



Now, almost four decades later, Edikanfo has returned. And with its surviving members gearing up to reissue and tour their classic 1981 album, “The Pace Setters,” the band is once again excitedly pointed towards the future.

Repress

Kali Malone presents a quietly subversive new album featuring almost two hours of concentrated, creeping organ pieces governed by a strict acoustic and compositional code. It’s a major new work with ultimately profound emotional resonance.
‘The Sacrificial Code’ takes a more detailed approach to ideas first sketched out on last year’s ‘Organ Dirges’, which featured canon exercises spontaneously captured without much prior technical planning. By contrast, the recording of ‘The Sacrificial Code’ involved the more careful micing up of several organs in such a way as to eliminate acoustic impurities as far as possible - essentially removing the large hall reverb so inextricably linked to the instrument. The pieces were then performed free of gestural adornments and without expressive impulse - an approach that
flows against the grain of the prevailing musical hegemony, where sound is so often manipulated,
and composition often steeped in self indulgence. The question posed; can this strict methodology still speak to the listener in meaningful terms?
The answer is both obvious and entirely surprising; with its slow, purified and seemingly austere qualities ‘The Sacrificial Code’ guides us through an almost trance-inducing process where we
become vulnerable receptors for every slight movement, where every miniature shift in sound becomes magnified through stillness.
As such, it’s a uniquely satisfying exercise in transcendence through self restraint - a stunning realisation of ideas borne out of academic and conceptual rigour which gradually reveals startling
personal dimensions. It has a perception-altering quality that encourages self exploration free of signposts and without a preordained endpoint - the antithesis to the language of colourless musical platitudes weíve become so accustomed to.

The relationship between Norm and Core is in terms of sunlight playing over a mountain and a valley. Norm is the brightly lit portion, Core is the dark area occluded by the mountain's bulk. As the sun moves across the sky, Norm and Core gradually trade places with each other, revealing what was obscured and obscuring what was revealed. Norm is solid, focused, hot, dry, and active.

Fire – Sky – The Sun – Day Time.
Core, by contrast is yielding, cold, wet.
Water – Earth – The moon – Night-time.

Early Days maps out Nine Circles interpretation of Cold Wave and Minimal Synth. Unbelievably the tracks are mostly from a brief time period, ’80—’82. Alienation and uncertainty course through the 2LP with heavy Yamaha chords, metallic machine beats and brittle vocals.

Nine circles was formed in the early 80s by Peter Van Garderen and Lidia Fiala. In 1980 there was a band called Genetic Factor. This band split up when their three members got girlfriends and they started to make music together with their girls. So at that time there were 3 bands living together in one house.

One of the couples were Peter van Garderen and Lidia Fiala. Lidia had been writing lyrics since she was 15 years old. Nine Circles was born. Within 2 years they wrote about 60 songs.

Also living in the house was Richard Zeilstra, who had a job at the VPRO radio, hosting a show called „Spleen“ where he gave New Wave bands a chance to play. He asked bands to send tapes to him and the best bands had the opportunity to play live at the radio and also got the chance to be on the „Radio Nome“ compilation. Peter and Lidia sent their tape to him and were the only ones from this house to be on the show. Richard knew their music was special. Nine Circles never played a live show on stage, only one concert live at the radio which is also featured on this LP.

Two years later Peter and Lidia split up and Nine Circles disappeared. In 2009 Lidia’s son googled her name just for fun and found a lot about the band Nine Circles. Lidia was surprised, she never knew how popular Nine Circles have been over the years. She got herself on Facebook and since then she got in touch with many people and decided Nine Circles should come back! Peter was not able to join the band these days, he had a different life but he was supporting Lidia and liked that she enjoyed doing music again. Peter still had all the old recordings and sent Lidia a lot of the music they made together back in the days. The best tracks are collected on this 2LP.

Together with Per-Anders Kurenbach Lidia revived Nine Circles. They recorded new material (released on the album „Alice“) and played live until Lidia had to stop playing live for health reasons in 2016. Nevertheless they‘re working on a follow-up album called „Emerge“ which is planned to be released in 2020 and hopefully Lidia will be able to go on stage again soon.

