Brighter Discs opens with its first release from label founders Kamma & Masalo. Born out of Brighter Days, the duo’s long running party series since 2014. A colourful get together where generations mix freely, DJ legends share space with new voices, and the dancefloor is treated as common ground. Brighter Discs carries this same spirit into recorded form, a natural continuation following the Brighter Days compilation previously released on Rush Hour.
Brighter Discs starts things off with ‘Can’t Fake The Feeling’, built around the original vocal by Renee Mohannon, taken from the 1989 release produced by house music pioneer Joe Smooth. The vocal is fully cleared and officially licensed, with everything surrounding it newly written and produced, resulting in a club track that honours the emotional core of the original vocal while giving it new space to shine.
The ‘Club Mix’ unfolds with immediate lift, a classic yet upfront house energy carried by Kamma & Masalo’s elevating instrumentation moving in lockstep with Renee Mohannon’s vocal. A pure club track celebrating dance music to the fullest.
On the flip you will find K&M’s ‘Unity Dub’, a darker, percussion driven workout that strips things back and presents the track in a different light. A twilight version that highlights the duo’s versatility and deep dancefloor understanding.
Kamma & Masalo have tested both cuts extensively while touring, from sun soaked festival stages to esoteric club spaces. Each version has been shaped in real rooms and refined on the road, ensuring the tracks are heard in their best possible form.
All produced with care and free-spirited party energy, Brighter Discs 001 marks the beginning!
Поиск:shine dark
Все
Who would expect that a new Krautrock release on Macadam Mambo would come from a Japanese band called Heavenphetamine?! The duo/couple have been touring all over Europe in the past two years, and started to build a serious fan base, as every performance they deliver is leaving an imperishable memory. This is on a date in Belgrade at Karmakoma that they met with Sacha. They had this album recorded and auto-release on tape but not on vinyl, and it came completely naturally to decide to release it as a LP on Macadam Mambo. The tracks on the album are new versions a bit different from the tape, let’s say a bit more mature and minimal than from the first ones recorded and give the feeling of listening to a masterpiece in the genre. It can be dark and profound but also enough light to bring back this little sun that has trouble to shine in the winter. This album has been highly influenced by their experience with the war in Ukraine, and the friendship they made there, where it has been recorded, and it express this mix of emotions due to the feeling of exasperation and the hope to see someday this conflict come to an end and the relief of the peace…
2026 Repress
French DJ and producer Hemka makes a striking solo debut on Mutual Rytm with 'Introspection'.
Born in Marseille and based in Paris, Hemka has been shaping her take on techno for over a decade, steadily growing her international presence with music on respected imprints such as Token. Her music fuses the raw energy of 90s techno with modern textures and is fast-paced, groovy and laced with subtle psychedelia. By weaving in her own vocals, Hemka adds a deeply personal and authentic layer that resonates with both the body and mind. Following the strong reception of her track 'Fragrance' on the 'Federation Of Rytm III' compilation, this potent new EP is a powerful reflection of her bold, emotional and forward-thinking artistic voice and the start of an exciting new chapter with SHDW's Mutual Rytm.
'Abyss' kicks off with tightly coiled, heavy-hitting drum funk and eerie synths that never let up while ghoulish vocals layer in extra darkness and anxiety. 'Time' is another sleek, stripped-back but banging wedge of linear techno excellence and 'I Can't Shine' layers up paranoid vocals with high-speed glitches and rubbery drums to ensure maximum impact in the club. The excellence continues with 'The Bad Place' with booming drums and moody synth atmospheres, getting you up on your toes and keeping you there. Last, 'Unchanged' fizzes with static electricity as wordless vocals refract around the mix next to wispy synths and icy hi-hats. Digital bonus cuts 'Voice In My Head' and 'Eternity' round things out with more heady and intense techno for driving deep into the night.
Adult Sonics - Shuffle Master EP (SRR004)
BODJ & ROKSI in true magician style, wear their top hats & capes as they come together once more under their Adult Sonics alias, this time shuffling the deck for the inaugural vinyl release of London based record label, Stay Restless.
An original 3-track EP with the signature ADS sound - trippy and dark yet playful, created having big sound systems in mind, it’s already been in rotation from Sunwaves festival to SASH in Sydney and back.
DJ Tennis expands the universe of his recent single ‘Playa Paradiso’ featuring vocals by multifaceted British artist Eliza with a deep-diving Club Mix, retooling “Playa Paradiso” into a darker, longer-burning version aimed squarely at the dance floor.
Stripping back the sun-kissed gloss of the original, the Club Mix leans into his precision production instincts; elongating the groove, tightening the rhythm, and letting the low-end shine. With the vocal weaving in and out like a guiding light through the haze, it’s a hypnotic take that trades coastal charm for heady club
elevation. A masterclass in tension and release, the Club Mix underscores DJ Tennis’s ability to balance emotional depth with dance floor functionality. The remix is a reframing of “Playa Paradiso” for the night shift: smoke-filled rooms, peak-time crescendos, and sunrise afterglows. Both versions capture different corners of the
same world, one that basks in the Balearic sun, and the other pulsing in the strobe.
Together, they mark a full-circle return for DJ Tennis’s first solo material in three years as an artist whose sonic world has always defied simple categorization.
part 1 black vinyl[23,95 €]
part 2 black vinyl[23,95 €]
part 2 Clear vinyl[28,99 €]
** Highly limited edition CLEAR VINYL VERSION**
Pt.1 of 2
Gigi Masin's sparkling sonic magic leads us to the light in “Implodendo in una accecante oscurità” (Imploding in a blinding darkness). The mirror reflects nothing but a faint, unfamiliar, mysteriously hostile face, but a glimmer survives, evoked by a painfully solemn romanticism that is salvific, glimmers of light bounce off broad synthetic volutes, a bewitching ambient, airy quiet, they spread, a few veins of darkness shine through, aesthetic beauty equates to clear spirituality, sax and female voices, the elegy that intertwines piano and vocal loops, that omnipresent melancholy, nostalgia, reassuring, which is openness to tomorrow. It is the moment of light, the powerful feeling that nothing is lost, that what awaits to be grasped is more than a remnant, perhaps an overcoming, light that “is not what it shows but what it reveals”, that light that becomes memory that does not need to illuminate to be perceived where it most needs to spread, where darkness has resided for too long
part 1 black vinyl[23,95 €]
part 2 black vinyl[23,95 €]
part 1 clear vinyl[28,99 €]
Pt.2 of 2
Gigi Masin's sparkling sonic magic leads us to the light in “Implodendo in una accecante oscurità” (Imploding in a blinding darkness). The mirror reflects nothing but a faint, unfamiliar, mysteriously hostile face, but a glimmer survives, evoked by a painfully solemn romanticism that is salvific, glimmers of light bounce off broad synthetic volutes, a bewitching ambient, airy quiet, they spread, a few veins of darkness shine through, aesthetic beauty equates to clear spirituality, sax and female voices, the elegy that intertwines piano and vocal loops, that omnipresent melancholy, nostalgia, reassuring, which is openness to tomorrow. It is the moment of light, the powerful feeling that nothing is lost, that what awaits to be grasped is more than a remnant, perhaps an overcoming, light that “is not what it shows but what it reveals”, that light that becomes memory that does not need to illuminate to be perceived where it most needs to spread, where darkness has resided for too long
part 2 black vinyl[23,95 €]
part 1 clear vinyl[28,99 €]
part 2 Clear vinyl[28,99 €]
Pt.1 of 2
Gigi Masin's sparkling sonic magic leads us to the light in “Implodendo in una accecante oscurità” (Imploding in a blinding darkness). The mirror reflects nothing but a faint, unfamiliar, mysteriously hostile face, but a glimmer survives, evoked by a painfully solemn romanticism that is salvific, glimmers of light bounce off broad synthetic volutes, a bewitching ambient, airy quiet, they spread, a few veins of darkness shine through, aesthetic beauty equates to clear spirituality, sax and female voices, the elegy that intertwines piano and vocal loops, that omnipresent melancholy, nostalgia, reassuring, which is openness to tomorrow. It is the moment of light, the powerful feeling that nothing is lost, that what awaits to be grasped is more than a remnant, perhaps an overcoming, light that “is not what it shows but what it reveals”, that light that becomes memory that does not need to illuminate to be perceived where it most needs to spread, where darkness has resided for too long
part 1 black vinyl[23,95 €]
part 1 clear vinyl[28,99 €]
part 2 Clear vinyl[28,99 €]
Pt.2 of 2
Gigi Masin's sparkling sonic magic leads us to the light in “Implodendo in una accecante oscurità” (Imploding in a blinding darkness). The mirror reflects nothing but a faint, unfamiliar, mysteriously hostile face, but a glimmer survives, evoked by a painfully solemn romanticism that is salvific, glimmers of light bounce off broad synthetic volutes, a bewitching ambient, airy quiet, they spread, a few veins of darkness shine through, aesthetic beauty equates to clear spirituality, sax and female voices, the elegy that intertwines piano and vocal loops, that omnipresent melancholy, nostalgia, reassuring, which is openness to tomorrow. It is the moment of light, the powerful feeling that nothing is lost, that what awaits to be grasped is more than a remnant, perhaps an overcoming, light that “is not what it shows but what it reveals”, that light that becomes memory that does not need to illuminate to be perceived where it most needs to spread, where darkness has resided for too long
There are many reasons why summer always feels like the invincible season, and one certainly is its ability to sketch colorful pictures of life rife with options. Now Sebastian Mullaert and Layla Rehana are drawing one themselves. And they use solar paint for it.
Coming from completely different backgrounds - Sebastian, a sound explorer with a history of exploring musical textures and moving dancefloors while the work of vocalist Layla weaves intuitive healing and subconscious reprogramming - they were immediately ready to take creative chances as first improvised sessions already felt like everything is perfectly keeping up with their very own sensibilities.
The resulting LP for Bigamo offers a collection of patient and almost meditative tracks that feel as natural as breathing. Everything is interconnected. Glowing. Soothing. Like a memory, everything is now and then. It’s the equivalent of laying on your back and watching fair weather clouds as they gently transform and eventually disappear. It’s when you realize that love is all there is, is all you know of love. Although we’re slowly but steadily entering the annual phase of shorter and darker days, their sun clearly sets only to rise and shine again.
- A1: Jancen - Voided Oasis
- A2: Arthur Robert - Dyson Sphere
- B1: Vinicius Honorio - Tundra
- B2: A-Sts - Transit
- C1: Len Faki - Stardancer
- C2: Jeroen Search & Decoder - Fiber
- D1: Iglo - Paraphrase
- D2: Glaskin - User Illusion
- E1: Scheermann - Elura
- E2: Obscure Shape - Träume Im Nebel
- F1: Roman Poncet - Icelander
- F2: Arkan - French Kiss
Figure is celebrating its 150th release with a loaded triple vinyl compilation, showcasing artists both old and new to the label – a testament to what the Figure sound is today. The cover art has been commissioned from Berlin-based graffiti artist Erik Winkler, whose spray-painted work is adorning the thick triple-pocket sleeve housing three colored records.
