Search:shap

Luke Titus is a Chicago-born drummer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist known for his remarkable versatility and genre-spanning artistry. With deep roots in jazz and a knack for blending it seamlessly with experimental music, drum & bass, and beyond, Titus has earned a reputation as a world-class drummer and a dynamic force across the national musical landscape. Growing up in Chicago's vibrant music scene, Titus flourished alongside fellow young artists in the early 2010s. His work quickly positioned him as a key figure in the city's jazz, hip-hop, and R&B communities, leading to collaborations that propelled him to national recognition. Continue to follow the thread of Luke Titus' many contributions to jazz and alternative scenes across America, and what emerges is a singular weave between his roots in Chicago, LA and New York communities. From What Was Will Grow A Flower is the second LP from the prolific young songwriter and producer, codifying his many musical leanings into an emergent, nearly clairvoyant statement of musical intent. Blooming and innovative songwriting, effervescent vocal hooks, virtuosic instrumental passages, and meticulously studied production techniques abound. About the album, Titus says "This album is about spirituality and connectivity, both with the universe and the self, as told through my personal journey. It questions reality as a way to deepen one's connection to it. I dedicate this album not only to anyone who has been through hard times, but to anyone who relates to the cyclical nature of the human experience. And more than that, I dedicate this album to my mom." As a producer and songwriter, Titus' fingerprints can be found on numerous acclaimed projects, including Noname's Room 25, Luke Titus & Cisco Swank's Some Things Take Time, Orion Sun's Orion, and Ravyn Lenae's Hypnos. His co-production credits span across a roster of innovative talents like Steve Lacy, Monte Booker, Brian Sanborn, Teo Halm, Phoelix, Cisco Swank, Saba, Kiefer, Elijah Fox, and Itai Shapira. Titus has taken his talents to the global stage, performing at high-profile festivals and venues such as Lollapalooza, Coachella, Pitchfork, Blue Note NYC, North Sea Jazz Fest, Smoking Grooves, Fuji Rock Festival, Blue Note Tokyo, and NYC Winter Jazz Fest, amongst many others.

Luke Titus is a Chicago-born drummer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist known for his remarkable versatility and genre-spanning artistry. With deep roots in jazz and a knack for blending it seamlessly with experimental music, drum & bass, and beyond, Titus has earned a reputation as a world-class drummer and a dynamic force across the national musical landscape. Growing up in Chicago's vibrant music scene, Titus flourished alongside fellow young artists in the early 2010s. His work quickly positioned him as a key figure in the city's jazz, hip-hop, and R&B communities, leading to collaborations that propelled him to national recognition. Continue to follow the thread of Luke Titus' many contributions to jazz and alternative scenes across America, and what emerges is a singular weave between his roots in Chicago, LA and New York communities. From What Was Will Grow A Flower is the second LP from the prolific young songwriter and producer, codifying his many musical leanings into an emergent, nearly clairvoyant statement of musical intent. Blooming and innovative songwriting, effervescent vocal hooks, virtuosic instrumental passages, and meticulously studied production techniques abound. About the album, Titus says "This album is about spirituality and connectivity, both with the universe and the self, as told through my personal journey. It questions reality as a way to deepen one's connection to it. I dedicate this album not only to anyone who has been through hard times, but to anyone who relates to the cyclical nature of the human experience. And more than that, I dedicate this album to my mom." As a producer and songwriter, Titus' fingerprints can be found on numerous acclaimed projects, including Noname's Room 25, Luke Titus & Cisco Swank's Some Things Take Time, Orion Sun's Orion, and Ravyn Lenae's Hypnos. His co-production credits span across a roster of innovative talents like Steve Lacy, Monte Booker, Brian Sanborn, Teo Halm, Phoelix, Cisco Swank, Saba, Kiefer, Elijah Fox, and Itai Shapira. Titus has taken his talents to the global stage, performing at high-profile festivals and venues such as Lollapalooza, Coachella, Pitchfork, Blue Note NYC, North Sea Jazz Fest, Smoking Grooves, Fuji Rock Festival, Blue Note Tokyo, and NYC Winter Jazz Fest, amongst many others.

Luke Titus is a Chicago-born drummer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist known for his remarkable versatility and genre-spanning artistry. With deep roots in jazz and a knack for blending it seamlessly with experimental music, drum & bass, and beyond, Titus has earned a reputation as a world-class drummer and a dynamic force across the national musical landscape. Growing up in Chicago's vibrant music scene, Titus flourished alongside fellow young artists in the early 2010s. His work quickly positioned him as a key figure in the city's jazz, hip-hop, and R&B communities, leading to collaborations that propelled him to national recognition. Continue to follow the thread of Luke Titus' many contributions to jazz and alternative scenes across America, and what emerges is a singular weave between his roots in Chicago, LA and New York communities. From What Was Will Grow A Flower is the second LP from the prolific young songwriter and producer, codifying his many musical leanings into an emergent, nearly clairvoyant statement of musical intent. Blooming and innovative songwriting, effervescent vocal hooks, virtuosic instrumental passages, and meticulously studied production techniques abound. About the album, Titus says "This album is about spirituality and connectivity, both with the universe and the self, as told through my personal journey. It questions reality as a way to deepen one's connection to it. I dedicate this album not only to anyone who has been through hard times, but to anyone who relates to the cyclical nature of the human experience. And more than that, I dedicate this album to my mom." As a producer and songwriter, Titus' fingerprints can be found on numerous acclaimed projects, including Noname's Room 25, Luke Titus & Cisco Swank's Some Things Take Time, Orion Sun's Orion, and Ravyn Lenae's Hypnos. His co-production credits span across a roster of innovative talents like Steve Lacy, Monte Booker, Brian Sanborn, Teo Halm, Phoelix, Cisco Swank, Saba, Kiefer, Elijah Fox, and Itai Shapira. Titus has taken his talents to the global stage, performing at high-profile festivals and venues such as Lollapalooza, Coachella, Pitchfork, Blue Note NYC, North Sea Jazz Fest, Smoking Grooves, Fuji Rock Festival, Blue Note Tokyo, and NYC Winter Jazz Fest, amongst many others.

Very few bands manage to last decades, and for the ones that do, it's often easy to settle down and get a little too comfortable. But there's nothing comfortable about Devourer, the explosive new album from Cursive. The iconic Omaha group is known for their intensity, ambition, and execution, and has spent 30 years creating a bold discography that's defined as much by its cathartic sound as its weighty, challenging lyrical themes. And Devourer is as daring as ever. Full of intense and incisive songs, the album proves exactly why Cursive have been so influential and enduring-and why they remain so vital today.In the years since their 1995 formation, Cursive developed into one of the most important groups to emerge from the late-'90s/early `00s moment when the lines between indie rock and post-hardcore began blurring into something altogether new. Albums like Domestica (2000) and The Ugly Organ (2003) became essential touchstones whose echoes can still be heard in new bands today. Devourer, as an expansive new double-album, examines humanity's bottomless capacity for consumption through a series of songs that act like vignettes, driven by frontman Tim Kasher's never-ending appetite for both taking in and creating art."I am obsessive about consuming the arts," he explains. "Music, film, literature. I've come to recognize that I devour all of these art forms then, in turn, create my own versions of these things and spew them out onto the world. It's positive; you're part of an ecosystem. But I quickly recognized that the term, `Devourer,' may also embody something gnarly, sinister." Fans have come to expect such heady topics from Cursive, but Devourer sets a new standard.While Cursive's music hasn't gotten any more comfortable, perhaps its being released into a world that's at least a little more shaped in their image. Devourer sounds urgent and fresh, the work of a band still experimenting, still hungering to find new creative heights. On album highlight "Consumers," the protagonist bemoans, "I saw our future and I want to go back." But Cursive are only moving forward.