Editions Mego is proud to present the latest addition to the compelling discography of Thomas Brinkmann. Throughout his career Brinkmann has focussed on the human operating amongst industry alongside rhythms that manifest as a result of technological advancement. With this new release Brinkmann makes a u-turn, looking back to the early industrial age. Comprised of recordings of various looms, Raupenbahn investigates the sonic properties and consequences of the first automatic loom as constructed by Jacques de Vaucanson in 1745. Thomas Brinkmann once again adheres to his tendency for clarity and simplicity whilst further investigating not only the sound and rhythms of the machines (looms) but also what role they serve in society and what consequences they have on the environment. Raupenbahn presents 21 tracks in total, 11 feature on the vinyl, the remaining 10 as digital bonus tracks. The majority of recordings were undertaken by Brinkmann in 2017 with a Neumann KM 184 stereo set. Additional recordings were sourced with permission from Monika W. recs. from 2014 Central Museum of Textiles Łódź, Poland. Each piece presents a diversity of material which borders on the breathtaking and beautiful in richness and complexity. The various looms unravel rhythms and patterns unexpected from machines of the early industrial age.

The loom holds a significant role in shaping our world being the catalyst for Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine which, alongside the subsequent work of Byron's daughter Ada Lovelace, paved the way for modern computing. There is a linage of the loom that fits succinctly in Brinkmann's overall argument. Here we encounter a parallel between machine driven economies and the music that rose from such places, consider the Sheffield steel industries, the Manchester weaving industry or the Rhineland / Düsseldorf loom and machine industry. Is it a coincidence that the practice of such machines in the environment gave rise to today's predilection for electronic dance music, in pop, soundtracks, etc.

Raupenbahn features no treatment or processing and explicitly displays varying tempo and timbres which ascertain a wide range of acoustic structures. The artwork features Ingrid Wiener, Rosemarie Trockel and Alexandra Bircken, three different generations who would with ideas of fabric weaving, loming and the like. This exceptional release works on a number of levels alongside it's striking sonic palette.


i 9 Günne (Irmscher) BO Möhnesee / D

Influential Spanish artist Coyu is stepping out on his own Suara label with a long overdue debut album entitled ‘You Don’t Know’ that is going to shatter all conceptions about him. Due for release this September 23rd, the 16 track affair showcases his broad range and takes in collaborators like Moby, Lazarusman, The Horrorist, Thomas Gandey and many more.

Coyu quickly rose through the ranks to become one of the most prominent names in underground dance music. The Spanish man famous for his love of cats has established his Suara label as a go-to outlet for the most essential house and tech tracks, as well as releasing his own expressive grooves on Cocoon Recordings, Diynamic, Bedrock Records, Turbo Recordings and MORE. Now he really stretches his legs across a fantastic full length album that goes way beyond the dance floor and shows many new sides to his sound. The artist has been working on it since 2012 and aims to show people that whatever they think about him is wrong.

Says the artist himself, “the album is named ‘You Don't Know’ because many people have a preconceived idea of who I am. Until now, maybe I wasn't smart enough to show them my roots, what I love and what I can offer to the music. I'm not just a DJ or a producer who can play or make grooves – I love many different genres and many different kinds of music. With this album I want to change that preconception.”

The album kicks off with a dramatic spoken word from legendary vocalist Lazarusman before exploring low slung and sleazy grooves on ‘The Three Chimney’, floaty light melodic and dreamy house on ‘Out of The Pain’ and more club focussed but just as dreamy fair on ‘We All Try’ with Mike Leary.

Proving he can do everything from poolside gems to peak time techno, ‘Fear Is Gunna Be A Player In Your Life’ is one to get you in a trance with its sonar like synths and rolling deep space drums. Thomas Gandey aka Cagedbaby then steps up to guest on ‘1+1’ which is a hands in the air piano anthem to pump the party, and ‘Wanna Do Right, Wanna Do Wrong’ is a techno cut with brilliantly energetic drum programming and a big, perfectly placed vocal sample.

Switching up the vibe is ‘I May Be Dead, But One Day The World Will Be Beautiful Again’ with none other than dance legend Moby. It is a heavenly track with break beats, angelic melodies and a celestial feel that leaves you refreshed. The second half touches on raved-up drum & bass, gurgling minimal techno and harder techno with mind melting acid synths. The Horrorist contributes to the banging ‘My First Pill’, while the techno journey continues with ‘Unite’ featuring Gabriella Vergilov before the album finishes on the fluttering ambient track ‘Insania’, with mad church bells and manic percussion all bringing things to a close in style.

