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"21" is the well-crafted, sharp and original first album by the duo HILA, composed by American cellist Artyom Manukyan (who already worked with Kamasi Washington, Daedalus, Flying Lotus, Run DMC, Gretchen Parlato, Raphael Saadiq, Clive Lowe Mark...) and french producer Dawatile.

The combination of jazz, Los Angeles beat-scene and the vibrations of 80s and 90s Soviet Armenia make it a striking and unprecedented fusion. These kind of nostalgic and unconventional references forcefully shake the codes of mainstream culture to create a sincere, raw and intimate expression.

"HILA" was born from a spontaneous and intense creative impulse between Artyom Manukyan, a Los Angeles-based Armenian celloist and his partner in crime, David Kiledjian aka Dawatile, a French multi-instrumentist of Armenian descent. This project is proving to be a true master stroke given that it only took 21 days for the duo to make it a reality.

"HILA" was made in less a moon cycle but captivates and electrifies audiences upon its first outings. "H.I.L.A" colors the warmth of the Californian "High" with Armenian vibes. The artists chose this name for their creation since both have a close and valuable connection to these locales. This journey began in 2007, on the day Dawatile went to Yerevan, the capital of this small country in the Caucasus mountain to realize a first fusion project centered around local folkloric music genres.

There he was introduced to local musicians including the Armenian Navy Band, one of the country's foremost groups in which Artyom played the bass and cello. In this context, he also met many musicians such as Tigran Hamasyan and Norayr Kartashyan. This will be the beginning of connections between Lyon, Yerevan and Los Angeles. The following year, the two artists will be be seen performing next to Taylor Mc Ferrin at the Jazz à Vienne festival. More recently, they partnered up again when the cellist, who had freshly relocated in California, invited Dawatile to produce his album. As soon as the studio’s threshold was crossed, they decided to postpone this record and create a joint project: Hay (as the Armenians call themselves) / High In Los Angeles. HILA was born at the end of these 21 days of intense creation. The association of Artyom Manukyan and Dawatile is the combination of two visions, two versions of Armenia, two personalities, the reunion of the Eastern and Western blocs.

One grew up nurtured by the sounds of hip-hop and jazz in Europe and the other by art music and Russian-influenced 1980s Armenian folkloric music before moving to L. A., Ca. The cornerstone of it all, the glue that unites everything : Armenia and music. They generate a new identity synthesizing two perceptions, their complicity transcending these cultural discrepencies. To achieve this, they will scour through images of Artyom’s childhood, within the popular culture of Soviet Armenia. Together, they revisit this decidedly retro vibe, based on the work of Caucasian groups inspired by African American music. This background is rehashed and fused with ancestral Armenian sounds. The DNA of the album "21" is molded by these dear influences.

We can also hear the ancestral sounds of Armenia, a country at the edges of both Europe and Asia. The presence on two tracks of Armenian music Master Norayr Kartashyan, infuses the languor of past melodies and traditions. These purposeful anachronistic sounds offer a fantastic depth to this powerful opus. Listening to the album, one can appreciate the successful fusion of styles and influences. Those combinations, however, manage to preserve individual identities only to enhance the art through an adamant musical dialogue.

Being driven by the urge to transpose Armenian musical traditions into a unique universe, the daring artists, offer an innovative combination by blending, for the first time, these ancestral sounds with the world of Los Angeles beat-scene and jazz. An invention largely fueled by the magic strings of Artyom and maestro Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, a pillar of the genre in Los Angeles combined. These associations resonate with a triumphant equilibrium. HILA is musical uncharted territory in which Artyom's cello strings intertwine to ignite the harmonies of keyboards, the machines, the vocals and electronic layers Dawatile pieced together. HILA plays the soundtrack of an adventure set between Armenia around the end of the Soviet era and a mysterious near future.

Artyom Manukyan grew up in Armenia in the 90s. At the time, he studied Russian classical music while learning jazz with assistance by his father, a music journalist. Being an unconditional music lover, he went on to sharpen his skills at the prestigious Berkelee College of Music. Subsequently, he’s been lucky enough to travel the world touring with numerous acts and mainly with the Armenian Navy Band. The group has fostered alacritous success honored by a BBC Award as a crowning achievement. He moved on 10 years ago and made his way to L.A. with his cello on his back. In the City of Angels, he quickly became a popular figure of the jazz and hip-hop scenes thanks to his first album "Citizen". He’s accompanied prestigious musicians such as Kamasi Washington, Melody Gardot, Daedalus, Flying Lotus, Run DMC, Gretchen Parlato, Raphael Saadiq, Clive Lowe Mark, or Vulfpeck. He released his solo album on the cello, "Alone" in October 2019.

Dawatile is a bold producer and multi-instrumentist as well as a passionate and resolute musician molded by jazz. As a versatile artist, he handles and juggles the saxophone, the keys, the bass and composition. Simultaneously, Dawatile produces cross-over projects and soundtracks for the movie industry. He, as well, has had the opportunity to be a part of many tours, including with his electro hip-hop band, Fowatile and more recently with the "Future Kreyol" trio, Dowdelin. Being the ever workaholic, he has under his belt a string of prestigious collaborations with the likes of Talib Kweli, Foreign Beggars, Roy Ayers, Tigran Hamasyan, Mathieu Boogaerts, Voodoo Game and Piers Faccini. His taste for developing new musical recipes and his know-how in production make him a much sought-after album producer. In concert, the HILA duo offers a sober, precise and rhythmic performance. "21" is an aerial and lively album taking the audience on an at times joyous and sometimes melancholic dreamlike journey. The magic of "HILA" operates at the speed of light and positions it already as an avoidable group.

Stellar full-length album selection of archival material from Tim Jackiw ranging from timeless late night techno and deep space soundtracks through to electronic jazz and ambient atmospheres. All music sequenced and recorded in Tim's Adelaide-based bedroom studio between 1995 to 1997 using an Amiga 500 interfaced to various analog synthesizers, drum machines and samplers. Limited colour vinyl double pack - big tip!

LP IN STOUGHTON JACKET, PRINTED INNERS, OBI STRIP WITH FOUR OF SAMANTHA KEELY SMITH'S INCREDIBLE CONSCIOUSNESS MEMORY LANDSCAPES GRACING THE ALBUM SLEEVE.

The Pyroclasts album is the result of a daily practice which was regularly performed each morning, or evening during the two week Life Metal sessions at Electrical Audio during July 2018, when all of the days musical participants would gather and work through a 12 minute improvised modal drone at the start and or end of the day’s work. The piece performed was timed with a stopwatch and tracked to two inch tape, it was an exercise and a chance to dig into a deep opening or closing of the days session in a deep musical way with all of the participants. To connect/reconnect, liberate the creative mind a bit and greet each other and the space through the practice of sound immersion. The players across the four pieces of Pyroclasts are Tim Midyett, T.O.S., Hildur Guðnadóttir, and as always Stephen O’Malley & Greg Anderson.

