Suche:sh

Sven Tasnadi is Cargo Edition's longest-serving artist. His releases have shaped the sound of the label right from the start.

MUSICA SOLIDA Vol. 3 finally touches down.

Flexi is wrapping up their 40th-anniversary celebration with a bang, and trust me, the wait was worth it. This VA 12” is a heavy-duty blend of family ties and international heat.

The Breakdown

* Gratts: The Adelaide-based crate-digger returns to Flexi with "Ghost Swell." It’s a deep, atmospheric builder that keeps the soul intact.

* Slowaxx & Ai Lati: Pure "rollin" energy. This Tuscan duo delivers a rhythmic, four-handed organic groove that’s been the secret sauce in the Italian underground.

* Melchior Sultana: The Maltese Deep House maestro brings the sub-heavy vibes. Total class, total depth.

* Robotalco: Fresh off his LP, he drops an Acid House banger. This 303-laced heater is strictly for the warehouse heads.

* DJ Soch: the "Italian Stallion" puts his classic old-school vein aside and reveals a darker, more minimal side: sharp drums, soulful vocal touches, and an essential, hypnotic groove shape a timeless track.

Forty years of curation distilled into one essential plate. It’s raw, it’s solid, and it’s built for the crates. Don’t sleep.

Presenting the remarkable second album by the Chinese musician, DJ and creative chef Yu Su. An evolution from her 2021 debut LP and two track single released last year, Foundry radiates a fresh, fully-fledged and far-reaching sound.

The nucleus of Foundry began with material penned for live performance at MUTEK in 2025, alongside a move to London which brought about new shifts in perspective. Searching for a style that was true both to her roots and progression as an artist, Yu ventured in a post-orientalist direction, and came upon a language of ‘in-between music’.

Mixing the eclectic influence of her DJ sets with genre-defying collaborators and newfound taste for minimal and ambient techno, a dusky, dub-inflected character began to emerge. This broad palette reiterates Yu’s prior form in making connections across disciplines, which have not only consisted of music, but also multisensory endeavors which incorporate taste and smell.

With cover art featuring hammered metalwork by the artist Brendan Ratzlaff, for Yu the foundry represents a nexus of creation; a shared workspace where collaborators combined their materials and skills. With the input of Seefeel, Dip In The Pool, and Memotone, together their broad spectrum of aural elements underwent a chemical transformation, and were forged into something new.

Well-designed, ergonomic yet occasionally amorphous, the effect is that of meticulous freedom, both controlled and free flowing. Using immersive sound design, Yu creates inspiring spaces to revel in, which are warm yet steeped in shadow, with flashes of silvery light.

Featuring Yu in with duet Miyako Koda of cult Japanese art pop duo Dip In The Pool, the record kicks off in swirling but poised fashion with ‘A Jewel’. The dusky, reverberant underwater minimalism of ‘Sunless’ follows, which features British composer Memotone, and was influenced by Chris Marker’s 1983 film Sans Soleil.

The dubby, sunkissed affirmation on ‘Cul De Sac’ leads to the thumping acid stomp of ‘Foundry’, and onto the hazy glow of ‘One Place After Another’, featuring lauded soundheads Seefeel, where Yu’s voice is joined by Sarah Peacock’s, alongside Mark Clifford’s seductively gauzy fuzz guitar.

Venturing into more ominous territory is the liminal ambient dub of ‘Wanli’, followed by the rich textured flutter of ‘Os Cionn’, which translates from Gaelic as ‘above’. The album ends with the reflective, processional pulse of ‘Ripe Fruits’, which was inspired by Frederic Leighton’s 1892 oil painting The Garden of the Hesperides.

The LP’s visual was art directed by Lucas Dupuy, whose approach perfectly encapsulates Yu’s spatial sonics: “We both think in layers”, she comments. “Not linear layering, but horizontal layering, like weaving metallic threads, where a bigger picture of a grainy sphere will occur at the end.”

Mastered by Miles

Art by Lucas Dupuy & Brendan Ratzlaff

Calibre announces his new album 'Tricklemore Sea', set for release on vinyl and digital on 1st May via Signature Recordings.

A deeply personal and exploratory body of work, the album moves through ambient, shoegaze, electronic, blues and folk, all subtly shaped by the low-end sensibility that has defined his music for decades. It resists easy categorisation, reflecting an ongoing interest in blending bass culture with forms that sit outside it. Following the release of 'They Want You' at the end of 2025, this new project marks a clear shift in tone. Where that record leans into intensity and forward momentum, 'Tricklemore Sea' turns inward, occupying a more introspective space. Featuring entirely his own vocals and production, it carries a more exposed and vulnerable quality.

The album has taken shape gradually, drawing from material written in the years after 'Planet Hearth'. Rather than forming around a fixed concept, it emerges as a collection of pieces connected by tone and instinct. Tracks move between simplicity and abstraction, with piano-led compositions sitting alongside field recordings, improvisations and bass-driven works. Ideas often begin quickly, then evolve over long periods of revisiting and reworking. His voice takes on a more central role throughout, bringing a heightened sense of vulnerability. Lyrics and delivery are often left open, allowing space for interpretation. His process remains fluid and instinctive, with ideas written quickly, revisited over time and combined across different periods.

Moments such as 'Little Blend' carry a quiet melancholia balanced with hope, while 'Free One' reflects on the pressures of contemporary life. The title track considers the scale of human existence within a wider universe, framing individual lives as small but meaningful within something larger. Elsewhere, 'Deflower' and 'Pigeon Luncheon' draw from recordings made in Berlin at the end of lockdown, capturing a sense of movement and return. Older material, including 'Living In Your Head' and 'Hyndsight', is recontextualised and sits naturally alongside newer work. Threads from his wider catalogue remain present. 'Able Son Dub' nods to longstanding reggae influences, while 'Bit Broken Stream' appears here in a downtempo form alongside its drum and bass counterpart from 'They Want You'. Tracks like 'United Pull' and 'Mizzle Mine' lean further into abstraction, using minimal language and space to suggest mood rather than define it.

Over more than 30 years, Calibre has built a catalogue that moves across drum and bass, ambient, dub, techno, house, jazz, soul, blues and folk. His work is marked by restraint, quiet melancholy and a singular approach that continues to evolve. Complete authorship remains central, with all vocals, lyrics and production on both 'They Want You' and 'Tricklemore Sea' created solely by him. This breadth extends into his DJ sets, where he draws heavily from his own catalogue, often performing entirely self-produced material across a wide range of tempos and styles. His ability to move between contexts has seen him play at Boomtown, Houghton and Atonal Berlin, delivering distinct sets while maintaining a clear identity.

With 'Tricklemore Sea', that identity leans toward stillness, introspection and emotional depth. It is a record that prioritises feeling over definition, holding space for ambiguity while remaining grounded in a strong sense of authorship. Each release carries an element of exposure, a moment of vulnerability in letting the work go. At its core, the album seeks to capture something fleeting but recognisable, a sense of beauty that sits just beyond language.

He describes it simply: "The river inside of me flowing into the sea."

Jede Band, die was drauf hat, hat ein Mitglied, das mal in einem Plattenladen gearbeitet hat. Bei METZ, dem mutigen Noise-Rock-Trio, das zwischen 2012 und 2024 fünf Alben bei Sub Pop rausgebracht hat, war das Sänger und Gitarrist Alex Edkins. Während seines Studiums verkaufte Edkins in seinem Heimatort Indie-Rock- und Hardcore-Platten und wurde zu einem begeisterten Schüler des Rock ,n` Roll, von den psychedelischen 1960er Jahren bis zu den DIY-1990er Jahren und darüber hinaus. Hoopla, das eingängige, melodische zweite Album aus Edkins' Soloprojekt Weird Nightmare, mischt und kombiniert diese Einflüsse auf unterhaltsame und mitreißende Weise und zeigt seine ausgefeilte musikalische Intelligenz. ,Hoopla" sprüht vor Hooks und Ohrwürmern und ist genau die Kassette, die nie aus dem Autoradio genommen wird, sondern immer wieder gespielt wird und den Sommer begleitet. ,Hoopla" ist neu und nostalgisch zugleich und wird deine Ohren erfreuen. Das selbst produzierte und ausgesprochen lo-fi Debütalbum von Weird Nightmare wurde während der Pandemie zu Hause aufgenommen und 2022 von Sub Pop veröffentlicht. Weird Nightmare zeigte Edkins' Indie-Rock-Sensibilität mit einer Vorliebe für unverkennbare Hooks und mitreißende Refrains zum Mitsingen. Auf dem neuen Studioalbum Hoopla, das gemeinsam mit Jim Eno von Spoon produziert und in Seth Manchesters Machines with Magnets aufgenommen wurde, erweitert Edkins die Dimensionen von Weird Nightmare noch weiter. Neue musikalische Texturen wie Klavier, Glocken und Kastagnetten verschmelzen mit Edkins' geradlinigem Songwriting und verleihen diesen Stücken einen glänzenden Schimmer. Es ist, als würde ein beliebter Indie-Regisseur mit seinem ersten Studiofilm einen Schritt nach vorne machen. Wenn das Debütalbum Weird Nightmare ein Underground-Publikumsliebling war, ähnlich wie Richard Linklaters Slacker, dann ist Hoopla Edkins' Dazed and Confused. ,Hoopla" glänzt mit sonnigem Gitarrenpop und wurde mit genau der richtigen Menge an Fuzz und Crunch produziert. Die unmittelbare, schnörkellose Aufnahme versetzt dich direkt ins Studio mit Edkins und seiner Rhythmusgruppe: Loel Campbell am Schlagzeug und Bassist Roddy Kuester. Das ist Power-Pop der Extraklasse; diese scharfen Adrenalinstöße könnten sich nahtlos in einen Radio-Rock-Block zwischen The Replacements und Elvis Costello & the Attractions einfügen. Oder passen genauso gut zu Sharp Pins, Ratboys und Alvvays. Im Kern ist dieses Album ein optimistischer, leuchtender Lichtblick in unserer seltsamen Zeit. Mit Weird Nightmare möchte Edkins euch wissen lassen, dass er die Welt immer noch liebt, und er lädt die Hörer von Hoopla ein, dasselbe zu empfinden. Nutzt diese Chance, um einen Funken der Magie des Pop in unserer verbrauchten alten Welt zu ergreifen. Ihr habt es verdient.