This is a broad, adventurous album that covers plenty of music ground and takes you on a true electronic trip from one of dance music’s most accomplished names.

Patience began as bedroom synth project for songwriter Roxanne Clifford after the break up of her acclaimed indie pop band Veronica Falls. Born out of a desire to experiment with a new sound and analogue synthesizers, the project has since grown to become an all-encompassing persona and serves as the main vehicle for the full emotional spectrum always latent in Clifford’s songwriting. From her first long-sold-out 7” singles on Night School, her knack for melodic hooks and oblique emotional stances already contained a glistening sheen of promise. ‘Dizzy Spells’ serves as an intimate portrait of Clifford’s creative adventure, almost diaristic, conceived and recorded in her home studio, as well as with collaborators Todd Edwards (Daft Punk/Uk Garage fame), Lewis Cook (Free Love/Happy Meals) and engineer Misha Hering (Virginia Wing). Dizzy Spells delivers a debut album that twists Clifford’s songwriting into new shapes and ecstasies. The album dances around melancholy, thrown to the floor like a bad dream to be circled, emerging bright-eyed into the early morning full of hope. The Girls Are Chewing Gum (produced by Todd Edwards) bursts open Dizzy Spells like fresh fruit: sweet and rich with a synth-bass line beamed down from Chicago House heaven. Exquisitely sung by Clifford, it’s a wonderful, funky, instant-classic hinting at sexuality and memories dredged from our bodies’ secrets. The bouncy production expertly renders the addictive power of our ephemeral pleasures. Living Things Don’t Last chases themes of longing and loss, opening up into a life affirming chorus that sings of transience, the passing of time and railing against inertia. It’s the perfect example of a song formula that Roxanne Clifford has almost patented: simple and cutting straight to the point. There are shades of Strawberry Switchblade or French synth pop pioneer Jacno in the happy/sad dichotomy and it is all the better for it. Dizzy Spells features all three long-sold out singles, embedded in the full depth of Patience’s soundworld they fit like pieces of a puzzle. White Of An Eye, The Church and The Pressure—all recorded in Clifford’s former home of Glasgow—crackle with razor sharp melodies and dancefloor-ready dynamics. There are exciting additions to Patience’s sonic palette, brought into sharp relief on Voices In The Sand. In this song, a plaintive Clifford enunciates a heart-torn plea to the antagonist, a mournful cascade of synths and haunting vocals evocative of AC Marias, a sepia-toned ode to anxiety, “a storm is on the way”. On No Roses, a Vince Clarkesque production belies a sunburnt sadness. Clifford defiantly sings “you would go out tonight, but there’s nowhere you like,” describing a disenchantment with her adopted city of Los Angeles, she longs for home in a singular refrain “No roses… no roses for us.” An ode to English folk singer Shirley Collins, a surprising yet innate influence throughout Clifford’s work. On Moral Damage, former Veronica Falls bandmate Marion Herbain joins Clifford on an anglo-french duet that feels instant and spontaneous, a cutting comment on emotional accountability. More than a vehicle for Roxanne Clifford’s songwriting prowess, Patience is holding our hand through the night, dancing with tears in our eyes, dizzy and spellbound.

"I love it. SO beautiful"
Josh Rosenthal [Tompkins Square]

Songs For A One-String Guitar is the debut instrumental acoustic guitar LP from Jonny Dillon. Better known for his analogue electronic music productions and all-hardware live sets under the ‘Automatic Tasty’ moniker [Lunar Disko, CPU, Wrong Island], Jonny’s records (bearing heavy acid and electro influences), along with live appearances at venues like Berlin’s Panorama Bar and Kiev’s Closer belie the fact that he has been quietly exploring the musical landscape of the guitar for nearly twenty years.

Recorded as a series of sketches over the last 10 years, Songs For A One-String Guitar represents a snapshot taken over a long exposure; one individual’s private response to a variety of currents and inspirations both musical and emotional. While informed in large measure by the world of Irish traditional music and song (of Sweeney’s Men, Planxty and Seán Garvey) along with that of primitivism and the American Spiritual (of John Fahey, Hank Williams and Mississippi John Hurt) these songs are equally a personal attempt to give expression to an inner landscape, from the experience of sorrow and loss to the promise of redemption and renewal.