'Gone Down Meadowland' is the much-anticipated debut album release from Norwich, UK psych outfit Floral Image, releasing 25th April 2025 on the renowned Fuzz Club. More than ever, the band wanted to produce a brand of East-Coast psychedelia that reflected the natural lusciousness and glorious solitude of the immediate world around them. Over 30 songs were conjured, considered and arranged before being whittled down to a final 10 that epitomise what they do best - ten tracks of vivid hue, harnessed live power, all laced together in fluid lyrical harmonies. Taking inspiration from band favourites Woods, KGLW, Stereolab, among many others, a string of at-home recording sessions commenced over a 6-week period across the summer of 2024. Side A is a sun-drenched journey through their whimsical Norfolk countryside, narrated with a surreal sense of lyricism which focuses on the undulating flow of the human psyche and the shape of relationships that can decide its fate. 'Burning 305' follows the mould of the band’s earlier creations with white-knuckled rhythms layered with dashing production and gritty guitars. 'The Score' summarises their love of Revolver-era Beatles and infuses it with a hint of 90's dance grooves. Side B is where the trip takes a heavier turn, the un-hinged night-time of the record. It is where the band best shows the force with which their live reputation has been built on. 'Tiergarten' - a motorik course through consciousness and 'Howling Dog Song' - all raucous, scuzzy-garage riffing. The album concludes with the 7-minute epic 'Sun For Hire'. Born out of a 30-minute live improvisation, it is the earliest written of all songs on GDM and a strong fan favorite for the audiences of the last 2 years. "A lot of themes are anti-establishment commentaries on the state of the modern world. It can feel isolating being bystanders of global concern in sleepy Norfolk, even though it’s easy to slip into a false comfort when you’re surrounded by vast space, natural beauty and friendly folks down the market. Gone Down Meadowland is that egoless escapist fantasy that still can't escape the world caving in on itself; Norfolk isolationism." Produced by the band themselves, mixed by Hugh Fothergill of Volleyball, and mastered by Joseph Carra at Crystal Mastering of KGLW fame, Gone Down Meadowland is Floral Image’s first full flourish. They take the record on the road across Europe and the UK throughout April & May 2025.

For a project which made its debut in 2024 with next to no fanfare nor hype, rush2theUnknown managed to capture the attention and the imagination of a number of notable DJs across genres, tempos and timezones in their debut year. From legendary chillers Kruder & Dorfmeister picking up on the more Japanese VGM influenced side of their music, techno DJs like Courtesy, Anastassia Kristensen and Nastia drawn towards their more celestial-tinged breakbeat offerings and key support coming in from many trailblazers past and present of the genres that shaped the duo thirty years back. Support from artists and DJs around the world saw rush2theUnknown's music aired across Kool FM, Rinse FM, NTS, BBC Radio One, and thanks to impassioned support from punky-reggae icon Don Letts, multiple spins on the Rebel Dreads legendary BBC Radio 6 show.

With the foundation laid rush2theUnknown return to Diskotopia with the "Yugawara" EP.

Early support for the Yugawara EP has already seen responses from and tracks from the EP played by DJs like Machinedrum, DJ Flight, Addison Groove, dBridge, Gyrofield, Joakim, I:Cube, Courtesy, Cici, Sakura Tsuruta and more in clubs and on radio like NTS, Kool FM, Rinse FM and BBC Radio One, and BBC 6 Music.

Born from a journey out of Tokyo to the seaside town of Yugawara in the northeastern end of Izu Peninsula, the EP channels the energy, spirit and mathematically impossible coincidences that seem to come with each adventure the duo has in that part of Japan. Each morning the duo would leave their makeshift studio and wander across the hills of Yugawara. Be it a random encounter, a conversation or mental picture sparked by the visual scenery before them, new tracks came to life each day. As with their Diskotopia debut, each EP is a mix of the myriad influences the duo have accumulated since their teenage years living on outer ends of the Pacific Ocean.

From the technicolour aqua-jungle of "View From Fuua" which bursts with Logical Progression era Good Looking Records exo-planet optimism, through to the EPs closer, "Zuio-ji" a track that owes as much of a debt to the ancient Japanese court music of gagaku, as it does the 1960s soundtrack work of composer Toru Takemitsu and the jidaigeki infused breakbeat experiments of a mid 90s Rupert Parkes. Shades, tones and hues plucked from CD-ROM era "Visual Scenes" 80s CM Music and the techno-animism of synth-heavy anime soundtracks can be found on the EPs more VGM-leaning excursions "光のトンネル" and "夜明けの真鶴岬" whereas tracks like "Physical Reality" continue the question posed on their debut:What would a breakbeat tradition look and sound like, had it been forged a billion light years away?

Belgian musician and filmmaker Jef Mertens has been an active force in the experimental music and film scene for nearly two decades. Known for his documentaries on artists like Sonic Youth and Borbetomagus, as well as his work with the now-defunct Dadaist Tapes label, Mertens continues to push the boundaries of sound exploration. His previous solo works include NO MATHEMATICS, released on KRAAK/Feeding Tube Records.

With Orchid Alto, Mertens dedicates himself to the taishogoto, a Japanese stringed instrument that became a new focal point in his sonic explorations. Initially drawn to its unique tonal qualities, he approached the instrument with an open-ended curiosity, using it as a means to reshape his musical language. The transition to taishogoto marked a shift away from guitar-based compositions, offering a fresh perspective on texture and resonance. Through these explorations, Orchid Alto serves as a blueprint for new sonic possibilities.

A bold and immersive sonic journey, Orchid Alto merges traditional resonance with modern experimentalism, further shaping Mertens' artistic voice—one influenced by artists like Michael Flowers, Turner Williams Jr., and Bill Nace.

A1 - Ocean Breeze

Kicking off the EP we have an understated 2-step banger from label head ASC as Ocean Breeze rips into your consciousness, positively bursting at the seams with a wonderful rolling break - make no mistake this track will make you and the dancefloor move. Building continually with a trademark subtle female vocal and wavy synthwork, Ocean Breeze is the perfect livener for any discerning atmospheric set.

A2 - Blue Planet

Straight into the action with a heavy break pattern, Blue Planet sees ASC experiment with deep, thunderous kicks and tightly edited, weighted snares set to take you higher - as the classic, recognisable vocal sample urges.Throughout the track we are treated to a darkly atmosphere created by thoughtful pads and effects which elevate the mix while the breaks make the most of their headline billing to the end.

B1 - Cyclic Nature

Continuing the break focussed approach to the EP, ASC unleashes a break heard right at the start of Spatial's history in Force Majeure - in fact this piece began life as a remix of that very same track, before taking on its own identity and becoming Cyclic Nature. Intense and hot-blooded, dense analogue kicks battle echoing drums and subtle melodies to form a wonderfully constructed atmosphere we just can't get enough of.

B2 - Shapeshift

Dialling back the intensity, Shapeshift is introduced more gradually this time with a DJ-friendly cymbal driven intro, with curious clicks and sound effects jostling over a mellow synthy backdrop. Before long a relaxing old-school break enters the mix while textured pads fluctuate with inquisitive jolts of melodic energy, elevating Shapeshift to become quite the memorable EP closer indeed.