The music on Pyroclasts is inextricably woven to Life Metal. It exists on the very same tape reels, was explicitly recorded by Steve Albini. The brightness and vividity of that glorious session glares through these four tracks, the precision and radiance, prismatic lustrousness of the saturation, the elemental sculptural shapes, the abstract renderings. It is a sister, or perhaps a shadow album. Or perhaps the now apparent miasma or aether. But it also exists in a form of a pause, a time space which exist in between and around the compositional structures of Sunn O)))’s titanic works. 

For the listener or recipient/participant there are deep rewards within the patience of pulling down the walls and letting the music feel, and feel the music. To be immersed will reveal great detail and colour, clarify image, encourage a depth of focus and stillness which may lead to a quite profound experience. Sitting inside the space of time. A deep form of elementalism, even atomism, and connection with presence moment, time and reality.

Sunn O))) would invite their audience to consider these points of perception when experiencing and listening to Pyroclasts. Sunn O))) would also invite and encourage the audience to use Pyroclasts as a lens to review and reexperience the complexity of the Life Metal album, and even to interrupt its sequence with Pyroclasts. This elaboration can bring the astute listener both abyssal, hallowed rewards.

Pyroclasts was recorded and mixed by Steve Albini at Electrical Audio on two inch tape July 2018, and mastered by Matt Colton through all analogue AAA process at Metropolis July 2019.

Stephen & Greg would like to dedicate this album to the memories of Ron Guardipee, Kerstin Daley & Scott Walker.

A record to be enjoyed to its very last second AM Jazz is set to place this songwriter where he just might, finally, receive the recognition he deserves; from unsung hero to a truly worthy candidate for being called up to join the City of Manchester’s ranks of great musical icons. Whether you prefer to know him as Mr. Roberts or simply call him Al, it’s time to become acquainted with the real Jim Noir.

Tossing his bowler onto the hat stand and sliding on his slippers, AM Jazz sees ‘Jim’ putting his feet up whilst Alan Roberts takes the lead. A creative masterpiece for the record player and the mantlepiece, it’s a multi-layered album that features close friends including those dearly departed, and is his truest record to date, by a songwriter painting his own hypnotic Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

“I haven’t 'felt' like Jim Noir for a long time. I’m not sure I ever did; it was a construct of other people’s imaginations,” reveals Al. “AM Jazz is definitely the kind of music I make generally. It harks back to when I started making music years ago and didn’t worry about capturing a particular style. It will be nice to show people more of that.

It's the best album I've written; real hypnotic minimalism, the good stuff!” 15 years since he recorded the first ever 'Jim Noir' EP, AM
Jazz is the record all Noirheads won’t be surprised Al had inside him.

Letting the Beatlesesque stylings of his most recent album Finnish Line be (5 years ago no less), AM Jazz suits the Noir repertoire of his catalogue so far and is another homegrown offering which sees the Daveyhulme composer tinkering in his suburban Manchester studio once more, with the magic of his computer work sorcery, analog and tape recordings.

“For this I went back to the slightly more haphazard way I wrote my first album, Tower Of Love, wherein I’d use things in front of me, or a bit wrong like headphones for a microphone, to make the most Hi-Fi Lo-fi album ever.”

Whilst a brief disappearance of Jim’s online persona may have provoked bleak theories as to his whereabouts, Al had little time for digital distraction. Whilst writing and creating with friends, he has worked on electronic pet project, FAX with former Alfie guitarist, Ian Smith, and the vintage analogue house meets electro sound of his own solo EP Granada Personnel Recovery, as well as producing local band, Shaking Chainsor, and helping long-time musical colleague, Aidan Smith with his long-awaited 'The Planets' project; “I’ve been writing in dribs and drabs when I feel like it,” Al says. “I used to write all day everyday but it’s a lot harder now I’m (feeling) over 100 years old.” Never not sonically exploring or being inspired by the sounds around him, there was even a red-carpet moment when he appeared as a film premier guest after a couple of his songs were selected for the OST of director Jason Wingard’s film Eaten By Lions.

Performing all AM Jazz’s instrumental parts himself but also, at the right moment, bringing in present and past pals along the way, sexy lounge song, ‘Hexagons’ features 'Phil Anderson' and Mark Williamson singing and playing “legendary OTT guitar solo” respectively. Meanwhile the orchestration of ‘Peppergone’ waltzes like a beautifully romantic ode to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata – a tribute to dearly departed best friend 'Batfinks' who originally wrote the chords in his song 'Peppercorn.' “I hope he doesn’t think it’s shit,” Al jests. Listen closely and you may even find a few unsuspecting celebrity guest appearances as, perhaps, it could be the very first album to feature soundbites of podcasts sneaking onto the recordings. “I will have a podcast on if I’m recording; Adam Buxton, Athletico Mince, Frank Skinner or Richard Herring… I’m sure some mics will have picked them up, like in the old Tower of Love days,” he says referring to his breakout debut.

Culled from around 50 tunes AM Jazz moves like the time of the day, from dawn to night, stirring from the pop of ‘Good Mood’ and ‘Upside Down’s Beta Band groove. “As the album was playing, I imagined this smoky backstreet with all those neon signs outside clubs at about 4am,” Al says. Mellow ‘TOL Circle’ is like Percy Faith’s Theme From A Summer Place synthesized, capturing the style of TV library music or movie soundtrack obscurity that has always stirred Al’s curiosity, and the album plunges into a vast chasm of instrumental exploration with ‘Mystermoods,’ visiting Japan’s funky synth whiz duo Testpattern and Hakabashi Sakamoto. Darkening and deepening in intensity, ‘Eggshell’ is like an undiscovered gem from Angelo Badalamenti’s cutting room floor, the Panda Bear shimmer of ‘Lander’ is where blissful positivity and sadness meet, about another of his friends who left the world too young. “By the album’s close, its nearly time to let go and enter the ether,” he says of the album’s story. “Like one would do when they take their final sigh on this earth.”

For The Geek and VRV, everything is a matter of time. Since they first met six years ago, the two beatmakers have been broadcasting their music to the four corners of the world, and their collaboration is as strong as ever after the years. Vanguards of the French instrumental hip-hop scene, they’re coming out today with their first album, Time Machine, a synthesis of the sounds and the ideas they’ve been working on from the very beginning of their careers. A trip back through time, as its name suggests, demonstrating the range of sound possibilities that they created in previous projects and on their international tours.

The release of their hit “It’s Because” in 2013 launched them on the scene as French producers who managed to break into the United States, with sampling as their musical base. Closer to home, the Coachella, Osheaga, and Solidays music festivals were won over by the pair’s complementarity, which made the success of their BTOS beat tapes and their EPs, Electric City and Origami.