The LP opens with ‘Turning Invisible In An Imaginary Rose Garden One-Evening’ a contemplative piece played in free-time; “I’ve been playing this piece for years, and it’s gone by so many different names in that time. It’s a sort of shoe-staring daydream, to my mind at least. I want people to disappear when they hear it, and think it suits the LP to open up slowly and reflectively”. While a contemplative strain underpins some of these songs, others are informed more directly by the experience of grief; “I wrote ‘A Requiem For Joe Dillon’ at the death of my uncle. He used play lots of wonderful songs of his own at family gatherings when I was a child, and while a very gifted and sensitive soul, was also troubled by his own demons. The last time I saw him alive was at my family home with my father; I was going out to see some friends and Joe called me back, gave me a hug and made the sign of the cross with his thumb on my forehead, to bless me. It still chokes me up when I think about it. A song of his ‘Light A Penny Candle’ I included to finish the piece in his honour.” A sense of longing and hope is present in other pieces; “Songs like ‘Again But With Feeling This Time’ and ‘Start Again (Carry On)’ come from a sort of hopeful yearning feeling which is always within me; a melancholic sort of joy in search of redemption. For me, music has the strange capacity to express contrary positions simultaneously; to console, redeem and offer transcendence while also expressing suffering and pain. I don’t know what any of this means, but feel as though I’m trying to find my way home by writing the same song over and over again.”

Songs For A One-String Guitar may seem to represent a departure for those who know Dillon for his electronic productions alone, though the reality is that these songs merely represent a new opening onto an old landscape; they are an invitation to more fully share in one individual’s yearning to find meaning through creative expression. “These songs are very personal to me, so there’s a certain nervousness in my seeing them released. I hope that they prove of some use, and that they do some small good to those who hear them.”

Soft Machine is a surreal wander through the mystical sonic forest. A vision curated and designed by Chicago native Justin Aulis Long. A Cyclopian point of view while gazing through a wide lensed scope, which exists in the liminal spaces where light meets dark and angelic forces bath in the sludge and stardust of unfiltered eroticism.

Eye of the Minotaur - collage 001 is a collection of artists working in varying musical practices that are channeling the solitude of mutantness, strolling through the familiar yet unfamiliar halls of the uncanny, refusing ordinary structures of the mundane, grasping the cold humor of cynicism, basking in the dichotomy of cosmos and chaos, and invoking the energies of Eris and Eros.

Setting the ground is Ciarra Black, a Berlin based New Yorker who makes no apologies for her bare knuckled soundscapes. DuPont Street is a ritualistic unification of discordant entities that summons visions of Pazuzu (lord of the demons) and Inanna (goddess of love) fornicating beneath The Tree of Life. Razor edged synthesizers slice through the atmosphere with the precision of an avenging angel’s flaming sword, while a psychedelic drum code activates ritual movement of the body.

As the needle passes beyond the next threshold it is met by a towering totem, bristling with the illuminated light of the sonic astral plane. Erected from the foundational matter that birthed the Detroit electro punk sound, Eyes Up continues to add to the narrative that is drenched in deranged electronics intuitively mangled in a post punk tradition. Dystopian percussive rhythms generate an unorthodox domain where muffled utterances present an aural Rorschach test. Could this be the riddle of the Sphinx, or an ancient spectral being that possesses secret knowledge? Only its creator, Stallone the Reducer, holds the key.

Fixed at the axis of the journey, Perfect Headache Forever, a mystic operating within the DIY spaces of Chicago, levitates on a transcendental mass that is equally melancholic and optimistic. Her voice hosts a strength equal to a pantheon of titans. Armed with a magical electronic musical box, she weaves narratives that are prophetic. Itself Ecstatic is a voyage through a misty soundscape that begins at one point, but ends in a distant other, in accordance with a system of divination.

Gazing into the murky waters of the oracle’s cauldron, Circling Vultures, (a collaborative effort by Justin Aulis Long and Kenneth Zawacki) channel and evoke the spirits of Antonin Artaud and Geroges Bataille. The poet’s voice, engaged in an act of mutilation and self cannibalization, howls while projecting visions of sacred conspiracies, sensations of vertigo while peaking over the edge of the abyss, and the looming weight acquired from the solitude of the Minotaur alone, sitting silently at the center of the labyrinth. Accompanying the mystical bard’s verbal declaration is a triggered mechanized synth that roars with the vitality of Cold War era Wave music, which is then juxtaposed against applications of loose keyboard playing. The artist’s hand is revealed against the calculated actions of machines.