Ein PUNK-ROCK-MEISTERWERK neu aufgelegt - mit, aus aktuellem Anlass, aktualisiertem 2026 Cover-Artwork! Das erste Studioalbum von NOFX auf Fat! Die Band behandelte ernste Themen (Punk-Kultur und Politik) mit ihrem typischen Witz und Sarkasmus und zielte auf George W. Bush. Nun ist ein neuer Clown am Start! Damals (2003) schaffte es das Album sowohl in Großbritannien als auch in den USA in die Top 50 und war auch auf dem europäischen Festland erfolgreich, wo es in der Schweiz und in Deutschland die Top 30 erreichte, in Österreich die Top 50 und in Frankreich die Top 100. "Musically, NOFX fuses its political cynicism with criticism of punk rock itself and suggests that the best thing for all the kids and the bands might be to close ranks and start their own little hardcore community. 'Irrationality of Rationality' and 'Franco Un-American'_two of the album's most melodic, catchy songs_are also two of War on Errorism's most biting commentaries. The first personalizes the trickle-down effect of corporate decision-making over a lockstep hardcore rhythm; the second gets all-new wavy as Fat Mike reasons out his own world view, and somehow rhymes "apathy" with "Noam Chomsky.'" - NOFX hat sich zwar aufgelöst, aber das Vermächtnis lebt weiter. Die Band ist derzeit Gegenstand ihrer ersten umfassenden Ausstellung im Punk Rock Museum in Las Vegas. Die Dokumentation "40 Years of Fuckin Upmakes" feiert beim SXSW 2026 Premiere und ist ab April umfassend zu sehen (Score & Original Soundtrack mit neuer Musik von NOFX folgen in Kürze). Der zweite Teil der A-Z-Raritäten-Trilogie "I to Q" soll Ende 2026 erscheinen. Und behaltet Fat Mike im Auge, denn Gerüchten zufolge hat er eine eigene Meinung zur aktuellen Weltlage. Warning: owning this record might piss off (more than ever) your army recruiter, grizzled grampa, or those wacky flag-wavin' nationalist buddies of yours.

Ein PUNK-ROCK-MEISTERWERK neu aufgelegt - mit, aus aktuellem Anlass, aktualisiertem 2026 Cover-Artwork! Das erste Studioalbum von NOFX auf Fat! Die Band behandelte ernste Themen (Punk-Kultur und Politik) mit ihrem typischen Witz und Sarkasmus und zielte auf George W. Bush. Nun ist ein neuer Clown am Start! Damals (2003) schaffte es das Album sowohl in Großbritannien als auch in den USA in die Top 50 und war auch auf dem europäischen Festland erfolgreich, wo es in der Schweiz und in Deutschland die Top 30 erreichte, in Österreich die Top 50 und in Frankreich die Top 100. "Musically, NOFX fuses its political cynicism with criticism of punk rock itself and suggests that the best thing for all the kids and the bands might be to close ranks and start their own little hardcore community. 'Irrationality of Rationality' and 'Franco Un-American'_two of the album's most melodic, catchy songs_are also two of War on Errorism's most biting commentaries. The first personalizes the trickle-down effect of corporate decision-making over a lockstep hardcore rhythm; the second gets all-new wavy as Fat Mike reasons out his own world view, and somehow rhymes "apathy" with "Noam Chomsky.'" - NOFX hat sich zwar aufgelöst, aber das Vermächtnis lebt weiter. Die Band ist derzeit Gegenstand ihrer ersten umfassenden Ausstellung im Punk Rock Museum in Las Vegas. Die Dokumentation "40 Years of Fuckin Upmakes" feiert beim SXSW 2026 Premiere und ist ab April umfassend zu sehen (Score & Original Soundtrack mit neuer Musik von NOFX folgen in Kürze). Der zweite Teil der A-Z-Raritäten-Trilogie "I to Q" soll Ende 2026 erscheinen. Und behaltet Fat Mike im Auge, denn Gerüchten zufolge hat er eine eigene Meinung zur aktuellen Weltlage. Warning: owning this record might piss off (more than ever) your army recruiter, grizzled grampa, or those wacky flag-wavin' nationalist buddies of yours.

Preston duo White Flowers announce new album, Dreams For Somebody Else - due for release 1st May 2026 via The state51 Conspiracy.
White Flowers, the long-running collaboration between Joey Cobb and Katie Drew, exists within what they call “the realm” – a shared creative space, wherein time, rather than being a restrictive force, is fluid and boundless, and music exists as an endless conversation with their past and present selves. Adopting what the band describe as a “sketchbook” approach to writing, White Flowers is the product of a decade’s worth of recordings - snippets nestled away on hard drives, only to truly make sense years later.
On Dreams For Somebody Else, the band expand upon the dark-hued dream pop of their debut, channeling the catharsis of dance music via repetitive structures and “sad, euphoric sounds”. Working alongside LCD Soundsystem and Hot Chip’s Al Doyle on production, the album maps out a mosaic of soaring choruses that swirl around imposing arrays of synths, guitars, and percussion.
Through this new lens, the band explore themes of isolation, dissociation and identity - drawing inspiration from Annie Ernaux’s The Years. “Whilst recording the songs for ‘Dreams For Somebody Else’, we really connected with the concept of Annie Ernaux’s book, ‘The Years’ - a ‘collective autobiography’ pieced together from mismatched fragments from her past, conjuring the effect that she’s merely an observer of her own life. This concept merges into the White Flowers world, where time, rather than being restrictive, is fluid and boundless, with our music existing as an endless conversation with versions of ourselves at different stages of our lives.”
“The album has that same feeling of disassociating from your own life, because you’re just blending into everyone else”, the band explains. “There’s a sadness there, because it’s as if you’re looking back on things that happened to you, and they feel like they don’t belong to you anymore”. It’s the dull ache of nostalgia intertwined with a sense of wonder at what could lie ahead - the hopeful optimism and endless loss that defines the human experience. “It’s this idea of identity not being a fixed thing, but something that’s always changing. It’s a fluid thing, similar to time. Things aren’t really fixed, but rather in a constant state of change. It’s important to remember that we’re all going through that.”

Lip Critic’s 2024 Partisan debut Hex Dealer was one of the most-hyped experimental releases of that year (“Like the B-52s on ketamine” -Paste) and signaled the Brooklyn band’s arrival as a borderline-batshit creative force. Theft World is their next chapter, built again from the chaos of two drummers locked in psychic combat, a sampler that sounds like it was struck by lightning, and frontman Bret Kaser’s paranoid preacher energy. But where Hex Dealer leapt from one absurdist vignette to the next, Theft World plays like a fully locked-in transmission. Themes orbit around the concept of theft, not just as a political force or digital dilemma, but as a surreal, emotional constant. Club rhythms and hardcore breakdowns pull as much from Tyler the Creator’s ‘Igor’ and Korn as they do Skrillex and Soul Coughing, coming together to soundtrack a world that’s constantly being striped apart and resold.

Wasteland is a record that is unafraid to plunge into the darkness of the modern world and embrace the weirder, edgier and more unnerving moments that come from doing so. It is an album that captures all the enormity of life from the micro to the macro, zooming in on the personal as well reflecting on broader societal issues.

“Wasteland is about the idea of a place once known or familiar that is now broken down and unrecognisable,” says Ghedi. “It’s about exploring the process of watching someone’s surroundings and environment collapse.” And within that you have a lot going on. “It also explores death, personal loss, grief, mental health and how the natural world provides solace and meaning for that loss and how these worlds blur into one another.”
Ghedi has always been an artist that in many ways perfectly encompasses folk music in its purest form but he is also someone that frequently pushes the boundaries of that label and no more so is that apparent than on this record. As like previous albums, such as 2018’s A Hymn for Ancient Land and 2021’s In the Furrows of Common Place, Ghedi uses traditional folk songs as a means to explore contemporary issues via modern and experimentally-leaning music. “With the traditional material on this album I wanted to find songs with content that resonated with me,” says Ghedi. “But also that were based roughly around the north of England.” This is a central underlying theme to the album for Ghedi. The feelings of loss, erosion, and degradation are often most pronounced in working class communities and this was something he wanted to weave in. “It was important to voice and choose material that represented or expressed issues that correlated with things going on around me.”

However, as remarkable as some of the traditional material is, some of the most arresting work on the album is Ghedi’s entirely original compositions. Lead single ‘Wasteland’ is a stunning piece of work that while rooted in an environment being corrupted and broken – “there’s violence on these hills” Ghedi sorrowfully sings, before claiming this is no longer somewhere that can be called home – it is also a stirringly beautiful composition that soars and glides as it opens up, as sweeping strings swoop and in and out of Ghedi’s twangy electric guitar.

The decision to incorporate more fuller sounds, such as electric guitar and huge drums, results in a notable shift and evolution in tone for Ghedi. “The lyrical content needed something more band-driven and loud to deliver them,” he explains. “Incorporating the electric guitar in my songwriting was also a big part of opening the sound up, using drop tunings pushed me to use my voice in a wider range, which forced me to use falsetto a lot which I haven’t previously done before. That then opened the sound up and gave me creative ideas for bigger arrangements and to sonically really push things.”

What Ghedi has done in creating his masterpiece is construct a remarkable space where deeply intimate and personal feelings coexist with reflections on environment, place and society, while also interweaving historical context via traditional songs. Wasteland is as much of a world to explore and exist in as much as it is an album, with Ghedi carving out his distinctly unique sonic language and voice to explore that singular environment.

Wasteland is a record that is unafraid to plunge into the darkness of the modern world and embrace the weirder, edgier and more unnerving moments that come from doing so. It is an album that captures all the enormity of life from the micro to the macro, zooming in on the personal as well reflecting on broader societal issues.

“Wasteland is about the idea of a place once known or familiar that is now broken down and unrecognisable,” says Ghedi. “It’s about exploring the process of watching someone’s surroundings and environment collapse.” And within that you have a lot going on. “It also explores death, personal loss, grief, mental health and how the natural world provides solace and meaning for that loss and how these worlds blur into one another.”
Ghedi has always been an artist that in many ways perfectly encompasses folk music in its purest form but he is also someone that frequently pushes the boundaries of that label and no more so is that apparent than on this record. As like previous albums, such as 2018’s A Hymn for Ancient Land and 2021’s In the Furrows of Common Place, Ghedi uses traditional folk songs as a means to explore contemporary issues via modern and experimentally-leaning music. “With the traditional material on this album I wanted to find songs with content that resonated with me,” says Ghedi. “But also that were based roughly around the north of England.” This is a central underlying theme to the album for Ghedi. The feelings of loss, erosion, and degradation are often most pronounced in working class communities and this was something he wanted to weave in. “It was important to voice and choose material that represented or expressed issues that correlated with things going on around me.”

However, as remarkable as some of the traditional material is, some of the most arresting work on the album is Ghedi’s entirely original compositions. Lead single ‘Wasteland’ is a stunning piece of work that while rooted in an environment being corrupted and broken – “there’s violence on these hills” Ghedi sorrowfully sings, before claiming this is no longer somewhere that can be called home – it is also a stirringly beautiful composition that soars and glides as it opens up, as sweeping strings swoop and in and out of Ghedi’s twangy electric guitar.

The decision to incorporate more fuller sounds, such as electric guitar and huge drums, results in a notable shift and evolution in tone for Ghedi. “The lyrical content needed something more band-driven and loud to deliver them,” he explains. “Incorporating the electric guitar in my songwriting was also a big part of opening the sound up, using drop tunings pushed me to use my voice in a wider range, which forced me to use falsetto a lot which I haven’t previously done before. That then opened the sound up and gave me creative ideas for bigger arrangements and to sonically really push things.”

What Ghedi has done in creating his masterpiece is construct a remarkable space where deeply intimate and personal feelings coexist with reflections on environment, place and society, while also interweaving historical context via traditional songs. Wasteland is as much of a world to explore and exist in as much as it is an album, with Ghedi carving out his distinctly unique sonic language and voice to explore that singular environment.

