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Leave it to Langhorne Slim - a pioneer of raw, rule-breaking Americana for more than two decades - to reach far beyond the genre he helped inspire.

The Dreamin' Kind finds the Nashville transplant strapping on an electric guitar and embracing his longtime love of larger-than-life rock & roll. With it's chugging power chords, 1970s-sized riffs, and richly layered arrangements, The Dreamin' Kind is fueled not only by sheer amplification, but by the soul-baring songwriting that's become Slim's calling card, too. Tucked between those anthems are acoustic-driven songs that skirt the outer orbits of folk music, from the bare-boned heartbreak of ''Stealin' Time'' to the organic, orchestral sweep of ''Dance On Thru.'' The result is the more explorative and expansive album of Slim's career: a record made for rock clubs, campfires, and garages alike, produced by Greta Van Fleet's Sam Kiszka, and anchored by a lifelong desire to break down new walls.

''It felt like I was blowing some old shit up so I could plant some new flowers,'' Slim says of the creation process. ''I love acoustic music. I love folk music. But those aren't my only loves. Rock & roll has always tickled the same place in my soul as great singer-songwriter music, and I wanted to explore those influences. Raw songs that make you feel something: that's the stuff I'm after.''

Full of joy, they ran to meet him.
Then threw one of the shirts over each of them,
and when the shirts touched their bodies they were transformed into swans,
and flew away over the woods.
The record is comprised of a series of improvised recordings made over the course of an evening in Autumn ’23, captured at the Jabu home studio, south Bristol while Teresa was staying in town for a show. Everything was recorded into the desk in a single take and left as it was, no editing or overdubs, instruments were swapped around and effects units left buzzing ground hum scattered over the floor.
Teresa and Guest (Jasmine of Jabu) provided the vocals, taking words from anything at hand - poetry books, an old copy of the Whole Earth Catalog - their voices winding together, echoing out each other’s melodies. This approach is mirrored by the instrumentals, anchored by something at times - a bassline, one of Birthmark’s synth drones or a fizzing chord but always on the edge of collapsing in on itself or floating away. The tracks become more soporific as the record goes on (and as the night got later), ending on a refrain of ‘say you think its true’ as the instrumental finally dissolves the pedals get dialled up to 11 and Birthmark’s drones turn into distant lasers in a last swan song of feedback.
Recorded Sep 2023 in Bristol, BS3, by:
Teresa Winter (vocals, fx)
Guest (vocals, guitar, fx)
Birthmark (synth, fx)
A.Childs (samples, bass, guitar)

»Hug of Gravity« is the second solo album by Raphael Loher and his first for Hallow Ground. The Swiss pianist and composer uses piano preparations, tape machines, and digital means to forge an aesthetic of playful reduction and rhythmic abstraction. The source material for these four sprawling pieces was culled from recordings of the artist performing the album’s predecessor, 2022’s »Keemuun.« Loher used them in a painstaking two-part working process to create an album that is both a product of and an ode to transformation, exploring themes of alternative temporalities and spatialities. »Hug of Gravity« oscillates between experimental electronic music, ambient, and minimal music and calls to mind the work of artists like William Basinski, Linda Catlin Smith, or label mate Andrius Arutiunian.

Loher laid the foundation for »Hug of Gravity« in 2020 with ten solo performances at his studio, during which he presented the pieces from his debut album. For these intimate concerts, he prepared the piano with modelling clay in order to move beyond the well-tempered tuning that dominates most of Western music. He then used a consecutive three-month residency in the Blenio Valley to refine the recordings. »I cut up and rearranged the material, then transferred the results—around 30 pieces—to a varispeed tape machine and then back to the computer. After that was done, I cut them up and rearranged them again,« he laughs. By radically reworking the material, he created an album that eschews traditional notions of time and space.

Loher points out the influence that his surroundings had on him. »The process created the music—and the place was essential to the process.« he says. He wandered through the mountains for up to nine or ten hours a day, which gave him a sense of what he calls expanded temporality. »Time just felt longer, my experiences seemed more diverse and nuanced, and it was as if I perceived my environment more clearly,« he explains. This shift in Loher’s perception of time and space—the latter also expressed in the album’s title—influenced his work with the varispeed tape machine. It allowed him to change the pitch of different recordings while layering them to let interference patterns emerge and emphasise the emotional qualities of the unconventional tunings he had used.

In this way, Loher constructed numerous interlocking narrative arcs throughout »Hug of Gravity,« an album that is ever-changing; an exercise in calm ecstasy that provides its audience with the feeling of being removed from conventional time and space. This approach is also reflected in the artwork for »Hug of Gravity,« which is based on drawings Loher made during his residency at Blenio Valley. Their fine hand-drawn lines run in parallel and let incidental patterns emerge, an effect that is only multiplied when the six different drawings that accompany each vinyl copy of the album are overlapping, forming ever-new visual constellations.

Shadows Lifted from Invisible Hands is an autobiographical record, comprised of four songs that Hoff refers to as ambient media. Each track is composed from sources drawn from his own involuntary aural landscape, specifically musical earworms and tinnitus frequencies.

Neither sound nor a daydream, the earworm (or stuck song) emblematizes music as a commercial form—immediate, ubiquitous, and persistent. Likewise, tinnitus is inaudible and unscrupulous, manifesting across a spectrum of frequencies at will. The cognitive swirling of these phenomena provides an ambivalent, internal soundtrack that scores a person’s movement through the world.

Those suffering from tinnitus or those who have grown accustomed to the “Tinnitus Effect” in movies will likely recognize the buzzing pitches on the record, but will likely not recognize the songs. Distorted and distilled, Shadows Lifted from Invisible Hands features altered versions of four commercial pop songs: Blondie’s “Heart of Glass,” David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” Madonna’s “Into the Groove,” and Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day.”

Having been haunted by these songs on and off for years, Hoff tweaks the tracks, transposing and recomposing them for orchestral instrumentation. Speaking back to these involuntary echoes, these tracks go to great lengths to obfuscate their sources; to be sure not to simply re-introduce each earworm, as though they were samples. Otherwise, what’s the point? No one needs another stream.

Besides, earworms are not music, although we perceive them as such. They are non-cochlear and exist as an affective force that is neither subjective nor objective, which is to say they are an invasive—and alien—phenomenon. Like tinnitus, they are aggravated by economic, social, and environmental forces as well as emotional states, mental health, and aging. Hoff doesn’t underplay his own struggles with mental health in discussing the record—noting a long history of depression and its acuteness over the last few years, which serve as the backdrop to the composition of this record.

Scratch any pop song hard enough and you’ll find sadness underneath it. Subdermal, the songs on this record evoke a type of ephemeral weariness and despair. By recasting the original songs through their shadowy doubles, Hoff provides a window into the dark core of pop music. At the center of which lies capitalism’s desperate attempt to replicate itself through a cheap high built on echoing refrains. Just below the surface the listener finds a hangover of shadows dancing through the mind.

Swan Song

The vinyl LP at the heart of this éthiopiques 31 tracks 2 to 11 was one of the very last vinyl records ever released in Ethiopia. But above all it represents, we felt, the absolute masterpiece of the Ethiopian Groove – the Swan Song of Swinging Addis. The album leaves a clear idea for posterity of the level of sophistication and mastery that modern Ethiopian music had achieved, before being crushed under the Stalino-military heel of the Derg – as the bloody revolution that was unfolding came to be called.

Ethiopia1976.

The Revolution that broke out in February 1974 rolled on in a ruthless march. The whole of Ethiopian society was utterly stunned. The bouquets of flowers handed joyfully to the first tanks of the coup d'état were to wilt very rapidly. From September 1976 to February 1978, 18 months of Red Terror (the name given by the junta itself) spilled blood throughout the country. This fratricidal conflict took its heaviest toll among students and youth. The shift from feudalism to a cruel and primitive Stalinism left the country's citizens deeply traumatised, and snuffed out any pretence of activism, whatever the sector of society. This ice age was to last for seventeen long years.

ሙሉቀን፡መለሰ Mulukèn Mellèssè Muluqän Mälläsä

It was three tracks by Muluken that served as the opener for éthiopiques-1 more than 25 years ago. Seven more tracks appeared on éthiopiques-3 and 13, all accompanied by The Equators, which was soon to become the Dahlak Band.

The first track, Hédètch alu, also the very first piece that Muluken ever recorded, left audiences both unsettled and amazed. Reflecting the singer's extremely young age (he was just 17 at the time), this angelic voice mystified many, who thought they were in fact listening to a feminine voice. He was not yet 22 when he released his last vinyl record in 1976 with Kaifa Records (KF 39LP), one of the very last to be issued in Ethiopia, before the cassette tape became the dominant medium for music distribution – and before the new revolutionary regime put a stop to all independent musical life, via an unspeakable barrage of prohibitions and other persecutions.