Bringing the document to its finale, Libby Del Barrio, a multi disciplinary artist based in San Antonio, performs a closing ritual in a manner that only she knows. Setting fire to the Elysium Fields while personified as Moze Pray, Del Barrio rejects plastic narratives that aim to pacify. No Tears, is an unapologetic account of life’s feedback loop around the Wheel of Fortune. Sacrificial actions through ceremonial performance reveals a gateway founded on truth and torment. Moze Pray’s ability to combine musical production, poetic vocalization and ritualistic body performance is charged by chaos and amalgamates into a product of pure expression that defies the rose colored filters aiming to conceal harsh realities.

The Naturals' debut album is more than just an rediscovery of one of the great lost albums of the last decade, but of how things were always intended. When Eddie Ruscha (Secret Circuit) and Thomas Bullock (Rub'n'Tug/STD) appeared as The Laughing Light of Plenty, their journey offered untold troves. Now at last the pulse is set for outer orbit and all are welcome to join.

After a mind-melting debut EP sold again and again, an album expanding their unique psychebalearicfolk imaginings was prepared and even pressed before being lost somewhere between a lock up in New York and limited quantities reaching Asian shores and dealers
trading at dizzying Yen.

Lost, but never forgotten, years passed until a nagging memory that an earlier, rawer mix had always been superior. A return to the original band name seemed The Natural(s) choice and so a project idea started to be (re)born.

A sunny Spring afternoon in a grand English garden, pots of tea, talk of life's travails, deep yogani, love affairs, kids growing up, the power of now and music, always music led to two labels coming together to dust down the desk and not just resurrect, but seek and offer the original intentions.
Here at last is the double album as intended. Of two great friends jamming their deepest vibes and flowing with love to offer tales of higher consciousness. Travel inward, beyond meer chakras. Aim for the stars. The devil is in the details so see the trails and follow to some avail.

Begin your own journey.

Audiophile reissue, lacquered directly from Axelrod's original EQ'ed master tapes at Capitol Records by Ron McMaster, housed in a deluxe gatefold jacket. 'Songs of Experience was supposed to have a different feel than Song of Innocence. You see, music is a great outlet. And regardless of what the titles say, and as close as I wanted it to be to William Blake, what was going on in my life took precedence.' - David Axelrod. Songs of Experience is visionary composer/arranger/producer David Axelrod's second album; it was recorded after the death of his beloved son Scott. Experience is an ominous affair, an album concerned with mortality and spirituality - the solitary, pastoral musings of William Blake set to the urban bombast of a full Los Angeles orchestra, with Wrecking Crew vets grounding the proceedings with dark funk. This is the next Now-Again issue in a series of reissues centered around Axelrod's Capitol Trilogy - Song of Innocence, Songs of Experience and Earth Rot - which will see release through 2018. LP Contains oversized, 28 page booklet that delves into Axelrod's incredible life and music, replete with never before published photos and an interview with Axelrod by Eothen Alapatt and Wax Poetics' Brian Digenti. (CD 32 page booklet) 'There are very few people who see the Grand Picture of the Universe and understand the Nothingness that it all comes from. There are even fewer who can express these ideas through music - David could do it all.' - T-Ray.

Our Favourite Bothy Botherers Mac-talla Nan Creag (comprised Of Hoch Ma Toch, Other Lands And Lord Of The Isles) Return To Firecracker Recordings, Channeling Ancient Rites, The Mysteries Of The Scottish Landscape And Its Elements Through Technologies Both Old And New For Your Listening Pleasure.

This Time Round The Archaeological Work Of Forestry Commission Scotland At Dun Deardail In Glen Nevis, And The Links Between That Site And The Ancient Celtic Myth 'the Sorrow Of Derdriu' Provided Fertile Ground For New Exploration And Response. Accompanying The Music Once Again Will Be A Lush Booklet Containing Some Of The Stunning Imagery That Results From The Work Fcs Have Done There, All Packaged And Silk-screened With The Usual Finesse We've Come To Expect From Firecracker Recordings And Their Chief Visionary House Of Traps, In Conjunction With 12th Isle's Al White.