Words by Chris Hayes (Spatial / Red Mist)

Hollows Made Homes In Their Sunken Cheeks came into existence as a result of Jon's wishes to take the Ungraven sound somewhere other than a standard 'rock band' setup. Moving away from the traditional 'drums / bass / guitar' structure has allowed Ungraven to experiment further with both sound and composition. 'Hollows_.' Is an experiment in sonics and allows both Davis and Perry to perform a sickening sonic duet as their respective instruments carve a universe shaped hole in your consciousness. Inspired by the duo's past collaborations on Conan tracks such as "Older than Earth" and "Grief Sequence" as well as artists such as Tangerine Dream, Circle, Zombi and Harold Budd. Hollows is a combination of composed and improvised elements, constructed remotely from their bases in England and Denmark. The addition of Perry's synth, organ and piano to Davis's slab like 6 string delivery has produced two epics that are both introspective and pummelling at the same time. Fall untethered into a bleak and expansive soundscape of psychedelic terror, experience a new chapter in Ungraven's tome of tone.

Samurai Music returns to the evocative sound world of Ancestral Voices for an album that splits the difference between cinematic sound design and deadly restraint at 170 BPM. Nemeton continues Liam Blackburn's exploration of ancient Celtic mysticism through snaking rhythms and snarling sound design, conjuring a high-definition sonic image of sacred groves and the druids practicing amongst them.

Blackburn's Ancestral Voices project tracks back to 2015, when he debuted on Samurai Horo with the Night Of Visions album. In stark contrast to his celebrated 140 work as Indigo, this project leaned on the inspiration of pagan spirituality to charge his vivid, advanced production style with a rich and mysterious atmosphere. While he's channelled this approach into a variety of tempos and styles, on his 2016 EP Old Earth Voodoo on Samurai Music he applied the concept to a drum & bass framework, which he returns to on Nemeton with rigorous focus.

Far from a straightforward collection of breakbeat tracks, Blackburn uses negative space and pointillist production to carve out an immersive, tense sound world around the 170 grid. He takes a widescreen approach to percussion, running from pin-prick synthesised one-shots to tumbling, organic drums you'd more readily associate with a Hans Zimmer score. Scene-building is the foremost mission across Nemeton, casting otherworldly forces in sweeps of low-end friction and dramatic melodic blooms amidst tangible real-world field recordings of flora and fauna.

Casting the mind back some 2000 years is an exercise in imagination as much as research, and Blackburn ably summons dark fantasy as he delves ever deeper into Welsh mythology with a studious zeal and avid fascination. It's that drive that makes Nemeton burst forth and take shape so powerfully, bristling with kinetic energy and a barely-concealed, strangely seductive menace that leaves a lasting impression long after the last snatch of bass has bared its teeth.

Whether Re-defining Experimental Fusion Sounds With The Hugley Acclaimed Yussef Kamaal, Or His Catalogue Of 12's For Imprints Such As Mcde, Eglo, And Rhythm Section As Henry Wu, South London's Kamaal Williams Has Been A Key Figure In His Thriving International Scene For The Past Few Years. The Return Is A Natural Evolution From The Yussef Kamaal Project, Mining The Influence Of Visionary Jazz But Blended With All Kinds Of Texture, Sounds And Signals From The Over-saturated London Streets.
At Times The Keyboard Work Evokes The Classic 70s Fusion Work Of Lonnie Liston Smith Or Roy Ayers, But Underpinned By Rhythms More Reminiscent Of Blunted Hip-hop And Arrangements Subliminally Laced With The Cut-ups Of Pirate Radio. Progressive, Funky, Cosmic, Exploratory And Effortlessly Musical, This Is The Sound Of A Musician Honing Their Craft Into Thrilling New Shapes.
In The Us The Like Of Kamasi Washington And Thundercat Have Made Great Strides In Opening A Whole New Dialogue Between Jazz And Hip-hop, Drawing In A Young, Highly Engaged New Audience In The Process. Kamaal Williams Mine A Similar Seam On The Other Side Of The Atlantic Alongside Other Exciting London Talents Such As Ezra Collective, Ruby Rushton And Shabaka Hutchings.
The Return Is Exactly That: A Return And Refinement To The Sound Yussef Kamaal Were Progenitors Of, And First Set The Scene For One Of The Most Exciting Musical Movements London Has Had In Years.
Notable Tracks For Old And New Listeners Are 'slow', 'situations', 'medina', 'london Shuffle' Which Features Mansur Brown (of Mansur's Message) And For Those Die Hard Yussef Kamaal Fans - They Should Hear The Interpolated Roots Of 'strings Of Light' In The Title Track 'the Return'. And That Signature Wu Funk Can Be Heard On Broken Theme, And High Roller.
The Return Will Be The Debut Album Released On Wu's New Label Black Focus Records.

Christian Kleine continues to unearth long-lost transmissions with Electronic Music From The Lost World: Vol.2 - another batch of pristine artifacts from his personal DAT archive. Much like its predecessor, this release serves as both a time capsule and a reminder of Kleine’s effortless blend of melodic warmth, intricate rhythm programming, punk influences, and a deep-rooted love for the fringes of electronica.
Where Vol.1 felt like an invitation back to the late ‘90s, a time when IDM was still an evolving conversation, this second volume extends the dialogue, revealing more of the sonic experiments and fully-formed pieces that never saw the light of day. Tracks recall specific moments from Kleine’s time living in Berlin, an era of minimal comforts but maximal creativity, where all that really mattered was that the PowerPC, sampler, and synths kept running. This period of introspection, coupled with the musical freedom afforded by cheap rent and late-night school classes, shaped the deeply personal and solitary sound of these recordings.
Visually, Vol 2 shares its origins with the first volume, as Midori Hirano’s stark Berlin photography forms the foundation, and Noah M / Keep Adding pushes the imagery into a brighter, more reflective final space. Final touches remain in familiar hands, with LOOP-O on mastering and lacquer duties, bringing new life to Christian’s OG DAT recordings. 
And much like the classic City Centre Offices era that shaped this sound and Kleine’s early career, this release nods to that legacy. A special limited 7” EP with two bonus tracks, designed in tribute to CCO’s iconic DIY aesthetic, will be available on release day direct from the label’s Bandcamp. 

Big new release by Peter Van Hoesen! Continuing his exploration of intricate techno systems, their effect and direct perimeter of action, Peter van Hoesen turns in his newest four-track piece, ‘Prime Directive’: a fascinating dive into the artist’s shape-shifting headspace and inner creative chaos.

Fuelled on a furnace-hot mix of abstract-leaning immersion and hi-octane rhythmic thrust, ‘Prime Directive’ looks at contemporary techno from the angle of experimentation and intuitive abandon. The result comes in the form of four distinct movements, each carving out their own logic and associated behaviour out an endless pool of potentialities. Here comes chaology unfolding in all its unadulterated, visceral glory.

‘Definition by Absence’ breaks the trip in to the sound of a faux-random symphony: its train-like swing and fiery bass seesaw coalesce through an elliptic fluttering of sorts, iterative and not, patterns moving in and out of synchronicity as van Hoesen applies more or less pressure on both ends. All in gusty in-your-face-ness, ‘Variables Edit 1’ whirls and swirls like an ominous vengeance of nature; Its puncturing kicks and whistling menace set against stellar winds and rabid machinery on the prowl for its next victim.

An even more unsettling piece of disjointedly arrhythmic, anti-club music for the dance floor, ‘Prime Directive’ will have you zoning out like a bad dream, flush with metronome-faced monsters and molten clocks hanging from dead trees. ‘Morphology’ could be PVH’s attempt at giving his concepts a carnal carcass to hold onto. Here, rhythm becomes somewhat less erratic, offering his 360-degree vision more melodic surface and actual room for dispersion. One to keep the boundaries pushed and status-quo challenged, this is techno at its most entrancingly bold and fearless.

*This new four-track epic from Peter van Hoesen comes draped in a fine piece of artwork courtesy of Atact, and pressed according to our standards in 180g audiophile quality so you get to experience the Belgian master's chiselled sound design in all its glory.