VERY LIMITED BLACK VINYL WITH DOUBLE-SIDED INSERT (NON-RETURNABLE)

California composer Phil Geraldi’s vinyl debut both refines and refracts his signature muse of interstitial Americana across 11
melted glass mosaics of processed guitar, decayed radio glow, and Harmonia synth horizons: Rural Deceased Undiscovered. He
describes his vision for the pieces as “multilinear,” rearranging classic radio songbook elements like hooks, choruses, and
emotional cues into unfamiliar topographies of “alien country.”

Shards of acoustic guitar and pedal steel flicker in long shadows of amplifier hum and airwave static, like the scrambled
broadcast of some heartland station along a desert highway. It’s music both rustic and placeless, warped by weather and
technology, shimmering like northern lights over the badlands.

They Came Like Swallows is the first album-length collaboration between Thurston Moore and Kramer (now officially Bonner Kramer), two giants of alternative/ experimental music. The accomplishments and influence of these two artists in the world of independent music cannot be overstated and the result of their artistic union is a startlingly cohesive statement that burns through landscapes of primitive outsider rock, avant-garde composition, progressive ambient and further locales boldly and beautifully unnamable. “Kramer and I reconnected in Miami, Florida, a few years back, many many years after each of us had departed NYC on separate life adventures. It was only a matter of time before Kramer and I started making plans to record together and with his irrepressible due diligence he quickly set up a mobile recording contraption in the pad I was decamped in, the Florida sunshine flowing through the palm leaves, lithe lizards skittering across the windowsills, and we just went for it.

Kramer had the idea to cover a Joy Division tune, a left turn from the improvisations we had been tracking, though wholly in keeping with both our sensibilities of light and dark unifying in transcendent songwriting, both of us devotees of 'the song' as well as 'the freedom.’ What transpired is They Came Like Swallows, a session we immediately felt should exist as a prayer to the war-torn souls of the families of Palestine continually decimated by the brutality of genocide. We agreed beyond words to offer our music as a sonic activism and as a beneficent energy. This album is our duo exchange for human dignity, it is our soul music for any semblance of a peaceful planet.” ~ Thurston Moore “For the first time in our nearly 45 years of friendship, we had identical time windows open to make a record together,” recounts Kramer. After all this time not a moment is wasted as the duo immediately taps into the heightened core of improvisational tension across these seven offerings. Volcanic opener “Urn Burial” notches a similar historic union (John Cale and Terry Riley) to meet the circumstances of the moment, with swirling mists of organ and pounding toms over guitar that thickens the atmosphere with jagged, grimy dissonance.

Solemn strings open the second track, “The Redness In The West,” with Kramer’s cello and viola in dueling bow beneath the high tension drive and sustain of Thurston’s electric guitar, tapping out a Morse code of tension that mounts endlessly into a fog of inevitable war by the end. Moore and Kramer’s sense of experimentalism is in free and full grandeur throughout They Came Like Swallows, though the duo keep a strong and constant sideways eye on melody, composition and architecture, to the ends that any strict lines between song and improvisation are blurred beyond qualification.

As if to punctuate this point, Swallows closes with a nightwork cover of Joy Division’s “Insight,” a doleful coda that breathes out with a solemn inner grace under Thurston’s instantly stylistically recognizable guitar melodies as they weave into he and Kramer’s unison voices. As the lone vocal piece and only traditional ‘song’ form on the album, “Insight” is unique to this set and as a closing statement draws connective lines back to the kind of dynamic, electrified melodicism that wove deep, melancholy patterns into the untamed fire of Sonic Youth’s Sister and Daydream Nation. In the album’s final moments, the two voices repeat the lyric “I’m not afraid anymore” as mantra, underscoring the heavy, unsettled themes and methods that preceded it. Kramer describes the creative process of They Came Like Swallows: “I had composed and recorded a few pieces at my home studio over the course of a couple weeks. Thurston was spending the winter in South Florida, so I flew down and spent a few days recording his guitar parts in his home there. Watching him spontaneously compose his parts was pretty astonishing, to say the least. Once we'd finished working on those pieces, we began improvising and following wherever the music pointed us, and another few pieces were born. We got straight to it, without anything driving us other than the joy of finally working together.

My personal goal was to remain present and catch as many surprises as I could from Thurston's guitar work, and there were plenty during those few days. We had a fucking blast.” Thurston’s contributions here will be readily familiar to any acolytes of his other works, the through-line between his inspired playing, cradled in Kramer’s meticulous, solid arrangements. “If I had to make this record again, I'd do it all exactly the same way,” Kramer says. “It’s like jazz, you don't think about it. You just do it. It was miraculous, and you don't fuck with a miracle.”

They Came Like Swallows is the first album-length collaboration between Thurston Moore and Kramer (now officially Bonner Kramer), two giants of alternative/ experimental music. The accomplishments and influence of these two artists in the world of independent music cannot be overstated and the result of their artistic union is a startlingly cohesive statement that burns through landscapes of primitive outsider rock, avant-garde composition, progressive ambient and further locales boldly and beautifully unnamable. “Kramer and I reconnected in Miami, Florida, a few years back, many many years after each of us had departed NYC on separate life adventures. It was only a matter of time before Kramer and I started making plans to record together and with his irrepressible due diligence he quickly set up a mobile recording contraption in the pad I was decamped in, the Florida sunshine flowing through the palm leaves, lithe lizards skittering across the windowsills, and we just went for it.

Kramer had the idea to cover a Joy Division tune, a left turn from the improvisations we had been tracking, though wholly in keeping with both our sensibilities of light and dark unifying in transcendent songwriting, both of us devotees of 'the song' as well as 'the freedom.’ What transpired is They Came Like Swallows, a session we immediately felt should exist as a prayer to the war-torn souls of the families of Palestine continually decimated by the brutality of genocide. We agreed beyond words to offer our music as a sonic activism and as a beneficent energy. This album is our duo exchange for human dignity, it is our soul music for any semblance of a peaceful planet.” ~ Thurston Moore “For the first time in our nearly 45 years of friendship, we had identical time windows open to make a record together,” recounts Kramer. After all this time not a moment is wasted as the duo immediately taps into the heightened core of improvisational tension across these seven offerings. Volcanic opener “Urn Burial” notches a similar historic union (John Cale and Terry Riley) to meet the circumstances of the moment, with swirling mists of organ and pounding toms over guitar that thickens the atmosphere with jagged, grimy dissonance.

Solemn strings open the second track, “The Redness In The West,” with Kramer’s cello and viola in dueling bow beneath the high tension drive and sustain of Thurston’s electric guitar, tapping out a Morse code of tension that mounts endlessly into a fog of inevitable war by the end. Moore and Kramer’s sense of experimentalism is in free and full grandeur throughout They Came Like Swallows, though the duo keep a strong and constant sideways eye on melody, composition and architecture, to the ends that any strict lines between song and improvisation are blurred beyond qualification.

As if to punctuate this point, Swallows closes with a nightwork cover of Joy Division’s “Insight,” a doleful coda that breathes out with a solemn inner grace under Thurston’s instantly stylistically recognizable guitar melodies as they weave into he and Kramer’s unison voices. As the lone vocal piece and only traditional ‘song’ form on the album, “Insight” is unique to this set and as a closing statement draws connective lines back to the kind of dynamic, electrified melodicism that wove deep, melancholy patterns into the untamed fire of Sonic Youth’s Sister and Daydream Nation. In the album’s final moments, the two voices repeat the lyric “I’m not afraid anymore” as mantra, underscoring the heavy, unsettled themes and methods that preceded it. Kramer describes the creative process of They Came Like Swallows: “I had composed and recorded a few pieces at my home studio over the course of a couple weeks. Thurston was spending the winter in South Florida, so I flew down and spent a few days recording his guitar parts in his home there. Watching him spontaneously compose his parts was pretty astonishing, to say the least. Once we'd finished working on those pieces, we began improvising and following wherever the music pointed us, and another few pieces were born. We got straight to it, without anything driving us other than the joy of finally working together.

My personal goal was to remain present and catch as many surprises as I could from Thurston's guitar work, and there were plenty during those few days. We had a fucking blast.” Thurston’s contributions here will be readily familiar to any acolytes of his other works, the through-line between his inspired playing, cradled in Kramer’s meticulous, solid arrangements. “If I had to make this record again, I'd do it all exactly the same way,” Kramer says. “It’s like jazz, you don't think about it. You just do it. It was miraculous, and you don't fuck with a miracle.”

Past Due Records is thrilled to announce the release of Midnight Blue's "One Wish - South Carolina 1975-83," a compilation showcasing the legendary funk and modern soul band from Columbia. This limited edition double LP compilation is an exclusive collection highlighting the band's peak during the mid-1980s American boogie funk era. Formed in 1975, Midnight Blue blended the talents of local musicians Myron Alford, Robert Hoefer, Jr., Ronnie Amiker, and many others. Despite their underground status, their music left a lasting impact, performing alongside legends like Midnight Star and Prince. The compilation includes their debut single "Feel It and Groove Together," their powerful rendition of "I Who Have Nothing," and unreleased tracks recorded with Cameo's Larry Blackmon. Fan favorites such as "All Because of You" and "Coolin' Out" will also be featured. This double LP comes with a full story and many never-before-seen pictures of the band, making it a must-have for any fan of eighties funk, courtesy of Past Due Records.

Oceanine, Jolanda Moletta’s third album and her first for Beacon Sound, is a powerful and ethereal statement of artistic community. Expanding on her previous work, each track represents a collaboration with a different female vocalist, with the foundational elements being generated entirely by her own voice. By turns haunting, enchanting, and inspiring, you won’t want to come up for air once you’ve been pulled under. Representing a
musical practice that is distinctly feminist, this is an album with a longer view in mind, to an age when the altars were to goddesses and women were centered as powerful beings representing the earth’s cycles of regeneration and renewal. Oceanine then, in all its beauty, can be viewed as an album of survival. It is deeply transportive, accessing something that lies within all of us. As the late, great Lithuanian folklorist and archaeologist Marija Gimbutas noted, “We must refocus our collective memory. The necessity for this has never been greater as we discover that the path of 'progress' is extinguishing the very conditions for life on earth.”

Jolanda Moletta is a multimedia artist and one-woman electronic choir. She creates wordless compositions through extended vocal techniques, integrating wearable-controlled live processing, alongside symbolic visuals. Moletta considers her performances to be a collective ritual and creates her Sonic & Visual Spells following the cycles of nature and the moon. Jolanda's 2022 critically acclaimed album Nine Spells was released on the Ambientologist label, followed by Night Caves on Whitelabrecs in 2025. Moletta’s artistic practice is a radical and spiritual journey through sound art, ritual, and the symbolic archaeology of the feminine.

Oceanine is inspired by sirens, water nymphs, and the timeless call of the sea. At its core lies Jolanda’s deep, lifelong connection to the Mediterranean Sea and to the ancient and modern myths and folklore that have emerged from its waters. Growing up by the Mar Ligure, Jolanda was surrounded by stories carried by salt, wind, and waves: legends of sirens, echoes of ancient voices, and the sea as both origin and oracle. This intimate relationship with the Mediterranean is not merely a backdrop, but a living source that shapes Oceanine’s emotional, symbolic, and sonic world.

Each track features a different female vocalist, creating a rich tapestry of voices, styles, and perspectives. This artistic choice not only broadens the album’s sonic palette, but also deepens its narrative core: celebrating the power, beauty, and mystique of feminine energy through myth, history, and sound.