The compilation features some important recent additions to our growing roster: both Jancen and Arthur Robert deliver their unique take on tunneling techno, be it searing or psychedelic. And Brazilian shape-shifter Vinicius Honorio carves out his own gliding bass frequencies while A-STS relies classic drum machine bleep hypnosis.
Label head Len Faki’s own energetic appearance echoes his versatile style found on his recent album release. The all-out production featuring strings and quirky synths sits in contrast with Jeroen Search & Decoder - a pairing of veterans, whose minimal hardware sound slowly builds over trippy acid loops. The flipside belongs to a younger generation of producers, namely IGLO turning out a superb techno roller teeming with life and lush with details. The duo of Munich brothers Glaskin already remixed Faki for his Fusion album, their first original release on Figure comes a skillful blend of distorted stabs and deep grooves.
Equally refined but with a harder edge to it, Scheermann practices a dark, minimalist approach where each element gets time to shine for maximum effect. His bleak track is aptly paired with a rare solo release of Obscure Shape whose fractures of a dreamy, twinkly melody make for one of the most emotional moments of the compilation. The final side holds Roman Poncet’s seasoned understanding of groove, balancing perfectly the dubby stabs and vocal chops for a dazzlingly perfect loop. The final tones to this milestone release come courtesy of another of Figure’s bright new voices: Arkan manages to conjure up a powerful sense of progression, where colourful synths converge in harmonies over an effortlessly bouncing beat.
It is a rare moment for an independent label to make to number 150. But to keep finding new talent who help re-shape the signature sound while expanding the family roster, that’s a true blessing. This package shows how Figure is growing and adapting as a label, staying relevant as one of the leading voices in modern techno.
Brown Angel descends upon Dark Entries with Pure Brown Energy, an EP featuring 6 tracks of gloom-laced electro-funk and retro house. Pure Brown Energy was born when San Francisco-based producer and Hard French collective member Brown Angel was faced with a gift and a loss: an original Roland TR-808 was given to them around the same time that their father passed away. To process their grief, they set about making an album that showcased the many facets of their being, in their words: “my gay tío side, my Latin goth side, my cruising down the boulevard side, and most of all my soft vulnerable side.” From slamming vogue/ballroom house to cumbia-inflected freestyle, Pure Brown Energy channels club sounds both contemporary and timeless, while centering the most eternal electronic instrument of all: the TR-808. Opener “Miel” grooves with the effortlessness of peak-era Masters at Work or vintage Kevin Saunderson, while “Dame Más” dials up the energy even further. The influences of Miami bass and West Coast electro shine through on “Maya” and “Love Me Right,” which pair razor-sharp beats with a flurry of samples culled from Brown Angel’s record collection. “PBE” and “En Movimiento” take the Planet Rock vibes to another level, combining influences from contemporary cumbia and reggaeton sounds with Brown Angel’s Latin goth flair. Each copy comes in a sleeve designed by Ricardo Diseño featuring illustrations inspired by Teen Angels, a popular 1980’s Chicano magazine. Pure Brown Energy brings a sense of urgency to the dancefloor, unreluctantly examining the crossover between creation and loss, between celebration and sorrow. But don’t forget: these cuts also slap.
Silence In The Secret Garden is an intensly personal and spiritual journey into the heart & soul of black music.From the reckless dark minimalism of the title track Silence In The Secret Garden to the irresistible funk of Yesterday’s Party… this classicalbum has continued to surprise and inspire.
Smokey 2LP with limited edition Obi Stip to celebrate the 35-year anniversary
Feel the Magic, the latest EP from DJ Paradiso released under the Tranceatlantyk label, is a radiant tribute to the golden era of Eurodance and early ’90s rave culture. The five-track collection bursts with high-octane rhythms, euphoric synths, and infectious melodies that transport listeners straight to the heart of a neon-lit dancefloor. From the opening track “MYB to the Beat,” with its punchy tempo and catchy vocal snippets, to the blissful tones of “Feels Like Heaven,” DJ Paradiso crafts an atmosphere brimming with nostalgia and joy. Each track is a carefully constructed homage to the spirit of carefree rave nights, rich with shimmering pads and driving beats.
The second half of the EP ventures deeper into the dancefloor’s hypnotic side. “Magic Shine” offers luminous arpeggios paired with an upbeat pulse, while “Underground” dives into moodier territory, layering darker grooves beneath an entrancing rhythm. Altogether, Feel the Magic balances retro homage with modern clarity, offering a feel-good yet dynamic journey through sounds that once defined a generation of ravers—and now, through DJ Paradiso, feel excitingly alive again.
STRANGER STILL was Julian Cator (guitar), Paul Cator (piano, organ, synthesizer), Tim Warnes (bass), Frank Warnes (vocals, drums) and Ian Johnson (vocals, drums) from King’s Lynn, Norfolk, UK. The two sets of Cator and Warnes siblings had been playing together in bands since 1974, with Ian joining in 1979, and with their musical style evolving from glam influenced rock to punk/new wave (punk came late to Norfolk) and finally post-punk, influenced by Ultravox!, Magazine, Joy Division, Bauhaus and Killing Joke. Their first gig together was in September 1979 with John Peel being in the audience. The Solitude/Survivor single was recorded in July 1981, released in November and sold well locally. John Peel played Solitude, between singles by Winston and Screen 3. When Julian left in autumn 1981 the others continued, later changing their name to Nothing Sacred. Ex-members have since played in a number of other bands, most notably Paul and Tim in Shine!, and Julian and Paul in Ivy.
Solitude opens in a perfect analogue way with a ‚primitive’ rhythm machine pattern and a dark synth sound fading in. We shall be glad for the band’s move towards electronics while knowing „given the negative reaction we got from some of the local bands when we got the synth a Moog Satellite“, quoting Julian. When the real drums, guitar, bass and vocals also come in, you’re in for one of the most perfect post-punk songs, yet playful but ultimately bleak. “And then I can feel nothing more. Alone again, with no sensation.“ Survivor is more uptempo and bass-driven, reminiscent of early Death In June (who came later though). Lyrics like “4 minute warning warning – the sound of today. Our new dream world – Enola Gay.“ set the mood there.
The band composed a dozen of songs, demos to get gigs, which were unfortunately never recorded properly in a studio. So these are demos or rehearsal tracks, never released to the public and presented here for the first time ever as an additional 15 tracks download-only (due to the poor sound quality). You’ll find fantastic tracks like Brave New Berlin or Cardiac Arrest, which is reminiscent of Death In June’s In The Nighttime, and then, there is a demo of Solitude too!
Here’s to a piece of post-punk history!
Apersonal Music, the Barcelona-based imprint known for its sun-drenched blend of house and disco since 2010, proudly presents the new EP by one of its longest-standing artists: Cisco Cisco. Portuguese duo Cisco Cisco are renowned for crafting emotional and uplifting house and disco, filled with hypnotic sampling and shimmering effects. Their sound has become a signature of Apersonal’s catalog, and The Heat EP is a glowing continuation of this.
On the A side “Why Can’t I Be You?” brings classic disco energy to the table — lush, melodic, and full of that heartfelt groove Cisco Cisco do so well. Plus returning to remix duties alongside Cisco Cisco is Ron Basejam, whose unmatched ability to transform disco originals into
dancefloor monsters shines once again. His remix of “Why Can’t I Be You?” stretches nearly eight minutes, slowly building and wrapping the listener in a deep, infectious groove.
On the B side “The Heat” is a bold detour into early-2000s French electro house, evoking the raw drive of the 2000s. “Under the Bridge” channels the spirit of a Generation X Parisian house party, with filtered synths and punchy basslines reminiscent of Daft Punk’s earliest work. And rounding out the EP Rayko delivers on his finest style, bringing a darker, late-night vibe to the release. His remix of “The Heat” is a driving, immersive journey blending electro and techno influences tailored for the deeper hours on the floor.
Facta returns to Wisdom Teeth with ‘GULP’: a zippy, hi-def mini-album full of scrambled vocals, blown-out basslines, dripping synths and spring-loaded grooves that together map out his playfully psychedelic corner of contemporary club music. Written in a quick creative burst in late 2024, the record brings together a range of the producer’s distinct creative strands into a sharp, cohesive whole. Sitting snugly within the stylistic niche carved out by his A&Ring and DJ sets (alongside label co-founder K-LONE), we hear the influence of 00’s minimal, tech house, UK soundsystem music, ambient electronica, dub and more rubbing shoulders in a way that feels effortless and personal. Many of the tracks began life as sketches penned on the road - dotting between festivals, European club shows, and on tour in Japan - and so the record carries with it a sense of movement and forward momentum, and feels populated by voices, memories, people and places.
The Londoner’s characteristic approach to sound design and genre interplay are on full display here. Generative vocal hooks melt and warp into strange fluid forms, while synths stretch, detune, bend and dissolve into space before snapping back into shape again. Keyboards mirror human vocal formants, forming melodies that feel at once organic and alien. Basslines warp and distort, as if being re-moulded out of different synthetic properties.
Across the record there’s a commitment to expressing simple or familiar ideas in new and unexpected ways, whilst experimentations and innovations are presented clearly and intuitively. Cherished genre references are lovingly deployed as personal touchstones across the record - bleeping minimal- and tech-house; breakbeat dubstep and funky; Chicago house; dub techno - yet sounds and influences are combined and meshed in unexpected ways. Each track is tightly engineered and reduced down to its key elements, which are then manipulated, flipped, warped and pushed to breaking point. As is typical of Facta’s music, uncanny contrasts are worked throughout the music in unexpected ways. Warm, balmy moods come laced with seams of tension or uncertainty, whilst the record’s darker moments are handled with a light, playful touch.
With 15 years experience writing, DJing and A&Ring under his belt, ‘GULP’ is testament to Facta’s love of creation and curation - of seeking out, absorbing, experimenting, and channeling new sounds to create your own sonic world. A record borne of playful experimentation and happy accidents, ‘GULP’ shines bright with a simple, pure energy - a testament to writing quickly and intuitively and, above all else, enjoying the process.
The album’s artwork features photography by award-winning Boston-based photographer, Pelle Cass, whose complex time-lapse composites present hyperreal yet impossible tableaus of seemingly simple everyday scenes - an approach that parallels the record’s blurring of the familiar and the unfamiliar. Cass’s work has been widely exhibited, collected, and published, including solo shows at Gallery Kayafas, Boston, the Photographic Resource Center, Boston, and the Houston Center for Photography, and in collections such as the Fogg Art Museum, the Peabody Essex Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. He was twice a Critical Mass Top 50 photographer and has received two fellowships from Yaddo and one from the Berkshire Taconic Foundation.
Kerrie is back on James Ruskin's Blueprint for her third EP. The "Act Of Resistance" EP showcases Kerrie's refined approach to techno, blending moody industrial tones with dub overtones and intricate sound design. Kerrie's in-depth knowledge and unwavering dedication to music shines through her notable back catalogue and bolshy, unforgiving DJ and Live sets. Honing her craft for over a decade, Kerrie achieved a milestone at the start of 2024 when Tresor announced her as a resident DJ.