But since everything is a matter of time, it was sometimes necessary to just let things go, take a break and think things over before coming back even stronger. A year and a half ago, The Geek and VRV started to slow things down, in order to take a step back and concentrate on this new album. With one overriding idea: to explore different eras and time periods, and transpose them into our modernity. Each track is associated with a pivotal year in music. With “Paris Jazz Club 1920”, the first single on the album, we're plunged into the cozy atmosphere of the cabarets, featuring the virtuoso Montreal pianist Anomalie. A meeting made possible thanks to the famous beatmaker Gramatik, who was a fundamental inspiration for their music, and who is also present on the album, as well as the flagship producers Fakear and Møme.

On Time Machine, The Geek and VRV have turned on their time machine to bring us to the year of James Brown’s birth, and find the unstoppable groove of “Get Funky 1933”. Always with hip hop in sight. The explosion of disco inspired them to record “Roller Disco Party 1980”, and the film Back to the Future was behind “Time Machine 1985”. The mixing of different time periods means that the styles, genres and atmospheres are channeled to perfection. The Geek and VRV have been preparing for this trip for five years now. With Time Machine, the time has come for them to begin their exploration, and to take us along for the ride.

Were you ever really here? Plug in to the history of feeling with four beautiful cuts of post-genre sentimentalism from YS. Traversing the landscape of urban emotion, the duo find solace in the momentary states of being in this post-internet epoch. On the A-side ‘Music Angel’ and ‘Dreams We Share’ explore the processing of healing through poignant dub and empathetic ambience. On the flip, B1 ‘Touch’ raises the tempo with a timeless slab of ghetto nostalgia straight from the early days of Databass Records. Closing things is ‘The Future’, a bold not-so-sanguine gambit around the end of modern times; truly a beast of its own. So here it is - now and always x

Exhausted Modern joins the Artificial Horizon family and delivers a caustic mix of brutish and combustible electronix in keeping with the style that has seen his productions supported by the new wave of artists from Europe and beyond that seek to bring the future sounds of Acid, EBM and Techno to the present. From the contorted modulations of Dysphoric Experience to the emotional and melancholic closer ’Seagulls in a Harbour’, Exhausted Modern’s Datura EP twists and turns at every step, each track capable of sending any listener into certain frenzy.

Only 300 pressed, all are hand-numbered.
Art by Kyle Webster
Mastered by James Savage

On the eve of a post-Thatcherite Britain, the Pale Saints, alongside the likes of Lush, Ride and Slowdive, were ushering in a new wave of British indie. And in 4AD, they found a perfect home for their music - an exciting & undeniable meld of noise and dream-pop.

Their debut album, The Comforts of Madness, didn’t disappoint, now standing as one of the best of its era. Pitchfork placed it in their Best 50 Shoegaze Albums Of All Time saying, “There’s a restless urgency, particularly when the volume swells and the rhythms intensify. That energy not only keeps (it) vital, it emphasizes Pale Saints’ inventiveness, how they channelled softness and rage into something distinctive.”

Nearly 30 years on and The Comforts of Madness is finally getting the reissue treatment. Having been remastered, a faithful LP repress on black vinyl is being released as well as double CD and double clear vinyl editions, both of which come with a bonus disc of previously unreleased demos and the band’s only John Peel Session, recorded in 1989.

Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. The music of Johnny Jewel, Glass Candy, Chromatics, Mirage, & Symmetry all articulate different visions for different moments — the pure ecstasy of a Saturday night out; unrestrained romantic devotion between vulnerable people; walks on wet streets on foggy nights; isolated twilight meditations. They make music for all moments, all feelings, all stories — in films & in life. Theirs is natural soundtrack music. Bruce Thierry Cheung brings their cinematic music to celluloid to tell the story of a family’s struggles in Don’t Come Back from the Moon, starring James Franco, Rashida Jones, & Jeffrey Wahlberg. The soundtrack mixes new & beloved work from the Italians family. Classic cuts such as Chromatics’ revered “Cherry” & “The River” (alongside the newer “Magazine”) & the disco-bliss of Mirage’s “Lady Operator” are alongside cues from Johnny’s instrumental solo album Digital Rain, all remastered to articulate the resonance of the visuals. Joining them is new music from Johnny & Symmetry. “Bicycle” finds Symmetry taking their Tangerine Dream and John Carpenter vibes into a haunting modern R&B space. Cues like “Street Lights” & “Dusk” use twinkling piano keys & glassy, minimal synthesizers to craft ambient electronic bliss. “Death Valley” is a foreboding & atmosphere track, laced with spectres of fading memories. Once you go to the moon with these songs, you’ll never want to come back.

Produced & Mixed By Johnny Jewel
Mastered By Mike Bozzi At Bernie Grundman Mastering
Cut By Bernie Grundman In Hollywood

Mr. Collage’s debut solo album “Layers” takes a traditional Hip-Hop approach, utilizing samples as well as recorded instruments. “Layers” is a sonic painting consisting of dusty vinyl memories and future plane tickets. Funky beats and basslines, afro percussions and a second-hand synth are layered to complete the musical background of the album.

Is that all? Def not! The album features some very talented artists from the USA, Australia, Spain, Greece and Belgium. The rappers Nico The Beast, S Squair Blaq, Mic Bles and 1989TRE get funky on Collage’s beats and lady MC Amira Lacrima with her mellow raps gets into a story telling.

Soul comes strong in the album too with Lady EMZ cherishing life over a Northern Soul-inspired beat and Mantique spicing up the funkiness with her deep voice. Not to mention vocalist Lisa Spykers adding an extra R&B/Soul vibe by joining forces with 1989TRE.
On the wheels of steel, the IDA World Finalists - Fly Immigrants (DJ Mysterons and DJ Hypercutz) and the heavy artillery of scratching of Mind The Wax, DJ Moya take care of the scratches in the album.

Layers will be released on vinyl by label Mind The Wax in December 2019, and includes 11 tracks.

It’s that time of the year again: we’re finishing our 6th year of Heist Recordings with our annual potpourri of remixes with this
year’s artists on ‘The Round up part VI’. This year, we’ve got a few really cool newcomers on the label like Demuir, Perdu and
Makèz, as well as label mainstays Fouk and yours truly delivering a great collection of remixes.

The EP starts off with label heads Detroit Swindle giving their high-energy take on Fouk’s ‘Need my Space’. They’ve chosen for
a stabby club version of the more introverted original, with different layers of synths building up alongside a pumping drum track
and a punchy Moog bassline. Check the break for a nice dreamy broken beat section before the track comes back into full
dancefloor madness.

Makèz have only just released their well-received debut EP and now they’re flanking Detroit Swindle on the A-side with their
remix of Perdu’s hit ‘Sacramento’. They replace the broken beat vibe of the original and instead go for a 4x4 track with a driving
bassline, warm pads and subtle placement of Perdu’s original elements.

On the B-side, we have Fouk reinterpreting Demuir’s take on Detroit Techno with their remix of ‘3nity returneth’. Their version is
a tom-heavy high-energy club track with a strong nod to the past, whilst still keeping that strong Fouk signature intact. They
mangle the vocal sample in a drunk and twisted break before setting the track back on fire with an extra acid line for good
measure.