Mulu qèn, literally, “A well filled day”. This tender maternal intention wasn't enough to ward off the cruelty of fate. His mother's premature death drove Muluken to leave his native Godjam, in northeast Ethiopia, to live with an uncle in Addis Ababa. Born Muluken Tamer, he took his uncle's last name – Mèllèssè.

The spelling Muluken appeared in his administrative records. Transcription of Amharic to the Latin alphabet, both in Ethiopia and for scholars, gives rise to controversies and quibbles that can never be neatly settled. French allows for a closer approximation of the original pronunciation, thanks to its battery of accent marks, confusing as they may be to anglophones.

Between rather accommodating administrative record-keepers and the various versions that pop up in interviews given by the artist, Muluken's year of birth oscillates between 1953 and 1955…

1954? One thing is certain: the artist's talent made itself known very early indeed, because he got his start in 1966-67, at the age of 13 or 14. Photos from the period attest to his extreme youth. It's a strange sort of initiation for a very young teenager to become a sensation in the heart of Addis's nightlife at the time, Woubé Bèrèha – the Wilds of Woubé. And what's more, in the club of the Queen of the Night, the Godjamé Assègèdètch Alamrèw herself, the very same that was portrayed by Sebhat Guèbrè-Egziabhér in his novel-memoir Les Nuits d’Addis Abeba2… The legendary female club owner who is remembered to this day by the capital's ageing boomers.

Muluken first tried his hand at the drums, before he grabbed the microphone. He emigrated briefly to the Zula Club, across the street from the old Addis Post Office, one of the ground-breaking bars of the burgeoning musical scene, before joining the Second Police Band in 1968, for around three years. He spent a few months with the short-lived Blue Nile Band founded by saxophonist Besrat Tammènè. As the musical scene grew increasingly successful, and pulled slowly but decisively away from its institutional ties, Muluken released his first 45rpm single in February 1972 (Amha Records AE 440). It was included in two LP Ethiopian Hit Parade compilation albums in September of the same year. All in all, Muluken released eight two-track 45s and the same number of original cassette tapes between February 1972 and 1984, the year that he departed for permanent exile in the USA. After converting to Pentecostalism in 1980, Muluken gradually abandoned all secular musical activity. In 1985, at the end of a concert in Philadelphia, he decided to quit concerts and recording for good. Mèlakè Gèbré, the historic bass player from the Walias band who was playing with him that night, recalls that everything appeared so irredeemably diabolical in Muluken's eyes, that it was to be the end of his contribution to Ethiopian Groove.

The end of the story, the beginning of a legend.

Dahlak Band, forgotten by History

Aside from his personal history and vocal talents, it must be remembered that Muluken Mèllèssè was one of the biggest names in the musical innovations that marked the end of the imperial period. These éthiopiques aim to convince those who are just discovering this hidden gem... As for Ethiopians themselves, they are to this day captivated by this singular and atypical figure in the Abyssinian pop landscape – even though he withdrew from public life some 40 years ago. Incorrigible devotees of poetic twists, of more or less hidden meanings, Ethiopians appreciate above all the care Muluken took in choosing his lyrics and the writers who penned them, such as Feqerte Haylou, Alemtsehay Wodajo and, here, Shewalul Mengistu (1944-1977). Love songs, written by women, a far cry from the conventional drivel that pleases sappy sentimentalists.

Muluken is equally acclaimed for his perfectionism when it came to music, the opposite of the overly casual approach that is all too common. He remained a faithful partner of musicians who came from a lineage that borrowed from several inventive and pioneering bands (Venus, Equators, Dahlak). Amongst them were certain artists who began their musical lives with Nersès Nalbandian at the Haile Sellassie Theatre and who come of age in around 1973 – at just the wrong time, you might say. Among them were the pillars Shimèlis Bèyènè (trumpet), Dawit Yifru (keyboards) and Tilayé Gèbrè (sax & flute). Most notably Tilayé Gèbrè, certainly one of the most important musicians, composers and arrangers of his generation, of the end of the imperial era, and of the early years of the Derg.

It was only in 1981 that a miraculous opportunity arose for Tilayé to escape the Stalinist paradise of the dictator Menguistou Haylè-Maryam. Once again it was Amha Eshèté (1946-2021) who provided a solution. The spirited and courageous producer, who had been in exile in Washington since 1975, succeeded, thanks to his incredible perseverence, in bringing the Walias Band to the USA. It was, in fact an extended Walias Band comprising ten musicians3, six of whom chose to slip away after a few concerts and the recording of an LP (The Best of Walias, WRS 100). Tilayé Gèbrè was one of these. He has been living in the USA ever since. There he joined the then-nascent Ethiopian diaspora, which lived largely unto itself, and was making only very modest headway in the American musical market. It seems unfair that Tilayé Gèbrè and the Dahlak Band were not able to benefit earlier from the public recognition that they do deserve.

A similar draining away of the top-rate talents would lead to the reorganization of the major groups of the “Derg Time”. The remaining artists spread themselves around between Ibex Band (renamed Roha Band), Ethio Star Band and a remodeled Walias Band. That spelled the end of the Dahlak Band.

With this record, produced by the essential Ali Abdella Kaifa a.k.a. Ali Tango, we can appreciate everything that the Derg not only destroyed, but also prevented from flourishing. This gem of Ethiopian-style afrobeat came out in 1976 (and, by way of a parenthesis, before the FESTAC 1977 in Lagos, which was attended by an impressive delegation of Ethiopian musicians — although Fela was already personna non grata in his own country). Despite everything that might distinguish this ethio-groove from Fela’s music – no colonial axe to grind, no question of political confrontation with the authorities, no claims to negritude or Africanism for the Ethiopian musicians, and less extrovertion! –, this LP fits beautifully into the saga of intense and electrified soul of the new “African” groove that Fela and Manu Dibango embodied so well from that point onwards.

In restoring this record to its place in the afrobeat epic, it can be seen that, if nothing else, the timeline bestows a legitimate pedigree and a historical primacy to works that had no international impact when they were originally released.

Warning! Masterpiece!

Reissue of the 3rd full length by Thomas Bücker aka Bersarin Quartett.

Melancholia. Longing. It is difficult to speak about these moods or states of the mind without invoking stereotypes. In ancient medicine, melancholia was considered to be one of the four temperaments, matching the four humours. In fact, melancholia, meaning "black bile" in Ancient Greek, was thought to be caused by an excess of this very body substance. By contrast, in more modern interpretations, literates and Freudians relate many variations of longing to the one primordial longing, the desire to return to one's mother's womb. In this context, the womb is considered to be the place of absolute comfort and cosiness, of total bliss. Thus it should not be surprising that to many of us melancholia is a mood which we like to invoke and to maintain, we like to envelop ourselves in it like in a warm blanket. Our brain and our sensory systems appear to be made for perceiving and emotionally responding to music in a very immediate fashion. Consequently music is the obvious drug for all of us melancholia-addicts. However, there is a thin line between melancholia and sadness, and music which is meant to be melancholic too often crosses this line by far. Only very few artists succeed in avoiding this crossing, and in creating music which is melancholia in its most pure form. It is safe to say that BERSARIN QUARTETT - the electronic music project of Thomas Bücker - is one of them.

After his debut in 2008 and the sophomore "II" in 2012 - album of the month in many magazines and in numerous "Best of the year" lists - Bücker in 2015 returned with his third BERSARIN QUARTETT album "III". Much like his two predecessors, III is a pure paradox. It is the creation of a perfectionist, an adamant control freak. Every element, be it a note, an ambience layer, a string arrangement, a field recording, a baseline, a vocal (Clara Hill on Track 11) or a beat, is meticulously modified and then assigned its place in Bücker's vast but still minimalistic arrangements. Thus, superficially Bücker's pieces seem to radiate a certain mechanical bleakness. However, there is a unique reduced warmth and liveliness emerging from these stainless compositions and transcending them. This transcendence is precisely the point where Bücker ironically looses control over his creations. In contrast to the first two BERSARIN QUARTETT albums, III offers a few darker shades and succeeds even further in narrowing down the arrangements to the absolute essentials without loosing the characteristic grandeur of Bücker's sound. Whereas BERSARIN QUARTETT's debut was merely a description of melancholia in its most pure form, III maybe even goes as far a defining what melancholia really is. It is the only emotion in the vast spectrum of human states of mind which one can bear forever.

Kulture Galerie releases its 3rd Digital Artefacts cassette tape: "Mediterranean Blue" by NYC's own Alien D. Alien D is back on Kulture Galerie. Prior to this, Daniel Creahan has been featured on labels such as Lillerne Tapes, Banlieue Records, and Theory Therapy, and now shares a 6 track EP called Mediterranean Blue that lands on Filippo MSM's tapes series Digital Artefacts, the label's more experimental output.

