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“The group has no niche, it doesn’t fit in anywhere,” explains Necessaries drummer Jesse Chamberlain in a 1980 Melody Maker interview. “We just state the facts about life in America, like The Clash did about England, but we’re not so heavy about it.” The Necessaries rose from the ashes of Harry Toledo & The Rockets, a little-known New York art-rock band playing gigs at Max’s Kansas City during glam’s metamorphosis into punk. —From the liner notes by Michael IQ Jones The Necessaries came together in 1978 and in the too-brief lifespan of the band counted among their members, Ed Tomney (Rage To Live, Luka Bloom), Jesse Chamberlain (Red Crayola), Ernie Brooks (Modern Lovers), Arthur Russell (The Flying Hearts), Randy Gun (Love Of Life Orchestra). First championed by John Cale on the strength of Tomney’s songs, Cale produced their first single for Spy Records (under the I.R.S. umbrella) which was released in 1979. With the forward momentum brought about by the single, the band set about tracking demos intended for Warner Bros., but The Necessaries ultimately would sign to Seymour Stein’s Sire Records. These rough demo basic tracks lacked overdubs, mixes and any finishing touches that would have made them viable for commercial release, but due to tour commitments, the band had to put the sessions on hold to hit the road. While on tour, the band was shocked to discover that Sire had issued the unfinished tracks as their debut album Big Sky (issued in 1981). The band had Big Sky withdrawn and replaced with Event Horizon (issued in 1982) which included half the original tracks from Big Sky and continued to record throughout 1982 aiming for a follow-up. It was not to be and their final studio sessions remained unissued until now. Completely Necessary (Anthology 1978–1982) is the first authorized collection of recordings by The Necessaries and includes 37 tracks, 28 of which are previously unissued. Completely Necessary represents the most accurate musical history of the band laid out across three albums. Disc one is the band-approved first album Event Horizon, followed by Pilots Facing North, a disc collecting studio recordings spanning 1978–1981 and disc three finally sees the release of their final sessions, Songs From The Blue Colony. Album notes by Michael IQ Jones trace the history of the band for this compilation produced by The Necessaries’ Ed Tomney and Cheryl Pawelski (Omnivore Recordings). The audio has been restored and mastered by Michael Graves at Osiris Studio, and both the 3-LP and 2-CD sets feature previously unseen photos across the package. Finally, an essential missing piece of the late ’70s/early ’80s New York scene that was just slightly ahead of the college alt-rock soon to come, is finally available to rediscover—this time it’s authorized and absolutely necessary. BUY! HERE’S WHY! • The first authorized and comprehensive anthology by The Necessaries. • Mid-’70s/early ’80s New York rock/punk/art scene band included members: Ed Tomney, Ernier Brooks, Arthur Russell, Jesse Chamberlain, and Randy Gun. • 37 tracks, 28 previously unissued. • Liner notes by Michael IQ Jones, plus unseen photos.

Good ambient will always been a comfort blanket during harsh times. Whether from a global or more personal perspective. This collection on Secrets of Sound brings together some real dons of the genre, from Mark Barrott - to Steve Roach, and sequences them into one soothing, calming trip that touches son all different sub-sound and styles from New Age to celestial. A spoken word intro from long-running ambient radio Jaroslav Kovaracek sets the scene before you're then cast adrift in supreme sonic lushness.

French house mainstay Franck Roger has been cooking up timeless, deep sounds for decades and right now he is in a superb run of form. Seasons Limited is where he lands next with more of his signature sounds. 'Exodus' opens with a fat, warped bassline and far-sighted chords that hark back to early Detroit. 'Sokette' is much more dusty and minimal, and again has echoes of artists like Omar-S from the Motor City. 'Push It' is a more elastic groove with some aching vocal hooks and diffuse chord work to make this perfect for the late-night sessions.

Desert Island Broadcast, the new album from Mirror People—the project of Portuguese musician and producer Rui Maia—is out September 26 on vinyl and across all digital platforms. The release is accompanied by the single Any Color U Like, following the earlier teaser track Million Questions, unveiled on May 9.