Irish-born, Manchester-based Kerrie is a multidisciplinary artist and DJ. Having garnered a rich musical education through working at and holding a DJ residency for one of the UK's most respected record shops, Eastern Bloc, Kerrie's in-depth knowledge and unwavering dedication to music shines through her notable back catalogue and bolshy, unforgiving DJ and Live sets. Honing her craft for over a decade, Kerrie achieved a milestone at the start of 2024 when Tresor announced her as a resident DJ.
Following well-received releases on labels such as Don't Be Afraid, Cultivated Electronics, I Love Acid and Symbolism, Kerrie launched her imprint Dark Machine Funk DMF in 2020, and also debuted on Blueprint Records with her "Raw Regimen" EP.Truly welcomed to the Blueprint family, Kerrie delivered her second EP "Transient Belief" in 2023 and joined the crew at label showcases around the globe.
Since 2023 she has been fully committed to the studio and accommodating her increasingly busy tour schedule, forging a long-lasting path fuelled by drive, passion, authenticity and a community-first way of thinking.
She's now back on James Ruskin's label for her third Blueprint outing. The "Act Of Resistance" EP showcases Kerrie's refined approach to techno, blending moody industrial tones with dub overtones and intricate sound design.
Recut, the elusive DJ and producer whose roots trace back to Southern Italy but whose sound resonates globally, is back with a scorching new release titled "Narcotic Tango". This four-track EP, out on vinyl only, is a deep dive into the raw energy of Acid House and Chicago's underground, delivering an unforgettable experience for both DJs and dancefloors alike.
Opening with "Narcotic Tango", Recut lays down a track with intense rhythmic drive. The throbbing bassline and shimmering hi-hats combine with a tantalizing arpeggio that elevates the track to a hypnotic level. It’s a club banger with an irresistible groove, and once you’ve heard it, you won’t forget it. Next up, "Acid Street" transports listeners into a world of deep, dark synthetic atmospheres. The pounding drum machine and the rumbling analog bassline carry the track forward like an unstoppable force, while the overall vibe conjures a sense of gritty dancefloor energy that never lets up. "Jack On Acid" brings the heat with an unapologetically raw Chicago-inspired sound.
With a deep, looping acid groove and a steady, driving rhythm, it channels the essence of the Windy City’s storied dance music tradition, offering pure, unfiltered Acid House energy. Finally, "Feel The Heat" kicks things into overdrive with its infectious blend of New York house and Latin-infused vibes. This track is all about dancing until the break of dawn, breaking boundaries with its smooth yet aggressive energy and contagious rhythm. Recut’s unmistakable style shines through, blending the wild, experimental spirit of Acid House with the raw, soulful energy of Chicago House. Whether you're a vinyl collector, a club DJ, or simply a lover of pure dancefloor joy, this EP is an essential addition to your collection. A seasoned DJ and producer with a passion for underground sounds, Recut has been carving his name in the electronic music scene for years. With his eclectic mix of influences and cutting-edge production skills, he continues to push boundaries and captivate audiences worldwide.
Parade Ground march back to Dark Entries with The Hidden Side, a compilation of B-sides and unreleased material. Brothers Jean-Marc and Pierre Pauly started Parade Ground in Brussels in 1981. Their Dada-laced brand of post-punk fuses propulsive drum machines and icy synths with skeletal guitar riffs and Jean-Marc’s distinct and powerful voice, pioneering the subgenre of emotional body music. The brothers met Daniel B. and Patrick Codenys of Front 242 in 1982, marking the beginning of an enduring collaborative partnership. In 2011, Dark Entries released The Golden Years, a compilation chronicling the band’s A-sides and exposing them to a new generation of EBM enthusiasts. The Hidden Side continues this mission, illuminating lesser-known facets of the band’s oeuvre. The tracks here were written between 1982 and 1989, and showcase Parade Ground’s range of styles - all cold, dark, and brooding. Tracks like “Riddle in the Stain Glass Window” and the previously unreleased “Looking Through Keyholes” see the band in menacing coldwave mode, rocking chorus-drenched bass guitar and blasts of analog synth. The band’s dancier proclivities shine elsewhere, like on “Off-Balance” or the supremely funky “Hollywood (The Sexiest Fish),” a floor-filler driven by bass guitar and thumping digital drum machine beats. Also included is “Marble Mind,” a previously unreleased latter-period track from the band recorded by Patrick Codenys at 242 Studio. The Hidden Side includes liner notes featuring lyrics and a photo of Jean-Marc and Pierre Pauly. Additionally, a newly remastered edition of The Golden Years will be released along with The Hidden Side.
We are very excited to present our first release "Prelude" RU001. This exceptional record marks the beginning of a new era in minimal electronic music, fusing the creativity of Lucas Moss with the unique interpretations of Vlad Arapasu and Nu Zau. "Prelude” is more than an album; it is a testament to our commitment to change and evolution in musical culture. This journey of original sounds reveals our vision of embracing art in all its forms, contributing to a cultural change on a global level. On the two original tracks by Lucas Moss, we explore the depths of change and transformation. Vlad Arapasu brings his unique perspective with a remix that captivates, while Nu Zau features a vibrant and joyful remix that redraws the boundaries of the dancefloor. “Prelude" symbolises a trip where change and purification can be achieved by bringing just a little bit of light into the darkness. The vocals symbolize the intuition we all have but which is sometimes dormant. Cumacanga express our shadows; we recognize that without them, the light would not shine as brightly. This release is our call for change, innovation and the continued support of art in all its forms. Join us on this journey, where minimal electronic music becomes the way to transcend barriers and create a permanent impact on the world of art. Together, we start the journey with "Prelude" RU001, and this is just the beginning...
- A1: Take On Me
- A2: The Sun Always Shines On Tv
- A3: Hunting High & Low (7" Remix)
- A4: I've Been Losing You
- A5: Cry Wolf
- B1: Manhattan Skyline
- B2: The Living Daylights
- B3: Stay On These Roads
- B4: You Are The One (7" Remix)
- B5: Crying In The Rain
- C1: Move To Memphis (Single Version)
- C2: Dark Is The Night For All
- C3: Summer Moved On
- C4: Forever Not Yours
- C5: Lifelines
- D1: Celice
- D2: Analog (All I Want)
- D3: Foot Of The Mountain
- D4: Under The Makeup
- D5: This Is Our Home (Bonus Track)
- D6: I'm In (Bonus Track)
"The only career-spanning best-of compilation available on vinyl for the first time for pop sensations A-ha. The band turns 40 this year with a documentary currently available on streaming platforms and their biggest song “Take On Me” back on the Spotify Top 100 streaming. Now seems like a great time to get this back to market - with two new tracks included!
These tracks are currently available digitally and previously on CD"
‘The Night of the Stars’ is the fantastic sixth album from Swedish dream pop favorites AZURE BLUE. The album pushes the quality to its peak, exhibiting a richer, clearer, and more luxurious approach to the patented AZURE BLUE sound across ten enticing tracks. Three of the songs generated significant buzz when released as singles. Album opener ‘Rise’ is a shimmering track with a rushing drumbeat topped by luxurious layers of analog synths and a Peter Hook-like bass. The song is a dream pop anthem featuring a timeless chorus and vocal harmonies from AZURE BLUE’s long time companion The Land Below.
The crystal-clear topline in ‘Three Times The Drama’ shines over electric guitars and analog synths to create an immediate pop song with great summer hit potential. The song is also a bittersweet dedication to Tobias Isaksson’s mother, who recently passed away, and its completion provided comfort following a period of unspeakable grief. The album also includes ‘Define Your Dreams’—a bright flare first previewed during the dark days of the pandemic with massive synth walls and lyrics that suggest that while difficult times have passed, more difficult ones may be coming. ‘Visions and Themes’ will have its premiere on October 25 when it is released as the fourth single from the album, while the remaining six tracks provide even further evidence of the brilliance of one of Sweden’s most internationally acclaimed indie artists.
Mixed by Tobias Isaksson and Ollie Olson. Mastered by Håkan Åkesson at Nutidstudio.
Artwork by Alexander Palmestål. Design by James Tassos and Steve Lippert.
12″LP features: limited edition of 300 copies, 140 grams crystal clear vinyl, hand-numbered double-sided postcard, download code.
Dark Entries again shines a spotlight on bathhouse disco don Patrick Cowley with a newly remastered release of Kickin’ In. Although Cowley tragically passed from AIDS-related illness in 1982, he left an extensive archive of unreleased tapes, many of which Dark Entries has had the honor of releasing. While working as a lighting technician at The City, SF’s disco cabaret, Cowley saw rising star Frank Loverde perform. Cowley asked Loverde to contribute vocals to some material in progress, and Frank, Linda Imperial, and Peggy Gibbons joined Cowley in the studio. The resulting songs included “Kickin’ In,” a 9-minute cybernetic disco stormer that taps into the essence of Cowley’s hi-NRG sound: equal parts spaced out and zoned in on the dancefloor. In May 1978 Cowley joined Loverde on stage at The City to perform “Kickin’ In” as they opened for disco diva Sylvester.
“Kickin’ In” was initially released in 2015 via Honey Soundsystem who found the tapes in the basement of Megatone Records owner John Hedges. This newly remastered version was made possible due to the discovery of the original multi-track recordings of "Kickin’ In," allowing for a fresh mixdown by Jim Hopkins as well as the creation of a new instrumental version. Also included are two impeccably sleazy Cowley jams recorded in 1980, “Thief of Love” and “Make It Come Loose.” Cowley narrates excerpts from his erotic journals on these raunchy slow-burners, capturing the vibe of SF’s leather bars and backrooms. “Thief of Love” features frequent Cowley collaborator Paul Parker on background vocals. This reissue of Kickin’ In includes features an illustration by Gwenaël Rattke that originally appeared Cowley’s erotic journal, Mechanical Fantasy Box, as well as a postcard with lyrics. “Patrick parted the veil and entered a dark world of forbidden vices, wondrous musical panoramas and bold, strident, hopeful possibilities. Patrick brought the future to us and laid it at our feet.” – David Diebold, Tribal Rites
2025 Repress
SHDW & Obscure Shape invite Invexis for his first 12" in almost 20 years as the German live act and producer returns to Mutual Rytm for his impactful EP, 'Odyssey'.
With an ethos of merging the past with the present and future, harnessing classic techno influences and shaping them into the sounds of tomorrow, SHDW & Obscure Shape's Mutual Rytm imprint has become an exciting home for rising talents of note and established artists to shine a spotlight on the genre. However, the next release on the label welcomes a long-awaited return from Georg Kohler, aka Invexis. Known for releases such as 'Kalibreur' on Salpeter Records and 'Chiffre' on Planet Rhythm Records, with further releases via Compound and Kazumi, the German talent crafted and shaped his own sound within the techno landscape in the early 2000s. Returning with his first EP release in close to two decades, late December welcomes a return to Mutual Rytm, following on from the inclusion of his track 'Elektronenwind' on the label's 'Federation Of Rytm I' release, as he delivers a selection of dynamic, melodic and driving techno offerings across 'Odyssey'.