The Ibex Band, with Giovanni Rico and Selam Woldemariam at the creative helm, provided the musical backbone for legends like Aster Aweke, Girma Beyene, Tilahun Gessesse, Mulatu Astatke, and Mahmoud Ahmed, including the iconic album Ere Mela Mela, shaping modern Ethiopian music as we know it today. This 1976 album (Ge’ez Year 1968) played a pivotal role in that legacy and has now resurfaced to set the record straight.

There’s a tendency to talk about the seventies as a golden age of Ethiopian music. There are good reasons for that, and just as good reasons against it. However, the notion of a golden past privileges the role of Western explorers and suggests that the pinnacle of Ethiopia’s musical culture is something only a foreigner can appreciate and unearth. It downplays the complexities of Ethiopia’s culture and history, creating an artificial divide between then and now. And it underestimates the constantly evolving sound that has followed.

The legendary musical outfit The Ibex Band, later metamorphosed into The Roha Band, has played a central role in defining the sound of many of the greatest stars on the music scene of Ethiopia from the mid-seventies onwards–but their golden output has never really waned. The story of the origins of the band that provided the musical backbone for greats such as Aster Aweke, Girma Beyene, Tilahun Gessesse, backing the solo career of group member Mahmoud Ahmed as well as backing Mulatu Astatke and many others has yet to be properly told.

Two misconceptions plague the image of Ethiopian music, one is that the music is pure because it is, by some notion, unexploited, the other is that it is all traditional. To begin with, a combination of political changes between the late sixties and the mid-nineties created an environment where only the most dedicated and skilled musicians struggled on and pursued a musical career against fierce odds. The whole Ibex Band, with Giovanni Rico and Selam “Selamino” Seyoum Woldermarian at the creative helm, are arguably the origo of the vibrant scene in the mid-seventies, and the said pair are foremost responsible for not only navigating the band through troubled times, but also modernizing the 6/8 chickchicka rhythm to a contemporary form. Giovanni laid the rhythmic foundation with heavy looped basslines that reinvented traditional melodies as dance music, and with Selamino’s innovative guitar work they influenced scores of musicians from Abegaz Kibrework Shiota to Henock Temesgen. Even Giovanni’s Fender bass and Selamino’s Gibson guitar inspired younger musicians in their choice of instruments. Not only in choice of instruments but also in sound–even as the digital revolution hit Ethiopian music, a lot of popular music still took its cue from the masters from Ibex and Roha.

Ibex emerged out of the ashes of the sixties group the Soul Echos band, adding Giovanni and Selamino to their ranks and taking their cues from a slew of influences, such as Motown and The Beatles, fused with traditional music. A tighter-knit unit than most bands at the time – Ibex has remained six to seven members throughout their whole career, compared to many bands that were as large as fifteen or sixteen men strong when Ibex set out. Their playing has been viciously focused, economical yet heavy. Just a year before the recording sessions of the album in your hands, Giovanni and Selamino made a contribution to the popular musical lexicon of Ethiopia that was simply defining the popular sound: their arrangement and recording of bandmate Mahmoud Ahmed’s solo effort and real commercial breakthrough tune and eponymous album, Ere Mela Mela, from 1975.

Selamino has never limited himself to being an adroit lead guitarist, but has always been a scholar of history, and as such he has probably contributed as much to modern Ethiopian music with his guitar playing and compositions as with a deepened understanding of modern or contemporary – Zemenawi – Ethiopian music. Selamino’s contributions serve as a metaphor for those of the whole band, at one and the same time creating and defining a new, danceable and updated sound anchored in Giovanni’s bass, whilst also elevating the broader scene through their support for others on the scene and on top of that, increasing the understanding of the music.

There is an understandable desire to romanticize the musical heyday Ibex and Roha were at the forefront of, because so much of the output is sorrowfully hard to come by. Ibex creativity was nothing short of ridiculously fierce compared to many of their Western contemporaries. Based on their sheer recorded output alone they could have usurped the title “hardest working in show business” from James Brown, recording more than 250 albums or 2500 songs in the seventies and eighties. Some only surface as cassettes today, others were never given full LP release, and some are simply impossible to find today. In the light of that, it’s nothing short of a miracle that the recording Stereo Instrumental Music from 1976 (Ge’ez Year 1968) has resurfaced. Unearthed in perfect condition on a chrome cassette, this is musical history comes alive–to set the future straight. Stereo Instrumental Music was recorded in collaboration with Karl-Gustav Lundgren, a Swedish national working for the Radio Voice of the Gospel. It took two sessions at the Ras Hotel ballroom in Addis Ababa. The Ibex Band was the first band in Ethiopia to employ a four-track recorder for their recording (the first available in the country, lent by Karl-Gustav). Later the same week, Giovanni and Selamino realized that, lengthwise, the recorded material fell short of what they wished for, so they recorded four more tracks in one more session on a single-track recorder. The Ras Hotel and Ghion Hotel, where the Ibex Band held musical residencies were to Ethiopia in general and Addis Ababa in particular what Motown was to the USA and Detroit a few years earlier – a hotbed of musical creativity and showmanship.

The most astonishing thing about Ethiopian music of the last half century is how tradition and modernity are intertwined. Because of this feature, it’s kind of hard to tell when there ever was or when we are in a “golden age”. So much of music from the past has been criminally neglected, but because of the hardships in the past, it would be an oversimplification to say that said past was a golden age. Probably, the golden age is what we are approaching, because for the first time both the past and future are accessible, and the monumental contributions from before can lay a firm foundation for a thriving music scene today. The Ibex Band stands firmly in the past, present and the future. That, if anything, is golden.

The detailed history of Stereo Instrumental Music is in many ways unique. To begin with, it couldn’t have been recorded earlier (there were no four-track recorders available) and it really couldn’t have been recorded afterwards either, at least not in the years directly following, because of the toll the musical scene took from the unfavorable political climate that followed when the nascent Derg regime and rival groups tried to assert themselves, the musical equipment lent from The Voice of Gospel Radio simply disappeared from Ethiopia when the radio station folded in 1977. Karl-Gustav Lundgren,
the Swedish foreign national who assisted during the recording, worked with the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus at the time, recalls how they only had about fifteen minutes to get the microphones in place for the recording as to not alert neither the management at Ras Hotel nor the authorities and most importantly, to complete the recording before the curfew came into effect at midnight. In leaping to the opportunity to use previously unavailable equipment to push their sound forward and improvising to meet the logistical challenges, the Ibex Band displayed the very avant-gardism and adaptability that explains their longevity as a band through the years. The recording of Stereo Instrumental Music is from a given time in history, but it sounds as beyond time.
Much of the energy that burst out of the scene that Stereo Instrumental Music came out of dissipated or got sidetracked during the societal changes Ethiopia went through in the 1970s and 80s. Whilst leaders might have professed to be revolutionary, the work ethic of the Ibex Band can truly be described as that. They never called it quits, but adapted, toured extensively abroad in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, and found ways to work even in the face of the curfew that curtailed a lot of musical life. They even played major arenas in the nineteen eighties, despite said curfew and restrictions. The whole extent of their legacy has never been told, but their music speaks louder than words, so therefore… tune in to the Ibex Band’s Stereo Instrumental Music.

For their second album 'The Foel Tower', Quade holed up in an old stone barn in the cradle of a Welsh mountain valley.
The valley was a stark and windswept backdrop with little daylight, as the band would huddle around crackling fires each evening. “There was very much a feeling of being on the complete fringes of society,” the band says. “The last vestiges of settlement before the unrelenting barren moors that loomed over us.”
It was an environment that would shape the band – a Bristol four piece made up of Barney Matthews, Leo Fini, Matt Griffiths and Tom Connolly – and the record they have made. It’s an album that is as dreamy as it is melancholic, and as quiet and tender as it is forceful and potent – gliding across genres like winds blowing over those wide-spanning Welsh hills – to arrive at something the band half-jokingly, yet somewhat accurately, describe as “doomer sad boy, ambient-dub, folk, experimental post-rock.”