The B2 goes to Perdu’s dreamy slow burning remix of Detroit Swindle’s classic house bomb ‘Music for clubs’. His version takes
the tempo down and dials the dreamy level up a notch. A mellow but punchy acid line and worldly synth hits give this remix it’s
cool twist and it’s a great showcase of Perdu’s view on the broad world of house music.

This year’s Round up finishes with Demuir’s trippy ‘playboy edit’ of ‘Random Visits’ by Makèz. He takes the vocal sample and
layers it behind a haunting string, dreamy keys and a steady groove. It’s got a funky vibe where Demuir’s knack for a good
groove fits perfectly with the fresh original.

The Round up is a special moment for us each year and we’re excited to share these reinterpretations of another year’s worth of
house from the world of Heist Recordings with you.

Yours Sincerely, Lars & Maarten.

Arandel's new opus, 'InBach', released 24th January 2020 by French label InFiné, pays a poetic, infinitely respectful and innovative homage to Bach's sacred workings.

Arandel was granted limitless access to the galerie of (sometime rare and ancient) instruments, as a well as a countless recordings of the prestigious Musée de la Musique in Paris with a view to sounddesign his brand new creation. He performed a few months after at Philharmonie Paris a hybrid live performance/DJ set 'Switched on Bach', named in acknowledgement to the legendary 1968 by American composer Wendy Carlos (Tron, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining).

From candles to LEDs, from DJ sets to museums, from historical instruments to machines, from Bach's themes that have entered the collective unconscious and inspired contemporary flesh and blood musicians… 'InBach' was a foregone conclusion.

In the immensity of Bach's oeuvre, in the company of his fellow wanderers, within the constraints of his-torical instruments, emboldened by the delightful, sometimes technically dangerous friction between acoustics and electronics: Without a net, Arandel walks a tightrope without a faux pas.

Vital Sales Points:

- Strong French environment including institutional support from Philharmonie / Musée de la Musique in Paris with a big shows' scheduled.
- A hybrid album with a mix of rare instrument sounds, synthesizers and innovative creative bias.

Chicago's modular master is back, this time with some heady, heavy tripping tunes for the dancefloor. On the A side, 126_Marginal bounces on with timeless cosmic electro; 126_Never The Same takes a slightly more reflective approach to melody, but continues to propel with weighty sub-bass heat.

Concealed within the eclipse, Overdue presents a new black-label 12" series - symbolic of its sinister auditory contents.

Further proof of their unbridled dedication to sound system music and commitment to quality, the Belgian Dubstep imprint unravels
it's fifth physical release. Based in Denver, its newest signee by the name of Ghast returns to the spotlight, following up on heavyweight releases on prominent labels such as Encrypted and Gradient Audio.

The talented American artist sets the stage with two unruly armaments, alongside murderous remixes by Denmark's bass music stalwart RDG as well as the label operators themselves, Substrada & Caba.

Starting the engines, 'Mothership' immerses the stage in flickering echoes and haunting wails - the air bustling with anticipation. Eerily disfigured, granular reverberations materialize amid a pressurized and truly outlandish soundscape, barren at its core. Heading into the second section with renewed vigour, no dance floor remains unscathed in the ensuing aftermath.

The subsequent doomsday scenario, as engineered by Substrada & Caba, strips the ship to its bare essentials - laced with trippy drum instrumentations and the psychedelic foley samples. The meticulous flow presents itself in a bleak dungeon style - hoodlum vocal fragments rounding off the resulting low-frequency inferno.

Flipping the record to its equally profound B-Side, 'Vehement Mess' unhinges another portal into madness - dance floor upheaval guaranteed. Showing no signs of mercy, the infernal armagedon proves to be emblematic for Ghast's dystopian sound design. Profusely industrial and with clinical efficiency, hitting all the right frequencies as the second wave ignites but all available power reserves.

Finishing off any remaining survivors with his irreproachable signature style, RDG's remix marches onwards with unrestrained might in a four-to-the-floor fashion - super-charged, galvanizing the rave in a no-holds-barred shutdown.

As electronic musician Lorenz Brunner sketched his vision for the first Recondite full-length on Ghostly in five years he took a step back to assess who and where he was as an artist. 2013’s Hinterland accelerated a progression — he’s since been touring around the world and releasing music with labels such as Hotflush and his own Plangent Records — yet, for him, the album cast a shadow of pressure that widened over time. As with most art forms, perhaps especially music, there is an expectation to change, to creatively pivot elsewhere with each project. After careful consideration, Brunner rejects this notion with his new work, opting alternately to use the icy Hinterland as an aesthetic and tonal template for a like-minded map of evocative compositions aptly titled after the German word “stillstand,” now presented as Dwell.

“I am coherent with what I do, even if I’m not reinventing myself,” Brunner says contentedly. In regards to the album title, he adds, “It’s like when you’re on a hike and you stop and look at the scenery; you may know which path you want to go next but right now you are dwelling.” The title also doubles as a reference to everyday domestic life, a restorative haven for Brunner between tours. Like Hinterland, he incorporates a subtle range of field recordings to intensify the textural atmosphere. While he worked at home on “Mirror Games,” Brunner noticed the buzz coming from across the room, where his wife was using an electric toothbrush, naturally harmonized with the track. He decided to push that frequency further and record the device directly, syncing vibrations for added urgency across the propulsive piece as well as parts of the ambient “Interlude 2.”

Windswept, moody, and melodic, moments on Dwell linger with emotional resonance. The title track sends an eerie synth loop through a field of techno kicks. The beats recede for a breather four minutes in as if to survey the surroundings. If Brunner pivots anywhere — possibly just a new perspective afforded by being confidently stationary in his craft — it’s by leaning more into hip-hop structures. He’s an avid rap fan and his love for those production techniques is notably present on “Nobilia,” a queasy shuffler (titled in reference to the Super Nintendo game Secret of Evermore), “Interlude 1,” which skitters in lockstep with contemplative synth chords, and “Surface,” an isolatory, ruminative sequence. The closer “Moon Pearl” soothes and shimmers like its namesake, a cherished gem in The Legend of Zelda series that allows carriers of the gem to retain their shape and essence in the Dark World.

In an era where constant reinvention and highly self-reflexive brand awareness reigns supreme in the music industry, Brunner as Recondite does something many artists try to avoid, he dwells in his own established identity, one that has garnered him a devoted fanbase. His murky electronic productions, built around mirage-like pads and clipped drum programming, have proven to be highly functional and spectrally enveloping; Dwell is not a return to form, it is a further study of the shapes, it is the modes, and the structures Brunner has trademarked.

As electronic musician Lorenz Brunner sketched his vision for the first Recondite full-length on Ghostly in five years he took a step back to assess who and where he was as an artist. 2013’s Hinterland accelerated a progression — he’s since been touring around the world and releasing music with labels such as Hotflush and his own Plangent Records — yet, for him, the album cast a shadow of pressure that widened over time. As with most art forms, perhaps especially music, there is an expectation to change, to creatively pivot elsewhere with each project. After careful consideration, Brunner rejects this notion with his new work, opting alternately to use the icy Hinterland as an aesthetic and tonal template for a like-minded map of evocative compositions aptly titled after the German word “stillstand,” now presented as Dwell.