The work is something of a companion piece to his recent release on Theory Therapy, “For the Early Hours of the World in Bloom,” exploring similar states with a more hazy, fluid sensibility. The compositions here trace back to a week spent several years prior on the Puglia coastline, where, in the midst of a read through of Helene Cixious’s Tomb(e), he began compiling a series of works drawing the gleaming sun, swirling waves and jagged, rocky coastline of the region, mixing in fragments of slow, pulsing low end, wafting synth elements and a range of processed samples dwelling on states of transition, life and love. Waves and dripping water swirl around lilting saxophone, kick drums drown the mix in heavily side-chained throbs of bass, and breaks rush in and out of the mix, making for a series of recordings that seem to view the dancefloor as a dream, always front of mind but hazily remembered.

“I was obsessed with these balances between the light-washed, dusty landscape and these quiet modest homes dotting the hills, and all I could think about was the passage of time, falling in and out and back in love, and the slow drift of memory,” he says. “It was like waking up with a new thought.”

HOUSE BY THE CEMETARY, the 'supergroup' led by former MONSTROSITY and VILE frontman and current artwork artist Mike Hrubovcak and Rogga Johansson from PAGANIZER and RIBSPREADER are releasing their third full-length, "Disturbing The Cenotaph". Since the duo, completed by former THE PROJECT HATE drummer Thomas Ohlsson, originally picked up their moniker as an homage to the 1981 cult horror flick of the same name, it shouldn't come as a surprise they've once again paying tribute to director Lucio Fulci (1927-1996) in one of this album most lethal salvo, 'New York Ripper'. Elsewhere on this third album, other tracks like 'Undead Apocalypse' or 'Burial Disturbance' were inspired by other famous horror classics like "Night Of The Living Dead" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", Hrubovcak has come up in his lyrics with his own tales of terror. Some are totally fictional like, 'Coffin Colony' about a "diseased homeless living in underground coffins who gets infected with rabies after eating sewer rats". Others, like 'Lunatic Butcher' are inspired by real-life events or, in that case, by the antics and vicious killings of Paul John Knowles, dubbed 'the Casanova killer'. Musically speaking, Johansson jokes about "every band saying that their new album is their best but that's actually true here eh eh! This album is HOUSE BY THE CEMETARY on steroids. The sound is broad and impious, the vocals are awesome and the heavy riffing interlaced with occasional melody makes an overall varied, fun and GORY listen!" Completed, like on 2024's "The Mortuary Hauntings", by a gruesome artwork courtesy Felipe Mora (whose nightmarish visions can already be seen on albums by CONSUMPTION, ACHERON or WOMBBATH) and mixed by Håkan Stuvemark from WOMBBATH, Disturbing The Cenotaph is one raw, in-your-face and eight songs packed death-metal-to-the-core album ready to chill you to the bone!

"I want nothing more than to be a loner," Emily Kempf sings early on Flower of Devotion, the new album by Chicago trio Dehd. It's a startling admission coming from a songwriter who, just a year ago on Dehd's critically acclaimed Water, wrote eloquently about the joys and pains _ more than anything, the necessity _ of love, compassion, and companionship. But then, "admission" isn't really the right word here, given the stridency of Kempf's tone. "Loner" is a declaration. The record ups the ante on Dehd's sound & filters in just enough polish to bring out the shining and melancholy undertones in Jason Balla and Emily Kempf's songwriting, even as it captures them at their most strident. Balla's guitar lines at times flirt with ticklish cosmic country, while at others they reflect the dark marble sounds of Broadcast. Kempf, meanwhile, establishes herself as a singer of incredible expressive range, pinching into a high lonesome wail, letting loose a chirping "ooh!," pushing her voice below its breaking point and letting it swing down there. When she and Balla bounce descending counter-melodies off one another over McGrady's one-two thumps, or skitter off over a programmed drum pad, they sound like The B-52s shaking off heartache. What makes Flower of Devotion so impressive is how its creation seems to have strengthened its creators, both as individuals and as a unit, even as they've stared down their own limitations. It's also striking just how much fun they seem to be having in the process. "It's okay to be lighthearted in the face of despair," Kempf says. It's a theme that runs through the album, from the opening back-and-forth build of "Desire" to the click-clacking chorus of "Haha," which finds them deflating their own history. Flower of Devotion was recorded in April and August of 2019 in Chicago. It will be released on Fire Talk Records on July 17th 2020.

Rakkit Records is a brand new label that specialises in darkside jungle techno.

Heading in a different direction to Radman's older releases, this EP is inspired by two of his young loves: London squat parties and militant EA raves. That darkside hardcore sound you'd hear in the morning at the squats, with the energy of the main event at a Thetford Forest party. Dark, stompin', and drenched in 303s.

It's dedicated to one of his partners in crime of the time, Phil Sayer, who introduced him to much of the above and always pushed Radman to keep releasing tunes, with his support and brutal critique. Radman took samples of one of Phil's original poems for the track ACAB, from his performance in his old living room. Phil loved vinyl, 303s, darkside and hardcore, so we think he woulda been chuffed.

Just 150 copies getting pressed. Once they're gone, they're gone.

Analogue Productions (Atlantic 75 Series) Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of Atlantic Records! Platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated album featuring the No. 1 smash title track! Tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jacket by Stoughton Printing Female R&B singers were expected to be forceful, big-voiced divas (like Aretha Franklin) or come-hither seductresses (like Diana Ross), but, as AllMusic says, Roberta Flack had her own unique approach. Flack's voice is vast, deep, and stately — where some singers confuse frenzy with passion, she is confident, majestic, and unhurried, intense in a profound yet reserved manner.

The title song of this 1973 masterful eight track album, "Killing Me Softly," was her second No. 1 hit, establishing her as a major modern R&B stylist. Killing Me Softly reached No. 3 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape and No. 2 on the Soul LPs chart. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the album gold on August 27, 1973, and double platinum on January 30, 2006, denoting shipments of 2 million copies in the United States. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year, which it lost to Stevie Wonder's 1973 album Innervisions. The album's title track was released as a single and topped the Billboard Hot 100. The title track won the 1974 Grammy Award for Record of the Year. This deluxe 180-gram 45 RPM 2LP Analogue Productions (Atlantic Series) reissue of Killing Me Softly is a true audiophile gem and a worthy addition to your music collection.

Supergroups existed before Emerson, Lake & Palmer formed in 1970. And, as we all know well, many came after. But few, if any, matched the English trio’s chemistry and its elevated combination of virtuosity, vision, and verve. Having influenced a multitude of followers, ELP’s prowess was obvious from the start. The band’s self-titled debut stands as a towering statement of creative imagination, execution, and discipline more than five decades after its original release.

Mastered at MoFi’s California studio, housed in a Stoughton jacket, and pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, Mobile Fidelity’s numbered-edition 180g 33RPM LP of Emerson, Lake & Palmer presents the benchmark album in audiophile sound. Clear, dynamic, and balanced, this collectible edition honors the perfectionist approaches that both informed the playing and recording of the record.

Distinguished with black backgrounds, this reissue brings to light the epic scope, tonal depth, and mind-bending degrees of musicianship on display. Aspects — textures, nuances, effects, melodies, tempo changes — that go hand-in-hand with the trio’s compositions and interplay are rendered amid broad soundstages and delivered with pinpoint detail. Whether you’ve owned multiple copies of this touchstone or seeking out your first version, you’ll relish the presence, separation, imaging, and crispness that help make every song come across as if the group has set up shop in your listening space.

Opening the door to the seemingly infinite possibilities of progressive rock while steering clear of excess, Emerson, Lake & Palmer achieved a rare feat in that its complex, cerebral music didn’t prevent it from attaining mainstream success. The gold-certified effort launched the career of a band that would sell tens of millions of records. It also landed a Top 50 single in the form of the ballad “Lucky Man,” whose vocal harmonies, folksy strumming, multi-tracked instrumentation, and breakthrough Moog solo almost feel quaint in the face of the other fare on the album.

Comprised of genre-defying originals and hybrid arrangements of two classical pieces, the album Rolling Stone originally and rightly said is “best heard as a whole” matches outrageous ambition with the otherworldly skills of three musicians who remain among the finest to ever pick up their respective instruments. While Emerson soon drew the lion’s share of headlines for his ability on keys — clavinet, Moog, piano, Hammond organ, and pipe organ included — Greg Lake’s aptitude on guitar and bass, along with well as Carl Palmer’s monster talents behind the kit, created a three-headed hydra that devoured everything in front of it.

That extends to the radical reinterpretation of Bela Bartok’s “The Barbarian” that begins the LP, a performance that in less than four-and-a-half minutes runs the gamut from distorted to churchy to angular and blustery. More classical flourishes, keyboard wizardry, hard-rock heaviness, and gothic signatures emerge throughout “Knife-Edge,” which reimagines music by Leos Janacek and J.S. Bach — and ultimately invites you to explore a cathedral of sound teeming with separate bursts of keys and percussion.