Captured In Part In A High Vaulted Medieval Church, Then In Home Studios, Bouncing Ideas Back And Forth Over The Internet, Mtnc Have Once Again Drawn On Field Recordings, Traditional Instrumentation, Analogue Electronics And The Simple Power Of The Human Voice To Create A Shimmering And Expansive Song Cycle.

Whereas The First Album Was Borne Out Of An Intense Period Of Field Trips And Whisky Fuelled Jam Sessions In Brochs And Had A Loose Approach Overall, The Second Is Perhaps More Focussed In Its Themes Relating To The Ancient Tale - Love, War, Beauty And Tragedy All Intertwined - And They Arguably Go Deeper This Time, Conjuring Up Something Of The Fourth World Feel, By Way Of The Firth Of Forth.

With Additional Contributions From Professor John Kenny - Whose Primal Zummoesque Playing On A Range Of Horns Including A Giant Conch Shell And A Replica Of The Ancient Deskford Carynx Underpins Several Tracks On The Album - And Eva Sutherland (daughter Of Other Lands) Who Provides A Reading From The Myth At The Very Beginning, This Is An Album That Not Only Carries The Heaviness Of History But Also Looks To The Light Of The Future.'

Ever since his widely acclaimed debut LP "Migrations" was released in 2006, tone color has always been an important aspect of Emanuele Errante's music. Drawing from both electronic and acoustic sources, his compositions paint impressionistic vignettes with sonic intensities.

His fourth LP "The Evanescence of a Thousand Colors", his second solo release on the Berlin-based Karaoke Kalk label, deals more explicitly with color than before. The album's title plays with the double meaning of term and was inspired by a TEDx Talk by the US-American scientist Pratyusha Pilla on the subject of colorism, i.e. discrimination based solely on skintone. "I felt like I wanted to say something about the shameful racist regurgitation that we are experiencing in almost all the countries that claim to be the champions of civilization," says the Italian composer about the topic that informed his new album. "Pratyusha lit a light in me." In fact, a passage of her lecture is sampled on the album's centerpiece "Beauty", making Pitta a protagonist of the album on which voice can be heard loud and clearly.

Errante's music feeds on gentle guitar sounds, classical instrumentation, field recordings, and electronic elements that range from rhythmic ambient to granular noise. The eight tracks at times recall the early works of Oval and Fennesz or even Aphex Twin while showcasing the Italian's trademark approach to electroacoustic minimalism. As a follow-up to Errante's recent collaboration album with Dakota Suite and Dag Rosenqvist on Karaoke Kalk, the sonically rich soundscapes of "The Evanescence of a Thousand Colors" again highlight the importance of listening to one another - they are an almost wordless appeal for a more colorful world.

john Yancey' Is The Second Album Illa J Will Release On Jakarta Records, Following The Successful
Release Of Home Last Year. The Project Is The Second Collaboration With Los Angeles
Based Producer Calvin Valentine, Who Once Again Contributed All Of The Production For The Long
Player. While home' Was Largely Inspired By Illa's Native City Of Detroit, john Yancey' Now
Focuses On His Time In California.
(this Album Is) Definitely More Personal Than All Of My Projects, Nothing Specific, But I Basically
Talk About About The Ups And Downs Of All My Relationships Over The Past 10 Years, Still Grieving
About My Bro, Etc. This One Is Trippy Because The First Single Comes Out A Day Before My 32nd
Birthday And The Original Title Was 32 Because This Is A Special Year To Me Because My Brother Died
At That Age So It Had A Lot Of Meaning. But It Makes Sense That It Ended Up Being Called John
Yancey Because For So Long In My Career I Felt Like I Was Tryna Be Me And My Brother, And I'm Finally
At Peace, Like I'm Not J Dilla's Younger Brother Illa J, I'm James Younger Brother John.'
While The Story Of The Album Might Have Changed, There Are Certain Continuities As Well, Built
Around The Strong Foundation Of The Combination Of Illa's Voice And Calvin Valentine's Soulful
Sample Based Production. The Previous Album Already Saw Illa J Incorporate More Singing Into
His Raps And He Goes Down This Path Even Further: i Wanted To Emphasize The Singing But Use
More Of My Natural Singing Voice, As Well As Rap More Than On Home.' In Regards To The Music,
Calvin Wanted To Make The Project Sound a Bit More Polished Where Home Was Purposely
Rough Around The Edges.' Still, The Production Remains Soulful And Rich With Layers To Leave Things
Interesting For The Listener, The More Spins You Give The Record.
The Cover Was Created By Robert Winter, A Cologne Based Photographer Who Was Also Behind The
Visual Appearance Of Home.