'Silhouette' opens the package with authority as spirited drums and spiralling synths take hold of a twisting and turning lead effort, with 'Non Return To Zero' building a spiralling groove via frantic yet measured percussion, sweeping melodies and funky stabs. 'Red Storm' opens the B-side with a more up-front production combining harsher metallic tones with relentless drive and crashing hats, while 'Body Impulse' utilises dubby stabs and eerie atmospherics to balance light and dark. The title track 'Odyssey' closes the vinyl offering, with a euphoric and rapturous production harnessing resonant chords, looping drum grooves and elated leads to bring things to an impressive crescendo and deliver a record that will remain in the ears of listeners for a long time. As always with the label, digital purchasers are treated to an exclusive track as Kohler combines zig-zagging grooves, refined synths and off-kilter glitches and bleeps across digital exclusive 'Transition'.
repressed !
A memorable Drumcode debut lands from Teenage Mutants, in collaboration with Heehorst and Peter Pahn, as 'Dark Clouds' lights up the sky. Collectively, the artists bring a strong pedigree to the table, having released on Terminal M, Filth on Acid and 1605 Music Therapy.
An anthem in every sense, 'Dark Clouds' already has the makings of one of Drumcode's biggest tracks of the year having highlighted events including Printworks, Awakenings at the Gashouder during ADE week and Resistance Abu Dhabi thanks to its thrilling dramaturgy that combines a stirring vocal line, thundering underbelly of acid and laser-focused b-line.
In the age of viral sensations and fast rising superstars, UMEK shines, a testament to hard graft, talent and playing the long game. We’re thrilled to have him on the label for his Drumcode debut.
The track is a rhythmic peak-time beast, highlighting Time Warp and Exchange in LA in recent times. It also saw the artist experiment with AI to create the heady vocal line. “There’s still a lot of work in the post-production process, but it’s certainly an interesting time when you can make use of these tools,” he shares.
Steve O'Sullivan's Mosaic label is back with a second volume of its dubs series, this time on nice yellow vinyl with Sub Basics and Fletcher given one side each to shine. Sub Basics goes first with 'Mediterranean', a lovely liquid dub with bottomless depths and perfectly smooth, frictionless drums. Lovely soft melodies drift in and out as the echoing hits and icy hi-hats help oil this most heady of grooves. On the flip, Fletcher offers up 'Sludge' which is a little more tense and menacing, with darker bass and more texture as well as distant groaning pads that keep you guessing and on edge.
Halbert kicks off "OUR STORY“ EP with no fear and no compromises to his sound legacy. It has been produced during the last year in the neighborhood of Santa Catalina - where everything is happening - under the experience and influence of local parties such as private villas and small sweaty clubs.
A1 "OLEEVA" features a weird half-tempo break, grooving along a 4x4 kick and Bmore loop style. The "Spanish" trumpets act as an irresistible hook, leaving a long lasting impression. A fusion of folklore and timeless sounds, "Oleeva" is a true party anthem that defies genres. Continuing the journey, A2 "WHAT IS IT?" is a playful cocktail-Molotov made of fat FM rolling bassline, slap bass guitar, arabic strings, and other mind-bending surprises. Get ready to let loose and immerse yourself in this freaky gem.
On the flip, B1 "SECRET PATH" delivers a functional old catchy house jam with a non-directional arrangement where organic meets dark electronic synth sound. An ideal companion for a pool party or daytime vibes. Wrapping up the EP, B2 ”POWER UP!" shines as a high energy breakbeat tune influenced by Plank Records sound. Featuring an evolving big guitar synth stab, lively percussion, uplifting trancy synths and robust old school bass.
Mixed by Halbert and Hamid at MariaDiaz Studio. Mastered by Marco Pellegrino at AnalogCutMastering Berlin.
Water Machine is an office romance between Hando Morice (they/them), Flore de Hoog (she/her), Jimmy Gage (he/him) and Goda Ilgauskaitė (she/her). An unassuming supergroup formed out of Glasgow institutions including Goth GF, Passion Pusher, Brenda and Soursob, their sound careens between punk, country and alt-rock underpinned by the unique quality they call “Raw Liquid Power”.
Following last year’s self-titled demo tape on Gold Mold Records, and fresh off of shows with the likes of Holiday Ghosts, The Cool Greenhouse and The Orielles, as well as a rollicking Viagra Boys afterparty, the four-piece will release their highly-anticipated first studio effort ‘Raw Liquid Power’ on Upset The Rhythm on August 4th.
The EP opens with a menacing, modulating synth melody. Gage’s guitar enters with a mighty bend before breaking into the chugging rhythm of ‘Water Machine Pt. 2’. This timely reminder to refill your water bottle - “don’t be late, hydrate!” less a wellness mantra than a threat - builds to a spacey outro with flashes of the art-punk weirdness of Suburban Lawns. ‘Stilettos’ marches on indignantly with a spiky riff punctuated by Ilgauskaitė’s cowbells. Staccato talk-singing tells a playful tale of stray cats following you home, but belies a darker subtext as the breakdown gives way to paranoid duelling guitars evoking The Fire Engines.
The anti-anthem ‘At the Drive In’ skewers joyless DIY crowds, reminiscent of much-missed Glasgow punks Breakfast Muff. Water Machine’s irrepressible sincerity can’t help but shine through in the final moments though, as jibes about “late night trade potential” give way to plaintive vocal harmonies. Morice tears public transport a new one on closer ‘Bussy’, a First Bus diss track bemoaning precarious employment amidst crumbling infrastructure. “That’s why I’m not on time!” they roar over de Hoog’s frantic, pounding bass, bringing the record to a skidding, screeching halt.
“My mother” says HDSN “is my biggest idol to date. She gave me the roots to grow and the wings to fly and pretty much dedicated her life to my sister and i. She has been holding herself accountable day in day out for more than twenty years to raise two kids as a single mom. Although my dad couldn´t be there she always kept the cable long and so we lacked of nothing - she literally gave us all that she got. It´s been her strength, her humbleness and her relentless effort which has made me and my sister the beautiful human beings we are today. Most importantly it was her acknowledgement of my passion for music that saw me being able to pursue what i call my destiny today. She has been my biggest supporter since day one even she couldn’t understand at first. She oftentimes called my music too “esoteric” little did we know how many peoples hearts these songs would touch on the way. From the very beginning i wanted to dedicate a song to her but as she was pretty delicate when it comes to my tracks i knew i needed to find the right notes to hit the right spots. It´s been eight years now since i started out to make music and with very much excitement i can announce i finally been able to thrill her soul. It´s with little hesitation that i dedicated this song which i ended up calling “Stronger” to her. I come from a family full of fighters, there have been many ups and downs for all of us but we stood strong to the struggle and managed to keep our shine. This goes especially for my sister as life dealt her a couple of rough patches early on. She was fighting her own war marching through the valley of death from a very young age. She never gave up though, thrived out of darkness into light like a poppy seed and now eventually became a mother, too. Life kinda neglected us over the year. I had to leave my loved ones behind to live my dream but there has always been a part of me that tried to find his way back home, which i finally stopped denying. “No Place Like Home” is dedicated to most important women in my life, my mother, my sister and her newborn child. This record is an homage to my family and the beauty that lies within our tribe.”
August Greene culminates years of mutual respect and friendship, channeling the musicians’ various talents into a cohesive project. The perfect marriage of jazz, hip-hop and soul, it’s music that just is. This is black expression the way God intended: earnest, unfiltered, and harmonious. Throughout August Greene, you feel the abundance of Glasper’s rolling keys, the sheer honesty of Com’s lyrics, and the nuanced subtlety of Riggins’ drum work. It’s a fluid sound that’s sorely needed in today’s landscape, and a teachable moment for the next wave of creators. “I feel like we need to set the bar for this generation of musicians and producers,” Riggins says. “There’s a lot of computer-driven music. This is the opposite of that. We’re showing you can still use your creative muscle on an instrument to generate your own sound.” August Greene is a meditative offering that stands tall against the era of “fake news.” “They body snatching black girls in D.C. / Politics and propaganda on the TV,” Common observes on the opening track. On “Nirvana,” the lyricist uses a stuttering percussive loop and faint piano chords to search his inner being: “Thought I was gonna fly when Obama became the king … when it’s all done, will I have heaven’s dress code, and been able to let God and let go.” As Com puts it, Glasper and Riggins’ soundtrack allowed him to open up in ways he hadn’t done previously. Like on “Fly Away,” for instance, where he riffs on the public relationships he’s had. Other songs, like “Black Kennedy,” feel spacious and scenic. “I got to go new places with the music, and it didn’t have to fit within a genre for me to participate on it,” he says. “This gave me an experience I haven’t had in a long time, so I want people to feel that. I want this to be a cleansing of whatever doesn’t feel good or inspiring.” In the end, August Greene speaks to those pushing through the dark for brighter days. It's a masterpiece from which virtue can shine. “I want people to go on the ride and be open,” Glasper says. “We just created and it became a sound. I want people to approach this with an open mind and without expectations.” —Marcus J. Moore
Drawing from a strong history of electronic influence, Tomashevsky has created his own underworld of foreboding techno. We enter this EP with Incoherent, which exudes ominous sounds - reminiscent of murky radar blips that may be heard deep underwater in the metallic bowels of a submarine. Bubbling electronic delays remain adjoined to these metronomic blips and oer lateral, spontaneous movement around an otherwise sturdy song structure. Jittery melodies scatter nervously under lead elements, remaining disjointed and resulting in increased energy and a darkened excitement.
As we move through the EP, we face ups and downs, both in tempo and mood. Leading on from the first, Rollback is destabilizing, energetic and mean in all the right ways. Wobbling low ends open into a mood of uncertainty, held in place only by the stability of the drums. Rollback suits a peak-time club atmosphere thanks to the gritty synth leads and fast-paced feel.
Ending with the two tracks on the B-side, Tomashevsky still seeks to surprise. Rejected seems to be a distant relative of the Incoherent, following the synthetic blip structure but allowing snares and other percussions to build more prominently. Finally, we arrive at the closing track which marks itself as more obscure. Leaning on kick drum patterns initially reminiscent of electro/breaks, the use of half-time tempo gives a change of pace and a platform for a slightly different song structure and mixing potential.
Mesmeric and entrancing, these songs give any DJ or listener to chance to turn mind chatter o and lock into a hypnotic groove. Drawing on classically techno foundations, Tomashevsky has tipped his hat to the founders of the genre whilst adding his own flavour and subtle techniques that make this EP shine.
- A1: Cha´kwaina (Marcel Dettmann Remix)
- A2: Beauty Begins With Us (Μ-Ziq Remix)
- B1: Clouds Over Clifden (Dauwd Remix)
- B2: Sun (Placid Angles Bonus Track)
- C1: Our Love Is The Place (Baltra Remix)
- C2: Natsukashii (Plaid Remix)
- D1: Deep Blue (Cassy Remix)
- D2: Touch The Earth (Feel The Rain) (Jakojako Remix)
- D3: When The Sun Shines Through (John Beltran Remix)
One year after its original release, the Placid Angles album Touch The Earth is being remixed by an impressive array of artists from the extended Figure family. With John Beltran being a distinct voice within the electronic music scene for over thirty years now, Figure is thrilled to reveal a whole LP’s worth of reinterpretations, including two works by the original artist himself.