The entire album is built exclusively from the human voice, processed and layered, yet always remaining voice, and nothing else. For each piece, Jolanda invited every vocalist involved to contribute a raw stem: a short, unedited melodic fragment of just a few seconds, inspired by the album’s themes. These intimate vocal seeds became the foundation of each track: the guest artists’ voices appear as brief, melodic stems, while the entire surrounding “orchestral” fabric is created solely from Jolanda’s own layered and processed voice. In this way, Jolanda’s voice becomes the Ocean itself, embracing, absorbing, and carrying the sirens’ calls within a vast, immersive soundscape. Every song is a unique expression of the feminine experience, revealing its depth, complexity, and emotional range, echoing the call of the sea and the many faces of the siren archetype.

The figure of the siren has transformed across centuries. In myths of Ancient Greece and Rome, sirens were hybrid beings, part woman, part bird, whose irresistible songs lured sailors to their doom. During the Middle Ages, the image shifted toward the half-woman, half-fish figure, often associated with temptation and danger. Historically, the voice of women has often been feared. Sirens were considered harbingers of misfortune not simply because they seduced or destroyed, but because they were powerful liminal beings.

In Ancient Greek, sirens functioned as psychopomps: figures who existed between worlds and guided souls, especially between life and death. Their songs were believed to carry forbidden knowledge, including prophetic insight and the ability to reveal truths about fate and the future. The danger of the sirens lay in what they revealed: knowledge that humans were not meant, or ready, to hear.

Oceanine confronts this legacy head-on. The voices heard throughout the album are not merely beautiful: they are dark and luminous, wild and enchanting, magical, soothing, dreamy, and at times fractured or distorted. They whisper, lament, beckon, and enchant. Like sirens, they skim the surface of the water and sink into its depths, hovering on the edge between tenderness and danger, vulnerability and power. They rise toward the sky, dissolve into mist, and return as echoes charged with raw, elemental emotion: voices that seduce, warn, mourn, and remember. They refuse to be reduced to decoration.

Alongside the album’s release in May, Oceanine will also unfold as a visual and performative work through a short art film. The film includes a live session recorded inside a sea cave facing the Mar Ligure, the very coastline where Jolanda spent her childhood, dreaming of sirens and listening to the sea as if it were speaking directly to her. This site-specific performance reconnects the music to its place of origin, allowing the voice to resonate within stone, water, and air, and transforming the cave into both a sanctuary and a threshold between myth and reality.

What if the sirens’ songs were considered dangerous because they carried another truth, an ancient truth long forgotten?

Oceanine embraces the idea that we are still deeply woven into myth. Though we may see ourselves as rational and modern beings, our world is saturated with ancient symbols and archetypes, often distorted, simplified, or stripped of their original meaning. And if those symbols are allowed to shift, if the mirror once held by the siren becomes an invitation to look beyond appearances and into what has been obscured, then we may finally uncover a deeper truth and reclaim the voice that was always ours.

Oceanine is not just an album. It is a reclamation, a spell, and a call from the depths.

Through the dense blend of Japanese New-Wave, between moldy kimonos and punctured paper screens, along the rails of a sonic bullet train, this mini-LP reaches us, overflowing with purebred Punk-Funk, splinters of Soul and shredded Jazz. A gold nugget in a sea of sadness. Scattered energy trapped in a handful of vinyl grooves. Originally released in 1986.

Today, visionary artist Jesca Hoop announces her new album Long Wave Home due out 1st May via Last Laugh and available to preorder now. Staying true to her folk roots, though never purely, Hoop delivers strikingly original songwriting showcasing her innovative vocals augmented by imaginative arrangements. Long Wave Home is energized and rings with the promise of a fresh new chapter for the artist. To accompany today’s announcement Hoop has shared the album’s compelling first single, “Designer Citizen”, alongside a charming video directed by James Slater.
 
Additionally, Hoop has announced news of a 10-date UK tour in May including a performance at London’s Union Chapel.

Today, visionary artist Jesca Hoop announces her new album Long Wave Home due out 1st May via Last Laugh and available to preorder now. Staying true to her folk roots, though never purely, Hoop delivers strikingly original songwriting showcasing her innovative vocals augmented by imaginative arrangements. Long Wave Home is energized and rings with the promise of a fresh new chapter for the artist. To accompany today’s announcement Hoop has shared the album’s compelling first single, “Designer Citizen”, alongside a charming video directed by James Slater.
 
Additionally, Hoop has announced news of a 10-date UK tour in May including a performance at London’s Union Chapel.

With Heat, Société Étrange extends its work around repetition, groove and cyclic structures, shaping an instrumental music that is both hypnotic and enveloping. Without any radical shift, the Lyon-based trio subtly moves towards more melodic and more cinematic forms, revealing warmer, more textured and sometimes more luminous atmospheres.

The year was 1985. The reformation of Sweet was under way. I had been hanging out with Mick Tucker and we’d talked about putting together a “new” Rock line-up of Sweet after the hiatus of the original band. I had recruited Phil Lanzon on keyboards and Mal McNulty on bass, now we needed the Voice! Paul Mario Day walked in and we looked no further. Paul was the original singer with Iron Maiden and had a stint with the band More before he joined Sweet. Our first dates were in Australia, total sell-outs which boded well for the future. Europe followed suit and 3 sold out nights at the original Marquee Club in London produced a live album, video and DVD. “Live at the Marquee” did well in various charts around the world and Paul’s vocal performance has stood the test of time. There were also tracks recorded at Pacific Studios in London which feature Paul’s incredible vocals. These recordings were meant to be the start of a new phase for Sweet but due to a management dispute only 4 tracks were released. Sadly Paul is no longer with us but the legacy is right here for everyone to appreciate.

The year was 1985. The reformation of Sweet was under way. I had been hanging out with Mick Tucker and we’d talked about putting together a “new” Rock line-up of Sweet after the hiatus of the original band. I had recruited Phil Lanzon on keyboards and Mal McNulty on bass, now we needed the Voice! Paul Mario Day walked in and we looked no further. Paul was the original singer with Iron Maiden and had a stint with the band More before he joined Sweet. Our first dates were in Australia, total sell-outs which boded well for the future. Europe followed suit and 3 sold out nights at the original Marquee Club in London produced a live album, video and DVD. “Live at the Marquee” did well in various charts around the world and Paul’s vocal performance has stood the test of time. There were also tracks recorded at Pacific Studios in London which feature Paul’s incredible vocals. These recordings were meant to be the start of a new phase for Sweet but due to a management dispute only 4 tracks were released. Sadly Paul is no longer with us but the legacy is right here for everyone to appreciate.

The year was 1985. The reformation of Sweet was under way. I had been hanging out with Mick Tucker and we’d talked about putting together a “new” Rock line-up of Sweet after the hiatus of the original band. I had recruited Phil Lanzon on keyboards and Mal McNulty on bass, now we needed the Voice! Paul Mario Day walked in and we looked no further. Paul was the original singer with Iron Maiden and had a stint with the band More before he joined Sweet. Our first dates were in Australia, total sell-outs which boded well for the future. Europe followed suit and 3 sold out nights at the original Marquee Club in London produced a live album, video and DVD. “Live at the Marquee” did well in various charts around the world and Paul’s vocal performance has stood the test of time. There were also tracks recorded at Pacific Studios in London which feature Paul’s incredible vocals. These recordings were meant to be the start of a new phase for Sweet but due to a management dispute only 4 tracks were released. Sadly Paul is no longer with us but the legacy is right here for everyone to appreciate.

The year was 1985. The reformation of Sweet was under way. I had been hanging out with Mick Tucker and we’d talked about putting together a “new” Rock line-up of Sweet after the hiatus of the original band. I had recruited Phil Lanzon on keyboards and Mal McNulty on bass, now we needed the Voice! Paul Mario Day walked in and we looked no further. Paul was the original singer with Iron Maiden and had a stint with the band More before he joined Sweet. Our first dates were in Australia, total sell-outs which boded well for the future. Europe followed suit and 3 sold out nights at the original Marquee Club in London produced a live album, video and DVD. “Live at the Marquee” did well in various charts around the world and Paul’s vocal performance has stood the test of time. There were also tracks recorded at Pacific Studios in London which feature Paul’s incredible vocals. These recordings were meant to be the start of a new phase for Sweet but due to a management dispute only 4 tracks were released. Sadly Paul is no longer with us but the legacy is right here for everyone to appreciate.

The year was 1985. The reformation of Sweet was under way. I had been hanging out with Mick Tucker and we’d talked about putting together a “new” Rock line-up of Sweet after the hiatus of the original band. I had recruited Phil Lanzon on keyboards and Mal McNulty on bass, now we needed the Voice! Paul Mario Day walked in and we looked no further. Paul was the original singer with Iron Maiden and had a stint with the band More before he joined Sweet. Our first dates were in Australia, total sell-outs which boded well for the future. Europe followed suit and 3 sold out nights at the original Marquee Club in London produced a live album, video and DVD. “Live at the Marquee” did well in various charts around the world and Paul’s vocal performance has stood the test of time. There were also tracks recorded at Pacific Studios in London which feature Paul’s incredible vocals. These recordings were meant to be the start of a new phase for Sweet but due to a management dispute only 4 tracks were released. Sadly Paul is no longer with us but the legacy is right here for everyone to appreciate.

Serge Hirsch / LeSerge is a multi-instrumentalist based in Paris.

He plays the violin and keyboards, and composes and produces his own music.

His music blends jazz improvisation, a rhythmic approach drawn from hip-hop, and the sonic experimentation of contemporary bedroom music.
His main band, a trio featuring Noé Bénita on drums and Yungccos on electric bass, aims to create music that is social, joyful and musically demanding, yet never becomes esoteric.
His debut album is set to be released in partnership with Roche Musique in early 2026.
As well as composing and performing his own music, he has collaborated with numerous artists, either as a string arranger or as a producer and pianist. (Bonnie Banane, Shygirl, Lossapardo, Lablue, Swing, Madone...)
He notably made a name for himself during FKJ’s 2020 European tour, where he performed all the support slots alongside electronic music producer CRAYON.
As a bandleader, he has built a solid reputation by performing at numerous venues and residencies at Le Silencio des Près in 2024, at Soho House and at Le Serpent à Plume. He also served as deputy musical director at Le Serpent à Plume during the venue’s early years from 2019 to 2025.

Translated with (free version)

No-one could have predicted the success of The 88, the first album from Minuit
(minwee), or how warmly it would be received. Equally no-one could have predicted that the band would return to the live arena a decade after their final fling or consider pressing their debut on vinyl for the first time.

Formed in Nelson, NZ in 1997, the trio cut their teeth playing regularly around the South Island’s underground club and festival scene. After a hiatus overseas, they began recording The 88 in 2002 in Ryan’s home studio. The lyrics were influenced by their travels around Europe and Ruth's time working for the UN in Kosovo and East Timor; the beats by The Prodigy, Portishead and the UK’s trip-hop and breakbeat scenes.

Signed to indie label Tardus, their tunes were eagerly picked up by the bNet student radio network, which then ballooned into high rotates on TV station C4, helped along by Alyx Duncan’s stunning video for Except You. A busy summer playing live every weekend for three months and seemingly universal praise from the music press led to them swiftly gaining gold sales.