Described by Maia as “a radio transmission from a desert island—an imaginary space where different styles and references meet and coexist,” the record completes a trilogy begun with Voyager (2015) and Heartbeats Etc. (2022). “I wanted to create an album that felt both familiar and unexpected, like a lost signal reaching the right listener at the right time. It’s a celebration of music as companionship, even in isolated places,” says Maia.

Written between 2022 and 2025, Desert Island Broadcast features longtime collaborators and special guests, including vocalist Rö (Maria do Rosário), percussionist Ryoko Imai, saxophonist João Cabrita, and backing vocalists Ana Vieira and Isa Gomes.

With a career that has resonated both in Portugal and abroad, Mirror People continues to assert its relevance in the independent scene, delivering captivating songwriting and meticulous production.

Mirror People is the alter ego of musician, producer, and DJ Rui Maia, also known as the keyboardist of X-Wife. Conceived as a collaborative project with artists from diverse cultural backgrounds, Mirror People explores the intersections of disco, funk, and electronic music.

Imagine it’s 1987.

The neon is glowing, the lasers are cutting through the smoke, and space synth is ruling the dancefloors. Laserdance just dropped their groundbreaking album “Future Generation.” Tracks like “Power Run” and “Humanoid Invasion” are setting clubs on fire, and every bedroom producer dreams of reaching that cosmic perfection.

And in this athmosphere Spacehawk appears shining like an alien spaceship.

Behind the name Spacehawk stands Swedish producer Anton Eriksson, a modern-day craftsman of analog dreams. In his vast studio, packed with vintage synths and drum machines, Anton creates electronic masterpieces so authentic, so rich in melody and power, that even Michiel van der Kuy himself, the godfather of the genre, decided to collaborate with him.

The result? “Space Patrol” – a landmark single that bridges generations of synth lovers.

On the A-side, you’ll find Anton’s stunning original version, pulsating, melodic, and bursting with energy. Flip it over, and you get a remix by Michiel van der Kuy that feels like a time warp straight back to the golden age of Italo-space glory.

“Space Patrol” has it all: soaring melodies, driving basslines, hypnotic rhythm, and that unmistakable intergalactic energy that makes you feel like you’re racing through the stars.

Fans of Laserdance, Rygar, Koto, Syntech, and all things van der Kuy will instantly recognize the DNA of true space synth excellence here.

To top it all off the single comes on a bright yellow vinyl, housed in a stunning retro-futuristic sleeve that looks like it beamed in straight from 1980s sci-fi.

It’s not just a release. It’s a revival.

And if space synth runs through your veins, this is one you simply can’t ignore.

Drummer-composer Tom Skinner announces Kaleidoscopic Visions, his second solo album, out 26th September 2025 via Brownswood Recordings and International Anthem

Kaleidoscopic Visions unfolds across two distinct sonic landscapes. Side A presents entirely instrumental compositions performed by Skinner's live Bishara band—bassist Tom Herbert, cellist Kareem Dayes, and Robert Stillman and Chelsea Carmichael on various woodwinds and reeds—with electric guitar on two tracks courtesy of Portishead's Adrian Utley. A drummer-composer bringing his wealth of experience to bear on the role of bandleader, Skinner composed primarily on guitar, embracing the freedom that came with writing on his secondary instrument.
These compositions include "Auster," dedicated to late novelist Paul Auster, and "Margaret Anne," which honours Skinner's mother Anne Shasby, a former classical concert pianist prodigy who abandoned her own promising career in the face of systemic misogyny, only to impart on her son what Skinner calls "the gift of music."

Skinner’s musical world opens further on Side B, where a collection of poised vocal collaborations stretch out from jazz and improvisation towards a more dream-like, soulful sound. The centerpiece is "The Maxim," a ten-minute collaboration with Grammy Award-winning Meshell Ndegeocello, a dubby, spacious meditation on life and death, delivered with a free-spirited grace. For Skinner, working with Ndegeocello—whom he first saw at Glastonbury as a teenager in 1994—represents a full-circle moment, indicative of the indirect paths and inspirational detours that have shaped his life.
The album goes on to feature South Carolina-based singer Contour (Khari Lucas) who appears on the low-lit soul ballad ‘Logue’, and closes with ‘See How They Run’, featuring London keyboardist-vocalist Yaffra (Jonathan Geyevu). It is the album’s most overtly lyrical track, an articulate exposition of jazz-inflected spoken word that speaks not only to the genre-fluid nature of the music but the breadth of Skinner’s palette.
This should come as no surprise. On Kaleidoscopic Visions, one of London’s most vital musical figures gives us a sparkling glimpse of the multi-coloured lens through which his unique sound is now refracting.