Opening up is Marcel Dettmann, who seamlessly has integrated the lush soundscapes of the original album into a beat-driven but equally serene journey. Picking up on the LP’s underlying dark garage tropes, Planet Mu headmaster M-ziq infuses his rework with even more rolling drums and ethereal vocal chops. The also inherent IDM roots of Touch The Earth have been kept close by Warp-veterans Plaid who deliver a shuffling flurry full of horns, synths and syncopated rhythms. More straightforward interpretations include Dauwd’s dazzling piece of feathery, fast, atmospheric techno; a gorgeous melodic house remix by Baltra and Cassy who turns in a rigid UK stomper.
Amidst all the reworks, John Beltran himself makes two appearances across the record. As Placid Angles he adds another heads-down percussive/ambient swirl, which represents exactly what the producer has been hailed for since more than three decades now. His own remix finishes the record on an epic note, with an organic drum track that celebrates life and the necessity for communal gathering in order to dance.
Beltran’s own additions to this LP are like the essential glue that makes it all bind together, forging the old and the new into something equally exciting as already intimately familar.
Over the past few years an increasing number of bands hailing from the former USSR have been appearing on the screens and the phones of the so-called Western world’s underground music enthusiasts.
With most of them being pretty obscure and only a very few ones having established a worldwide following (Motorama, Molčat Doma) the Sovietwave tag has worked usefully enough as a tool to identify a wide range of bands each one with a different sound and yet something in common. Whether it be the harsh weather or just the distance creating an exotic effect, there is some icy-cold touch with these bands that immediately makes you know they’re from Russia, regardless of the language they perform.
This goes for Blind Seagull too.
The trio from Kaliningrad, a small russian enclave on the Baltic Sea between Poland and Lithuania, has been around since quite a few years now, releasing tapes and limited edition vinyls on labels like Detriti, Sierpen and Pine Hill.
Finally taking up the challenge of writing a longer full-length (previous albums were seven or eight track long at best), the trio led by Denis Zarubin has created twelve new songs that shine a light on the impressive skills of this young combo to deliver very classic and yet extremely fresh and modern cold post-punk gems.
Keeping it short and sweet, their two-three minutes long compositions cut right to the chase of the darkwave soul: stomping drum machines, frozen guitar arpeggios, tense bass riffs. The formula is occasionally rocked by the intervention of laser synths, noise raids and gothic chorale, while the industrial pièce of the title-track and the IDM-tinged collaboration with experimental giants Xiu Xiu ‘Fear’ will show how this band stands out and how their upcoming, new album is the best proof of this.
2024 Repress
Born in Egypt, bred in Dubai and now situated in the electronic music hub of Barcelona, RAXON makes his SPEICHER debut with this double header that falls into line just past his breakthrough 'Destiny EP' on DIYNAMIC.
THE ANCIENT could be taken as a twisted modern version of YAZOO's 'Superstition' - subtle and bold this track bridges on the sexier side of electro-strasse with a gleaming dagger of nu-wave sophistication. His roots as one of the Middle East's biggest DJs shines through the 'Dark Light'. Mysterious minimal rhythms propelled with a sinister synth hook drives this track to a nowhere that makes you feel that you are somewhere that is right.
Enzo Siragusa rounds off another incredible summer with a highly anticipated project, a collaborative FUSE EP with Martin Buttrich. Striking a perfect balance between Enzo's UK rave roots and Martin's matured finesse, the 'Three Squared' EP nestles neatly within FUSE's distinct sonic palette.
Part of the FUSE family from the very beginning and held in high regard by Enzo, the two solidified their watertight bond via the line ups and studio sessions they have enjoyed together over the years, a bond that shines throughout this release.
When Enzo produces music for his label he always has the FUSE dancefloor in mind, aiming to create those immersive experiences for the crowd that he had as a youngster, across many London raves in the mid 90's.
The 'Three Squared' EP deftly encapsulates this approach, from 'Dangerman', a track that melds Jungle's original elements with the sound of today's house scene, via 'Lifted Spirits' adorned with touches of old school Martin Buttrich, to the darker and engulfing 'Apache', a vinyl only exclusive for the wax heads.
This release also marks FUSE's largest London collaboration to date, as they take over Tobacco Dock's Car Park, where these tracks will be doing some serious damage. At this point the two collaborators will meet again, as Enzo invites Martin to play a live set.
After the original comes the remix. Or in this case three. I:Cube, Chinaski and Aera help you refresh your memory and re-draw "Drawn From Memory" from Benjamin Fröhlich's second part of the "Rude Movements" series. It's one single track, but every remixer has taken his very own approach and came up with a new interpretation.
The iconic French producer and Permanent Vacation long time favourite, I:Cube, transformed the original into a soul warming and heart melting late night bomb that lets the sun appear even in the darkest places. Chinaski out of Frankfurt, well known from his releases on Live at Robert Johnson and Uncanny Valley, fuses Italo Disco with a John Carpenter-style soundtrack aesthetic and an infectious bassline completed by a full on guitar solo in the break. Aera, fresh from releasing his album on Permanent Vacation, is slowing down the tempo, rearranging the layers of the original and adding a bubbly and underwater atmosphere that let the dub stabs shine. Three different versions that may represent different memories of one long night.
tested 'Then After' EP by New York duo Wild Dark.
'...Stemming from a partnership with two decades of experience behind them, Wild Dark takes on contemporary song-writing and gives it a unique, thoughtful, modern-take using a wide spectrum of electronic music to tell a story. The duo, comprised of brothers Corey & Ryan Negrin, stray from cold digital samples in favour of a warmer approach to writing music. This allows them to merge house, techno and natural vocal work into a cohesive concept that uses soulful yet charming songwriting to nurture a sophisticated palate of contemporary work...'
Then After EP includes two tracks featuring Alex Who 'When we first met Alex there was chemistry off the bat. With inspiration of being young and free, the lyrics and vibe to "Why Not"came together with ease. As the production progressed, the darker tribal elements came to life.
We wanted this track to resonate with the free spirited. This track tends to be a favorite of night.
"Born By The River", A Happy Mistake. The vocals, the elements, the soul, all stemmed from animpromptu recording and this beauty was born. With a list of organic household recordings,accompanied by a warm low end, we aimed to create a track that defied all genres.
"Talky Talkie" is the most club oriented track of the EP, with a persistent groove and synth elements that work perfectly on the dancefloor.
"I'll Wait" brings our bohemian flavour to shine, a track that's comfortable being played anywherefrom Burning Man, lost in the desert to the deep warehouses of Brooklyn's underground.
The digital release will include a special remix by Superlounge, a German duo known for their smooth house vibes. This is a must have release, available first on the label's shop online;
t r u e C o l o r s
A Brooklyn / London based record label that channels artist's most honest version of their
creations and shares it with the world through vinyl and digital platforms.
- 1: Jam
- 2: Stuxnet
- 3: Like What
- 4: Honour
- 5: Fatso Vip
- 6: Shine Like The Sun
- 7: (Nu:logic Remix)
The 10,000 strong party drew together DJs, fans, listeners, singers, live acts and MCs together to showcase every shade and style encompassing a 174 heartbeat. As the Finsbury Park fun continues and round two promising even bigger stage takeovers and a myriad of artist weaponry, we present an equally bursting drum & bass double disc, the 'Hospitality In The Park 2017' LP. In the same vein as our all- day summer special, this huge 70 track mash- up spans across a full 360' perspective of the genre; representing the established, up and coming, soulful, obscure, liquid, innovative, dark, techy, neuro, jungle style and everything in between.
Included are over 25 brand new exclusives from reputable drum & bass titans Danny Byrd, S.P.Y, Makoto and Keeno, there are VIPs from Metrik and Nu:Logic, remixes from Hugh Hardie, Total science, Camo & Krooked and Calibre, and a 'Bullet Proof' banger from Krakota. Across two mixed CDs we've drawn for this year's surefire summer weapons with Fred V & Grafix, The Prototypes, 1991, High Contrast, The Upbeats, Breakage in the mix. With this year's Incubator stage pulling artists that are rising through the ranks, up and comers' Whiney, Unglued, GLXY and Kyrist bring exciting new offerings to the compilation.
Both fans and artists came together from all over the globe last year and we expect no less in 2017. Equally, this compilation gives an international perspective covering all corners of the globe from Japan's Mountain, the USA's Flite and Ownglow, the Netherlands Black Sun Empire and New Zealand's Shapeshifter. Drum & bass is stronger than ever and it's here to stay. See you at the park!
- 1: Purgatory
- 2: In The Morning
- 3: Highway Ii
- 4: Hollywood
- 5: Country Suep
- 6: Patronised
- 7: The Rain
- 8: Big Jump
- 9 10: Days
- 10: Fornever
The track shows SUEP at their best - glistening synth pop with Marr-esque jangle, sweet but emotionally incisive. Singer Georgie Stott - also known for being the keyboardist of the recently ended Porridge Radio - is at peak performance, marrying catchy melodies with off-kilter storytelling.
Receiving acclaim across BBC 6 Music and the indie press for their ‘car boot sale’ pop music, SUEP rummage through the jumble bin of music history, selecting and reassembling its best parts into something playful, strange and deeply artful. The band are affiliates of the Gob Nation collective - including The Tubs, Sniffany & The Nits, Ex-Void, and others., described by the Guardian as uniting around “a leftfield sensibility, lacerating wit and snotty attitude.”
With a slightly darker edge than their delightful EP Shop or last year’s groovy The Rain, Highway II tells the story of hope slamming into disappointment - a Valentine’s date gone wrong. Tears, cigarette breaks, running makeup and snotty sleeves paint a picture of painful emotional dislocation. It comes with an incredible, multilayered dance-routine music video from frequent collaborator, artist Jess Power.
Singer Georgie Stott says: “The lyrics for this poured out of me on Valentine’s Day when me and my partner went out on a date in the Limehouse area, over the river from where we lived in Rotherhithe. I got drunk too quickly, he got grumpy, and tears started streaming down my face because I just wanted to have a nice romantic time. We made up in the Canary Wharf Wetherspoons at the end of the night, but I went to have a cigarette before, to get out all my sobs and wrote all the lyrics on my phone in one go. Then at a practice studio we quickly wrote it around some chords I made up in the room.”
Forever is a confident debut, a masterpiece of modern indie songcraft. Across the album SUEP dip into country, synthpop, garage rock, post punk, and pub rock, but always retain their signature penchant for melodic hooks, snappy structures and straight-to-the-heart lyrics. Artfully unpretentious, the album was recorded by friend Matt Green, best known for his work with The Tubs, and mixed by Mike O’Malley of the band caroline.
Led by Georgie Stott and Joshua Harvey, SUEP have become fixtures of south-east London’s underground through a series of shared living spaces, improvised studios and DIY venues. Now with George Nicholls (The Tubs, Joanna Gruesome, GN Band), William Deacon (PC World), and Louis Forster (The Goon Sax, Expiry) completing the line up, their debut is finally on its way.
Forever is a glimpse into one of the best bands on the scene, not fitting into any trend, but also never fading into obscurantism - SUEP are a band that wear a joie de vivre loosely but fashionably. Now is their time to shine.
- Osmos
- Peace Of The Unsaid
- Cloudmachine
- Skin Dress
- Unleash
- Jeanne De Rien
- Kiss The Lion's Tongue
- Throw Ashes!