And did someone say “drumming”? Check out Palmer’s monster salvo on “Tank,” a rhythmic showcase that marches out with knee-bent notes and mirror-reflected passages. Or dive into the mythological suite “The Three Fates.” Replete with three parts and Emerson playing the pipe organ at Royal Festival Hall, it shoots off sonic fireworks via sophisticated arpeggios, jazz improvisations, dancing counter-meters, sizzling chords, and a few explosions. Please don’t hold anyone at MoFi responsible if your system cannot handle it; this is heady stuff.

Indeed, everything on Emerson, Lake & Palmer is there for a purpose. Whether you aim to attempt to dissect all of the notes, shifts, and polyrhythmic bluster or just want to absorb this album as one living, breathing organism, this version invites you to do both as many times as you desire.

'The joyous harmonies and high-octane jive dances of South Africa’s greatest mbaqanga girlgroup, the Mahotella Queens, have enthralled audiences for six decades. "Buya Buya: Come Back" is the first full album of exciting new Queens material in nearly 20 years and marks their long-awaited return to the world stage. "These songs are in the Mahotella Queens’ original style and I can promise fans that it has been worth the wait," says lead singer Hilda Tloubatla, who at the grand age of 83 is the group’s last surviving original member. Hilda has been leading the Queens with her famously resonant voice since the beginning in 1964 and is now actively preparing the ground for the group’s future. She is now accompanied on record and on stage by the youthful voices of Amanda Nkosi and Nonku Maseko – the next generation of Queens – proof if ever it were needed that the mbaqanga beat is as indestructible now as it was 60 years ago. "Buya Buya: Come Back" is the group’s debut album for Umsakazo Records in the UK and is being launched with a two-week tour of Japan, the first performances of the Mahotella Queens outside South Africa since 2019 and their first appearance in Japan since 2005.'

The tapes for “Ronnie McNeir Makes A Move” were found in Mickey Stevenson’s extensive master tape collection. A full new LP of classic McNeir is an absolute treat for his many soul fans; particularly in Europe where he is so admired.
Ronnie recorded over twenty tracks with Mickey Stevenson’s production company in 1971. Eleven of these were featured on his RCA LP “Ronnie McNeir”, but another ten were left in the vaults.

The title track, ‘Let’s Make A Move’ is an urgent, exciting funk sound, composed with Ronnie’s frequent writing partner, Andre Moore. ‘I’m Sorry’ is an earlier version of ‘Gone Away’ which featured on the 1972 RCA “Ronnie McNeir” LP, without the female singer’s vocal response track.
‘Say You’ is the Motown song first recorded by the Monitors in 1965. It has a more laid-back treatment here, giving it a whole new dimension. We issued the single version on a Kent Select 45 in 2022; both versions are featured on the CD. Another re-envisaged Motown number is ‘The Girl’s Alright With Me’ which features Hodges, James, Smith & Crawford’s backing vocals − as do other tracks on this album. Surprisingly, Bob Dylan’s ‘Blowing In The Wind’ is also covered; in a pleasing, jaunty treatment.

‘My Day Will Come’ is a slow-burning number Ronnie co-wrote with his wife Mona. It is one he is particularly proud of and has been picked up by modern soul DJs as a potential crossover hit. ‘Tell Your Mama’ is a sensuous, Marvin Gaye-influenced groove, while ‘East Side, West Side’ is more streetwise, dealing with the social problems that face many young people.

As a multi-instrumentalist, heavily influenced by jazz, it comes as no surprise that Ronnie would record two jazz / soul instrumental jams which he simply named ‘Ronnie’s Bag #1’ and ‘Ronnie’s Bag #2’. The tracks are keyboard-lead, piano and possibly organ – or more likely one of the early synthesisers that Ronnie pioneered. ‘Ronnie’s Bag #1’ is more jazz-oriented, while ‘Ronnie’s Bag #2’ goes funky.

Teddy is the accumulation of past projects. Swims stands for: someone who isn’t me sometimes, a reference to Teddy’s struggle to integrate the different parts of himself. For Teddy, the goal is to break barriers and bring people together. About the project, Teddy says, “There are no categories, no stereotypes, no statistic is a definite number. Until we learn to see every person as an individual, we will never truly reach unity.”

It's rare to hear a debut 12' single that really blows you away. That's hardly a controversial statement; in truth, most producers take time to find their feet, developing a distinct style over a period of years, rather than months.
Magnesii, then, is something special. Currently based in Amsterdam. The previously unheard of producer has delivered a stunning debut 12' for Tom Trago's Voyage
Direct label. R Raw, fuzzy and in turns melancholic, spellbinding and intense, its' three tracks bubble and hiss to the distinct sound of vintage analogue hardware.

You see, the young Dutch producer tends to avoid modern computers. 'I often feel like those screens suck my soul away,' he says. Instead, he jams out tunes on a tasteful selection of analogue gear, sequencing with either the Alesis MMT-8 or the Akai MPC2000 - a favourite toy of many of the Netherlands' best electronic producers - and adding basslines, beats, acid lines and melodies on obscure synths and drumcomputers'. His creations are then bounced down straight to 1/4" tape or cassette.

Some of these resultant jams, as showcased on this impressive debut, are nothing less than inspired. Acid lines rise and fall, machine drums rattle, and distinctive synth
lines weave in and out of the mix. These are raw tracks for the dancefloor blessed with all the colour and warmth associated with vintage hardware.

'RZTB Tantra' sets the tone, layering bubbling acid lines and dreamy chords over a relentlessly nagging bassline and punchy, scattergun drum machine percussion. 'Lava Jam' is decidedly deeper, with woozy, emotive melodies and alien electronics tumbling over a dusty rhythm pattern and tactile acid bass.

Magnesii completes a sterling debut with 'Van Dyke Island Jam', whose squidgy bassline and long, drawn-out M1 chords work in complete harmony with the crispy rhythm track and densely building percussion hits. Like its' predecessor, it too seems to be tinged with sadness, as if Magnesii's machines are shedding a tear for glories past.

Clearly, Magnesii is a name to look out for in future. For the time being, we'll have to make do with one of the most impressive debut 12' singles of 2014 to date.

Chaos is fundamental for creating something powerful. It teaches us to be at ease with how things are, to listen to ourselves, and find our own order’. (Enrico Sangiuliano)

Pioneering, avant garde yet chart-storming sound designer/producer/live performer Enrico Sangiuliano drops EP ‘Order In Chaos’ as release #1 in his self-destructing countdown imprint ‘NINETOZERO’, out 20th November. The EP’s three tracks respectively represent a triptych of sound exploring tension, release, and dissolution, with violinist and composer Vito Gatto joining Italian techno/melodic maestro Sangiuliano for tracks 1 and 3. The EP blends electronic, classical and electro-acoustic genres, resulting in a fresh, unique product that defies typical techno expectation, as Sangiuliano and Gatto explore the concept of disorder as a creative playground.

‘With this chapter, we dive into chaos – something that can be uncomfortable, but is the place in which you can find unexpected or new ideas. Chaos is fundamental for creating something powerful. It teaches us to be at ease with how things are, to listen to ourselves, and find our own order’. (Sangiuliano)

The ‘Order In Chaos’ EP continues a momentous year for Enrico Sangiuliano, and heralds his upcoming all-night-long SOLO show at Nitsa in Barcelona (Nov 28th, tickets here). His highly acclaimed NINETOZERO label has also previously featured Charlotte de Witte, Antonio d’Africa, Mattia Saviolo, GMS, Alex Lentini, STOMP BOXX, Zimmz, Secret Cinema and About Sofiya.

Vito Gatto is a Milan-based violinist, composer and sound explorer. He is the founder of label/collective NeMu (‘Neutral Mutation’) producing Italian projects at the interface of electronic and organic sound. His self-description as ‘Making sounds, looking for silence’ makes him the perfect collab partner for ‘Order In Chaos’, which ‘embraces the paradox: chaos births order, and order dissolves back into chaos.’

‘Whilst classically trained, I have always been fascinated by the world of electronic music, in all its expressive forms’ Gatto says. ‘I use real instruments and natural sound sources processing them through electronics to enhance their unpredictability, always remembering that the core of music - whether classical or electronic - is communication and storytelling. This philosophy guided our creative synthesis on this release.’

The collaborative workflow combined remote and in-person studio work over roughly a year, culminating in these three key tracks reflecting different musical and conceptual layers.