Say what you want, but Strahil Velchev has never been one to sit still — not on stage, not in the studio, and certainly not on Versions. Here, KiNK turns his own material inside out, upside down, and somehow still lands on his feet, grinning. His return to Running Back arrives as four slices of KiNK logic and mischief: A1. Comin, A2. Pump Version A, B1. Pump Version B, and B2. Pump Version C.

Since 2020, 12 Inch Lovers have been releasing new samplers every year, eagerly anticipated by collectors. These samplers have now become a staple and are easily added to vinyl collections across Europe. They offer timeless classics and rare tracks that are often hard to find elsewhere.

With Samplers 11 & 12, they surprise again with a mix of modern classics and tracks that have never been released on vinyl or are difficult to find. By adding unique and exclusive tracks, the 12 Inch Lovers samplers remain innovative and high-quality. They are a must-have for DJs, collectors, and fans of contemporary classics!

SAMPLER 12

A1) Borai & Denham Audio - Make Me (original release 2023)

Released in 2023 on the British label Room Two Records (catalogue R212001) on twelve inch vinyl, Make Me combines breakbeat, house and speed garage with high energy, featuring clear use of Amen breaks, rumbling sub bass and sharp rave sounds. At the heart of the track lies an instantly recognisable vocal hook from the mid eighties, a sample taken from Donna Allen - Serious (1986). The result feels like a long forgotten rave anthem from the nineties wrapped in a modern sound.

The original twelve inch pressing quickly became a highly sought after collector's item and received a limited pink vinyl repress in 2025. This track, first issued only on orange vinyl in 2023, was officially re released once all samples were cleared. It has every ingredient of a future classic, a true underground anthem for fans of modern UK rave and jungle energy.

A2) Smoke City - Mr. Gorgeous (and Miss Curvaceous) (Mood II Swing Vocal Mix) (original release 1997)

Originally released in 1997 on the album Flying Away by Smoke City. The Mood II Swing Remix, produced by New York house duo John Ciafone and Lem Springsteen (also the producers behind Ultra Naté - Free), takes the song straight to the dance floor with a smooth groove, soulful vocals and a deep, hypnotic flow.

The iconic line "Cool and calm, Mr Gorgeous..." remains untouched, while the remix enriches the original Latin and trip hop influences of the band with that distinctive late nineties house atmosphere. The result is a timeless club favourite, almost nine minutes of pure vibe (the Mood II Swing Vocal Mix runs 9minutes and 20 seconds), adored by DJs who like to bring a touch of soul to their house sets.

Released on Jive Records, the track received great praise. Music Week highlighted its "tight ay ay ay hook" and noted that the Mood II Swing and Hyperspace mixes made it a real standout. The original version reached number one in Italy in 1997, and the Mood II Swing Remix has since gained cult status in the Belgian club scene and beyond as the perfect marriage between soul and dance floor energy.

B1) Chris Raven - I Know You Love Me Too (Bruce Norris Remix) (original release 1997)

Christian Raabe, better known as Chris Raven, is a German producer who made his name in the late nineties progressive trance scene.

The Bruce Norris Remix of I Know You Love Me Too (Additive Records, catalogue 12AD 027) first appeared in late 1997 and was officially released in early 1998. The remix builds an euphoric atmosphere witha beautiful melody, dreamy pads and powerful drums, all typical of the progressive trance sound of that period.

The track gained extra attention when it appeared on Northern Exposure 3: Expeditions by Sasha and John Digweed in 1999. Many fans first discovered it there (especially the Van Bellen Remix version), helping to cement the cult status of I Know You Love Me Too within the progressive and trance community.

B2) Grooveyard - Mary Go Wild (original release 1996)

One of the most recognisable and iconic club tracks in Belgian and Dutch underground house history is without a doubt Mary Go Wild, released in 1996 on EC Records. The track quickly became the defining anthem of the rave scene in the Low Countries.