- Samadhi
- Hora Et Devoura
Devotional music most often gets distilled into earthy chants and ancient folklore, it doesn't always ascend to the sky like Julinko’s ‘Naebula’ an album that from the first organ note clearly trades in terrestrial dreams for ethereal visions. A feverish quality permeates the whole record, as if a ritualistic performance was being captured from start to finish, a collection of hallucinatory doom, synthetic neo-folk hymns and ghostly art-rock.
Julinko, stage name for Giulia Parin Zecchin, has long been one of the best kept secrets of the experimental community in North-East Italy, with three records that helped define her unique blend of heavy psychedelia, slowcore and dark ambient. On ‘Naebula’ what really stands out is how powerful and soaring her voice is, a weapon of undeniable force that can transform into a vessel of raw fervour or glide effortlessly as a delicate lament. Her unconventional approach shines through on tracks like ‘Jeanne De Rien’, where a marching pulse acts as a pillar for an extended mantra, almost verging into powwow territory. ‘Peace Of The Unsaid’ uses its arrhythmical structure to create space, a crepuscular night ode that reaches the heights of Sinead O’Connor’s most intimate force-fulness while retaining a sweet composure. Whether it’s glacial murderous shrieks or gospel-esque vitality, songs like ‘Cloudmachine’ or ‘Kiss The Lion’s Tongue’ seem to draw as much from a tradition of European minimalism, the use of drones and repetition, to the tradition of folksongs as hymns, where modal harmonies make way for an apparent stasis. Another key element in Julinko’s songwriting is the seamless blend of her minimalistic approach with these dense textures borrowed from a distant outsider metal heritage, Lynchean noir on steroids or wordless exorcisms with deep undercurrents.
Chalybeate documents a month long stay by Tokyo based producer aus in Ikaho, one of Japan's most established Onsen (hot spring) towns, during autumn 2024.
Working from field-recordings captured inside multiple ryokan baths, aus synthesized the subterranean movement of the onsen's with local details: the bubbling of source water, the hoozuki lantern plants and wind chimes placed at each inn, and the surrounding insects and birds. Rather than portraying Ikaho as a landscape, the recordings trace the town's respiration.
The material was first presented on site as an installation unfolding across eight different baths, where visitors listened while soaking in roten-buro (open air hot baths). The project drew wide attention for proposing listening as a bodily act, inseparable from heat, moisture, and duration.
Chalybeate re constructs that installation as an album. The recordings were left to sit for a year within Ikaho's air and humidity, allowing the sound itself to slowly change. The title refers to Ikaho's iron rich mineral water, known as "Golden Water," which oxidizes upon contact with air and leaves rust colored traces in its baths. Following this process, the album's sound was repeatedly re submerged and re worked, gradually absorbing a corroded texture.
Tape hiss, gentle distortion, and subtle fluctuations rise quietly, like steam.
What remains is not documentation but residue.
Mixing was handed over to Manchester based producer The Humble Bee by Craig Tattersall, known for his work with The Boats and The Remote Viewer, after aus exhausted himself traversing Ikaho's steep stone steps. The exchange mirrors the work itself: from bathtub to hot spring, from sound to something that surrounds the body.
Woodwind like tape noise and the movement of water dissolve into one another.
The music does not arrive all at once. It settles slowly, as if lowering into warm water.
Colombian-Argentinian label We Shine In The Darkness is back with a second serving, and this time they throw it back to 1996 to revisit a classic anthem. It's Julian Sanza and La French Toast who add their own 2025 spin to iconic trance cut 'Seven Days & One Week', maintaining its bleepy and bleary-eyed synth sequences but reworking them into a deep and breezy house groove. On the flip, 'Mad Vibes' is apparently an "homage to a local scene bar" and is an emo-licked post-disco chugger with moody lines and distant vocals tugging at the heart.
Magenta Vinyl[24,58 €]
I started writing the songs for V at the beginning of 2023, and the demos were finished by the end of that year. While creating this material, I kept returning to one thought: everything we take for granted - everything that feels stable and permanent - is, in reality, incredibly fragile. Nothing lasts forever, and the sense of things slipping away can hit much sooner than we expect. I tried to translate those feelings into sound. At that time, a lot of difficult things were happening in my life, things I didn't know how to cope with. Music became a form of therapy - a way to process emotions I couldn't express in any other way. In early 2024, we began working through the songs together as a full band. After finalizing the arrangements, we spent the rest of the year recording them. The process stretched over many months, split into several sessions across different studios. I didn't want to rush anything. I wanted, as always, to refine every detail the best we possibly could. Soon you'll be able to hear the result for yourselves. For me, this album is something deeply personal. It's an act of opening up to anyone who chooses to listen - a glimpse into things I can't fully describe with words, into what I felt and who I became during that period. I'm incredibly happy that together with my friends from the band, we've created another record. What comes next_ time will tell.
Black Vinyl[23,32 €]
Magenta Vinyl, limited to 450 copies. I started writing the songs for V at the beginning of 2023, and the demos were finished by the end of that year. While creating this material, I kept returning to one thought: everything we take for granted - everything that feels stable and permanent - is, in reality, incredibly fragile. Nothing lasts forever, and the sense of things slipping away can hit much sooner than we expect. I tried to translate those feelings into sound. At that time, a lot of difficult things were happening in my life, things I didn't know how to cope with. Music became a form of therapy - a way to process emotions I couldn't express in any other way. In early 2024, we began working through the songs together as a full band. After finalizing the arrangements, we spent the rest of the year recording them. The process stretched over many months, split into several sessions across different studios. I didn't want to rush anything. I wanted, as always, to refine every detail the best we possibly could. Soon you'll be able to hear the result for yourselves. For me, this album is something deeply personal. It's an act of opening up to anyone who chooses to listen - a glimpse into things I can't fully describe with words, into what I felt and who I became during that period. I'm incredibly happy that together with my friends from the band, we've created another record. What comes next_ time will tell.
West Mineral returns with lushly amorphous actions by Shiner, Pontiac Streator & Ben Bondy aka Shinetiac; together fused for an immersive flux of vapoured dub, chopped and droned Billie Eilish, and fidgety algorithmic jams.
There's not a single, specific sound you can peg to the West Mineral axis at this stage in the label’s evolution - it's rather a set of shared aesthetics that freely bend into various interconnected shapes. Shinetiac's contemptuous, critic-baiting gear is the ideal example; on their last album, 2023's 'Not All Who Wander Are Lost', skittery, ketamized IDM sparkled over Spice Girls samples and the Foo Fighters' 'Everlong' was transmuted into Sneaker Pimps-style trip-hop. 'Infiltrating Roku City' might be a little less blatant with its out-and-out poptimism, but it takes a similarly dim view of conservative "big ambient" snobbishness. Just a few minutes of 'Bluemosa' should be enough to let you know what's up; the overall character of the sound is hazed, with frozen pads and garbled, dubbed-out voices smudged into a mess of effects and samples. But it sups up different nuances as it wriggles, absorbing scampering breaks, dizzy acoustic guitar strums and half-heard wordless vocals, flipping in the third act to emerge from its shell as minimalist balearic folk-pop - something like Bon Iver doing 'Electric Counterpoint'.
Brooklyn's Shiner, Philly's Pontiac Streator and Berlin-based Ben Bondy navigate the labyrinthine streaming landscape, guided by their own private experiences of mindless doom-scrolling and cruising the darkest corners of YouTube. They formulated 'Infiltrating Roku City' while they were rehearsing last year and spent the winter stitching together various recordings and jams into a layered, dry-witted commentary on our algorithmic reality. Laden with inside jokes and refried memes, it's surprisingly elegant gear; handling the most unseemly elements like sonic recyclers, earnestly repurposing pop and nostalgia to create an atmospheric echo of contemporary reality.
Screwing Chief Keef's enduring 'Citgo', 'Clublyfe (hulu)' emphasises the original's AFX-pilled euphoria with Robert Miles-style piano hits, replacing Young Ravisu's brittle 128kbps trap rhythm with a glitchy rattle that picks up dembow spikes as it rolls. 'I Hate Being Sober' vaporises the Chicago drill pioneer's 'Hate Bein' Sober', blocking out his voice with glitchy, downsampled interference and elasticated Rhodes. The trio team up with Orange Milk's goo age on the sublime 'Crisis Angel', catching a ray of Malibu's sunshine in the process, and reduce Billie Eilish's voice to a Romance-does-Celine cinder on 'Billie', stretching it to fit next to gassed Future ad-libs and swooping 808 Mafia sub womps. And although the album takes a murky diversion on 'Roku Axes Ultra’, and a cloud-stepping centrepiece ‘Purelink’ in homage to the eponymous dubbed ambient dynamos, it's back on course with 'Jiafei (NETFLIX)', taking aim at TikTok bot videos and welding screams from Florida metal band Underoath to AI-strength vocal curlicues.
- A1: Frosting
- A2: New York, Paris And London
- A3: De Facto
- B1: Sirens
- B2: Jerry
- B3: Forever At Last
Forever at Last - the debut EP by Melbourne’s HighSchool - is finally back in print on vinyl. Six brilliant tracks that introduced the world to an exciting new band, it’s been out of print long enough and is being reissued ahead of their 35-date World tour. Produced by Archie Shannon (Floodlights), the band’s ingenuity shines with them effortlessly mining myriad influences. Where first singles ‘Frosting’ and ‘New York, Paris and London’ delighted with their potent mix of sun-dappled indie pop and industrial post-punk, their next two ‘De Facto’ and ‘Sirens’ pointed to the dancefloor with the band infusing DFA / New Order / Future Islands sounds while the final pair saw ‘Jerry’ taking a darker turn, playing on the band’s gothic image before closer and title track ‘Forever at Last’ pushed the synth to the fore. A perfect record.
Eco-vinyl pressing
- 1: The Spot
- 2: Prevail
- 3: Illegal
- 4: One Time (Feat. Sonny Jim)
- 5: Alpine
- 6: Sasso
- 7: Lemon & Lime (Interlude)
- 8: Avocado (Feat. Phyba)
- 9: 3Am
- 10: Smoke
- 11: Style Biz
- 12: Across The Sands
Opaque Red Vinyl[31,05 €]
This album is about growth... Living and learning, having fun, wordplay, heartbreak, and moving on. Flashes in the dark is pretty much a testament to what can be done with two turntables and a mic to create something different yet brilliant in the hip hop space. The album also shows maturity and a certain vulnerability not being expressed by a lot of other artists at this time.
There is so much going on in the world and this album is J Scienide's expression of what was going on in his world during the time of recording. "As soon as I got beats from Giallo if I was up in the wee hours of the night, I was writing and recording. To me this album shows that even in the darkest hours there's always flashes of brilliance that shine through".
This album is about growth... Living and learning, having fun, wordplay, heartbreak, and moving on. Flashes in the dark is pretty much a testament to what can be done with two turntables and a mic to create something different yet brilliant in the hip hop space. The album also shows maturity and a certain vulnerability not being expressed by a lot of other artists at this time.