‘Order In Chaos’ EP tracks:
Enrico Sangiuliano & Vito Gatto ‘Adaptation for Strings and 909’: A cinematic overture built from the raw intimacy of Vito Gatto’s violin, processed and layered with unquantized 909 drums. Out of grid, out of rules. Drama and turbulence surge until thunderous kicks strike like sudden storms. ‘This track symbolises both of us. Vito sent the strings, I added the iconic Roland 909. It has no structure and no grid, the arrangement is not precise, it’s a very pure track and a great example of disorder and freedom.’
Enrico Sangiuliano ‘Order in Chaos’: The title track is a pure techno weapon and dancefloor igniter: rolling, stripped, euphoric. A shape-shifting lead synth constantly mutates, flirting with disorder until the kick restores gravity. Chaos becomes dancefloor order.
Enrico Sangiuliano & Vito Gatto ‘Dissolution’: The closing moment. Strings and drums dissolve into a weightless drone. Beatless and infinite, it invites surrender into space. ‘This cinematic track slowly melts ‘Order in Chaos’, adding processed organic sounds and field recordings from the mountains.. coming back to nature, and silence.’ (Gatto).

Still #0 to go in the NINETOZERO countdown… And then what? With Sangiuliano, it’ll be something unexpected and brilliantly innovative.

“Godzilla just walked into the room. People just stood there with their eyes and mouths wide open.” To hear Randy Holden describe the audience’s reaction in 1969 to his solo debut performing with a teeth-rattling phalanx of 16 (sixteen!) 200 watt Sunn amps is about as close as one will get to truly experience the moment heavy metal music morphed into existence. However, at last Riding Easy have unearthed the proper fossil record. Population II, the now legendary, extremely rare album by guitarist / vocalist Holden and drummer / keyboardist Chris Lockheed is considered to be one of the earliest examples of doom metal.

Though its original release was a very limited in number and distribution, like all great records, its impact over time has continued to grow. In 1969, Holden, fresh off his tenure with proto-metal pioneers Blue Cheer (appearing on one side of the New! Improved! Blue Cheer album and touring for the better part of a year in the group), aimed for more control over his band. Thus, Randy Holden - Population II was born, the duo naming itself after the astronomical term for a particular star cluster with heavy metals present. “I wanted to do something that hadn’t been done before,” Holden explains. “I was interested in discordant sounds that could be melodic but gigantically huge. I rented an Opera house for rehearsal, set up with 16 Sunn amps. That’s what I was going for, way over the top.” And over the top it is. The six-song album delves into leaden sludge, lumbering doom and epic soaring riffs that sound free from all constraints of the era. It’s incredibly heavy, but infused with a melodic, albeit mechanistic, sensibility.

Troubles with the album’s release bankrupted Holden, who subsequently left music for over two decades. It was bootlegged several times over the years, but until now hasn’t seen a proper remaster and has yet to be available on digital platforms. “The original mastering just destroyed the dynamics of it,” Holden says. “They flattened it out. Now we got a really nice remaster that should be the closest thing to the original recording.”

Lunfardo presents “Aurora" introducing the fourth conceptual album that deep dives into Uruguayan culture and misticism once again.

On March 3, 1976, Ángel María Tonna, owner of the ¨La Aurora¨ ranch in Paysandú, observed a strange flash of light near his shed. Upon approaching, he found a spaceship suspended 75 meters high, with an intense circular light that caused radiation effects later discovered in the ground. Simultaneously, a blackout occurred in the nearby cities of Paysandú and Salto, and several witnesses of lights crossing the sky were documented in the local press by major newspapers such as El Telegrafo.

Thereafter, Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, visited Uruguay and the ranch several times, eight times to be exact. He shared photos of flying objects with Tonna and left a drawing in the house depicting space and "supreme beings." Despite UFO reports throughout Uruguay, ¨La Aurora¨ remains a mystical place. The truth is out there, or as it is sayed beneath there.

“Aurora EP¨ immerses us in two sides divided between Molen and Qasio. Side A invites us to explore the inexplicable in an abduction, a “close encounter” (Encuentro cercano) that transports us directly on a journey through outer space but also immerses us in the mysteries of "Ulimen." Side B offers a profound guide to worlds of "dark matter” (Materia Oscura), disconcerting presences, “orbs”(Orbes), and galaxies above our heads

A synthesiser sighs up and down the scale, a cool electro beat is wrapped in cotton wool and Fabian Drung aka JFR MOON sings about life in a bubble. "In a Bubble" is the name of this beautifully sentimental synth pop number, to which JFR Moon's new album owes its name. Although JFR MOON produces his music more professionally from album to album, the indie pop characterised by synthesizers and electro beats never seems too pleasing, remains unruly. Sometimes the pieces wander through curious psychedelic harmonies ("Silver"), sometimes they remind us of the Smiths ("Turn Around"), sometimes they stumble onto the dance floor ("Experience"). Blurred chords flit through "Stereo Tap", a yearning guitar melody wanders through "Ready", a nervous synth bass twitches through "Hun I Wish". Grooves meet echoing atmospheric sound textures. "I used to do folk where there was no rhythm at all," he says, "this time I wanted to write more uptempo songs, pay more attention to the drum machine." All tracks written and performed by JFR Moon. Mixed and produced by Thomas Zehnle (All Diese Gewalt, Levin Goes Lightly). Mastered by Enyang Urbiks. Additional vocals on ,In A Bubble" by Martha Rose. Solo guitar on ,Silver" by Dandy Deniz.

Working with elite keys player Ross Stanley (steadily making ripples on the world stage through his work with legends like Maceo Parker, and more recently with Robben Ford), guitarist Nigel Price says: "I've never heard Ross play a bad note, and he absolutely played out of his skin on this record." Joel Barford is one of the most exciting and vibrant young drummers on the scene today. He relishes the space and freedom of the organ trio format, which is totally evident on this new recording.

Six of the nine pieces are original Price compositions, confirming his strength as a writer, especially for this tight, powerful unit. A relaxed recording session brought out the best in these three master musicians, and the result is an exciting collection of captivating music. Nigel Price is acknowledged as one of the foremost UK exponents of jazz guitar. He has played on more than 60 albums including eight as a leader, spent 10 years with acid jazz outfit The Filthy Six, was a member of James Taylor's band, JTQ, for three years (with whom he recorded five albums) and performed with the legendary David Axelrod. Price has worked tirelessly to organise his own tours, with epic tours he's organised for the Nigel Price Organ Trio becoming the stuff of legend.

The Tedeschi Trucks Band is an 11-piece ensemble made up of guitarist-vocalist Susan Tedeschi's and guitarist Derek Trucks' band,
known for their unique mix of rock, blues, gospel, soul, and Americana. Their 2011 debut album won them the 2012 Grammy Award
for Best Blues Album and since then have released four more studio albums and three live albums, of which this is their first.

The songs on this album are compiled from recordings made on three tour dates in October 2011 and feature tunes from their debut
album rearranged, expanded, and extended in true jam band fashion. But, they never seem to resort to clichés; guitar prodigy
Derek Trucks introduces the bands’ hit “Midnight in Harlem” by an Indian raga played as a slide guitar solo, just to give an example.

Stevie Wonder’s “Uptight” furthermore showcases their love for soul and jazz. In short, as one reviewer put it succinctly:
“Everybody's Talkin' is what every live album should be: an accurate, exciting reflection of a hot band playing full-throttle.”
Everybody’s Talkin’ is available as a limited edition of 1500 individually numbered copies on red coloured vinyl.

The duality of "man" is a subject that has been explored in art for centuries, from writings of the Bible to Descartes, all the way up to filmmakers like Lynch, Cronenberg, & Carpenter. Who is your "true self" & what do they want? With their sixth studio album "Wish Defense" (again for longtime home Trouble In Mind Records), Chicago trio FACS take a good, long look in the mirror to face themselves. The return of original member Jonathan Van Herik - who stepped away from the group just before their debut album "Negative Houses" was released in 2018 - replacing longtime bassist Alianna Kalaba brings renewed vigor & a marked angularity from the band's more recent output. The songs still hit hard, but the approach is sideways - the roles have changed since Van Herik's original tenure & his previous time with Case & powerhouse drummer Noah Leger in Disappears; now on bass, Van Herik was originally the group's guitar player and features on the debut, while current guitarist Brian Case played bass. This role reversal has helped the band's dynamic, offering up a different musical perspective than before, now revisiting the trio's long-going collaboration with some distance and time. Case notes that the lyrics on "Wish Defense" revolve around doppelgängers or "doubles", tackling the idea of facing yourself and observing your ideas and motivations. Look no further than the album's title track; "Enter the mirror / Double walker / An intimate / Wish defense / Is it real? / You beside me / The detail / Terrifying / Abject self / Your grief / A public / Performance". Case lays out the entire album's theme in one stanza; Are your actions & emotions your true self? Or are they a performative aspect of that "other" person you put forward? Case says that ultimately the sentiment is "_don't let the bastards get you down, there's something beyond this moment, like hope - but not in the naive belief that ultimately people are good". "Wish Defense"s artwork is also a subtle reference to "Negative Houses"' art, returning to that album's black & white starkness & minimalism. The album's checkerboards everywhere are offset reflections of themselves, mirrored with the album's lyrics printed front & center on the cover. Everything is out in the open. A final note; "Wish Defense" is the last album engineered by Steve Albini. Two days were recorded at Electrical Audio in early May of 2024 before Steve's untimely passing, with renowned engineer & friend Sanford Parker stepping in to finish the session 24 hours later, tracking the last bits of vocals and overdubs. Longtime collaborator John Congleton mixed the album as Albini would have; in Electrical Audio's A room, off the tape, using Albini's notes about the session.