“I am coherent with what I do, even if I’m not reinventing myself,” Brunner says contentedly. In regards to the album title, he adds, “It’s like when you’re on a hike and you stop and look at the scenery; you may know which path you want to go next but right now you are dwelling.” The title also doubles as a reference to everyday domestic life, a restorative haven for Brunner between tours. Like Hinterland, he incorporates a subtle range of field recordings to intensify the textural atmosphere. While he worked at home on “Mirror Games,” Brunner noticed the buzz coming from across the room, where his wife was using an electric toothbrush, naturally harmonized with the track. He decided to push that frequency further and record the device directly, syncing vibrations for added urgency across the propulsive piece as well as parts of the ambient “Interlude 2.”

Windswept, moody, and melodic, moments on Dwell linger with emotional resonance. The title track sends an eerie synth loop through a field of techno kicks. The beats recede for a breather four minutes in as if to survey the surroundings. If Brunner pivots anywhere — possibly just a new perspective afforded by being confidently stationary in his craft — it’s by leaning more into hip-hop structures. He’s an avid rap fan and his love for those production techniques is notably present on “Nobilia,” a queasy shuffler (titled in reference to the Super Nintendo game Secret of Evermore), “Interlude 1,” which skitters in lockstep with contemplative synth chords, and “Surface,” an isolatory, ruminative sequence. The closer “Moon Pearl” soothes and shimmers like its namesake, a cherished gem in The Legend of Zelda series that allows carriers of the gem to retain their shape and essence in the Dark World.

In an era where constant reinvention and highly self-reflexive brand awareness reigns supreme in the music industry, Brunner as Recondite does something many artists try to avoid, he dwells in his own established identity, one that has garnered him a devoted fanbase. His murky electronic productions, built around mirage-like pads and clipped drum programming, have proven to be highly functional and spectrally enveloping; Dwell is not a return to form, it is a further study of the shapes, it is the modes, and the structures Brunner has trademarked.

Ansatz der Maschine is back with a new record! For the album "Burial Songs", Frontman Mathijs Bertel went to the Greenhouse Studio's in Reykjavik, Iceland. He worked together with Producer Valgeir Sigurdsson (Bjork, Feist, Bonnie 'prince' Billie, Coco rosie,...) . The result is a poetic and fairylike record, a mindblowing trip where neo classical harp and cello meets organic click 'n cut electronics, but just as well there are some warm folktronica songs where singer Sophia Ammann (Be/Ca) takes the lead. Every record Ansatz der Maschine likes to collaborate with other musicians. For the song "Invisible" they worked together with AMEN RA frontman Colin H. Van Eeckhout. The video was shot in the wild nature of Iceland with both of them. The Britisch born ambient/folk musician Will Samson (who just released an album on Wichita) lents his voice to the song ‘Untold’.
For this record, Mathijs worked together with musicians Nicolas Rombouts (ex-Dez mona/ Stef Kamiel Carlens...), Seraphine Stragier ( Laïs, SunSunSun Orchestra,....) Gianni Marzo (Isbells, Marble Sounds,...)

Repress

2x12"

TRIP presents 'Locus Error', a new double vinyl concept album. Moving beyond the scope of the traditional, arbitrarily compiled VA, TRIP's conceptual approach brings together a range of artists around a uniting theme, supplying a sense of cohesion and narrative thrust. Like Noel Saavedra's accompanying artwork, the narrative is vibrant yet nightmarish, a vision of classic trance music, including it's psy side, refracted through TRIP's fearless, oddball aesthetic.

Borneo Records welcomes Swedish made, Berlin based DJ City to the family!

As a fairly fresh face to the European dance music scene, involved with renowned musical outlets like Cocktail d’Amore and Born Free, DJ City has been turning heads with his playful and energetic style.

For Borneo’s ninth release DJ City delivers two deep dance floor cuts, referencing and paying hommage to his childhood idols, craftily combining well known building blocks into future classics.

”Sierra Madre” is a warm and deep dive into the aesthetics of the late 90s electronic music scene, balancing between lush pads and low bit rates. Steadily it progresses as the loops unfold and evolve into an ambient landscape of clear peaks and valleys. Dreamy and suggestive without becoming too literal or camp, it invites its listener to let the mind wander during the course of the dance.

On the flip side, “5426261” is a more playful feature as its percussion and somewhat off tune melodies roll out. The texture is light and invites its listener to venture in thought to an imaginary Mediterranean location right before dawn. The enigmatic title is repeated in a sample towards the end, implicating it is a phone number. Who are you trying to reach?

Written & produced by J. Norling, 2016-2018, Örebro/Berlin. Artwork by Nicole Martens. Borneo Records Rotterdam 2020.

On this Caribbean island that is Cuba, El Tipo is a pioneer of Hip Hop. The founder of Obsesion group with he has committed three albums, traveled Europe, Latin America, United States. He has invested the mythical scene Apollo Theater of Harlem, shared the stage with The Roots, Common or Kanye West, integrated the Gilles Peterson’s band for the Havana Culture Tour. 500 LTD!In the world of beatmaking, Al Quets (originally known as Quetzal) is a figure. An instrumental designer who cut, loop, program, cadence, compose. A name marked by 5 albums and collaborations with Onra, Guts, La Fine Equipe ou Milk Coffee and Sugar. Between the French beat maker and the cuban MC, there’s thousand of kilometers but a desire to connect so strongly that no force could have prevented the meeting. So, rather than exchanging digital files , Al Quetz preferred swallowing on the same frequencies. Together they drew on all the musical currents of the island and around, absorbed Afro- Cuban sounds, added the freedom of jazz, the metronome of hip hop grooves, smoking riddims and heavy bass of the Jamaican neighboor.

"I'm always looking for ways to be surprised," says composer and multi instrumentalist Jeff Parker as he explains the process, and the thinking, behind his new album Suite for Max Brown, released via a new partnership between International Anthem and Nonesuch Records.

"If I sit down at the piano or with my guitar, with staff paper and a pencil, I'm eventually going to fall into writing patterns, into things I already know. So, when I make music, that's what I'm trying to get away from-the things that I know." Despite its musical departures, in presentation Suite for Max Brown is an informal companion piece to The New Breed, Parker's debut release on International Anthem, which was honored as one of the "Best Albums of 2016" by New York Times, Observer, and Los Angeles Times.

"I made The New Breed based off these old sample-based compositions and mixed them with improvising," Parker says. "That's in a nutshell how I make a lot of my music; it's a combination of sampling, editing, retriggering audio, and recording it, moving it around and trying to make it into something cohesive... With Max Brown, it's evolved." Though Parker collaborates with a coterie of musicians under the group name The New Breed, theirs is by no means a conventional "band" relationship.