Quade is a band but it’s also a very close-knit group that have been friends since childhood who use this musical vehicle for interpersonal explorations and connections. “We’ve individually experienced a lot of difficulty over the last several years and Quade has represented a space to shelter from these,” the band says. “This means we often communicate extensively with each other about the issues affecting us individually and collectively. These conversations and concerns are central to The Foel Tower.”

In many ways, the making of this record – or any Quade record – goes way deeper than the simple writing, construction and recording of music. It is a profoundly deep and meaningful experience. “A key theme of the album relates to why we connect with specific places in the way that we do,” the group says. “We often remove ourselves to isolated valleys, sheltered from some of the painful personal struggles that we have experienced as a band. These become spaces in which we collectively purge ourselves of some of these difficulties hoping to make Quade a physical and emotional place of solace. This album celebrates these places that we’ve been able to retreat to and recuperate.”

It is a deep, dense record that is stuffed with musical, cinematic and literary influences – from Ursula La Guin and Cormac MacCarthy through to RS Thomas and Yeats – but despite the heavy, introspective and anxious nature of some of the material, it is also a record that is remarkably deft, agile and considered.

Made with producer Jack Ogborne and mixer Larry ‘Bruce’ McCarthy, there is a pleasing duality to the final sound of the record. One that feels fragile and intimate but also powerful and forceful, as introspective as it is expansive, and a record that is as detailed and textured as it is wide open and spacious.

The album title also pays homage to the place that shaped it so greatly. Within this remote Welsh valley stands the Foel Tower, a stone structure filled with valves and cylinders that can raise and lower the level of the reservoir to draw off water. Which it can then send as far as 70 miles to Birmingham. However, in the late 1800s this land was occupied by local farmers and families in the hundreds until the British Government acquired the land, cleared the valleys, and promptly displaced them in order to begin serving the vastly expanding industrial English city. The band dug into the history and politics of this and wove it into the themes they were already thinking about, using what the Foel Tower stands for as something of a contemporary metaphor. “This tension was something that we wanted to explore without the haughty judgement of our more metropolitan lifestyles,” they say. “And to explore how this specifically relates to ourselves: how can we envisage a genuinely ecological future for ourselves – one that is accessible, affordable and in harmony with endangered rural practices.”

What makes The Foel Tower such an incredible record is that it feels born of a time, place and situation that only existed in that very moment. It’s a snapshot of those 10 days spent in rural Wales and all the feelings and anxieties the band were experiencing at that specific time, magically caught on tape. “The album very much feels tied to this valley for us and the conversations and experiences we shared there,” they say. “It brings up a great deal of poignancy for us, an emblem of some fleeting respite from the strains we all have to experience. But there’s also deep sadness knowing how transient these moments are – in fact, there’s just a great deal of sadness in this album. But it’s also a record that while personal, resigned, and emotionally burdened, is ultimately hopeful.”

The signal mutates. Following the first installment, Parallax Effect PT.2 finds Versalife shifting gears, distilling his unmistakable rhythmic instincts into something even more elastic and unpredictable. Smeared low-end and restless sequences coil around a framework of percussive movement, flickering between restraint and momentum. There's an underlying tension--one moment held in suspense, the next unfolding into fluid motion. The machine logic remains intact, but with an organic pulse running through it, shaping each track in real time. A fitting counterweight to PT.1, this second chapter bends the perspective once more, closing the series with a sense of motion still lingering in the air.

Âsan’s self-released Beychen EP is a raw odyssey through the chaos and catharsis of creation. Across four relentless tracks, the producer mirrors the turmoil of nearly losing their passion for music—only to rediscover it by dismantling old habits and surrendering to the unknown. What emerges is a vortex of psychedelic techno, where layered rhythms spiral into the deep-down and morphing soundscapes warp time itself.
The title track Beychen channels the claustrophobic unease of a creative block with its brainmelting progression, only to erupt in a complete loss of control and, therefore, relief. The other three tracks deliver visceral techno in similar fashion, each piece evolving like an own entity with hypnotic force. This is music for darkened rooms and muddy forest stages, where the dancefloor becomes a mirror for Âsan’s internal reckoning. Here, the anxiety of creation is not conquered, but alchemized.
Âsan, a New York-based producer and co-founder of the label Cellar Door, always chases a certain feeling in his work—an elusive sensation that guides his creative journey. For him, dancing begins in the head, as rhythms and soundscapes take shape in a space between thought and intuition. His music invites listeners to step into that headspace, where the body follows the mind’s spiraling patterns.

Edits by Mr K
Edit heavyweight Danny Krivit edges close to full-on remixes with these two extended takes on soul genius Stevie Wonder’s timeless tunes. Using isolated instruments and vocals, the familiar classics take new shape in the able hands of Mr. K, providing a fresh look at cuts that have never faded in popularity. ‘Master Blaster’, Stevie’s tribute to Bob Marley, gets an attention-grabbing intro that is tailor-made to slide right into DJ sets, while the flip, the R&B essential ‘I Was Made To Love Her’, is filled with breakdowns and clever cuts that will open the eyes and ears of even the most jaded soul fanatic. Masterful work from NYC’s edit king and a fitting tribute to the Motown legend on a loud 12-inch readymade for club play. Record Store Day special!

On their second record as The Convenience, Like Cartoon Vampires, New Orleans multi-instrumentalists Nick Corson and Duncan Troast embrace a hypnotic physicality and collage-y, spur-of-the-moment approach to composition. The result is an avant-rock soundworld, peppered with spidery, atonal guitar work, pointy rhythms, and strident feedback, which may strike as a total reinvention following the sugary funk-pop of their 2021 debut album Accelerator. With their second LP, following their inspiration meant creating with their hands much more than buttons or switches. Sessions were characterized by gnarly, improvisational jams as they tinkered with everything from cassette loops, found sounds, and 808s. Tracks like "Target Offer" and "Fake the Feeling" quake with ear-splitting guitar feedback, while "Pray'r" and "Rats" eschew their groove worship in favor of haunting minimalism. Song after song, Accelerator's pop influences are traded in for more eccentric frontiers, with the clear common denominators of their first two records being the duo's spellbinding, funky instincts and a mastery of texture. Lyrically, Like Cartoon Vampires collects dispatches from a dying empire-characters are devoured by alienation and vanity, though society doesn't bat an eye. But make no mistake, these songs are not merely disaffected ennui-music-making and collaboration are intensely emotional practices for The Convenience, and they reflect a shrieking lust for life.

On their second record as The Convenience, Like Cartoon Vampires, New Orleans multi-instrumentalists Nick Corson and Duncan Troast embrace a hypnotic physicality and collage-y, spur-of-the-moment approach to composition. The result is an avant-rock soundworld, peppered with spidery, atonal guitar work, pointy rhythms, and strident feedback, which may strike as a total reinvention following the sugary funk-pop of their 2021 debut album Accelerator. With their second LP, following their inspiration meant creating with their hands much more than buttons or switches. Sessions were characterized by gnarly, improvisational jams as they tinkered with everything from cassette loops, found sounds, and 808s. Tracks like "Target Offer" and "Fake the Feeling" quake with ear-splitting guitar feedback, while "Pray'r" and "Rats" eschew their groove worship in favor of haunting minimalism. Song after song, Accelerator's pop influences are traded in for more eccentric frontiers, with the clear common denominators of their first two records being the duo's spellbinding, funky instincts and a mastery of texture. Lyrically, Like Cartoon Vampires collects dispatches from a dying empire-characters are devoured by alienation and vanity, though society doesn't bat an eye. But make no mistake, these songs are not merely disaffected ennui-music-making and collaboration are intensely emotional practices for The Convenience, and they reflect a shrieking lust for life.