Now 22 years later, with live shows looming, the trio have decided to revisit their debut, completing two previously unfinished tracks from the period to add a bonus to this inaugural vinyl release.

More than half a century into its existence, heavy metal still prowls as a living force in the dark, and Vancouver's SPELL summon that spirit with defiant conviction on their fifth album, 'Wretched Heart'. Rejecting the safety of nostalgia, the band; Cam Mesmer, Al Lester, Gabriel Tenebrae and Jeff Black, step beyond retro homage into shadowy new terrain, where harmony guitars blaze like torches against the night and gothic atmospheres coil around songs pulsing with desperation, longing, and wild exaltation. Forged through the fire of the stage and shaped by trusted collaborators, this is SPELL at their most potent: dramatic, vulnerable, and unafraid of excess. From existential laments to bittersweet anthems that shimmer with both steel and sorrow, 'Wretched Heart' beats with a fiercely human pulse. In SPELL's hands, heavy metal is no museum relic but a darkly romantic covenant-restless, cathartic, and forever reaching beyond the veil.

More than half a century into its existence, heavy metal still prowls as a living force in the dark, and Vancouver's SPELL summon that spirit with defiant conviction on their fifth album, 'Wretched Heart'. Rejecting the safety of nostalgia, the band; Cam Mesmer, Al Lester, Gabriel Tenebrae and Jeff Black, step beyond retro homage into shadowy new terrain, where harmony guitars blaze like torches against the night and gothic atmospheres coil around songs pulsing with desperation, longing, and wild exaltation. Forged through the fire of the stage and shaped by trusted collaborators, this is SPELL at their most potent: dramatic, vulnerable, and unafraid of excess. From existential laments to bittersweet anthems that shimmer with both steel and sorrow, 'Wretched Heart' beats with a fiercely human pulse. In SPELL's hands, heavy metal is no museum relic but a darkly romantic covenant-restless, cathartic, and forever reaching beyond the veil.

More than half a century into its existence, heavy metal still prowls as a living force in the dark, and Vancouver's SPELL summon that spirit with defiant conviction on their fifth album, 'Wretched Heart'. Rejecting the safety of nostalgia, the band; Cam Mesmer, Al Lester, Gabriel Tenebrae and Jeff Black, step beyond retro homage into shadowy new terrain, where harmony guitars blaze like torches against the night and gothic atmospheres coil around songs pulsing with desperation, longing, and wild exaltation. Forged through the fire of the stage and shaped by trusted collaborators, this is SPELL at their most potent: dramatic, vulnerable, and unafraid of excess. From existential laments to bittersweet anthems that shimmer with both steel and sorrow, 'Wretched Heart' beats with a fiercely human pulse. In SPELL's hands, heavy metal is no museum relic but a darkly romantic covenant-restless, cathartic, and forever reaching beyond the veil.

Celebrated producer and musician Danger Mouse and prodigiously talented New York rapper Jemini are gearing up to release their long delayed collaborative album, Born Again Remarkably this soul and funk infused hip-hop tour de force arrives two decades after its creation and the duo's debut LP, Ghetto Pop Life which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Enthused by the response to Ghetto Pop Life, soon after Danger Mouse and Jemini began to tour and to write and record Born Again. Finally, having been recorded two decades ago and indefinitely shelved until now, Born Again will finally be released to coincide with the twentieth anniversary of Ghetto Pop Life. The previously unheard record retains many of the elements of Danger Mouse and Jemini's debut; the fun- loving, shit- talking innocence, but also adopts a noticeably more introspective and confessional tone. This time, in addition to lighthearted topics such as being an incredible artist (Knuckle Sandwich II, Brooklyn Basquiat), living large and being a magnet for attention (Me), Jemini also delivers highly- personal and occasionally devastating lyrics about missed opportunities and redemption (All I, Born Again), his time in prison (Locked Up) and complicated relationship with his father (Dear Poppa). His effortless free flowing cadence and indelible sing-song delivery elevate each track with a melodic infectiousness whilst Danger Mouse exhibits an affinity for resonant instrumentals built from sampled organ, vibraphone, or guitar loops and infused with his trademark minor key magic. The result is a classic, timeless hiphop record.

Celebrated producer and musician Danger Mouse and prodigiously talented New York rapper Jemini are gearing up to release their long delayed collaborative album, Born Again Remarkably this soul and funk infused hip-hop tour de force arrives two decades after its creation and the duo's debut LP, Ghetto Pop Life which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Enthused by the response to Ghetto Pop Life, soon after Danger Mouse and Jemini began to tour and to write and record Born Again. Finally, having been recorded two decades ago and indefinitely shelved until now, Born Again will finally be released to coincide with the twentieth anniversary of Ghetto Pop Life. The previously unheard record retains many of the elements of Danger Mouse and Jemini's debut; the fun- loving, shit- talking innocence, but also adopts a noticeably more introspective and confessional tone. This time, in addition to lighthearted topics such as being an incredible artist (Knuckle Sandwich II, Brooklyn Basquiat), living large and being a magnet for attention (Me), Jemini also delivers highly- personal and occasionally devastating lyrics about missed opportunities and redemption (All I, Born Again), his time in prison (Locked Up) and complicated relationship with his father (Dear Poppa). His effortless free flowing cadence and indelible sing-song delivery elevate each track with a melodic infectiousness whilst Danger Mouse exhibits an affinity for resonant instrumentals built from sampled organ, vibraphone, or guitar loops and infused with his trademark minor key magic. The result is a classic, timeless hiphop record.

Nach der Veröffentlichung von „We Still Shine“ im letzten Jahr – Tony Christies erstem neuen Album seit 13 Jahren – bringt das Jahr 2025 eine brandneue Sammlung von Neuaufnahmen seiner größten Hits! Das neue Album wurde vollständig in Nashville in einem der weltweit besten Aufnahmestudios, den Blackbird Studios, aufgenommen und enthält brandneue, reduzierte Country-Versionen seiner größten Hits, darunter „(Is This The Way To) Amarillo“, „I Did What I Did For Maria“, „Avenues and Alleyways“ und viele mehr. Unter dem Titel „A New Life“ und mit einem brandneuen Cover-Design mit großartigen Illustrationen von Gillian Martin wird dieses Album Tonys von seinen Fans geliebtes Repertoire sicherlich zu neuem Leben erwecken.

8 years after their last LP Kites, Submotion Orchestra return with their long awaited sixth studio album, the remarkable Passed Me By. A deeply personal journey into memory, creativity, and the passing of time, it shows the band continuing to push their signature electronic sound forward, and the result is some of the boldest and most emotional territory of their storied career. 

The album sees the band dive further into the synth-led, minimalist electronic textures and driving beats explored on the 'Five Points' EP, creating hypnotic analogue patterns alongside the post-dub spaciousness and celestial effects of their earliest work. With Ruby Wood's always-emotional vocals soaring over the top, the tracks effortlessly glide through genre and mood, resulting in the widest range of expression and emotion found in a Submotion album yet. 

Synopsis: Tsuna, a shy teenager, learns he is destined to become the next mafia boss. Guided by Reborn, a hitman in baby form, he faces countless enemies to protect his friends. Blending humor, action, and personal growth, Hitman Reborn! delivers a unique and thrilling adventure. This album draws on the musical style of quirky Italian mafia films, and includes the main openings and endings from the series.

After their last album six years ago, "Primal Forms," the new album by Phantom Horse, finally arrives. The German duo of Ulf Schütte and Niklas Dommaschk have long established a reputation for expertly crafted, hypnotically slow-burning electronic music, and we do not hesitate to say that "Primal Forms" stands among the epitomes of their discography.

The sequencing of "Primal Forms" cannot be underestimated. It is an album in the classic sense. It demands to be listened to in its entirety, which also points to a closer affinity with Krautrock. Likewise, a touch of dub is perceptible, wafting around the songs, which, as usual, bear clandestine titles. It is not unreasonable to see in these compact compositions a clear statement against multitasking.

Phantom Horse are not trumpeters of dystopia. They present themselves resolutely, almost stoically, turned away from the world. This turning away is clearly a statement that can be contemplated in the Mariana Trench as well as in comet belts. In any case, it is best experienced in a space without any human beings. This does not mean that grumpy hermits are tinkering with synths behind closed shutters, armed with wooden walking sticks. This is still open minded music with a connection to current developments. The approach itself is what is audible, and with it, Phantom Horse proves once again that their main connection to time is timelessness.

In an age of all-encompassing distraction on every sensory, thematic, and semantic level, Phantom Horse explores the possibilities of reduction, searching for simplified melodic arcs without resorting to the vocabulary of classical minimalism. The overall impression is more electronic; the slowly shifting, polyrhythmic compositions repeatedly lead to a peculiar danceability. However, these are perhaps the dances of mechanical birds, undeterred by anything.

Written and produced in Hamburg, Nijmegen and Ojén by Niklas Dommaschk & Ulf Schütte
Mastering by Rafael Anton Irisarri at Black Knoll
Artwork by Daniel Castrejón

Hot on the heels of the Tokyo bliss and Funk Tide sets, Tokyo-based DJ Notoya delivers Tokyo Pulse a new juicy selection of Funk and Modern soul recorded in Tokyo in the 70s and 80s. Most tracks here are making their debut outside of Japan and the album, like its predecessors, has been designed by Manuel Sepulveda (Optigram) and is annotated by DJ Notoya. The audio has been newly mastered in Tokyo by Nippon Columbia Records and remastered for vinyl by Colorsound in Paris.

In 2006, "Undiscovered" introduced the UK to one of its most distinctive new voices. Powered by the breakout single "You Give Me Something", the album debuted at No.1 in the UK Albums Chart, and went on to become 5x Platinum in the UK, and achieved Platinum and Gold certifications across Europe, Australia and beyond. Blending soul, acoustic pop and classic British songwriting, "Undiscovered" delivered a string of enduring tracks including "Wonderful World" and "The Pieces Don"t Fit Anymore", establishing James Morrison from the outset and laying the foundation for a successful international career. To celebrate its 20th anniversary, the album returns in new formats for collectors. The vinyl has been cut by John Webber at AIR Studios to showcase the warmth and depth of the original recordings, and a deluxe CD edition features 4 bonus tracks, available exclusively on CD. A landmark British debut of the 2000s, "Undiscovered" remains a defining release of its era.

When five-time Grammy award winner Taj Mahal intersects with The Phantom Blues Band, it’s one of those rare joints that hits you before you even know you’ve been hit. They walk in, plug in, and the whole room shifts. Studio assassins, road lifers, groove keepers and somehow still hungry. They are an internationally renowned Two-Time Grammy Award winning group. Taj Mahal’s fearless, open-hearted spirit still shadows the whole thing with that genre-hopping joy. He leads you down the road with a history lesson and the Phantoms carry it with honor to the Griot.