Parker is very much a solo artist on Suite for Max Brown. His accompanists are often working alone with Parker, reacting to what Parker has provided them, and then Parker uses those individual parts to layer and assemble into his final tracks. The process may be relatively solitary and cerebral, but the results feel like in-the-moment jams-warm-hearted, human, alive. Suite for Max Brown brims with personality, boasting the rhythmic flow of hip hop and the soulful swing of jazz.

REPRESS of the ArkAîk 07 froùm Ybrid, one of her most PCP*soundslike, dark and dirty. Rave inna Hangar.

A really, banging hardcore sound! At the frontier of 'Raw and Gabber' . Defenilty a rare style nowaday on, vinyl! Get your chance to catch one! ...This LP, regular pressed & designed on Green Coloured Vinyl.

Award-winning bassist Daniel Casimir and vocalist Tess Hirst release their debut album via pioneering London-based record labe Jazz re:freshed. Following the success of Daniel Casimir's critically acclaimed debut EP 'Escapee' which featured Hirst on vocals and fellow rising stars on the scene Moses Boyd, Joe Armon-Jones and Shirley Tetteh, this album - 'These Days' is inspired by the duo's London surroundings, delivering thought-provoking lyricism, neo-soul and modern jazz

Casimir, a former Birmingham Conservatoire student, has collaborated with Julian Joseph, Jason Rebello, Benet McLean, Lonnie Liston Smith, Nathan Facey, Shane Forbes, Chihiro Yamanaka, Ashley Henry, David Lyttle, Nubya Garcia, The Tracey Quintet (Meantime Jubilation), Tom Harrison (Unfolding In Tempo), Jasmine Power (Stories And Rhymes), Camilla George and Art Blakey Jazz Messenger saxophonist, Jean Toussaint.

Named Young Jazz Musician of the Year by the Musicians' Company in 2016, Casimir has received plaudits for his arrangements and recital, while Hirst has made a name for herself with her vocals on the jazz circuit having moved between London, Leeds and LA to hone her craft. What sets Hirst apart as a musician is not only the originality of her music but her perspective of herself as an artist. She is an Ethnomusicology Graduate of SOAS and her writing style walks us through her upbringing in West London and down the halls of academia

Casimir and Hirst fuse traditional jazz sounds into beautiful compositions, narrating their way through a political and cultural landscape across these twelve tracks. The frenzied groove heavy'Security' addresses the need to trust one another and how we protect ourselves personally, while the rich atmospherics of 'Freedom' combined with Hirst's vocals, explore liberation and the rejection of duty - from a female perspective.

At the heart of 'These Days', Casimir plays with a passion and power that resonates throughout each composition. His knack for complex chord changes are highlighted in 'What Did I Do', bringing an energy and enthusiasm to the track while Hirst decries our changing capital. Elsewhere, references to John Agard's poem 'Listen Mr. Oxford Don' in 'The Magic Money Tree', explore the past and its relevance to now while a re-imagining of Charles Mingus' 'Fables Of Faubus' further ensures this theme remains central to the essence of the album.

Daniel Casimir and Tess Hirst have already received radio support from BBC Radio 3, BBC Music Introducing and Jazz FM, along with coverage in the London Evening Standard and Jazzwise Magazine

'Don't Let Them' interpolates elements of 'Fables Of Faubus' written by Charles Mingus (c) 1959. Published by Jazz Workshop Inc. Administered by BMG Rights Management (UK) Ltd. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Pacific Express emerged from Cape Town, South Africa in the 1970s. The band were from the so called "Coloured" community and were ground breakers in both musical and political arenas. The founder members Paul Abrahams (Bass), Jack Momple (Drums) and Issy Ariefdien (Guitar) were joined by Chris Schilder (Piano), Vic Higgins (Pecussion), Barney Rachabane (Alto Sax), Stompie Manana (Trumpet) and Zayn Adams & Kitty Tshikana on vocals for their second album "On Time" in 1978.

On several occasions the group fell foul of Apartheid laws and discrimination by the state broadcaster, SABC. On one occasion they were asked to leave the stage of an international tour by Australian act John Paul Young, because the law forbade racially mixed performers on the same stage. The promoter, management and band members all resisted and once he incident made the Australian newspapers the authorities had little choice and turned a blind eye.

And so to the music. The most important thing. The LP opens up with the slick jazz-boogie funk of "We Got A Good Thing Going On", a perfect vehicle for the vocals of Zayn and the statement-of-intent, on-point musicianship of the band.

"I Hear Music" is the first of three smooth sweet string-laden ballads to feature on the LP. The majority of the songs on the LP were written by keyboard player Chris Schilder. As well as high-craft songwriting Chris also contributes layers of effortless musicality with his Rhodes and piano. "Good Old Days" (the only cover on the LP) is next and its smooth-rock grooves swing effortlessly to the fore. The A-Side of the vinyl closes with the instrumental jazz funk of "Saturday Night".

The flip side of the album opens with the bands biggest commercial success. A sweet soul ballad penned "Give a Little Love". Stepping outside their usual sound. This hit however was not without controversy as the video was removed from the TV airways after the South Africa Broadcasting Corp realised that the group were of mixed race, which was against rules for so called local artists in public performance at the time.

"Dream" follows on with the driving jazz rock and travelling keyboard solos. "Reaching Out For Love" is a power-pop boogie groover powered by guest vocalists Erica Lundy and Kitty.

"Say The Last Goodbye" is the last of the trio of ballads. A smooth style moment sounding all the bit like a 70's US TV drama closing theme. The LP features with a funky workout where the band show off their chops and slick level of musicianship.

Besides the success in southern Africa this album became a regional hit as a pirated music cassette in Nigeria. It was also released in France and Japan.

The band would go on to record one further LP in 1979 and a single in 1981. They carried on performing however well pass that. Throughout their years together the band acted as central hub for Jazz musicians within the Cape Town area. Players as Tony Cedras, Jonathan Butler and Alvin Dyers gaining experience alongside established names such as trumpeter Stompie Manana and alto saxman Barney Rachabane.

Here at World Seven we are ever so pleased to be re-releasing what we consider the bands finest album moment.

Dick Verdult, a.k.a Dick el Demasiado is the Philip K. Dick of multi-disciplinary art, the Moby Dick of “cumbia lunática”, and the Charles Dickens of literature and experimental cinema. He first fell in love with cumbia when he heard his nursemaid singing the classic “La pollera colorá”. From this moment on, he adopted the genre and reinvented it, in a perpetual degeneration called Cumbia Lunática, twisting up the elements of traditional cumbia, the “cumbia of the mucamas”, to create an anarchotropical vertebral rhythm, one which supports every moving part.