Live music needs to offer you something that you cannot get on a studio recording. It's the sense of freedom and intimacy, wondering how the songs will be played and what the reaction will be. Live concerts give you the tingle where the hair stands up on the back of your neck. "Live audiences give you the tension and responsibility to be creative, for me that's the challenge I like," says the iconic Dutch guitarist. After all of these years, you ponder what keeps Jan going out there, night after night. "It's my love to play for people all around the world," he smiles. The supremely gifted guitarist is equaled by very few, and his legendary ability makes him impossible to pigeonhole. His position as Dutch royalty has been cemented; he received the Golden Harp Award in early 2005, Holland's most prestigious music prize, and in 2012, he was appointed Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau. This royal honour recognized his contributions to Dutch music and his influence on musicians worldwide.

Joel Shearer’s Listening Immerses Itself in Ambient Guitar, Restraint, and the Beauty of Repetition

With guitarist and ambient composer Joel Shearer’s new album, Listening, he took the path of repetition, subtle movement, and pure sound rather than conventional songwriting. What began as a disciplined experiment — limiting himself to just electric guitar — soon expanded. At various points, he introduced piano, cello, and trumpet, allowing the record to evolve organically. "I didn’t know I was making another record,” Shearer says. “I was experimenting, wanting to do something beyond just the electric guitar. So, I started these other tracks, and that’s how Listening came about.”

Unlike albums built around hooks or dramatic shifts, Listening unfolds gradually, moving with patience and restraint. There are no choruses, no obvious climaxes — just sound evolving over time. “Instead of a traditional song structure with a verse, chorus, or B section, it’s one continuous movement that grows and dissolves,” Shearer explains. “It’s not about anticipating the next moment—it’s about sitting inside the sound, getting comfortable with patience.” A Topanga-based session musician, composer, and producer, Shearer’s previous solo albums, Morning Loops and Hours, explored the manipulation of only the electric guitar, using texture and repetition to push beyond conventions. Listening continues that journey, offering music that resists distraction and rewards deep attention.

Shearer recorded Listening without a click track, working in long, freeform takes. His shimmering, clean guitar tones—often unrecognizable, processed through looping pedals and effects—became a foundation, with layers of sound building around it. “I love making the guitar sound like anything but a guitar,” he says. “I might play for just a minute, but once the sound enters the effects chain, it takes on a life of its own. The music keeps evolving, stretching time in ways I couldn’t predict.”

The opening piece, “Big Sur,” is an 11-minute meditation that drifts in slow, hypnotic waves, its layered guitar textures sparkling like light over water. The piece moves without urgency, subtly transforming as it pulls the listener deeper into its atmosphere. “Threshold” features a delicate piano melody that gradually unfurls, allowing its essence to fully settle before the next emerges. Subtle layers of ambient guitar weave around the piano, stretching and dissolving into the background, creating a sense of stillness and slow expansion.

At nearly 15-minutes, “The Clear Light of the Void” is a slow-burning study in sustain and resonance. Layers of guitar stretch and dissolve into an open, drifting soundscape, each note lingering and shifting like a breath held in suspension. Subtle tonal variations emerge over time, creating a sense of vastness—an expanse where sound is less about movement and more about presence.

“The world is noisy—so much information, so much distraction,” Shearer says. “I wanted to create something that allows people to just be present with the sound, without expectation.” It’s an album that demands nothing from the listener but offers space — to focus, to drift, to listen without waiting for what comes next.

12" splattered Vinyl EP incl. Beiblatt, Bierdeckel und DLC Im Jahr 2015 lieferte die Rockgruppe Die Buben im Pelz einen gewagten musikalischen Stunt ab: die Übertragung des hünenhaften rockgeschichtlichen Referenzalbums The Velvet Underground & Nico ins Wienerische Idiom. Ein mutiger Versuch, der mit einem heftigen Bauchklatscher und darauffolgender, noch schmerzhafterer Schadenfreude des Publikums hätte enden können. Aber nein, die Buben haben ihre Sache wirklich sehr, sehr gut gemacht und ihrerseits ein Referenzalbum der lokalen Wiener Rockmusik vorgelegt. So groß war die Freude über die gelungene Immigration von Lou Reeds New York ins heutige Wien, so anhaltend die Begeisterung für das Oeuvre des amerikanischen Meisters, dass 2023 auch dessen Album Transformer dem Regelbuch für große Coverbands entsprechend für das einheimische Publikum verwandelt wurde. Nun folgt mit dieser köstlich verpackten EP ein finaler Nachschlag, eine Erweiterung zum dreigängigen Menü sozusagen. Und ein mehr als gelungener Abschluss einer nahezu epischen Hommage an eine der wichtigsten Bands und einen der größten Songwriter der Rockgeschichte. Nun befinden wir uns in der letzten Runde: noch einmal VU/Reed, diesmal in Form einer Vinyl-EP. Vier Songs von Frauen, deren Leben irgendwann ins Nicht-ganz-so-Gute abgebogen ist. Vier menschliche Tragödien, zeitlos, poetisch, fundamental traurig mit einem kleinen Funken Hoffnung. Noch einmal Warhol, denn: was sollte man denn einem thematisch so stringenten Tonträger sonst für ein Cover schenken? Noch einmal Kulinarisches: die Campbells-Suppendose natürlich, neben der Banane ein weiteres weltberühmtes Tribut Warhols an das kulinarische Alltagsleben. Aber: wie übertragen wir das ins Wienerische? Eigentlich ganz einfach: indem wir uns aus dem Sortiment des Lokalmatadors, also der Firma Inzersdorfer, versorgen. Die Inzersdorfer-Konservendose, diese Ikone der österreichischen Konsumkultur und Lebensmittelindustriegeschichte ist ein mehr als geeigneter Ersatz für die amerikanische Tomatensuppe. Genauer gesagt: passt. Wie die Faust aufs Strizziauge. Köstlich! Der Grafikdesigner Peter Hirth hat zwei historische Inzersdorfer-Dosen zu einem wunderbar geschmacksintensiven Coversujet verarbeitet. In der Kunstdruckinstitution Quint Screen Print in 1230 Wien wurden daraus im händischen Siebdruck eine farbenprächtige Hommage an die seriellen Arbeiten Warhols aus den 1960er und -70er Jahren gefertigt. Farblich perfekt abgestimmt wurde dazu das Vinyl, klarerweise ebenfalls aus heimischer Produktion. Da haben die Fachleute bei in 8350 Fehring wieder einmal ganze Arbeit geleistet. Und der geschätzte Musikerkollege Austrofred wiederum hat zwischen zwei Festivalaufritten Zeit gefunden, über einem schönen Teller Gulaschsuppe meditierend einen Begleittext zu verfassen, der keine kulturhistorischen Fragen offen lässt. Weder in musikalischer noch in kulinarischer Hinsicht. Mahlzeit!

Featuring the otherworldly vocals of the legendary jazz singer Norma Winstone whose vocals were recently sampled in Drake's 2023 chart topping single IDGAF (feat. Yeat) and Leo Taylor (Floating Points, Hot Chip, Joy Crookes) on drums, the EP is the amalgamation of Barrott's long term fascination with sunset music, and the ways the change of seasons impact the way we co-exist with the sun. As winter draws closer and we move on from the Autumn equinox to Winter solstice, Barrott's latest release captures the transformative yet paradoxical feeling of melancholy over the end of Summer and the start of winter while creating an eerie sensation of serenity.

The EP follows from the release of Barrott's critically acclaimed and deeply personal 2024 album Everything Changes, Nothing Ends.

The new EP sees Barrott return to his beloved sunset music, as he continues his eternal quest to find new ways to soundtrack this sacred Ibiza moment.



Crowned as the"master of sunset music"by Pitchfork, Barrott's new EP is filled with celestial grandeur that stops you in your tracks. A profound musical meditation and an homage to the sunsets of the Autumn months, the EP captures the sonic poetry of the changing skies and the seasons.