On their second record as The Convenience, Like Cartoon Vampires, New Orleans multi-instrumentalists Nick Corson and Duncan Troast embrace a hypnotic physicality and collage-y, spur-of-the-moment approach to composition. The result is an avant-rock soundworld, peppered with spidery, atonal guitar work, pointy rhythms, and strident feedback, which may strike as a total reinvention following the sugary funk-pop of their 2021 debut album Accelerator. With their second LP, following their inspiration meant creating with their hands much more than buttons or switches. Sessions were characterized by gnarly, improvisational jams as they tinkered with everything from cassette loops, found sounds, and 808s. Tracks like "Target Offer" and "Fake the Feeling" quake with ear-splitting guitar feedback, while "Pray'r" and "Rats" eschew their groove worship in favor of haunting minimalism. Song after song, Accelerator's pop influences are traded in for more eccentric frontiers, with the clear common denominators of their first two records being the duo's spellbinding, funky instincts and a mastery of texture. Lyrically, Like Cartoon Vampires collects dispatches from a dying empire-characters are devoured by alienation and vanity, though society doesn't bat an eye. But make no mistake, these songs are not merely disaffected ennui-music-making and collaboration are intensely emotional practices for The Convenience, and they reflect a shrieking lust for life.

Mint Green Vinyl. Graham Jonson is drawn to the comforts of melody and noise. How the two conspire in tension, tonally and atonally, stirring up memory and mood. This quality animates the technicolor world of quickly, quickly, the psych-pop project that emanates from Kenton Sound, his basement studio in Portland, Oregon. "Everywhere your eye lands, there's another curio to marvel over," noted Pitchfork's Philip Sherburne when he visited Jonson's recording space for a Rising feature just after the release of his "strikingly original" 2021 debut LP, The Long and Short of It. Since then, Jonson formed a live band, released his Easy Listening EP in 2023, and navigated the up-and-downs of a young musician, the sustainability of tours and relationships. While shaped by personal bouts and fallouts, his highly-anticipated full-length follow-up finds Jonson making music that's universal, open-ended, and rewarding, like great songwriters can do. He set out to make a folk album but couldn't help coloring it in with noise; a confluence of lush instrumentation and unexpected sounds. Ambitious yet intimate, hi-fi yet homespun, the idiosyncratic songs on I Heard That Noise curve around the contours of everyday life with warmth, wit, and dissonance.

On ‘Cordial’, Ursula Sereghy traces the sensation of home; not as a place, but as something fleeting and deeply felt. Comfort appears in glimpses, nestled between moments of dissonance and unraveling structure. There is joy, but it carries the weight of absence, the quiet grief of realizing what was missing all along. A laughter that is both liberating and bittersweet.

Sereghy’s music moves with no fixed center, shedding hierarchies and opening itself to the unknown. Sounds unravel and reform: fragments of voices, reshaped textures, the shimmer of manipulated recordings all bending into semi-familiar contours. In this space, harmony is not a destination but an unfolding process, a web of shifting connections rather than rigid form.

Deeply drawn to natural processes, Sereghy’s music resonates with an elemental force: chemical reactions, unseen currents, the quiet logic of interconnection. Sound becomes a space where trust takes shape, where loss is acknowledged but never final, and where the act of feeling remains, above all, an act of survival. It is music in constant negotiation with itself - dismantling, reshaping, and reaching towards something vast, untethered and luminous.

There Is No Space For Us takes listeners on a cosmic odyssey, from the thunderous synth-laden opener ‘There Is Still Danger There’ to the eerie, expansive ‘Space Continues (Lifeform)’. Highlights include the shape-shifting, acoustic-driven ‘Co-Pilot’, the cinematic title track ‘There Is No Space For Us’, and the theremin-fuelled freak-out of ‘Neutron Stars’. The album culminates in the melancholic yet powerful ‘A Long Long Way From Home’, reflecting on the fragile nature of existence.Featuring Dave Brock, Richard Chadwick, Magnus Martin, Doug MacKinnon and Tim "Thighpaulsandra" Lewis, this release cements Hawkwind’s status as one of the most influential and enduring bands in rock. Side 1:1. There Is Still Danger There2. Space Continues (Lifeform)3. The Co-PilotSide 2:1. Changes (Burning Suns and Frozen Waste)2. There is No Space For Us3. The Outer Region Of The UniverseSide 3:1. Neutron Stars (Pulsating Light)2. A Long Long Way From HomeSide 4:1. Practical Ability2. Second Chance

B-Real of Cypress Hill and Psycho Les of The Beatnuts have joined forces for REAL PSYCHO,

a 14-track album that merges their iconic styles into a bold bicoastal fusion. B-Real, known for West Coast classics like "Insane in the Brain,"

blends his Latino-influenced rap with Psycho Les’s hard-hitting production, shaped in Queens on tracks like "Watch Out Now."

The album features guest appearances from Bay Area legend Too Short, Deftones guitarist Stephen Carpenter,

Demrick, and Son Doobie. Singles like "You Might Know Us" and "Lyrical Hammers"—

the latter enhanced by Carpenter’s gritty guitar riffs—offer a preview of the album’s genre-defying sound.

For vinyl collectors, REAL PSYCHO is available in four editions, including black and yellow 1LP versions

and two deluxe 2LP editions in black and limited silver marble vinyl, featuring a gatefold cover and instrumental tracks.

This collaboration celebrates hip-hop’s ability to bridge coasts, eras, and styles, delivering an album that feels both nostalgic and fresh.

B-Real of Cypress Hill and Psycho Les of The Beatnuts have joined forces for REAL PSYCHO,

a 14-track album that merges their iconic styles into a bold bicoastal fusion. B-Real, known for West Coast classics like "Insane in the Brain,"

blends his Latino-influenced rap with Psycho Les’s hard-hitting production, shaped in Queens on tracks like "Watch Out Now."

The album features guest appearances from Bay Area legend Too Short, Deftones guitarist Stephen Carpenter,

Demrick, and Son Doobie. Singles like "You Might Know Us" and "Lyrical Hammers"—

the latter enhanced by Carpenter’s gritty guitar riffs—offer a preview of the album’s genre-defying sound.

For vinyl collectors, REAL PSYCHO is available in four editions, including black and yellow 1LP versions

and two deluxe 2LP editions in black and limited silver marble vinyl, featuring a gatefold cover and instrumental tracks.

This collaboration celebrates hip-hop’s ability to bridge coasts, eras, and styles, delivering an album that feels both nostalgic and fresh.

B-Real of Cypress Hill and Psycho Les of The Beatnuts have joined forces for REAL PSYCHO,

a 14-track album that merges their iconic styles into a bold bicoastal fusion. B-Real, known for West Coast classics like "Insane in the Brain,"

blends his Latino-influenced rap with Psycho Les’s hard-hitting production, shaped in Queens on tracks like "Watch Out Now."

The album features guest appearances from Bay Area legend Too Short, Deftones guitarist Stephen Carpenter,

Demrick, and Son Doobie. Singles like "You Might Know Us" and "Lyrical Hammers"—

the latter enhanced by Carpenter’s gritty guitar riffs—offer a preview of the album’s genre-defying sound.

For vinyl collectors, REAL PSYCHO is available in four editions, including black and yellow 1LP versions

and two deluxe 2LP editions in black and limited silver marble vinyl, featuring a gatefold cover and instrumental tracks.

This collaboration celebrates hip-hop’s ability to bridge coasts, eras, and styles, delivering an album that feels both nostalgic and fresh.