Celulitis Illuminati is the powerful debut of the anarchotropical gentleman knight of the abstract, Dick el Demasiado, eight dangerous tracks recorded for the first time on vinyl, songs that, upon listening, will liposuck all that grotesque accumulation of adipose tissue out of buttocks and brain. They interweave an amalgam of South American folklore and the cables of electronic music, the plugged-in Ranqueles indians, as in “Asi Que Los Que Sí” (“So That Those Who Yes”) on Side A, surrealist and lugubrious beats, poetry made song and “the dead man’s drool is good for painting watercolors”, as he sings in “Búho Sin Un Ratón” (“Owl With No Mouse”).Euphony that will abduct you away to a viscous street party with “Son Cosas De Hoy” (“They’re Things For Today”) and to an eclectic and excessive dimension with “pero bien bweno” (“but very proper”).

Side B is pure dynamite: “Mecha flan” (“Pudding Fuse”), “Sábado cultural” (“Cultural Saturday”) and “En la jeta” (“In the face”) represent the perfect blend of Lucho Argain (La Sonora Dinamita) and Muslimgauze (Bryn Jones). On top of this, the album includes an as-yet unheard gem, “Llama Mi Abogado” (“Call My Lawyer”), produced by Dick himself and Manuel Schaller, the telepathic mage of the Theremin. When the Dutchman stepped off the boat and onto the block, as well as offering us the TV set, the sculpture of a deranged English woman who devours islands like they were sandwiches, the synthesizer, the sound effect, the African drum, the maraca, the indigenous whistle, he obtained for us the song and the stanza, he provided us with the language and the poetry, the truthful, the epic of the ugly. Cellulite for mortals, cumbia lunática for the enlightened ones! Alfredo Padilla (Trans. Komurki)

Steel City Dance Discs Volume 13 emits four club-ready contaminants courtesy of Jasper James. On the A-side, Jasper breaks protocol with an unregulated meld of house and techno; deep freqs, virulent chords and a toxic vocal cut are detected. And on the flip side, object blue and Mall Grab give ‘Still Trippin’ an appropriate treatment of high-energy euro-rave. Dispose of this release properly – volume up.

For the first time on 12” single, two Curtis Mayfield songs given the Patti Jo treatment and mixed by Tom Moulton. While originally from the early 1970's, these versions were previously only available on 7” originally from the Scepter/Wand labels.

Patti came from Florida and sang in her own group P.J. Smith & Co before releasing just four songs across two singles as a solo artist. Released in brand new Soul Brother 12” range bag.

Black Truffle is pleased to present Realejo, the first vinyl release from Brazilian sound artist and composer Manuel Pessoa de Lima. Having composed works for diverse contexts including cinema, contemporary dance, theatre and television, Lima’s live appearances often take the form of self-reflexive lecture performances that combine electro-acoustic sound, red light, video and spoken text, moving unpredictably from the hilarious to the distressing.

Realejo consists of two side-long pieces of highly idiosyncratic electro-acoustic collage, beginning with recordings Lima made of himself playing the organ in the Schloss Solitude Chapel in Stuttgart. Exploring the peculiarities of the instrument’s mechanics, Lima made hours of recordings with the organ stops half-way open, moving from haunting gliding tones to oddly tuned fair-ground melodies reminiscent of the record’s namesake realejo, a hand-cranked organ traditionally found in Brazil as the musical accompaniment to the work of fortune-telling parrots.

To these organ sounds, Lima added recordings of a security guard made in São Paulo: ‘Just before coming to Stuttgart, I started making field recordings of a security guard in São Paulo. It's something pretty common in residential areas: they sit in a chair with a whistle, and use that to signal when people arrive, leave or pass by in the street. This particular security guard, Miguel Viana, works on the same street my parents live, and where I had my childhood, and he has worked there since I was a small child. He has watched the street at night, from 8PM to 6AM, every single day, except Sundays, for over 30 years’.

The poignant sounds of the security guard’s whistles punctuate Lima’s electro-acoustic environment, which also includes raw digital synthesis, recordings of his friends’ infant child, audio lifted from Youtube, and, on the LP’s second side, elements taken from an earlier work, ‘36 English to Portuguese Lessons’. Finely chiselled from dozens of hours of source material into a detail-rich, mercurial structure, Realejo is alternately jarring and seductive, introducing listeners to a young composer with a powerfully individual voice.

After lasts years beloved Operator release, SOLIDE returns with the second part, again by label head honchos D.Y.A and Kalyma.

With this current release, they take heed of a well known principle that has been brought upon us by the Hollywood film industry - any thrilling, perfectly executed and audience approved production needs to get a sequel - So, the curtain raises now for Operator II, a tune instantly reminiscent of its predecessor in beat architecture and kalimba arrangement, yet thought through with even more sophistication and sensitivity.

A Gardener's Perspective pursues that same kind of vibe, coming along with slight Electro-borrowings and cocooning synth-harmonies, climaxing in an masterly organ solo that has soul and devotion to sound written all over it.

Yet another tune that doesn't even have to conform with peaktime arithmetics to send whole floors into frenzy, no matter what time of the night it might be. Closing things off it's Casino Lunch Break, another strongly vibing and very tribal affair radiating afterhour qualities, ending another more than solid offering on Solide on a high note.

Raw Culture is back to torment your lives. This time we have the regret of having in our roster the ex ice skater Wosto.
Based In Hamburg he is putted his sign on some label such as Sign Bit Zero and he give is effort to some groups such as Fallbeil and Sauerstofff (with the duo Nostalgie Eternelle). Teerpappe is his own vinyl label where he released also solo records. This release Das letzte Nasenhaar EP is a collection of Kraut Break Beats with a strongly German and weird imprint. Borderline with noise.
Raw Ambassador had the task of cooking his version of Party Animal with the collaboration of the vocal cords of the same Wosto for a really original result, a dance floor killa.

The release will be available form 13th December in a limited series of 300 hand stamped vinyl.

This debut album, by prodigious keys player, composer and producer Joe Armon-Jones, is buoyant, celebratory and welcoming. With a background in jazz, he draws from influences in dub, hip-hop and soul. Different traditions are infused and commingled together. Soulful brass arrangements are coloured with carefully-tuned atmospherics, individual flashes of brilliance are bound into the album's bigger picture.

He's part of London's young, jazz-influenced music scene. Drawn from that same close-knit circle, the album features the likes of Moses Boyd, Nubya Garcia and Oscar Jerome. It's playing with those - along with Ezra Collective, which he co-founded, and touring with the likes of Ata Kak and Pharoahe Monch - which has honed his playing and grown his ideas.

It's made for a record with an unmistakable depth. He draws on deep musical understanding, making music which is warm and has a feeling of joy. A document of his vision for bringing together his different influences, it's also a testament to hard-earned, head-turning musical virtuosity.

VA: various artists, various styles. Six artists tell six different stories. Music is not uniformity.

After a digital single on Optimo Music Digital Danceforce, Optimo Music welcomes Bergsonist to the main label with a full album. Ridiculously talented and prolific, Bergsonist is one of thee most interesting, thoughtful and important artists of our times.

Bergsonist aka Selwa Abd is a New York–based artist and musician originally from Morocco. She is the founder of Bizaarbazaar, a music platform and publication that publishes podcasts and interviews by DJs and producers from around the world.