Mahal sings and plays harp as he fronts an all-star lineup of legendary musicians with the three ringleaders for the Phantoms--Johnny Lee Schell, the soulful gunslinger with tone for days, Tony Braunagel keeps the whole ship steered straight and on time, every time, and Larry Fulcher, the anchor, the heartbeat, the quiet storm on bass. Additionally, Jon Cleary, with that unmistakable New Orleans piano swagger, Mick Weaver, a session master who’s playing slides in with an undeniable velvet magic, and in the horn section, Joe Sublett on sax and Les Lovitt on trumpet bring the orchestration into the full view of this genre. This band doesn’t ‘back” anybody. They lift you up, carry you, and dare you to rise higher. On this record they slide through blues, soul, R&B, and island color with the ease of men who’ve lived every bit of it. This is deep-groove, grown-folks music from a band that still plays like the night is young. ‘Time’ is their new release on Resonatin’ Records / Thirty Tigers and celebrates over thirty years of making this uplifting inspiring and aspiring music together.

Formed in February 2025, but with a live show which outshines that of groups five times their age and experience, the north are the latest and greatest export of Leeds’ longstanding, fervent indie scene. Fronted by singer/guitarist Billy Memphis, the group have spent the past 12 months building up a reputation as one of the country’s most exciting new acts - though they’re not too fussed about the hype train. “Fuck trying to be cool or mysterious, we wanna be real,” says Billy, “If it’s to ten people or ten million.” After convincing his mum to move the family home from Scarborough to Leeds in search of culture at the age of 16, Billy spent the past three years traversing the city’s music scene, eventually forming the north (completed by drummer Sian Keates, guitarist Kobi Griggs and bassist Mecca Boylan) after cherry-picking the finest young talent in the city.

Iconic Atlanta quintet SEVENDUST is back with its 15th studio album, ONE, set for release on May 1, 2026 via Napalm Records. The upcoming full-length LP forges ten simultaneously lean and gut-punching tracks out of gargantuan riffs, seismic grooves, and signature soul-stirring hooks, once again produced by Michael “Elvis” Baskette (Alter Bridge, Falling In Reverse, Mammoth). The group, comprised of Lajon Witherspoon (vocals), Clint Lowery (lead guitar, backing vocals), John Connolly (lead guitar, backing vocals), Vince Hornsby (bass), and Morgan Rose (drums), busts down the door with the first single “Is This The Real You”. Its swaggering fretwork alternately wallops and gallops in lockstep with a pummeling rhythm anchored by thunderous drums. The riff rolls and seethes, and the vocals swing from guttural growls into the embrace of a jazz-y chantable chorus.

A hummable lead ties the bridge together. Echoes of a tensely picked single-note set the tone for “Threshold.” Lajon’s delicate delivery gives way to a contentious distortion-boosted refrain. Then, there’s “Unbreakable,” which has all the makings of a clarion call for the collective and a future live staple. Strains of soft piano slip into the undertow of a towering hook punctuated by a promise, “We were meant to be unbreakable… even when we’re at our lowest lows. And if it gets too cold, I’ll never let you go.” The title track succinctly sums up the record as a whole. Bellowing out of a maelstrom of roaring distortion, Lajon’s voice reaches heavenly heights. For over three decades, SEVENDUST have made countless fans feel a part of something special. The group’s community isn’t passive. Members of the “7D Army” make a very active commitment to being part of this family – as evinced by sold-out shows worldwide and innumerable tattoos of the band’s logo and lyrics. Since 1994, the band has quietly built a legacy without parallel, encompassing sales of nearly eight million albums, a GRAMMY® Award nomination for “Best Metal Performance,” three Top 15 entries on the Billboard 200, hundreds of millions of streams, and the fierce loyalty of millions of listeners in every corner of the globe.

Mancunian singer-songwriter Lusaint releases her brand-new LP ‘The Apothecary’, featuring the standout lead single, ‘Lie To Yourself’, and soulful, jazz-infused track ‘Summertime’.

AMBOSS ist die neue Band von TOXPACK & BIERPATRIOTEN-Sänger Schulle zusammen mit weiteren Freunden plus Gästen, die in den letzten Jahrzehnten im deutschen Punk- und Oi-Sektor viele heiße Eisen im Feuer hatten. Jetzt haben sie zusammen gleich 20 alte Eisen neu geschmiedet. Ihr Debut-Album erscheint als Doppel-Album mit Liedern ihrer Jugend von Bands aus dem Osten und Westen Deutschlands, sowie als besonderen Bonus ein Cover eines US-Hardcore Klassikers. Die Herangehensweise für "Altes Eisen neu geschmiedet" war dabei von vornherein klar: diese alten, großartigen Klassiker benötigen keine aufpolierte Hochglanz-"Oi!"-Produktion! Roh, ehrlich und brutal war das Motto und das Ergebnis spricht letztendlich für sich. Nicht nur wer noch aus alten Tagen die liebevoll selbst zusammengestellten Tape-Compilations kennt, wird diese prägende Zeit gern erinnern und das Album dafür lieben! Seit Sommer 2025 haben AMBOSS zwanzig Songs ausgewählt, was schon eine Aufgabe für sich war, gefühlt hätten es hundert werden können, die nicht nur die Band prägten sondern auch "Punk-Historie" geschrieben haben: Klassiker, vergessene Schätze und oftmals auch Raritäten von Bands wie u.a. Toxoplasma, Broilers, Daily Terror, Verlorene Jungs, Troopers, Springtoifel, Zusammrottung und Lokalmatadore sowie Madball. Als Gäste sind auf diesem Album vertreten: Dennis (Dreiviertel Noin), Zoppel (Toxpack), Stolp (Maul Halten), Hacker (Shock Troops) und Hinkel (Volxsturm). "Altes Eisen neu geschmiedet" ist auf nur 500 Stück gesamt limitiert, entweder in schwarzem Doppel-Vinyl oder als weiße 2LP erhältlich.

AMBOSS ist die neue Band von TOXPACK & BIERPATRIOTEN-Sänger Schulle zusammen mit weiteren Freunden plus Gästen, die in den letzten Jahrzehnten im deutschen Punk- und Oi-Sektor viele heiße Eisen im Feuer hatten. Jetzt haben sie zusammen gleich 20 alte Eisen neu geschmiedet. Ihr Debut-Album erscheint als Doppel-Album mit Liedern ihrer Jugend von Bands aus dem Osten und Westen Deutschlands, sowie als besonderen Bonus ein Cover eines US-Hardcore Klassikers. Die Herangehensweise für "Altes Eisen neu geschmiedet" war dabei von vornherein klar: diese alten, großartigen Klassiker benötigen keine aufpolierte Hochglanz-"Oi!"-Produktion! Roh, ehrlich und brutal war das Motto und das Ergebnis spricht letztendlich für sich. Nicht nur wer noch aus alten Tagen die liebevoll selbst zusammengestellten Tape-Compilations kennt, wird diese prägende Zeit gern erinnern und das Album dafür lieben! Seit Sommer 2025 haben AMBOSS zwanzig Songs ausgewählt, was schon eine Aufgabe für sich war, gefühlt hätten es hundert werden können, die nicht nur die Band prägten sondern auch "Punk-Historie" geschrieben haben: Klassiker, vergessene Schätze und oftmals auch Raritäten von Bands wie u.a. Toxoplasma, Broilers, Daily Terror, Verlorene Jungs, Troopers, Springtoifel, Zusammrottung und Lokalmatadore sowie Madball. Als Gäste sind auf diesem Album vertreten: Dennis (Dreiviertel Noin), Zoppel (Toxpack), Stolp (Maul Halten), Hacker (Shock Troops) und Hinkel (Volxsturm). "Altes Eisen neu geschmiedet" ist auf nur 500 Stück gesamt limitiert, entweder in schwarzem Doppel-Vinyl oder als weiße 2LP erhältlich.

For the second time, the Geneva-based duo Cyril Cyril hands the microphone to the Syndicat du Futur. Behind this small group campaigning for a better future are Jeannot and Marilou, Zoé, Marlowe and Lenaïs — the respective children of Cyril (Yeterian) and Cyril (Bondi). Two years after La Météo / Le Monde Embêtant, the crew is back. The voices have grown and changed, but the sharp perspective remains, and the adult world had better watch out.

On Le Petit Bonhomme Orange, a certain D. Trump takes a hit. Seen from a child’s point of view, the war leader and his gesticulations look less like a figure of authority than a ridiculous scarecrow ruling through fear. And when power turns grotesque, it stops being intimidating.

With Le Gros Hit, it’s time for the absurd. A song that builds itself in plain sight, stacking lines with no apparent logic and embracing its own laziness. A reminder that you can make a track with three ideas and a chorus, and sometimes that’s all it takes.

“Tako” means “octopus”, “kite”, and even “bunion” in Japanese. Bald men or men with shaven heads, as well as red-faced, staggering drunks, are also referred to as “tako”. It’s a word that appears in a lot of slang and sayings. Taco is also the name of an 80s music and performance collective whose performances were like nothing before or since. The Japanese band Taco, formed at the beginning of the 80s, is a loose group/collective of varying members that belongs to the post-punk alternative music movement. The network of members were all friends and acquaintances of Harumi Yamazaki, ex-member of Gaseneta and Taco’s central member.

Taco can be described as a band of guerrillas who, over the years, continued to connect, collect, interrupt, and scatter while sending out into the world music and sounds that can best be described as transient. Taco also performed without Harumi, and so it is as though the band is an anonymous group of mercenaries. Taco’s first album was released in 1983 and had a huge impact on Japan’s underground music scene as an anomalous and collaborative album involving various participating artists (the stars of Japan’s underground music scene!) and Harumi, who provided the lyrics. Although each track represents a reverberating conglomeration of sounds created by this transient local network, common to all the tracks are Harumi’s expressive lyrics. This has the effect of transforming all the tracks into a single powerful force which, in turn, spawns an “incident” which spreads like a giant ripple. However, because of another incident in which the records were recalled due to the scandal caused by some of the lyrics, only a limited number of people actually own a copy of the album. Taco’s second album (a 12” EP), released in 1984, features a live recording of a performance that was held at the end of 1982. Taco is a band of indeterminate members which only ever played one-off performances, but this is an album that reveals a unit whose performance was unusually musically coherent. This is an album which effectively conveys the power of Taco’s astounding and legendary live performances, as well as Harumi’s inflammatory, sensational, and masochistic presence on stage. Her mutterings and screams, which practically ignore the detached beat, confront the audience like an overwhelming groundswell.

The following is a description of Taco by one of its members following one of its live performances: “Taco’s like a project where the indeterminate participants fan each other’s heightened emotions of wanting to wreak personal revenge and retribution. It’s an ecosystem of tangible and intangible mouldy slime which accumulates in order for emotions to be acted out, both indoors in the studio, or outdoors on stage. That’s why the avenger can often end up being the victim.”

Nameless, March 1985

With the blessing of Otomo Yoshihide himself, one of the cornerstones of nineties avant-garde officially returns to vinyl. A melting pot of musicians, sounds, and experimentation, all masterminded by the Deus Ex Machina of Fukushima. These jazzy rock noise compositions haven’t lost a single shred of their original allure, striking us today with the same raw power and innovative drive of thirty years ago, when they first burst onto the global avant-garde scene.

With HEAT, Société Étrange extends its work around repetition, groove and cyclic structures, shaping an instrumental music that is both hypnotic and enveloping. Without any radical shift, the Lyon-based trio subtly moves towards more melodic and more cinematic forms, revealing warmer, more textured and sometimes more luminous atmospheres.