B-Real of Cypress Hill and Psycho Les of The Beatnuts have joined forces for REAL PSYCHO,

a 14-track album that merges their iconic styles into a bold bicoastal fusion. B-Real, known for West Coast classics like "Insane in the Brain,"

blends his Latino-influenced rap with Psycho Les’s hard-hitting production, shaped in Queens on tracks like "Watch Out Now."

The album features guest appearances from Bay Area legend Too Short, Deftones guitarist Stephen Carpenter,

Demrick, and Son Doobie. Singles like "You Might Know Us" and "Lyrical Hammers"—

the latter enhanced by Carpenter’s gritty guitar riffs—offer a preview of the album’s genre-defying sound.

For vinyl collectors, REAL PSYCHO is available in four editions, including black and yellow 1LP versions

and two deluxe 2LP editions in black and limited silver marble vinyl, featuring a gatefold cover and instrumental tracks.

This collaboration celebrates hip-hop’s ability to bridge coasts, eras, and styles, delivering an album that feels both nostalgic and fresh.

Pink vinyl, limited to 350 copies. Hollows Made Homes In Their Sunken Cheeks came into existence as a result of Jon's wishes to take the Ungraven sound somewhere other than a standard 'rock band' setup. Moving away from the traditional 'drums / bass / guitar' structure has allowed Ungraven to experiment further with both sound and composition. 'Hollows_.' Is an experiment in sonics and allows both Davis and Perry to perform a sickening sonic duet as their respective instruments carve a universe shaped hole in your consciousness. Inspired by the duo's past collaborations on Conan tracks such as "Older than Earth" and "Grief Sequence" as well as artists such as Tangerine Dream, Circle, Zombi and Harold Budd. Hollows is a combination of composed and improvised elements, constructed remotely from their bases in England and Denmark. The addition of Perry's synth, organ and piano to Davis's slab like 6 string delivery has produced two epics that are both introspective and pummelling at the same time. Fall untethered into a bleak and expansive soundscape of psychedelic terror, experience a new chapter in Ungraven's tome of tone.

Das 2012er Studioalbum "New York Connection" von Sweet wird neu veröffentlicht. Das Album wird zum ersten Mal auf farbigem Vinyl gepresst und als Sonderedition auf CD mit Bonustracks, die nicht auf der Originalveröffentlichung enthalten sind. "New York Connection" ist eine Auswahl von Stücken, die ursprünglich von anderen Künstlern geschrieben wurden, denen die Band aber unverkennbar ihren eigenen Sound verpasst hat.

Pressed on clear vinyl. Comes with a printed inner sleeve featuring an exclusive note on Coldwater Stone's legacy. The Holy Grail of Soul Music collecting. Restored to its former glory the album finally gets the respect and reverence it deserves.

One of the most revered and sought-after rare soul albums of the seventies... Freddy Briggs (aka Coldwater Stone) is perhaps best known as the former husband and business partner of the soul songstress Kim Tolliver. However, that is doing him a great injustice. As a writer he penned "Strung Out Over You" for the Dells and Mavis Staples' first solo Stax single "You're Driving Me Into The Arms Of A Stranger". But best of all were his collaborations with long-time friend Darryl Carter for the legendary Margie Joseph. Despite carving a career primarily as a songwriter/ producer, and part-time Cleveland cabbie, Briggs was also an accomplished singer as is exemplified here with his 1973 near-mythical solo LP Defrost Me. This cult classic disappeared into obscurity over 50 years ago, largely due to the financial problems of the record label GSF.

This is the northeast calling, with songs of stillness, reflection, renewal, defiance, hope, classic melodies and, at certain perfectly judged moments, furniture-shifting riffs. With a powerful album shaped by pandemic-era loss (of momentum, and of a band member), and by the wins brought by what singer/songwriter/guitarist Adam Hope describes as a “weight lifted off my shoulders”. With a fresh, front-footed, fired-up approach that owes everything to a band returning to their roots in Wallsend and Newcastle – and, for the first time, making their music entirely on their own independent terms: self-produced and self-confident. “The Big Sad: an album born from the ashes of dark times but representing a beacon of light for the future. An album of honesty and purity, one that our current fanbase sonically may not be expecting. The sound of a band that got tired of slamming on the fuzz pedal to tick the ‘rock’ box and dares to try something new, dares to shock, dares to be great.

Techno tastemaker Enrico Sangiuliano returns to his influential NINETOZERO label with his bold new Transcendence EP featuring two very different but equally powerful sounds; one track is to dance to, the other one to listen to.

This new release caps off an impressive year for the Italian underground icon. Coming just a couple of months after his Interconnection EP and a packed season of headline shows, it marks yet another subtle evolution of his always hard-to-classify sound. The EP is a collaboration with psychedelic trance pioneers GMS, who have been making their mark since the 90s. The award-winning pair have had their music used in a trio of Tony Scott movies and have dropped several vital albums and EPs.

“GMS and I met many years ago in their studio in Ibiza and spontaneously cemented our relationship through our passion for sound”, says Enrico Sangiuliano. “They are a pillar of psytrance, and collaborating with them to interpret the concept of Transcendence was the perfect way for us to finally merge our creative visions. With this release, we transcend our individual musical paths to create something entirely new. We explore the theme of elevation, challenging ourselves to move beyond the tangible. Here, music becomes a portal, expanding consciousness and providing an escape from material reality. Together, we shaped our sounds to build an immersive experience, with a guiding voice to lead you through it. Transcendence is an invitation to let go, release mental constructs, and flow with the sound. It's a journey into a timeless realm where what you feel and who you are become one. To transcend is to connect with your deepest self—and beyond.”

Superb opener 'Transcendence' is a sleek and futuristic soundscape with dynamic drums that take you up amongst the stars. The smeared pads bring a cosmic atmosphere, the lush arps layer in plenty of trance-tinged emotion, and smart spoken words add a cinematic feel to this most escapist track. 'The Inner World' is then a suspenseful two-minute synthscape with wise spoken words that muse on inner strength. It is a rousing piece of emotional electronic grandeur.

The Transcendence EP is another strong statement from the forward-looking creative mind of Enrico Sangiuliano.

ver the years, Andreas O. Hirsch has shaped a distinctive sound, exploring the possibilities of the electro-acoustic instruments he const- ructs. The Carbophone as well as the Electrified Palm Leaf are plucked instruments akin to the African Kalimba or Mbira. In combination with effects and loops, Hirsch creates an experimen- tal space, influenced by early electronics, Asian and African music as well as the possibilities of editing and collage. The majority of the pieces on The Salamander Treaty were made using the Carbophone Jr., a small traveling version of his original Carbophone which was the basis of the previously released Early Carbophonics. Shaped by the joy of discovery, the eight tracks traverse peculiar worlds of sound, carried by a warm downbeat and analogue vibe. Alongside the Car- bophone Jr., other instruments come into play: a vibrato-soaked guitar leads through the slowly evolving ‘Rise’, marked by a recurring Shepard tone and sounds made by striking the bars of an antique wall clock. In the straightforward yet sub-aquatic ‘Te- atime Unlimited’, a pitch-shifted Morse key wanders erratically in the background. Tape-delayed har- monicas serve as a flying carpet for ‘Drifting Newts’, and rubber bands make their melodic-rhythmical appearance through ‘Back Door Minimal’.

The Salamander Treaty refers to War with the Newts, a prophetic and black-humoured science fiction novel by Karel Čapek from 1936, which tells the story of the rise of the salamanders, who become in- creasingly intelligent and eventually begin to compete with mankind. The album is a pacifist response to this dark scenario: Hirsch’s salamanders prefer to hang out under the stars (‘Drifting Newts’), drink tea (‘Tea Time Unlimited’) and — as illustrated on the back cover — write conspiratorial-pacifist demands instead of calling for war (e.g., ‘Teaoism International’, ‘White Lilies’, ‘For Congress’). In image and word, the album invites looking at the term ‘treaty’, which phonetically contains the words ‘tree’ and ‘tea’, as a friendly reminder that the drafting of every treaty and agreement on this planet should be accompanied by a peaceful spirit.