With a raw groove around 133 BPM, pumping four to the floor drums and the hypnotic vocal sample "Mary... go wild!", the record set dance floors ablaze in the nineties. Producer Jeroen Verheij, also known as Secret Cinema (from the classic Timeless Attitude), perfectly captured the raw energy of the European house movement of that era.

To this day Mary Go Wild stands as a symbol of pure rave power, a timeless anthem that, as one Discogs collector put it, "still works on any dance floor." Original twelve inch pressings on EC Records and later issues on Blanco Y Negro are highly sought after, and the track remains a staple in retro house and classic DJ sets.

C1) Dave Swayze - Last Flight To Paris (original release 2000)

Dave Swayze, best known for his classic Goldwave, has several hidden gems to his name, and Last Flight To Paris is certainly one of them. Released in November 2000 on the Belgian label Yeti Records, the track is a subtle blend of trance and progressive house. It is known for its emotional melody, dreamy build up and strong percussion, built on the foundation of progressive trance but with thewarmth and groove of house.

At the time, Last Flight To Paris was frequently played by progressive trance DJs and soon became a cult favourite among vinyl collectors within the genre. Original pressings on Yeti Records are now extremely rare and much sought after. The mix of emotion, euphoria and timeless club energy makes Last Flight To Paris a hidden treasure from the late trance era of 1999 and 2000.

C2) Joe Goddard - Music Is The Answer (Hot Since 82 Remix) (original release 2017)

This remix by Hot Since 82 (Daley Padley, from Barnsley in the north of England) for Music Is The Answer by Joe Goddard is partly based on the original classic Celeda - Music Is The Answer (in the Danny Tenaglia Remix). It was released in February 2017 as a digital exclusive through Domino Records.

Hot Since 82 reworked the original, a vocal house track by Hot Chip member Joe Goddard, into a deep, grooving house track with a warm rolling bass line. The soulful vocals of Joe Goddard (featuring SLO) take on a subtle melancholic tone in his remix, creating a modern house classic filled with emotion and drive.

The remix became a major club favourite in 2017 and 2018, supported by leading names in the tech house scene and heard at festivals around the world. Interestingly, this popular version had never been released on vinyl, which only increased its cult status among collectors. Music Is The Answer (Hot Since 82 Remix) remained a digital classic for years, until now, finally available in this long awaited vinyl edition.

D1) Just A Man - I'm Sorry (Original Club Mix) (original release early 2000s)

The French project Just A Man consists of brothers Hervé and Nicolas Subrechicot. Their track I'm Sorry is an emotionally charged house record that perfectly captures the early 2000s club atmosphere.

Released in 2003, the song combines soulful male vocals with a warm, rhythmic production that blends UK garage and classic club house influences. The Original Club Mix (6 minutes and 14 seconds) builds gradually towards a powerful, uplifting climax, carried by rich chords and an irresistible groove.

Although I'm Sorry stayed somewhat under the radar at the time, it is regarded by connoisseurs as a hidden gem, a perfect balance of melody and groove. The twelve inch vinyl release (on RKG / Motor Music, 2003) is now hard to find and highly prized among vinyl and house collectors, which only adds to its appeal.

I'm Sorry embodies the pure sound of early 2000s vocal house: sincere, funky and danceable, with that unmistakable UK garage touch, even more evident in the G Box Garage Club Remix on the same EP. An unfairly overlooked track that has always remained a true timeless classic since the very beginning of 12 Inch Lovers.

D2) Teddy Pendergrass -Life Is A Song Worth Singing (Jamie Jones Remix) (original release 2019)

In 2019 Jamie Jones breathed new life into the classic soul song by Teddy Pendergrass with a contemporary house rework. The remix was released in March 2019 as part of the digital EP Mixmag Presents: Teddy Pendergrass - The Remixes, issued in honour of the documentary If You Don't Know Me, a film about the rise of Teddy Pendergrass, the first African American male artist to achieve five consecutive platinum albums in the United States during the seventies.

Jamie Jones stayed true to the feel good essence of the 1978 original but wrapped it in a modern club sound, with pulsing synths, a warm rolling groove and a tight four to the floor beat providing the perfect base for Teddy's powerful and instantly recognisable voice.