The haunting combination of Barrott's production & arrangement skills, Taylor's jazz drums and Winstone's endlessly ethereal vocals soar in a harmonious union across the title track of the EP while the openerI Am The Starssummons you in for a brief respite from the cacophony of the modern world. The wistful second trackMy Blue Heartlingers with you with its melancholic jazz horns swelling side by side with Winstone's vocals while the closing trackI Am The Airfloats through your ears with its sublime contemplativeness. I Am The Sun, You Are The Moonsees Barrott returning to his sonic ruminations on sunsets, however they are more profound and life affirming than ever.



"At the end of the summer, on a clear bright starry night I climbed to the top of a mountain in Ibiza with a pair of headphones and listened to these tracks and lost myself in the vastness of the night sky and the endlessness of Norma's voice. At that moment everything made sense in my world for the first time in a long while and it just felt right",Mark Barrott says.

"I was surprised and delighted to be asked to participate in this very musical project and to be given such a free hand. Trying to integrate the voice into what were already beautifully formed pieces was creatively very interesting", Norma Winstone says

From 1968 through to the mid 1970’s the reggae beat began to slow down,some say due to the extreme heat hitting down onto Kingston Town and its surrounding enclaves. People needed something less strenuous to dance to. The Ska and Rocksteady Sounds (see 101 Orange Street KS007) that rocked Jamaica previously, had now found a slower tempo and become more ‘Dread’ lyrically to suit the times. Reggae music has always moved within the social climate it found itself in and this set here, as we ‘Return To Orange Street’ was ROOTS ROCK REGGAE TIME....

The Rastafarian message that runs through this collection of ‘Reality’, sometimes labelled ‘Sufferers’ music,is strong and works on many levels. It can come across on a heavy rhythm and vocal cut. Its example represented here by Prince Jazzbo’s ‘Dread in a Earth’ and ‘I Roy’s ‘Roots Man Time’, moving through to the popular new sounds of the DJ’s working over an old rhythm and alongside its existing vocal. As with Busty Brown working with Delroy Wilson's ‘Know Your Friend’ and Mr Jah Stitch working over Johnny Clarke’s ‘Roots Natty Roots’ to produce an even more dreader ‘True Born African’. The heartfelt lyric can also convey this message as we can see when Horace Andy laments ‘Where is the Love’ and Delroy Wilson again shows us on his ‘Who Cares’ cut. The great Twinkle Brothers also put the message across on their two cuts we have here, ’Too Late’ one of their lost classics if ever there was one and the thoughtful ‘It’s Not Who You Know’,being another prime example.

Orange Street itself is always at the heart of all reggae's musical changes and some singers also ride these waves as Mr Cornell Campbell shows us here with two cuts. The mournful ‘Too Be Loved’ and his uplifting ‘Girl of My Dreams’, which uses the same rhythm as our previously mentioned Prince Jazzbo’s 'Dread in a Earth’. Showing us that firstly you can’t keep a good rhythm down and secondly that two if not more great songs can work from the same source point. The light hearted ‘Vengeful’ lyric also worked in this period when artists spared off to each other on records to vent their frustrations. As we can hear here with Mr Lee Perry’s ‘You Funny Boy’. The song snipping back at a previous employer over what he felt were his misdoings to an under appreciated Mr Perry. We have culled these tracks together to show that the Dread Roots feel of the 1970’s came across in many guises and even in earlier songs these sentiments were also prevalent. As represented in Slim Smith’s almost bluesy feel in ‘Trying To Find a Home’, never a truer statement in Kingston's ghetto areas.

Well we hope you enjoy this musical journey and make a connection with messages portrayed here, as Mr Monty Morris points out on his contribution to this collection ‘Times Are Dread’.... Dread indeed.....

Introducing: Temporary Blessings, the new project by stalwart Naarm / Melbourne trumpet player and composer Liam McGorry.

Assembled to realise McGorry's compositions drawing on 1960s Italian & French soundtrack music, Temporary Blessings brings together trusted instrumentalists and fellow travelers from Melbourne's rich enclave of cinematic soul. With Liam at the helm, the group is composed of members of Surprise Chef, Karate Boogaloo, Saskwatch and Let Your Hair Down.

The resulting recordings realise McGorry's sonic visions of film noir, giallo, library music and cinematic soul, captured live in one room with what the maestro describes as "a shared spirit". The recordings, produced by paragon Henry Jenkins, bring together emotive string arrangements, tough horns and a steadfast rhythm section with an acute attention to detail McGorry has developed over years in the saddle.

Liam says: "I find great comfort in collaborating with good friends and playing together in the same room and taking these blessings as they come."

A veteran of Melbourne soul, McGorry's steady hands have touched some of the city's most revered projects over the last 15 years; McGorry-led projects Saskwatch, Dorsal Fins and Ex-Olympian sit aside Sampa The Great, Ella Thompson and Adrian Eagle on Liam's heavy list of credits and collaborators. He has contributed more than his fair share of bricks to the great structure of Melbourne soul, always playing the background, true to his humble nature.

LP available in black or orange and brown splatter vinyl.

Introducing: Temporary Blessings, the new project by stalwart Naarm / Melbourne trumpet player and composer Liam McGorry.

Assembled to realise McGorry's compositions drawing on 1960s Italian & French soundtrack music, Temporary Blessings brings together trusted instrumentalists and fellow travelers from Melbourne's rich enclave of cinematic soul. With Liam at the helm, the group is composed of members of Surprise Chef, Karate Boogaloo, Saskwatch and Let Your Hair Down.

The resulting recordings realise McGorry's sonic visions of film noir, giallo, library music and cinematic soul, captured live in one room with what the maestro describes as "a shared spirit". The recordings, produced by paragon Henry Jenkins, bring together emotive string arrangements, tough horns and a steadfast rhythm section with an acute attention to detail McGorry has developed over years in the saddle.

Liam says: "I find great comfort in collaborating with good friends and playing together in the same room and taking these blessings as they come."

A veteran of Melbourne soul, McGorry's steady hands have touched some of the city's most revered projects over the last 15 years; McGorry-led projects Saskwatch, Dorsal Fins and Ex-Olympian sit aside Sampa The Great, Ella Thompson and Adrian Eagle on Liam's heavy list of credits and collaborators. He has contributed more than his fair share of bricks to the great structure of Melbourne soul, always playing the background, true to his humble nature.

LP available in black or orange and brown splatter vinyl.

A song about Colostomy - from the opening bars you might think so. but it gets worse. 'X rated' stuff.
the label say 'Djoko is no stranger to Voyage Direct. Having first appeared on the label way back in 2012, he's returned numerous times since, becoming an integral member of the imprint's growing family of artists. Elsewhere, he's delivered material on Tuskegee, Mobilee and Leftroom, amongst others, developing an approach that takes inspiration from numerous styles of house and techno. However, little he's previously released can match the raw, eyebrow-raising lust and sexually charged funk of Dirty Talk'.

Driven forward by Djoko's sleazy, whispered spoken word vocal, the original version combines the rubbery, bass-heavy rhythms of classic, Dance Mania-style ghetto house, the delay-laden guitar flashes of vintage NYC proto-house, and the kind of darting, funk-fuelled keys - provided by fellow Dutch producer Kid Sublime - that recall the glory days of '80s electrofunk. Djoko provides an alternate version in the shape of the thrusting, stripped-back Club Dub', with his breathy Accapella' rounding off the A-side.

On the flip, two Voyage Direct stalwarts take it in turns to rework the track. First up is label boss Tom Trago, who builds on Djoko's elastic percussion with some dense new drum hits of his own. These are combined with spacey synths and sharp string stabs, giving Dirty Talk' a more classic techno/house fusion flavour. In contrast, Werner uses the opportunity to turn in a triple-X-rated interpretation full of bounding, Chicago-influenced beats, intergalactic pads, sleazy acid lines, and sweaty, surging drum fills. It's a fittingly breathless remix.'

Limited to 500 copies Side A/B is solid red vinyl and side C/D is solid green vinyl. Track listing is different to the CD and digital. ‘Harmonics of the Night’ is the third in what he conceived of as a trilogy of recordings from guitarist Andy Summers. Following on from ‘Metal Dog’ and ‘Triboluminescence’, ‘Harmonics of the Night’ began its life as a guitar improvisation for a museum installation of Andy’s own photos. He did not like the music they had chosen in the gallery so sat down and recorded some guitar improvisations. Summers says that he built this set out from there. These songs and the photos that inspired them have become a staple of his solo guitar shows. Stand out tracks: ‘A Certain Strangeness’, ’Harmonics of the Night’ and ‘City of Crocodiles’. The music for Harmonics of the Night came from a real-life situation, which was the occasion of a retrospective exhibition of my photography at the Pavillon Populaire in Montpellier. I was able to visit the museum in advance of the opening and decided this time (instead of the usual unsuitable music being played by the whatever gallery!) that I must make a music installation to accompany the photography on the wall, a piece that could be looped and thus provide a continual musical counterpoint to the visual. I made a twenty-minute single guitar improvisation, A Certain Strangeness - This piece put a certain approach in my in my head and pointed me in the direction of eleven more tracks. These pieces which vary from minimalist approaches to African influenced dance pieces and are what I consider the sonic parallels to the photography.