Daniel Terndrup Is A Los Angeles-based Dj And Producer. A Longtime Record Collector And
Digger, Daniel Has Become A Local Authority On Bygone Music. He Hosts Regular Radio Shows
On Dublab (crosseyed & Painless) And Nts (heat-wave) While Also Throwing A Weekly Party
For Heat-wave In Collaboration With Wyatt Potts At Former Hollywood Stripclub, Gold
Diggers. Daniel Started Making Music A Decade Ago As One Half Of Cosmic Kids. Alongside
Ron Poznansky, He Made A Name For Himself Producing Heady House And Astral Dance Tunes,
And Releasing Records With Cult Labels Throne Of Blood, Let's Play House And Dfa. In Addition
To Racking Up Plays On Original Cuts, The Duo Was Regularly Tapped To Deliver Remixes For
Heavyweights Like The Rapture, Holy Ghost!, Poolside And Superhumanoids.
After A Handful Of Releases With Cosmic Kids, Daniel Pivoted Toward His Own Project As Daniel
T. His Solo Output Is Inspired By Everything That You Might Find Leafing Through His Record
Collection: Funk, Post Punk, New Age And Pop Of Yesteryear (think: Compass Point All Stars To
Yellow Magic Orchestra). The Music He Releases As Daniel T. Is A Reflection Of His Global Taste,
But Indelibly Filtered Through His Southern California Surroundings

Blurb Attached
Following His 2015 Solo Debut Tetrachromat, Released On Friends Of Friends Sister Label
Young Adults, Daniel T. Returns With A New Album Called Heliotrope, Out This Summer On
Cascine. In Contrast To The Steady Dance-oriented Tempos Of Tetrachromat, Heliotrope
Moves Across More Dynamic Landscapes, All United Under Daniel's Sun-soaked Sensibility.
From The Breezy Bounce Of call,' To The Lithe Cover Of Tatsuro Yamashita's Classic windy
Lady,' He Effortlessly Wades Into Pop Territory. Elsewhere, On The Neon Glow Of moonlight
Bounce' (inspired By Dan's Near-religious Love Of Roller-skating) And The Ebullient First Single
'heat-wave', His Trademark Mid-tempo Swing Shines As Bright As His Synths. Heliotrope Is A
Reflection Of His Global Taste, But Indelibly Filtered Through His Southern California
Surroundings

Coco finally available on double vinyl for the first time. With his unmistakable sound-mix of Jazzand Swing samples and electronic music, Parov Stelar has secured his own unique position in the world of music.

The double vinyl starts off where his former successful LP's ended. On the other hand he is consequently developing his established jazzy sound, by adding new stylistic elements to his tunes. Also his dancefloor-productions, which

have been published only as singles, now find a debut to a greater extent on this album. They meet with Stelar's melancholic-melodious trademark-sound, which is well known from his earlier albums, but now also spiced up with Hip-

Hop beats and synthpads. An electrifying album to fall for. The two vinyls are originally thought of as one with tracks that can be danced to and one with tracks just for listening. Nevertheless the line between those two approaches becomes blurred in Parov Stelar's newer compositions. The

album makes your feet tap more and more with every track. The musician himself sees the LP as a 'book for musical readers' which is classically defined in introduction, middle part and end. Because of streaming hit singles the

consumer behaviour changed, people don't listen to albums the same way they used to. The whole experience that includes refelecting on less prominent tracks somehow got lost. Parov Stelar sets 'Coco' as a statement against this habit.

Hot on the heels of the critically acclaimed 2017 LP Windswept - which soundtracked David Lynch's Twin Peaks, Digital Rain is Johnny Jewel's latest album. Jewel is known for his extensive collaborations with film makers David Lynch, Nicolas Winding Refn, and Ryan Gosling, as well as for his work with groundbreaking musical groups such as Chromatics, Glass Candy, and Desire.

The 19 movements of Digital Rain are three dimensional beds of analogue warmth encompassed in raw electronic moisture. The result is an expansive pallet of soft color amid canyons of jagged oscillations. According to Jewel, "Digital Rain is a mirror image of itself designed to play as a singular liquid movement."