More than 25 years after its original release, Beatsqueeze Records brings back a classic of French rap: “Le Piège” by TRIPTIK.


Originally released in 2000 featuring D’Oz and Cutee B, this cult track is being reissued for the first time on 45 RPM vinyl.


A must-have for French rap fans and vinyl collectors alike.
The year 2000 was a turning point in TRIPTIK’s career.
The Parisian trio, then close to Cut Killer, released the maxi “Dat Shit” with the New York group Blahzay Blahzay, on the label of the famous French DJ.
At the same time, a 2-track maxi from Blahzay hit the shelves. It included the same track… but without the French MCs and without crediting the group’s beatmaker, Drixxxé.
Side B featured another of his productions, again without any credits.
In response, TRIPTIK decided to reclaim the appropriated beat. This reaction gave birth to the legendary “Le Piège”, featuring D’Oz and Cutee B.

Another Country is the fifth full-length album by Cindy, the San Francisco-based group built around the songwriting of Karina Gill. Recorded, like all of its predecessors, in their hometown and with a consistent line-up held over from their previous record (the Swan Lake EP from 2024), it is replete with the poetry of private vistas, eavesdropped dramas and confusing winds. These are classic Cindy concerns, and yet, as always, contain new mystery and charm to somehow feel like quiet revelations each time. Another Country is both opaque in its intentions and specific in its presentation, and as such presents the kind of truth that keeps the listener on the search for answers just out of reach.
"The title of this record, Another Country, refers to the James Baldwin novel of that name. The book has a kind of drama that makes sense to me. When I look around, the obvious explanations are not enough. The miasma of feelings and ideas that is supposed to account for it all, doesn't. Baldwin washes past that to longings that begin to explain. Cindy songs come out of the x-rays my particular brain makes out of what I see and experience. What you hear on this record is the result of collaboration with the members of Cindy that transforms that shadowy thing into full color, fully fleshed. Each of them, in music, is sure-footed and unblinking, and making this record together felt like, yes, yes, you see what I mean."
Cindy is Karina, Staizsh, Will & Oli. Another Country will be released on 1st May 2026 via Tough Love.

With multiple bass players (at one point eight of them) and an array of rubber masks that give both children and adults sleepless nights, somehow, against all the odds, Evil Blizzard are set to release their fifth studio album of nightmare inducing noise and visuals. Titled, the new album sees Evil Blizzard pushing the boundaries further afield from their early sound of 'multiple bass psych', seeing elements of dub, krautrock and goth to provide a much more Post Punk vibe than previous work. Reference points were 'Metal Box', 'Ritual De Lo Habitual', Can and Discharge (whose singer JJ joins the band on the track 'Wake The Dead In Bedlam') as well as the omnipresent Hawkwind, Stooges and Sabbath vibes. By far the band's most stylistically varied and challenging album and yet their most cohesive body of work since their critically acclaimed second album 'Everybody Come To Church'. As well as their trademark 'multi bass onslaught', this album sees sequencing, sampling and even the use of string instruments made from bone.

Recorded between September and November 2025 at Rock Hard Studios, Blackpool, improvised sessions were edited down into more 'song' structures, then reworked into the final pieces. "Recording this was the hardest work we've done," claims Filthydirty. "Previously, we'd just turn up, turn up louder, press record and sieve through the debris and call it 'an album'. On this album we only had two, maybe three tracks that were finished when we went in, and the rest were worked out in reverse; ploughing through improvisations and jams and seeing what actually had any bones or gristle to work with. “Consequently, we had the time and focus to reappraise what we'd done in the past, highlight what we'd done right and realise where perhaps self-indulgence or lack of focus were overlooked instead of time or budget restraints, he continues. “The result is an album that reflects all our record collections. Lyrically it's been impossible to not absorb the chaos and anger transmitting on every news channel recently, and while we'd never write specifically about a certain issue or matter, the shitshow that is the 2020's definitely made its mark or our thinking.

Extremely Rotten Productions and M.N.B. Records resurrects the corpse of FUNEREAL and presents for the first time on vinyl the 1994 album “The Misery Season”.
From the remains of Chicago death metal demo legends, CONTAGION, rose the even gloomier and dark death metal band FUNEREAL and their sole album testaments to misery and heaviness that was created within their short 2 year existence and are perfectly encapsulated on this majestic recording. Complete with amazing cover art by Greek artist Dimitri Patelis.

Kaash Paige’s 2 LATE TO BE TOXIC is a R&B heartbreak story told in real-time. The focus track, “What Happened 2 Us,” is a raw and hazy reflection on broken love, written from the wreckage of what once was. With her signature slow-burn cadence and a voice full of ache, Kaash peels back the ego and lets the pain speak. This track marks a shift into deeper, darker R&B while fans flock to her digital diaries and hotline for catharsis. The album closes the chapter that KAASHMYCHECKS cracked open.

“Arde” is the creative peak of the Madrid-based experimental collective: 14 cinematic, hypnotic, and emotionally devastating songs that masterfully blend post-rock atmospheres, alt-folk introspection, traditional Spanish elements, and complex, often cathartic arrangements.
The album's UK connection is through Stuart David (Looper, Belle & Sebastian), who championed the band to Sub Pop, leading to their international breakthrough. On Metacritic, it holds a 77/100 score based on 6 reviews, with AllMusic praising its "spectacular balance of beauty and tension”. CMJ New Music Monthly highlighted it as "one of the brightest artistic lights in the diverse Iberian indie-pop scene".
Pitchfork awarded it a 9.3/10 in 2001—the highest score for any Spanish artist to date—describing it as “nothing short of elemental in its beauty”. The album also succeeded in France (PopLane, 2001), with strong coverage in Les Inrockuptibles, Magic!, Le Monde, and Libération. Migala shared stages with key acts like Smog (Bill Callahan), Mark Kozelek (Red House Painters), The Magnetic Fields, Damon & Naomi, and served as Will Oldham’s (Bonnie “Prince” Billy/Palace) backing band during his Spanish tour in 1998.
This new edition has been painstakingly remastered from the original Cubase projects (summer/fall 2000). Every track was exported individually and given a fresh, zero-compromise mastering. The result is a significantly clearer, more open, defined, and powerful sound — especially in the rhythmic foundation — while fully preserving the warm, organic lo-fi character of the original. An absolute must-have for indie, post-rock, alt-folk, and collector sections — a genuine classic that belongs in every serious record store and deserves rediscovery.

Ed Sánchez-Gómez is a Costa Rican-born artist now based in Evanston, Illinois (USA). After a complex relationship with classical guitar at the University of Costa Rica, travels through Europe and Argentina (where he absorbed South American folk), and improvisation studies in Chicago, he has forged a deeply personal sound. Born from profound grief and the global pandemic, “Obras de misericordia” is an intense, moving acoustic album that blends artisanal shoegaze with infinite noise-pop harmonies, Latin folk textures (charango, mandolin, hammered dulcimer) and the languid beauty of John Martyn, The Declining Winter and the Elephant 6 Collective. It explores sounds beyond the guitar — adding musical saw, piano, violin, viola and cello — creating landscapes that shift between introspection and catharsis. It is the most hi-fi lo-fi album you will ever hear. Recorded by Ed between January 2022 and March 2024 in Evanston, IL and Peru, IN; mixed by Abel Hernández (Migala, El Hijo) and mastered by Santiago Quizhpe (Pullpush Studio, Madrid).
Influences from UK shoegaze/post-rock pioneers like Hood, and Disco Inferno add layered, atmospheric depth, connecting to the genre's British revival scene.
An essential title for indie, shoegaze, folk-experimental and RSD sections: perfect for in-store play, window displays and collectors who love intimate, boundary-pushing acoustic records with deep emotional resonance and Latin roots.

The brand- new album from Hiss Golden Messenger and the first release with Chrysalis Records. I'm People is a vivid, deeply human album born from a period of rupture, renewal, and vast American wandering. Written across Bolinas, the North Carolina Piedmont, and a Santa Fe motel room, the record traces the artist's search for clarity through landscapes both external and internal. These songs move through heartbreak, aging, fatherhood, desire, disillusionment, and the hard- won hope that remains after the spirit has been scraped bare.

Produced with Josh Kaufman at Dreamland, a decommissioned church outside Woodstock, the album carries the warmth of musicians playing live in a circle, stained- glass light filtering across guitars, drums, and upright bass. Contributions from Bruce Hornsby, Sam Beam, Marcus King, Sara Watkins, Amy Helm, Eric D. Johnson, and members of Dawes enrich a sound world that feels immediate, vulnerable, and fully alive. "I'm People is an intensely human record, and so one that needed to feel immediate, vulnerable, and fully dancing; something you could touch, sing along to, know about, recognize, relate with. I know what the record is to me and I bet it's not so dissimilar from what it's about to you, at least in the broad strokes: The heartbreak and exhilaration, the absolute black comedy of being a person on this razor's edge that is America circa 2025. What other choice do we have than to be hopeful?" - MC Taylor on I'm People. Hiss Golden Messenger is a Grammy nominated artist based in North Carolina, with multiple Album Of The Year and Best Americana Album awards, reaching #2 in the Americana Charts and performances and tours across the world, including the UK and Europe + performances on US TV; Late Night With Seth Myers.

Out now via 7 Mater, in collaboration with The Circle Music for worldwide distribution, this special edition of Stolen Season Pt. I captures both the essence of the project and the spirit of the upcoming full-length Stolen Season Pt. I. This first pressing is destined to become a collector's item: numbered and limited to 250 black vinyl copies and 250 gold vinyl copies, each edition comes housed in a deluxe sleeve with an exclusive 30x30 insert that perfectly frames the visual world of the band. It is a striking presentation that mirrors the richness of the music contained within. The creative force behind From The Land is Anatoly Pakhalenko, best known as the frontman of the acclaimed dark folk ensemble Nytt Land.

Conceived in 2025, this new project serves as an alter ego for Pakhalenko, allowing him to explore the darker edges of country, blues, and folk traditions while weaving them into a world described as "a black and white landscape, tired of all this s**t that's going on around and gradually sinking into an endless sleep". Together with Aleksandr Rosliakov, Pakhalenko composed Stolen Season Pt. I between January and May 2025 at Nytt Land Studio, handling recording, mixing, and production duties himself. The result is an album that resonates with uncompromising artistic vision and raw emotional depth. From The Land 's universe draws inspiration from the haunting literary realms of H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe, as well as the surreal, unsettling imagery of David Lynch. This heady mixture of influences creates a soundscape that is equally cinematic and visceral, where ritual meets ruin, and folk traditions dissolve into the smoke of blues and country noir.

After years PRAGER HANDGRIFF's landmark album "Taterschaft und Teilnahme" has finally been reborn - this time in a format worthy of its machine-hardened legacy. Courtesy of Assur Anshar, a daring sub-label of Rune Serpent Europa, this first-ever vinyl edition is more than a reissue: it's a full-scale industrial art object. Pressed in two limited color variants - 300 numbered copies each in Gold and Silver - and anchored by a super-limited wooden box edition (only 50 copies!), this is not just for fans - it's for collectors, archivists, and devotees of German industrial at its rawest. The sound? As sharp, provocative, and politically charged as ever. Tracks like "Traumsequen", "Durch Die Wuste", and "Taterschaft Und Teilnahme" still carry the pounding urgency of early 2000s EBM, yet feel chillingly relevant today.