140 gram purple colored vinyl (with download code) "I've seldom allowed myself to stay in one place for very long," Glen Phillips says, explaining the genesis of his new album, 'There Is So Much Here' "I was lucky during the COVID lockdown to move in with my girlfriend, now fiance , and to stay home for the longest stretch I've had since the birth of my daughter, 20 years ago. After a life of travel and seeking out peak experiences, I began to appreciate the subtle beauty of sitting still."

The 11 tracks on Phillips' new album are informed by the time that the pandemic shut down allowed for reflection, moving between quiet love songs and rockers that consider the multi- faceted meanings hidden in our everyday lives. Glen Phillips has been making music for over two decades, with a career that began as the 14- year- old frontman for Toad the Wet Sprocket. Since then, he's accumulated an esteemed body of work comprising eight albums with Toad (which collectively have sold close to 4 million units) and three as a solo artist.

When Niko Moon broke out with his triple-platinum hit “GOOD TIME,” the Texas-born, Georgia-raised singer/songwriter lit up the country scene with his larger-than-life energy and message of radical positivity. Since then, he’s earned a passionate following, major TV performances, and praise from outlets like Holler and American Songwriter. With AMERICAN PALM Deluxe, arriving right before his headline AMERICAN PALM Tour, Niko expands his latest LP with
two new tracks, “BREATHE” and “BARE FEET IN THE SAND,” furthering his mission of creating music that feels like a“mental vacation” filled with sun-soaked serenity and coastal escape.

“Breathe is all about finding that place where you can take a deep breath and let your worries drift away,” says Niko. “I find peace by the water, and I wanted the song to be a mantra of positive self talk and a celebration of the coast.”

Niko partly grew up in Georgia, spending summers on Florida beaches, an influence that shapes the concept-driven AMERICAN PALM. Written during his THESE ARE THE NIGHTS tour with producer Danny Majic and songwriter David J, the record blends coastal sounds—ukuleles, nylon-string guitars, ocean waves—with organic beats and a touch of ‘90s hip-hop, nodding to his Atlanta roots. The result is a seaside getaway in album form, equal parts carefree, romantic,and life-affirming.

Tracks like “I LOVE THIS BEACH” and “YOU, ME & A BEACH” capture that spirit. The latter, a love song linking his wife and the beach as his grounding forces, helped cement the record as his first concept album. “SANDBAR” delivers a euphoric summer vibe, while “SANDCASTLES” reflects on life’s impermanence. “KING OF THE ISLAND” is a family
milestone—co-written and sung with his father, Cris Cowan.

Niko’s journey began early, inspired by his dad, a truck driver and drummer who introduced him to John Prine and Emmylou Harris. Niko picked up drums at eight, guitar at fifteen, and started playing in bars while working construction. A chance encounter with Zac Brown led to songwriting cuts like “Homegrown,” before Niko launched his solo career with “GOOD TIME,” a No. 1 hit on both Billboard Country Airplay and Hot Country Songs charts. From the start, he committed to making only positive music: “In a way a song is like a mantra, and I want mine to carry optimism and encouragement.”

Since his debut, Niko has sold out the Ryman, played major festivals like Stagecoach, and performed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Beyond music, he and his wife Anna founded the Happy Cowboy Foundation to support mental health and addiction recovery, and launched Happy Himalayan water and the American Palm clothing line, both of which benefit the foundation.

It's been 10 years since Pomegranates - Nicolás Jaar's unofficial/alternative soundtrack to Sergei Parajanov's 1969 film The Color of Pomegranates - was first released, and to highlight this occasion we are reissuing the album on vinyl, with the first edition (a collaboration with the label Mana) having long been out of print.

Longer and slower-releasing than his other albums, Pomegranates often parallels the cinematic epic on which it’s based, with ideas pursued over long timelines and across dark landscapes, assembling elements and moods from the aesthetic and folkloric landscapes of Armenia. Jaar’s identity is perceived within this, folding in his heritage as Palestinian and Chilean as he attempts to build a musical architecture outwards that frames as much of the mess and sprawl of life as possible; using a language that investigates the movement and fluctuation of his own artistic career and character similarly to the film’s tracing of the coming of age of the young poet, Sayat-Nova.

At times, Pomegranates feels profoundly intimate, as though looking through the archive of a friend’s music and discovering the accent and common currency that lives within each of these tracks. Much of Jaar’s most elegant and touching melodic work is nestled here, its power residing in its simplicity and willingness to speak to the heart and not the mind of the listener.

In the text document included in the first freely distributed version of the album in 2015, Jaar writes that the album was conceived during a moment of change, and that the pomegranate became an icon that heralded that passage of time. The physical publication of Pomegranates closes one door whilst opening another, keeping promises and marking a significant point in the career of an artist who restlessly reinvents himself, with a document that illustrates a common language of lyricism, freedom, and emotional resonance linking his many paths and projects

"We're in the joy business," says frontman Ketch Secor, who launched the Grammywinning band in 1998. "From the very start, a lot of the virtues of Christmas -- the revelry, the singalongs, the happiness -- have been present in our show." Nowhere is that more apparent than OCMS XMAS , the group's first holiday album. Decorated with seasonal spirit and string-band stomp, it's the rare breed of Christmas record that packs a punch all year long, shining new light on the band's chart-topping version of American roots music. Old Crow Medicine Show aren't just reinterpreting their favorite yuletide standards; they're adding new songs to the canon, too, from "Jolly Man" -- a country-blues number inspired by Mississippi John Hurt and laced with harmonica, sleigh bells, and resonator guitar -- to the Zydeco- flavored "All About A Baby." They're telling fresh stories, too. On "Corn Whiskey Christmas," a bootlegger drives his Chevrolet through the snow on Christmas Eve, bringing moonshine to those craving a cup of cheer. On the John Prine-worthy "Bethlehem, PA" -- a sly reimagining of Jesus' birth story, with lyrics that substitute Steel Country for Jerusalem -- the band heads to the Keystone State to witness the Nativity, making stops at Wawa and Motel 6 along the way.

"Grandpa's Gone" grapples with the loss of a family figure during the holiday season, while the wicked "Krampus Night" puts a minor- key spin on the Christmas catalog, paying tribute to a folkloric creature who, according to Secor, "just might leave ya coal and steal your soul." Old Crow have thrived for more than a quarter century. Like many of their heroes, they've become torchbearers of classic folk music, reshaping those sounds for the modern world. They're creators, not replicators, and OCMS XMAS finds them tackling another tradition -- the time- honored Christmas album -- with humor, hillbilly twang, and novel ideas. Supported by the band's first-ever "Holiday Hootenanny" tour, OCMS XMAS just might be the start of a new tradition itself: a celebration of the seasonal sounds, shared joy, and holiday rituals that bring us all together. Christmas just got a new soundtrack.

Mathew takes inspiration from the weirdness of Aldous Harding and Amen Dunes while embracing the songcraft of greats like Neil Young and Jeff Buckley. Due for release on 3rd October 2025 via Tip Top Recordings (Mandrake Handshake, Japanese Television, Pearl & The Oysters), EP 'Full Weight' is a six track offering of emotionally driven, lyrically agile, eccentrically produced indie- rock. Released on limited edition (300) heavyweight white coloured vinyl.

Mathew's journey began with a childhood guitar and quietly grew into a private archive of hundreds of songs, never meant for anyone but himself. After stints with local outfits The Velotones and Violet May, he broke away to carve out his own space, one where every note and word belonged to him. Stepping into the studio with friends and trusted collaborators, he found the freedom and confidence to let the world in. The result is 'Full Weight', a bold new chapter in Mathew's musical story. '5:32' is the natural way to introduce Mathew's gloriously unique voice and songwriting, evoking Sheffield's musical royalty such as Richard Hawley.

As the single artwork depicts, '5:32' was conceived by Mathew "in bed, during COVID, eating cereal and taking my meds. As Thom Yorke once said, 'no one is really a solo artist'". The surging, cathartic anthem 'Weight Of Love' is about a simple case of unrequited love. Mathew says, "In my case, it's a story of my dad leaving. The cover artwork is of me and my brother around the age he left" . Further tracks like 'Lady Luck' lean into a slowburning groove of shimmer and snarl, while the fully exposed 'Creature Of Comfort' is built on skeletal instrumentation. 'Full Weight' captures the duality of refusing to choose between fragility and force. It's music that aches, bleeds, and ultimately triumphs: a testament to the strength in showing your cracks. Mathew J Hall celebrates the EP with a live show on 24th October at Hallamshire Hotel, Sheffield.