Under the guise Bergsonist (derived from Deleuze’s Bergsonism),
she uses a variety of media to investigate social resonance through divergent conceptual aesthetics (minimalism, techno, and music concrete, to name a few). Through her work, she explores notions of identity, memory, and social politics.

In 2017, she started Pick Up The Flow, a resource to promote congregation and exchange between peers. Currently, co-run with Stephen Decker. In 2019, she co-founded 3afak with DJ Sanna, a collective that aims to empower Arab women’s creative vision in
New York.


Words about the album:

Middle Ouest is an ode to my history, present and future self. Like a sonic autobiography, It’s the first body of work that realistically depicts my identity. It’s a statement towards all the people who tried to put me into a box. I’m not a box but a genre-less ocean. I don’t make genres, I just make music I feel making in the moment.

It’s all about capturing the moment in a given time. If the aesthetic happens to be house or techno then it is. But I’m not a techno artist... I’m just a free sonic ‘voyageur’. I make music as i feel the world; it can be dark, jovial, weird… I mirror the feelings into sonic compositions. However, the only variables that never change in this equation are the message and intention.

- non-gatefold sleeve without 7"

Rush Hour announces their second artist compilation Patchwork, curated by one of the label’s most loved family members, Sassy J. The Swiss DJ is the very embodiment of passion and long-standing dedication to the craft of the DJing, but also to the community surrounding the music that she lives and breathes. For the past fourteen years Sassy J has run the Patchwork night in her native Bern and in London, with guests ranging from Theo Parrish and Little Dragon to Floating Points and MF Doom invited to share their respective musical visions. Her collaborative approach stands out in a DJ world that is too often weighted in favour of promoting the individual. This compilation grows out that unique sensitivity, foregrounding a theory of curation that centres on long-term bonds, articulated through Sassy J’s personal relationships with the contributing artists.

Patchwork speaks to the grass roots values that Sassy J espouses, showcasing music by many of the artists that have joined her throughout the years in clubs, on the radio, and at home. It is an expression of Sassy J’s individual musical path that casts its gaze firmly in the future: Patchwork is made up almost entirely of new and unreleased songs that are exclusive to this collection. Patchwork captures a sound that has continued to evolve in its restless search for new musical directions. Across thirteen tracks we find forward thinking electronic music rubbing elbows with cosmic jazz and deep percussion workouts from Brazil and beyond.

There are irresistible calls to the dancefloor: 2000 Black’s UK boogie and the syncopated rhythms of WaH-chU-kU nod to the West London sound, whilst the early rave of Nu Era and Aardvarck’s sub-rattling techno channel the grittier edges of the club experience. We find machine music imbued with humanity in Larry Heard’s deep house classic “Survivor” and in Ron Trent’s WARM project, whose gentle breeze points to a different side of the legendary producer. Patchwork also opens a more immersive listening space in which the radical indie soul of Georgia Anne Muldrow, the ambient spiritual jazz of bandleader Carlos Niño & Friends, and the lament for the Amazon rainforest by Azymuth’s drummer Ivan Conti can channel the overall spirit of group interplay and solidarity. Patchwork also includes Sassy J’s collaboration with veteran producer Alex Attias, marking her own place in a universe that is held together by her singular thread.

"This is the compilation of the year!" - DJ Spinna

TERANGA BEAT proudly presents MAR SECK, a delicate singer and songwriter who marked the history of Senegalese music. TIP!A cross over between Cuban compositions and Senegalese Folklore, his songs gave birth to Salsa-Mbalax, the popular dance music of '70s Senegal that went onto influence a new generation of Senegalese musicians including a young Youssou N'Dour. Featuring 12 tracks recorded over three different sessions, ‘Vagabonde’ focuses on the best of MAR SECK’s career. The first recordings are taken from a raw and unreleased 1969 session at the Dakar National Radio. Recorded with his first group SUPER CAP-VERT from Rufisque, it captures an 18-year old MAR singing the first version of his now famous composition “Vagabonde”. The remaining six tracks from the session includes a beautiful cover of Fonseca’s “Sibouten”. A 1973 live recording is also featured here, made with the STAR BAND de DAKAR in Saint Louis. Previously unreleased, it comes from a time when MAR was establishing his name playing at the legendary Miami Club in Dakar, the “École de Passage” for all great Senegalese musicians. The final two tracks (one of them unreleased) finds MAR accompanied by the most complete band of Senegal, the NUMBER ONE de DAKAR. The 2LP & CD booklet includes photos and liner notes outlining MAR’s career. LP version comes with silk screen print, European 60s style, gatefold sleeve. All tracks are mastered & mixed from the original recording tapes.

The record sleeve of Dark Loops was injected with carbon powder by the artists. Please be aware of this on purchase and handling of the record and inlays.

Dark Loops is the third instance of Carbon Theater, an ongoing research project by the Institute of Incongruous Translation (Natascha Sadr Haghighian and Ashkan Sepahvand). As the other acts in the series, Dark Loops unfolds from a found site, the abandoned Fort Walem, which was now turned into a bat habitat. The field recordings and synthesised loops on the record further investigate the discrepancies between sensing and knowing and challenge the anthropocentric narratives within current discussions on planetary climate change.

A truly special reissue of a fantastic and incredibly rare Afro-disco 12” from 1978, Tumblack - 'Caraiba/Invocation'. Originally released on the seminal French disco label Barclay, you'd be hard pressed to even find an original copy in the UK, let alone for a reasonable price, so it's high time an officially licensed, remastered reissue came around.

Taking the A side of this EP Stefano Ritteri provides a “Spaziale Version” of 'Caraiba' that seamlessly blends elements of African, Afrobeat, Funk and Disco styles, with segments that continually morph and evolve into new tracks. Irresistibly funky and percussive drumming patterns and melodies hypnotise the listener, with only the occasional outbreak of African chanting breaking up the grooves.

The B-side contains the original version of “Invocation” that is effectively one long drum track broken down into 7 segments that never drop a beat alongside the original version of 'Caraiba' in all it's glory. As EP's go, this really does take the listener on a journey to Africa, via 1978 New York, and is a true one of a kind. And for all those sample-spotters out there, there's no end of complex drum patterns and basslines to dive into.

Stargazer is a huge tune beloved by ravers all over the world, but for a long time the rights to it were in legal limbo. Kniteforce/KFA un-limbo-ed them to create this superb EP of remixes, featuring the classic original, the also classic Reese remix, a fresh new … err … old take by Dj Luna-C, and a proper tough remix from Audio-X. All in all, this single record covers everything anyone could want in an EP …

Club/DJ Support: Billy Bunter, the Fat Controller, Glowkid, Slipmatt, Dj Jedi, Dj Luna-C, Dj Brisk, Clayfighter, Jimni Cricket, Bustin, Sc@r, Doughboy, Saiyan, Dave Skywalker, Liquid, Hyper On Experience, Ant To Be, Ponder, and ... many others.