The album is a powerful reaffirmation of human creativity: "My music has always been about connection, bringing enduring old stories into conversation with contemporary life," Portman says. "This album is a collective, entirely human-made effort, and it's richer because of it." Renowned for her luminous songwriting and distinctive voice in contemporary folk, Portman steps into bold new territory with an album that charts a heroine's midlife journey through dark woods in search of wonder. Drawing on ballads and folktales, Dominion of Spells explores themes of burnout, misogyny, motherhood, miscarriage and personal transformation, weaving lived experience with mythic imagery and traditional folk narratives. The title track, Dominion of Spells , reclaims a 17th- century phrase once used to diagnose women as "disordered", drawing on the myth of the wandering womb and the long history of medical misogyny. Portman transforms these ideas into a vision of a freer, fairer realm where women's bodies are understood rather than feared. The first single, Turn Again , is a tender meditation on parenthood, inspired by her young son's imaginative shapeshifting games and echoing the Tam Lin ballad, where steadfast love breaks a powerful spell. Elsewhere, the album explores women's right to move safely after dark, genderswapped retellings of heroic quests, miscarriage, phone addiction and the restorative power of creative practice.

For the first time, this landmark album of ritualistic dark folk and shamanic soundscapes is pressed into Double LP, and the result is a breathtaking artifact that transcends the boundary between music and mysticism. Presented in a deluxe edition LP with a lavish 30x30 insert, brought to life by Rune Serpent Europa, this release is a kind of talisman. The packaging itself feels like a gateway: ornate, otherworldly, and perfectly attuned to the spirit of Havamal , where Nordic tradition, animistic ritual, and primal sound converge in a timeless invocation. Spinning Havamal on vinyl unleashes the full incantatory power of NYTT LAND 's music. The analog warmth deepens the resonance of the throat-sung mantras and the droning instrumentation, pulling the listener into a world that is equal parts ancient ritual, frozen landscape, and whispered prophecy.

Every track becomes a rune carved in sound, vibrating with hidden meaning, echoing the eternal cycles of life, death, and rebirth. There is a romance in this edition that goes beyond mere presentation. The act of lowering the needle becomes an invocation, a summoning of ancestral voices and forgotten gods. The record itself feels alive, as though the spirits of the sagas reside within its grooves. Each listen is a ritual, each flip of the vinyl a turning of the cosmic wheel. With Havamal now available on LP, collectors and devotees of dark folk finally hold in their hands a relic worthy of the album's mythic aura. This is music to be inhabited, to be carried into dreams and into shadows, to be used as a key that unlocks the hidden chambers of the soul. A triumph of art, craft, and spirit, this vinyl edition is destined to become a coveted treasure.

Repress 2026

DJ Support from Danny Howard, Annie Mac, Mistajam, Pete Tong, Charlie Hedges, Kraak & Smaak, Maxinne, Todd Terry, Alex Preston, Full Intention, GW Harrison, DJ Rae, Rudimental, Alaia & Gallo, Illyus & Barrientos, Johan S, David Penn, Sam Divine, Riva Starr, Claptone, Nice7, Dario D’Attis, Mousse T, S-Man, Huxley, KC Lights, Friend Within, Dombresky, Gorgon City, Chris Lake, Format:B, Pirupa, TCTS, Alan Fitzpatrick, Low Steppa, Mat.Joe, Raumakustik, Eskuche

The next of Toolroom’s 4 track vinyl sampler series kicks off with a bang(er!). Welcoming CHANEY back onto the label with possible his finest release to date in the shape of ‘I Choose You’. On Toolroom alone he has amassed over 40m streams across leading streaming stores in just 3 years and can add massive imprints like Defected, Insomniac and Perfect Havoc to his list of musical successes. Everything in this record is 100% original and written by CHANEY himself from the self-played bass line, lush rhodes chords and distinctive, poignant vocals.

Next up is Gene Farris who has been a mainstay on Toolroom in recent years and is a regular artist at our label events all over the World. ‘In My Heart’ lands as an exciting collab with the Basura Boyz, a duo also hailing from Gene’s hometown of Chicago and the chemistry between the 3 of them is evident from the first beat! A super cool, stripped back vocal tech house track that sits in that sweet spot of club and specialist radio.

Kicking off the B-side is Deeper Purpose who returns to Toolroom alongside Jalja & Lazy Joe, after his debut club weapon ‘Stutter’ dropped on the label last year. He has had success across all the scene’s leading imprints over the past 12 months including Fisher’s Catch n Release, Experts Only and Repopulate Mars and this record is an anthem in the making! Jalja is on vocal duties, the vocalist that shot to fame after her huge ‘Hanging Tree’ record alongside Michael Bibi. She adds her trademark ethereal vibe to the record and delivers a typically killer hook - This is a real EAR WORM!!

Wrapping things up on Sampler 14 is a very exciting collaboration from 2 of the scene’s brightest shining new stars; Tony Romera and Crusy. Having been die-hard Toolroom fans for many years, this record came about during a conversation about old Toolroom records, and how they collectively wanted to emulate that slightly progressive tech house but bring it right up to date. And they have certainly done that! A real peak-time dance floor moment here with insane production and a unique, intense build up that is already causing maximum mayhem!

Countless radio plays on Radio 1 from Danny Howard, Sarah Storie, Pete Tong

Other notable radio plays – Kiss FM, Toolroom Radio, Sirius XM, Data Transmission Radio, Radio 1 Dance Anthems, Radio 1 Party Anthems, Rinse FM, Select Radio, Tomorrowland Radio

Stick To Your Guns hold a mirror up to society’s ills without blurring its ugliness. In an attempt to unapologetically trumpet real change, the Southern California quintet—Jesse Barnett vocals,Andrew Rose bass,Adam Galindo[drums], Chris Rawson [guitar], and Josh James [guitar]—never shy away from speaking or screaming unpopular truths from the purest place. Founded in2003, Stick To Your Guns have always written and performed with a sense of urgency, their socially conscious message hitting as hard as their signature hybrid of hardcore, punk, and metal. Over the course of their career, they’ve amassed over 50 million total streams, performed on four continents, and shared stages with the likes of Parkway Drive, Architects, and Every Time I Die. Most recently, Alternative Press praised 2017’s True View as “the result of a long time spent on self-reflection and realization.” The band’s latest release ‘Invisible Rain’ incorporates two new songs that remain quintessentially Stick To Your Guns while incorporating fresh elements. The band’s relentless pursuit of a better world and their critique of societal injustices continues to drive their music and message. In 2024, Stick To Your Guns signed with SharpTone Records, marking a new chapter in their storied career. This partnership promises to bring their potent blend of activism and music to an even broader audience, amplifying their call for change and social justice.

On a class debut for Biscuit’s choice Good Morning Tapes label, Kyoto’s dub specialist G Version III runs signature fusions of digidub steppers, drill, and holographic, minor-key FM synths.

One up on her 12” for Riddim Chango last year (plus the »Scenery From Double Glazing« tape for Digital Sting in ’24), G Version III’s »Chapter II« most finely chisels her lucidly rugged definition of the late ’80s / early ’90s mystic steppers sound. The OG Caribbean spirit is heard filtered through UK dances and shored up in Japan, where G tessellates its salient points with a palette of glassy Japanese synth tones and chamber music to exquisite effect. If Wendy Carlos was a soundgyal?

Across six cuts she builds the dance around digidub x drill waltz »Livin 4« and a haunted dancehall special in the harpsichord/horn riff of »An Idyll«, impressing her prowess in the fusion of subcontinental scales with a drill-tipped skip in »Queen G Theme Chapter II«, and tucking right into an aerodynamic, flying steppers mode, shades away from Element, in »Motherearth Guidance«. At a slower, wider stride her »Higher Grade« goes eyes-down on massive subs, and »Voice of Mystique Warriyah« adapts the classic-schooled sound like TNT Roots in Tokyo.

With Diving Inward, the first release under the alias Dziad, Aleksander Filipiak melds the frigid indifference of synthesised textures with exploratory re-imaginations of his first instrument as an industrial buzz saw of unpredictable metallic fluctuations. The sonic landscape is a tribute to a multiplicity of (once) cutting edge, experimental techniques from the golden age of electroacoustic composition, combined with the composer’s enduring love for organic and unpredictable textures, transportive folk motifs and hypnotic pads.

Recorded in the winter 2022, this amalgam of the tangible and imaginary, shudders and re-lives a sombre season of isolation and loneliness. The pieces stand as an ode to the optimistic acts of play and creativity; an antidote to a reality which, at times, feels tolerable at its best. With this release, Filipiak encapsulates emotions that are overdue to be left behind. Shelve them for another day.

WRWTFWW Records is very excited to announce the first release from its new City Pop Series with Japanese singer, actress, entertainer, scholar and all-around legend Momoko Kikuchi’s sun-drenched classic Ocean Side album, available now as a limited-edition transparent vinyl LP in a heavyweight sleeve with obi.

A cult classic among Japanese music collectors, Ocean Side was originally released in 1984 by mythical label VAP and features lush compositions and arrangements by J-Pop icon Tetsuji Hayashi (Mariya Takeuchi, Miki Matsubara, Omega Tribe, Junichi Inagaki, Urusei Yatsura anime, soundtrack…). Momoko Kikuchi’s city pop gem is a flawless mix of heartwarming beachside funk, breezy grooves, and silky-smooth vocals - the feel-good music we all need in our life right now.

The 9-track summer-is-forever adventure notably includes the ultra-funky megahit “Blind Curve”, the fan-favorite title song, and the insanely romantic ballad “Futari No Night Drive”. A vibrant reflection of summer in 1980s Japan, Ocean Side masterfully balances nostalgia and elegance, and provides part of the origin story for revered modern music genres such as chillwave, and future funk, and vaporwave.

The official reissue licensed from VAP, Inc. is sourced from the original masters with an audiophile-cut by Sidney Meyer at Emil Berliner Studios.

WRWTFWW’s City Pop Series and its Lopetz/Büro Destruct-designed logo also includes jazz-fusion-AOR-mellow-funk treasure Safari (1984), a limited capsule collection of merch, and much more to come in the near future.

On the day of Eid al-Fitr (Sugar Feast), Sonhouse Records released Grond, a brand new record, produced by Faisal Chatar and 'Yong' Yello Staelens.

Grond (soil) tells the tragicomic story of a Moroccan brother and sister who take over their father's funeral business and want to modernise it. Instead of repatriating Belgian Muslims to their country of origin and burying them there according to Muslim traditions, they decide to import the holy soil.

Western and Arabic sounds, combined with hip-hop beats are mixed in a refined way. Faisal and Yello produced twenty songs that immediately make you long for summer. In Brussels, Tangier or simply elsewhere.

Faisal Chatar and Yello Staelens:
"Grond is about the clash between traditional Moroccan values and Brussels city culture. We tried to translate that by combining Moroccan instruments like Krakebs and Qanuns with thick hip-hop beats. It sounds as if Timbaland is eating a merguez sandwich in a Molenbeek snack bar while Aznavour sounds through a distorted FM radio."