The result is a captivating, soulful house track that effortlessly bridges past and present without losing the emotional power of Pendergrass's vocal delivery.

Despite its widespread popularity in the international club scene, where it became a favourite among DJs who love to blend soul with house, this remix never had a physical vinyl release. Until now, with its long awaited appearance on 12 Inch Lovers Sampler 12.

Cat Power marks 20 years since her Memphis-shaped 2006 album The Greatest with 'Redux', a three-track EP cut in Austin with Stuart Sikes and the Dirty Delta Blues band, the same crew who toured that record. Marshall salvages material linked to The Greatest's early sessions, opening with a fresh take on James Brown's 'Try Me', attempted during the original run but never finalised. She then revisits her own 'Could We' in the looser, road-worn arrangement aired on tour. The flip holds her reading of Prince's 'Nothing Compares 2 U', recorded as a nod to Teenie Hodges, the Memphis guitarist whose playing underpinned The Greatest and whose influence threaded her writing.

We welcome Orlando Voorn, a bonafide LEGEND of Techno with a career spanning over 3 decades for a brand new 4 track EP. Each track has that 'classic' sound that OV is so good at. Absolute class. 3 out there Techno tracks and one House masterclass, plus the vinyl is a very limited edition (only 250 copies exist) with special technology I've not seen for decades that means playback occurs 'INSIDE OUT' (Plays from the label outwards). DON'T SLEEP !!

Another DINTE tape curated by cult WFMU show and blogger Bodega Pop; Gary Sullivan's long-running project rooted in a passion for digging for music in bodegas and cell-phone stores across NYC's boroughs. This edition focuses in on late 1990s and early 00s hip-hop & rnb from across Southeastern Asia.

"While on a work trip to Chicago in the mid-2000s, I was craving a bowl of pho. A bit of sleuthing led me to hop on the red line "L" up to Argyle Street, ground zero of Chicago's Little Saigon. In the 1960s, Chicago restaurateur Jimmy Wong invested in property on Argyle Street with a vision to build the city's new Chinatown, a kind of mall with pagodas, trees, and reflecting pools. In 1971, the Hip Sing Association, a labor/criminal organization, established itself in the area, and along with Wong, they bought up 80% of the buildings on a three-block stretch of the street. Wong reportedly broke both hips in an accident, leaving his dream to wither; in 1979, Charlie Soo of the Asian American Small Business Association brought it back to life.

Soo expanded the area into a vibrant mix of Chinese, Vietnamese, and other Southeast Asian businesses, pushing for renovations, including an Argyle station facelift and the Taste of Argyle festival. At the time I exited the station and crossed the street to get a better look at a shop with a poster for A Vertical Ray of the Sun in the window, the area was home to some 37,000 Vietnamese residents.

Opening the door, I was gobsmacked by a cavernous Southeast Asian media store, bigger than any I'd been to in Dallas, Montreal, New York, or Seattle. I spent some time at the bins, pulling out collections by some of my then-favorite singers — Giao Linh, Khánh Ly, Phương Dung — before approaching the register to ask the young woman behind the counter if the they carried any Vietnamese rap. It was a longshot, I knew, but if such a thing existed on physical media and anyone carried it, it would be this place.

'Have you heard Vietnamese rap?' she replied, her tone of voice and facial expression betraying a comically exaggerated level of distaste. I admitted my ignorance but assured her that I had long cultivated a high threshold for cheesy pop music of all kinds and genuinely tended to like hip hop from around the world.

She rolled her eyes and pointed to an area I had missed. I walked toward a far corner of the store and knelt over a small box on the floor sparsely populated with CDs, VCDs, and cassettes. I pulled out half a dozen Vietnamese hip hop compilations and a strange-looking CD with a cavalcade of odd typefaces in a queasy multitude of colors: THAILAND RAP HIT, it boasted, with 泰國 "燒香" 勁歌金曲 below it. The information on the back provided an address in Kuala Lumpur and the titles in Thai and English translation. The first track included three simplified Chinese characters after the English-language version of the title, "The Chinese Association": 自己人.

WTF was going on here? Walking back to the register, I waved the CD, asking "What's up with this one?" She gave me a look. I placed it on the counter so she could bask in the cover's full glory. She shrugged. "I'm guessing it's Thai rap?" She looked disappointed in me when I said I'd take it.