There is so much going on in the world and this album is J Scienide's expression of what was going on in his world during the time of recording. "As soon as I got beats from Giallo if I was up in the wee hours of the night, I was writing and recording. To me this album shows that even in the darkest hours there's always flashes of brilliance that shine through".
“There's a clarity here that feels hard-won. Honing ideas first explored with his Organic Music series, Tiago Sousa unlocks the final puzzle pieces on Sustained Tones Vol 1. This music is enchanted, the way each layer moves in conjunction with the others: complex structures that feel less constructed than discovered, like stumbling upon ancient mechanisms still whirring beneath the earth. "Readily Reliance" opens as an effervescent sea, waves gilded in neon creating an enveloping sense of eternal motion. Bright organ timbres throw silhouettes and cast Sousa as the deft puppeteer keeping everything moving with an effortless precision. These evolving shapes suspend listeners somewhere between the physical and the cosmic, held in place by nothing but intention and sound.
Drones build rippling foundations in other places, using slower tempos to construct immersive, off-kilter sound worlds where minimalism becomes emotive, almost poignant. The fluctuating tones have a gossamer sheen, creating this interesting sonic dichotomy: a solid surface with fragile rotations beneath. It's music that commands attention; it is so much more than simply aural furniture. Sousa writes these beautiful sequences that are all interconnected, intricate sonic architecture that pulls us further into some kind of unknowable ether.
On the piano pieces, "Smooth Flow Into It" and "Swirling Mist and Thin Dust," Sousa shines sunlight through all the cracks. Washes of melody are effervescent, clouds clearing to reveal the day has not gone. Not yet. Positioned in the middle of Sustained Tones Vol 1, these pieces ground the album in something transcendent yet still earthen: moments of breath inside all that cosmic drift. Darkness finds its way through on "Restlessness," where Sousa smears sinuous electronics into a ghostly sonic mesh that seeps through the skin. It feels like a slow inhale, time suspended long enough to take note of where we are and how we feel before moving forward. Expressive, almost sparkling synth arrangements return to send us back into reality on closer "Becoming a Landscape." Its title hints at larger concepts at play throughout this album, where lines between our physical beings and the wider environment are blurred. The tones that echo throughout these six pieces mirror the echoes inside our bodies, from heartbeats and voices to something quieter, something much smaller and more elemental. By immersing us inside these mesmerising, beautiful soundscapes, Sousa immerses us within ourselves.’’
Brad Rose, 2025
- Grace 00:58
- Ladida 03:43
- Sum 04:09
- The Boy 03:34
- Doing It Too 03:26
- Never Enough 04:00
- Words 2 Say 03:50
- Bite The Bait 04:06
- ON 2: Something 02:23
- Ttw 03:57
- Crave 03:27
- Get It Off 04:00
- Sweet Sensation 03:43
- Eyes Shut 03:09
- Close 2 Me 04:01
- I'm Your Muse 03:35
- Around 03:50
Rochelle Jordan is proudly stepping into her diva era. To those in the know, the Los Angeles-based British-Canadian singer and songwriter has long been an underground force coaxing together the mutually flirtatious scenes of daring alt-R&B and heart-pumping electronic music. With her longtime creative director/producer KLSH, she’s cultivated a singular marriage of sound — mixing soulful sensuality, house bump, DnB wildness, hip-hop swagger, and pure experimentalism — that’s spread not only through certain circles, but also to the mainstream. At the same time that her gauzy 2014 single “Lowkey” was going viral in 2023 — racking up 21 million streams on Spotify alone — she was in the studio cooking with tastemaking beatsmiths like KAYTRANADA and Sango, quietly preparing to melt dance floors and headphones alike.
Now, as the timelines merge, Jordan is approaching success with the sparkle of a brand new star and the stance of someone who’s earned everything she has. Her new musical chapter aims to carry forward the magic that fans feel in her coquettish vocals and bold soundscapes even as she reaches deeper into her pop bag. The fact that her first single of 2025, the darkly dazzling “Crave,” was produced by Chicago house legend Terry Hunter (Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Beyoncé) speaks volumes to this exact moment in Jordan’s ascendent trajectory.
“My goal when I first started making music was to bring back something that I felt had started to fade away for me,” says Jordan. “That certain essence or sound that would give me butterflies in my stomach when I’d listen to music — it would unleash some kind of chemical that would make me feel happy and excitable and curious, something that would make my soul shine. My number one goal is always: How do I give people that feeling when they listen to my music?”
Jordan grew up in Toronto raised by British-Jamaican parents. She remembers hearing one of her older brothers cycling through a variety of music at maximum volume in the room next to hers. “Reggae to soul to drum and bass to garage music to gospel,” Jordan recalls. “It was all intertwining for me at such a young age.” She developed her own sound quietly, and soon met KLSH through MySpace. They traded multiple songs back and forth daily until he flew her out to L.A. to record what would become her debut project, 2011’s R O J O. That collaboration hasn’t faltered since, resulting in sonically surprising, subtly infectious sets like Jordan’s breakthrough 2014 album 1021 (with “Lowkey”) and 2021’s dance-steeped revelation, Play with the Changes.
“If you’re talking about Rochelle Jordan, you’re talking about KLSH,” she says. “It’s one and the same. We come from the same inspiration source.” With him at her side to this day, Jordan is crafting new listening experiences as radiant as refracted light glimmering through a prism — an incredible space from within which to explore love in all its iterations — from romantic infatuation to self-affirmation, and strength in womanhood to pride for what she’s accomplished thus far.
More than a decade into her career, Jordan has arrived at a new stage of life and creativity — she’s a seasoned professional, a fully realized woman, and she’s excited to continue growing. “I know my story isn’t necessarily a new one,” she says. “I look at 2 Chainz, who became 2 Chainz way later on in his life. I look at Tina Turner, who became Tina Turner at 40. I want to be another story of resilience for people.” As she prepares to unveil more of her vision, and fans clamber for a long-awaited fourth album, Rochelle Jordan is casting aside self-doubt, and appreciating and underlining her status as a verifiably influential reigning diva in her one-of-one sonic space.
- Swing Low Sweet Chariot
- Double-Barrel Prayer
- Let's Not Chat About Despair
- Birds Of Death
- You Must Be Certain Of The Devil
- Let My People Go
- Malediction
- The Lord Is My Sheperd
Riding in on an eviscerating vocal alarm call and originally released in 1988 as the final installment of her Masque of the Red Death trilogy, Diamanda Galás" You Must Be Certain of the Devil is as unflinching now as it was on release in 1988. It remains a swaggering, furious fuck-you to those who might cast aside the sick and dying in the name of faith and scripture. Often misunderstood as simply dark for its subject matter, You Must Be Certain of the Devil in fact shines a light of such total exposure it leaves nowhere to hide, forensically unmasking the fury and pain of real grief and the vast spectrum of emotions rendered by the AIDS epidemic. It is an album that looks you square in the eye, pins you against a wall and makes you look at and feel the horror the virus visited upon a person, the knowledge of certain death in a hostile environment, and the hypocrisy of those who claim to be Samaritans or protectors.
Straight out of the local mud of the city of Antwerp comes dancing this next Souvenirs from Imaginary Cities slab of free-flowing bits of electronic wonder : Schönen Abend by Simon B. Just in time to ease you out of this endless winter and right into springtime. Like the previous hit by Purple Uncle, this flower takes some time to bloom and fill up your head and body with it's ear wormy fragrance.
It's hazy and cinematic, makes you think of Italian electronic pioneers and their library magic, Patrick Cowley's School Daze and Haruomi Hosono in some kind of gothic manner. It's quite stripped and lush at the same time, rhythms like minimal mechanics make you fly above the river and land just outside reality. It's a nice place where soft jazz tingles right around the dark corner, and that particular mix of exotica and melancholia — the trademark of this port city's best electronic auteurs is definitely in the air. The river still shines, but she’s deeply poisoned. The old town has lost every bit of fresh air but keeps on digging for old gold. This bitter pill is served with delicacy and lightness, the wound is dressed up seductively — feet in the mud, head in the air. Stuff is sensuous, with quiet places reminding of the good side of those times when the big wheel stopped turning ever so madly. A strange quietness whistles through the leaves. Some things take time to unfold. In or out of C.
Four years in the making, this is the solo debut LP of Simon B, a longtime contributor to Antwerp's improvised music scene (Groovecats Deluxe, Wij Blij Trio ). Primarily a double bass player, he also has a deep-felt passion for offbeat electronica and the rainbowy side of American minimalism, which takes front here. The smoky voice on the last track belongs to Nina-Joy Thielemans, Nina-Joy is part of Particals, a trio working with live electronics and field recordings, releasing an lp on Ultra Eczema later this year. Furthermore, you can hear the tenor and soprano saxophone of Adia Van Heerentals on 4 tracks, deepening out Simon's naturally flowing compositions and playing around with his melodies. You may know her from Bodem and her strong presence in the Belgian jazz scene lately.
Simon's electroacoustic experiments — using a clarinet and some outboard effects — were important tools in finding the very specific colour of this record. There's this airy character, like wind blowing through old layers of bricks and over the river, anchored with a deep sense of bass, gathering ages of dust and memories in these eight elegantly wobbling tracks, forming a perfect whole that’s really coming together in one deep listening from A to Z.
The centrepiece is perhaps Come to Me, instrumental and reprise with vocals, but no fillers on this one. Every part of the mystery is needed to come to its end and back again. It's a record that works in the morning, to open up a day and in the quiet corners of the night, with it's sleazy quirkiness, smiling towards you from the right corner of the eye. A perfect compagnon for your long-form wandering habits, light reflections on a wet surface obsessions, coffee slurping in the morning and the forgotten art of beachcombing. Quite essential these days, witnessing a world going apeshit.
DarkSonicTales is a project by Rolf Gisler and his eponymous album his first for Hallow Ground. Having been granted an artist residency by the label in a 300 year-old farm house in the Swiss countryside in autumn 2019, the Lucerne-based musician and sound artist explored the peculiar sonic environment of the building and its surroundings through the use of field recordings, modular synthesizers, guitar, bass, kalimbas, a singing saw as well as self-built instruments. "DarkSonicTales" starts with kalimba sounds and field recordings, setting the stage for "Sonic Darkness"- a self-referential spoken word piece whose sinister jazz-like sound calls to mind Bohren & der Club of Gore. The following "Spring Feelings" contrasts insect sounds with harsh noise elements, elegiac drones and a throbbing rhythm. It's not quite what you'd expect from a piece with such a title, but the stories that Gisler tells throughout the record are more concerned with uncovering the hidden histories underneath what meets the eyes than (re-)creating idylls. The nine minute-long "I Still Believe" further underlines that by bringing together glistening synthesizer notes with industrial-like drones and field recordings that give it a palpable effect before Gisler unexpectedly changes course and quite literally bursts into song. Towards the end of "DarkSonicTales," the music becomes notably more minimalistic. Gisler experiments with the dynamics of modular drones on "Kind of Restless," juxtaposing birdsong and ominous electronic noises on "Best Buddies" before a mid-tempo beat emerges, making the record close on a decidedly hopeful note. These dark sonic tales, they have a happy ending. "DarkSonicTales" is an organic album in more than one sense of the word. Reacting to and reflecting the world around him as well as expressing his inner one, Gisler gives the sounds at the core of his multifaceted compositions space and lets them breathe. Working along stark contrasts and with surprising twists, he also shines a light on the atmospheric and emotional ambiguity of the world he encountered during his solitary artist residency-unearthing the hidden layers underneath what is perceivable.