Music, mix and artwork by Andreas Oskar Hirsch. Mastered by Volker Hennes. Pressed on BioVinyl by Optimal, who state that their manufacturing process reduces CO2 emissions by approximately 90% for the PVC component. 12“ LP, coloured sleeve, download code included,

LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!.

The idea of an acoustic album had long been dismissed by the artist himself. "I"m not a guitarist; I use the guitar to compose", he used to say, reluctant to expose this level of vulnerability. However, in 2023, during the Kyotophonie Festival in Japan, organized by photographer Lucille Reyboz and encouraged by producer Laurent Bizot (No Format!), something changed. Surrounded by the spirituality of a Zen temple and supported by his loyal musicians - Badié Tounkara on ngoni and Mamadou Koné on percussion - Salif agreed to bare himself like never before. The title So Kono, meaning "in the room" in Mandinka, reflects both the simplicity and depth of this album. Recorded in the intimacy of his hotel room, So Kono captures the very essence of Salif Keita: a powerful voice, shaped by trials and travels, elevated by minimalist arrangements. Blending reimagined classics and new compositions, this album resonates as a sincere and timeless work, reaffirming why Salif Keita is considered one of the greatest living singers, across all cultures and continents.

**Gangster Music Vol.3: The Most Gangster Music Trilogy of All Time Comes to a Triumphant Close**

Imagine curating a dream lineup of MCs and producers from every corner of the rap world—sounds impossible, right? Not for artist and illustrator Gangster Doodles, who has been bringing this vision to life for the past decade. Now, with “Gangster Music Vol.3”, the trilogy reaches its grand finale, and it’s bigger, bolder, and more unpredictable than ever before.

Gangster Doodles himself puts it best:
"It’s hard to believe that I’ve been actively working on this Gangster Music series for the past 10 years. The most gangster music trilogy of ALL TIME is almost complete!! And in my humble opinion Vol.3 is the most exciting out of the 3, both from a music standpoint (special shout-out to all my music heroes on Vol.3) and artistically speaking this is the most fun I’ve had in years”

Since launching Volume 1 in 2019 and following up with the second volume in 2022, Gangster Doodles has been shaping the Gangster Music series into a one-of-a-kind sonic universe—an unfiltered mix of underground titans, unsung legends, and rising stars. Volume 3 is the biggest installment yet, boasting a staggering 30 tracks that traverse the entire spectrum of rap and beat culture.

This time around, the lineup is as eclectic as ever. From legendary pioneers like Lee Perry and Tommy Wright III, to veteran producers such as Mr. Scruff and Peanut Butter Wolf, the album pays homage to hip-hop’s roots while pushing forward into fresh territory. The roster also includes established up-and-comers like Devin Morrison, Low Leaf, DJ Harrison, Quelle Chris, Homeboy Sandman, and Suzi Analogue, ensuring a mix of classic flavors and new-school innovation. The bubbling underground is well represented too, with artists like Raz Fresco, Atlanta’s 645AR, and Pro Era’s Chuck Strangers bringing their own distinct heat.

From pioneering SoundCloud rappers like Pouya to genre-bending composer John Carroll Kirby, from Birmingham’s Romderful to Chile’s RVYO, the album encapsulates a truly global soundscape, proving once again that Gangster Doodles’ ear for cutting-edge talent is second to none.

As always, the cover art is a vital piece of the puzzle. This time, Bootleg Garfield & Friends take center stage, bringing the same playful irreverence that has defined Gangster Doodles’ artwork for years. Fans are encouraged to engage, remix, and make the cover their own, staying true to the spirit of interactive creativity that has always fueled the series.

After years of meticulous curation, countless DMs, emails, and behind-the-scenes wrangling, Gangster Music Vol.3 is here to complete the trilogy in legendary fashion. Expect boundary-pushing beats, next-level lyricism, and a lineup that celebrates hip-hop in all its many forms.

“Thanks to everyone who’s actively supported and continues to tap-in. Believe & trust when I say I've got more dope stuff cookin’. STAY TUNED!! GANGSTER DOODLES 4EVER. 1LUV."

Gangster Music Vol.3 is out April 7th on All City. Stay tuned, stay tapped in, and get ready for the most gangster music experience yet.

Cult musician Paddy Hanna announces his forthcoming album Oylegate with the release of his new song ‘Oylegate Station’, out Wednesday, 29th January via Strange Brew Records.

In celebration of Oylegate, which arrives on Friday, 11th April, Hanna plays Whelans on Thursday, 17th April. Tickets are €21.95 + fees and can be purchased here.

After his fourth album, Imagine I’m Hoping, arrived to critical acclaim but not the mainstream success needed for him to continue on as a musician, Hanna found himself at a personal and artistic low point. However, thanks to support from the Arts Council and the encouragement of his family, ‘Oylegate Station’ sees Hanna returning as the intrepid captain of his own ship; he may not know the destination, but he’ll see us along the journey with his graceful pop sensibilities.

Speaking about the new track, Hanna’s cryptic explanation could be confused for a missive from a lonely cosmonaut: “Low rent fuel, caffeine of all shapes, the midpoint of hope and despair, engine still running at Oylegate Station.”
Elation and exhaustion. Love and terror. The weight of responsibility and the strange, disorienting beauty of watching life unfold before your eyes. OLYEGATE, the latest album from Paddy Hanna, is a journey through the euphoric highs and crushing lows of parenthood, delivered with his signature blend of melancholic wit and lush, off-kilter charm.

Determined to sidestep the usual sentimental trappings of writing about having a child, Hanna found an unlikely creative companion in grim Soviet-era cinema. As he wrote, films like Solaris flickered in the background—bleak, meditative landscapes that mirrored the depths of sleep deprivation and the existential wonder of bringing a new life into the world. This contrast of warmth and detachment, of intimate revelation and surreal detour, courses through the album’s DNA.

Despite its moments of cold introspection, OLYEGATE is sonically rich and enveloping—an effect captured in a single request to producer Daniel Fox: "sweet, sweet caramel." Hanna wanted the music to feel like satin lining the listener’s ears, wrapping them in warmth even when the themes tilt towards darkness.

True to form, OLYEGATE marks yet another creative leap for an artist who refuses to be boxed in. "One advantage of being an ‘artist’s artist’ is that you never have to worry about being creatively different between albums. There's real freedom in doing whatever you want and not being judged for it. And even if you are judged, who gives a shit?"

That spirit of fearless exploration—of finding joy in the unknown, the absurd, and the deeply personal—defines OLYEGATE. An odyssey of tenderness and turbulence, it’s the sound of an artist embracing life’s messiest, most beautiful contradictions.

Als neuen Stern am modernen Rock-Himmel kann man Those Damn Crows nach fast zehn Jahren Band-Geschichte sicher nicht mehr bezeichnen. Den frischen Wind, den die Waliser in die härteren Gefi lde bringen, sollte man jedoch hervorheben. Denn insbesondere ihr 5. Album "God Shaped Hole" ist vor allem eines: Berstend voll mit Ohrwürmern! Bereits der Opener will laut gespielt werden, und zu allen folgenden Titeln wippt man mindestens mit dem Fuß, wenn man sie nicht direkt mitsummt. Stimmlich zwischen Creed und STP gelegen, reißt Sänger Shane Greenhall mit, und die Band schafft genug Abwechslung, um jedem Song eine ganz eigene, aber leicht wiederzuerkennende Note zu verleihen.