It turned out to be a Malaysian pressing of half-Chinese Thai hip hop artist Joey Boy's third album, Fun Fun Fun from 1996, and it completely changed my sense what the genre could sound like. The rapper's self-assured, effortless, silly-but-cool rapid-fire delivery weaved in and out of the most bizarre, antic beats I'd ever heard. The six Vietnamese hip hop CDs were a mixed bag, mostly "serious" sounding mimicry of US rapping over predictable production, but the highs were very high. When I got home and listened to it all, I made a point to find as much hip hop from this part of the world as I could.

The tracks collected here provide a limited but potent reflection of the two-decade ascendency
and ultimate world-takeover of hip hop, as it displaced rock and its endless variants for millions of listeners. This not a fair and balanced overview of regional production: I've only included tracks from Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Nor is this a biggest or most important artists collection; instead, I've tried to recapture the pure visceral thrill of that first time I heard Joey Boy, choosing bangers that sound like nothing else, from nowhere else."

—Gary Sullivan

Real Lies’ new album ‘WE WILL ANNIHILATE OUR ENEMIES’ will arrive on April 16th 2025 via Tonal. The album is about taking the hand of someone you love intensely and running headlong into the chaos and noise and grinding forces that dominate modern life. It follows gilded 2024 collaborations with Mall Grab, Kettama and Drain Gang’s YEAR0001 label. Lyricist Kevin Lee Kharas and producer Patrick King created the record in their studio, hidden away under a railway bridge somewhere in London’s Zone 3. Three pictures stared down at them from the walls throughout, including an image of a young Sasha Shulgin in the relief print style of Che Guevara t-shirts sold at Camden Market, and a photo of an orbiter fairground ride in flight, taken sometime in the early 2000s. Kharas’ lyrical inspiration comes when he steps away from the tsunami of data flooding his consciousness and paces London’s rain-soaked streets late at night. “I wanted the songs on WWAOE to confront modern reality head-on, unflinching,” he explains. “I didn’t want to whine about a lost past. I didn’t want nostalgia. I wanted to learn to love the modern world, with all its horrors and futility.” After a teenhood spent playing in hardcore bands, the duo found ecstasy at a squat party for the first time, and moved to London. Since then, they’ve made music about finding romance and fun when the moon is up, becoming a cult act in the process.

Carolina funk obscurity alert! "Migraine" by North Carolinian musician Dennis Garner, together with Dennis O., is a deep, rare slice of local funk magic. This 45 has always been a bit of a frustration—the cutting engineer accidentally left the lathe test tone running for a few seconds.mid-track, which made it tough to play out. We've finally fixed that issue, and now this killer cut is ready for some proper funtime.

Attention Italo-disco junkies: Disco Segreta is back, and we’re kicking off our 10th-anniversary celebration in style with a release you simply can’t miss. We’re beyond excited to present the official reissue of Cecilia Rizzoli’s iconic single, “Così non va”—a tearjerker Italo-disco masterpiece that has haunted the dreams of collectors for decades.

Originally released in 1985 in an ultra-limited run of just 500 copies split on two cult labels, Scarabes Sound and Discokkio, this gem became a mythical treasure for those dedicated diggers uncovering the rarest Italo disco tracks. “Così non va” blends hypnotic Juno synth lines, punchy Linndrum beats and airy arpeggios with Cecilia’s emotionally charged vocals, creating a soundscape that’s pure melanchol-Italo perfection—ideal for winter nights and nostalgic dance floors.

For this reissue, we’ve painstakingly tracked down the original analog master, that we’ve lovingly restored and remastered to deliver the kind of pristine sound quality this track deserves. The release features the remastered original and a fresh, contemporary edit by Latino-Swedish Italo-disco legend Claudio Burgos, aka Mr. Fantasy. Secure your copy now before it disappears into collector heaven—again!