"After living a few years in a desert climate, I realized I was nostalgic for the constant presence of precipitation from every city I once called home. The sound of hail ricocheting off my roof in Houston...The floods crashing in from the Gulf of Mexico that would destroy my mother's house three times...The constant kiss of drizzle on the streets of Portland, and the morning rain against the windshield of Trimet city bus number 15 that I would ride home after recording all night...The snow buried row houses of Montreal where my daughter was born, and the rhythmic feel of ice cracking under my boots for six months straight."

"The desert is constant, and I love this repetitious ritual of Los Angeles so much. As moisture and humid weather seem more and more like a dream I once had or a fading memory of the places I fell in love with...I wanted to make a record without drums, without lyrics, vague in form. Each track morphing and eclipsing the next like the ever-changing movement of clouds obscuring the moon."

Cut By The Legendary Bernie Grundman In Hollywood. Recorded in Joshua Tree / Mixed in Los Angeles.

A FISTFUL OF WAX is an extension for some very special projects of our beloved deep house SKYLAX RECORDS' sub - label WAX CLASSIC. A Fistful of Wax is back with its fourth volume! This offshoot originally began as an avenue for showing off some of the overflowing great talent we have floating about the Wax Classic sub-label, but with the growing reception of our previous three releases, it has developed itself into its own uniquely successful imprint. In a time when a lot of the hot records of the moment are made by highly distinguished producers with years of success under their belts, it is easy to forget how much good house music can come out of the underground by relatively fresh names. With AFX4, we are only scratching the surface once again, yet we have 5 special tracks from a group of producers who, if not already, will stay on your radar for the foreseeable future.The A side features tracks from Erman & Abtomat (of Série Limitée Records fame) and Kid Mark (Head honcho of Killax Recordings). We start off deep with the aptly named 'How Deep Can You Go', easily the most soothing of the bunch. 'Fantasy '95' takes it up a notch for those who wish to, with classic 90s chords and accompanying bass and horns. Over on the flip side, we hear 'Won't Get To Heaven' by Californian newcomer, An Expresso. Being a self confessed New Jersey style house addict, this hits in all the right places for those familiar with the sounds of NJ legend George Lockett Jr, aka Jerzzey Boy. Shin continues things with 'Phara', a percussive stormer with one of the hardest hitting leads you will hear for a good while. This one is a sure fire hit! Last, but by no means least is Rosenhaft's 'Voyager'. Fans of early UK Garage, perk up your ears because this could have easily been a tune you would have heard on your favourite pirate radio station back in '97.If you are still on the fence about the record at this point, you are in the wrong place. This record has it all for lovers of the 90s house sound! Whether you are of the deeper persuasion or the more garagey persuasion, the US or the UK side of things, there is something here for almost everyone on A Fistful of Wax 4.

Claes Rosen makes a welcome return to Local Talk after his 'Daydreaming' release back in 2013.
For his new release Claes has written a beautiful house jam that's got after hours written all over it. It's melodic, soulful, spiritual but still mighty uplifting. Fans of Glenn Underground or Blaze should listen carefully. On the flip we've got something truly special for all the real house heads - Lars Bartkuhn & Marek Bartkuhn aka Needs are back on the house circuit.
Yup, it's true! Needs are back once again and agreed to deliver a remix for Local Talk. Back in the late 90's and early 2000's Needs was a huge breath of fresh air to the house scene with their melodic Chicago inspired House sound. The remix delivered here is again something timeless and unique, sounding simultaneously classic and new! It's a real builder, so let this one run its full course. Trust us, you'll be rewarded big time!

Ibifornia, the new album of Cassius, will be released the 24th June. The French duet composed of Zdar & Boombass is back with its filth album. Take a piece of Ibiza ("Ibi") and another one of California ("fornia"), and you'll get all what you need to dance and dream beneath the sun of Ibifornia. For this new record, the 2 acolytes have once again managed to surround themselves with talented artists such as their old partner in crime, Pharell Williams, a totally transformed Cat Power, the great Mike D (Beastie Boys), and the over-playful guitarist Matthieu Chedid, among other names. Action", the first single that features Pharell Williams and Cat Power will be out in EP vinyl as a first teasing support, one month before the release of the album. It features as an exclusiveness the long version of the song Action", and 2 remixes that have already taken us elsewhere, as we're getting ready for the next sound jetlag...rendez-vous at Ibifornia's!