Seeking out the inspirational intersection between free improvisation, rave and ancient mysticism, Plants Heal deliver an album of kaleidoscopic, organic beatdowns to Quindi.
Plants Heal is a collaborative project between Dan Nicholls on synths, Dave De Rose on drums and Lou Zon (aka Louise Boer) on visuals. The roots of the project are entwined with Dan and Lou's London-based event Free Movements, which began in 2018 to explore how instrumental music could merge with live electronics and DJ sets. Dave and Dan found themselves playing together frequently at the event and as part of Dave's free improv project Agile Experiments, with their accomplished track records as multi-instrumentalists reaching across many layers of music culture. The particular synergy of their partnership taps into the subliminal, surreal and transcendental soundscapes, but they're reliably anchored by instinctive rhythms and driven by a natural flow-state.
From the tentative steps of their first collaborations, Dan and Dave coalesced Plants Heal as a more pronounced project with Lou's live visuals, culminating in a first self-released album in 2021 and since organically fed and watered through continued performances across adventurous festivals and intimate club spaces. Every incremental step along the path of the project yielded new surprises and the deepening sense of a unique, powerful energy. The trio opted to pour this energy into two days of studio sessions at Sonic Playground Studios in Athens, maintaining their unplanned approach and letting the music and visuals unfold in the moment. The end result is Forest Dwellers, a sincere document of truly free music that uses the rhythmic structure of dance and trance music as a springboard into heightened consciousness.
Throughout the album you can hear hints of the familiar - dub techno shimmers, trip hop boom-bap, kosmische momentum, snarling bass modulation, new age ambience and even the odd sizzle of disco. But none of these references are explicit, and they weave in and out of less placeable expressions deeply bedded into Dan and Dave's sonic practices. The end result is a swirling tapestry of unspooling groove, wide open and agile enough to shift gears mid-flow - just as comfortable letting the propulsion melt away as locking into a four-to-the-floor throwdown. From the slippery syncopation of 'Avena Moon' to the angular bait-and-switch of 'Alien Hardware', 'Yarrow's starry-eyed reverie and the rolling, warm-hearted funk of 'Space Ballad', the Plants Heal sound world is expansive and equally enthusiastic for immediate musical motifs as much as wild abstraction.
Lou's visual practice is an intrinsic part of the project. During performances she improvises with analogue footage from her library run through video mixers and synthesisers, focused on medicinal plants such as yarrow, hawthorn, nettle and thistle. All those plants feature in processed form on the cover of the record, which was designed in collaboration with Lou's brother Arthur Boer. Meanwhile, Lou recorded additional footage in Athens during the recording sessions to feed into the continued cycle of the project's live evolution.
Forest Dwellers' meaning honours this cycle and its reflection of the eternal undulations of the natural world. It's also a sincere tribute to the spiritual importance and radical potential of the dancefloor, drawn from the freedom taught by jazz and dedicated to reclaiming lost ideas about community, agency, bodies and the enduring allure of the unknown.

Reliance is one of many labels run by British powerhouse Burnski and it continues to establish itself here with a fifth EP, this time from Oldboy. It opens with a naughty, filthy, throwback dark garage shuffler, 'How'd Ya Feel', complete with old school vocals and warehouse vibes that get heads down and feet marching. 'Straight Hittah' is another throwback with a bumping low end and urgent drums that are brought to life with withering pads and killer bass. 'Hustla' closes down with another bumping and authentic dark garage wobbler. Pure sleaze from front to back.

Ancient passages
for golden talismans,
iron converts on illuminated slabs, vapors to the sky and tribal songs
among towers never touched by an eye.
Earthly history wanders
still
on unwritten runes.

Fra Lippo Lippi released six studio albums between 1981 and 1992, two of them on Virgin Records, namely "Songs" in 1986 and "Light And Shade" in 1987. All the original releases were deleted many years ago. There are two previous The Best Of Fra Lippo Lippi releases on CD (1995 and 2003), but this is the first on vinyl. With the limited playing time of vinyl, we had to make some tough decisions, but in the end the song selection very much gave itself. The dark horse here is "Stitches and Burns", an overlooked gem from the final studio album "Dreams" (1992) that didn't make the previous 15 track collection, but in mysterious ways gained new life through organic streaming, with over 70 million streams on Spotify at the time of writing. Included is also the international hit "Shouldn't Have To Be Like That" and "Angel", featuring the late, great Walter Becker on guitar and production duties. The duo is still very popular in various parts of the world and now has 1,2 mill monthly listeners on Spotify. This 2025 reissue is pressed on clear vinyl (500 ww copies).