The Dears have made some of the most beautiful music of the past quarter century, but also some of the most defiant, with an attitude and emphasis that seems to blend the operatic with a punk sensibility. On their new album, "Life Is Beautiful! Life Is Beautiful! Life Is Beautiful!", The Dears are again at the top of their form, coming back with passionate, compassionate, urgent music that uplifts, explores dark corners, and ultimately shines out in a way that's absolutely gorgeous, with an edge.
""Life Is Beautiful! Life Is Beautiful! Life is Beautiful!" feels like a new masterpiece and provides further evidence that The Dears are a vital part of the musical landscape, and also just completely doing their own thing, as ever." "If I love The Dears, if you love The Dears, it's because that orchestral, symphonic feel, those gorgeous melodies, are grounded in a gritty, gonna-die-on-this hill mentality and a heady intellectualism." "... my heart skipped a beat from the opening chords of "Gotta Get My Head Right"—a masterpiece of rising tension and killer melodies, layered and precise and yet roving and wild, with changes in the music and the progressions that alter your brain while listening. What follows is an album that's as various and yet as unified as that first track. Few bands can achieve this kind of complexity while also making it seem timeless and so very perfect." "There's no one like The Dears and there never will be, and I really appreciate that so very much." - excerpts from the album bio, written by New York Times bestselling author Jeff VanderMeer
The Dears' 9th studio album, "Life Is Beautiful! Life Is Beautiful! Life Is Beautiful", pressed on gold vinyl in a limited edition of 1000, will release worldwide 11/7 via Next Door Records.
Our favorite six-string shaman is waving that axe around again! Sir Richard Bishop wrenches forth fresh damnable truth and beauty from a musical kamikaze run through histories both known and unknown. Turning a gimlet eye to the American Primitive guitar style, Sir Rick applies his own bloodthirsty interpretive methods on a self-described "excursion into the dark woods," to locate - and play along with - the Primitive"s moonshine-fed inner savage.
Our favorite six-string shaman is waving that axe around again! Sir Richard Bishop wrenches forth fresh damnable truth and beauty from a musical kamikaze run through histories both known and unknown. Turning a gimlet eye to the American Primitive guitar style, Sir Rick applies his own bloodthirsty interpretive methods on a self-described "excursion into the dark woods," to locate - and play along with - the Primitive"s moonshine-fed inner savage.
- I'm A Streaker Baby
- Bowlegged Woman
- No Better Time Than Now
- The Same One
- This Is My Prayer
- You Made Me Suffer
- Gimmie Some Of Yours
- Women's Lib
- Bring It Down Front
- I Sayed That
- It's A Dream
- Is It Because I'm Black (Instrumental)
- Baby Watcha' Doing
- Detroit Blues
- Goose Walk
- Young Blood
- I Learned My Lesson
- California Lady
2xLP+Book. Black & White Splatter vinyl. Between 1975-77, Chicago's southside nightclubs were experiencing dark times. The after-hours routine may have been on the up, but the sound of urban blues was on its way down, getting funkier, heavier, picking up a Zeppelin echo from the British rock scene that had raided its larder. Thankfully, lightening came by way of a lanky white guy skulking from club to club with a camera and strobe light. Chicago photographer Michael Abramson hit Perv's House, Pepper's Hideout, The High Chaparral, The Patio Lounge, and The Showcase Lounge nightly, not to capture the artists on stage but instead popping off a half-dozen rolls every night exclusively on the seldom photographed crowd. Light: On The South Side gathers more than 100 beautiful black and white Abramson images, as Numero shines its own light on yet another dark corner of the musical past. The 132-page hardback book features not just these photos, but an extended and wildly colorful ephemera section, plus an essay by British novelist and Numero fan Nick Hornby. Housed in a gorgeous slipcase with the 12X12 monograph is the 2LP set Pepper's Jukebox, a 17-track compilation of Chicago blues in transition, as heard from both the stage and the Wurlitzer.
- A1: Bazaar Bizarre
- A2: My Sanctuary
- A3: Light Can Only Shine In The Darkness
- A4: I Will Die In It
- A5: Moonstruck
- B1: Damage
- B2: Ghosts
- B3: Lords Of Fyre
- B4: The Things We Do For Love
- B5: The Sadness In Everything
Colombia-based duo and Bogota scene-players Julian Sanza (who you may know as part of 2020 Soundsystem) and Lafrench Toast have decided to add their own spin to a stone cold classic pop tune. With this one they manage to flip the iconic 'Thriller' into a nu-disco world. The drums are funky, the synths are explosive and full of cosmic colour and plenty of the original motifs remain to ensure that crowds will appreciate the work done. 'We Shine So Bright' on the flip is another sunny sound with nice breezy pads and mid tempo drum funk. Two useful and playful cuts.
- 1: Bellicose Rhetoric
- 2: Damyata
- 3: Screw The Naysayers
- 4: Sunblood
- 5: For All The Wrong Reasons
- 6: Tranquility Base
- 7: The Last Tree
- 8: The Hidden Hand (Theme)
- 9: Divine Propaganda
- 10: Prayer For The Night
Clear[25,17 €]
Things just get heavier and heavier in Scott ‘Wino’ Weinrich’s career and his short-lived classic band The Hidden Hand is no exception. Formed in 2002 and already disbanded in 2007 the trio featured Wino, Bruce Falkinburg on bass/songwriting/vocals and drummer Dave Hennessy.
If The Obsessed, St. Vitus, Shrinebuilder, Probot and Spirit Caravan aren’t enough to bring Wino's CV to legendary status, stop reading now.
LINER NOTES from WINO:
"When I returned from California after The Obsessed Columbia record deal fell apart, I didn't have any gear at all and after we put together (SHINE) which became Spirit Caravan, I was hustling to put a guitar rig together. I discovered ATOMIC MUSIC a super cool store in MARYLAND that encouraged trades, and had a lot of cool shit there,we had met another cat Sonny, who being the gregarious friendly cat he was befriended us (the band) and introduced me to his friend who's recording studio shared space with Atomic Music, Bruce Falkinburg and Phase recording studio. Bruce was a very interesting and hyper intelligent guy, bassist, knowledgeable in all things but specializing in recording rock music. We had decided to diversify our recording process and parted ways with one of my old friends Chris Kozlowski and PolarBearLair studios who had recorded everything Spirit Caravan had done so far.
I hired Bruce to record the version of Darkness and Longing that was our song on the Sixty Watt Shaman -Spirit Caravan split single. We liked what he did on that recording and decided to record more with Bruce at Phase and so we did ;the last SC single -" So Mortal Be/ Undone Mind" and recorded three tracks that were eventually released on "The Last Embrace." Bruce and I had firmly cemented our friendship and when shit fell apart with Spirit Caravan , we decided to form a band. Out of a very interesting list of possible band names Bruce's idea" The Hidden Hand " seemed to resonate the most and once Bruce had recruited Dave Hennessy (guitarist for OSTINATO) to play drums it was ON. Over the next couple years and a couple different drummers, The Hidden Hand would record one single, one split ep ,one compilation song and Three full length albums. Knowing Bruce, and working with everyone in The Hidden Hand realm enriched my life greatly . Bruces enthusiasm, knowledge, creativity, intellect and musical abilities remains an inspiration. Thanks Bruce, Sonny, Louis and Eric and all at ATOMIC MUSIC, Dave Hennessy,Matt and Jeremy Osinato ,Evan Tanner, J Robbins, Mcarthyism records, Andreas at Exile from Mainstream records, Greg Tubevision, 930 club ,Black Cat, Gussound, Diana W, Woody, Stinking Lizaveta, Jadd Schickler and Meteor City, Southern Lord records and extra special thanks to Gianluca and Improved Sequence for keeping this music alive!"
Wino - summer 2024
Things just get heavier and heavier in Scott ‘Wino’ Weinrich’s career and his short-lived classic band The Hidden Hand is no exception. Formed in 2002 and already disbanded in 2007 the trio featured Wino, Bruce Falkinburg on bass/songwriting/vocals and drummer Dave Hennessy.
If The Obsessed, St. Vitus, Shrinebuilder, Probot and Spirit Caravan aren’t enough to bring Wino's CV to legendary status, stop reading now.
LINER NOTES from WINO:
"When I returned from California after The Obsessed Columbia record deal fell apart, I didn't have any gear at all and after we put together (SHINE) which became Spirit Caravan, I was hustling to put a guitar rig together. I discovered ATOMIC MUSIC a super cool store in MARYLAND that encouraged trades, and had a lot of cool shit there,we had met another cat Sonny, who being the gregarious friendly cat he was befriended us (the band) and introduced me to his friend who's recording studio shared space with Atomic Music, Bruce Falkinburg and Phase recording studio. Bruce was a very interesting and hyper intelligent guy, bassist, knowledgeable in all things but specializing in recording rock music. We had decided to diversify our recording process and parted ways with one of my old friends Chris Kozlowski and PolarBearLair studios who had recorded everything Spirit Caravan had done so far.
I hired Bruce to record the version of Darkness and Longing that was our song on the Sixty Watt Shaman -Spirit Caravan split single. We liked what he did on that recording and decided to record more with Bruce at Phase and so we did ;the last SC single -" So Mortal Be/ Undone Mind" and recorded three tracks that were eventually released on "The Last Embrace." Bruce and I had firmly cemented our friendship and when shit fell apart with Spirit Caravan , we decided to form a band. Out of a very interesting list of possible band names Bruce's idea" The Hidden Hand " seemed to resonate the most and once Bruce had recruited Dave Hennessy (guitarist for OSTINATO) to play drums it was ON. Over the next couple years and a couple different drummers, The Hidden Hand would record one single, one split ep ,one compilation song and Three full length albums. Knowing Bruce, and working with everyone in The Hidden Hand realm enriched my life greatly . Bruces enthusiasm, knowledge, creativity, intellect and musical abilities remains an inspiration. Thanks Bruce, Sonny, Louis and Eric and all at ATOMIC MUSIC, Dave Hennessy,Matt and Jeremy Osinato ,Evan Tanner, J Robbins, Mcarthyism records, Andreas at Exile from Mainstream records, Greg Tubevision, 930 club ,Black Cat, Gussound, Diana W, Woody, Stinking Lizaveta, Jadd Schickler and Meteor City, Southern Lord records and extra special thanks to Gianluca and Improved Sequence for keeping this music alive!"
Wino - summer 2024
They say the best thing for a new band to really find out who they are is to go out and play as much as possible. They see what works and what doesn’t with the crowd as well as watch their peers perform and can learn from the best. For the past 2 years, WORMWITCH, has done just that. Having toured North America with The Black Dahlia Murder, Numenorean and appeared at last year’s prestigious Psycho Las Vegas Festival with Danzig, Dimmu Borgir and many more, the Vancouver 3-piece took it all in and regrouped in the Fall of 2018 to start writing their new album. Heaven That Dwells Within is the follow up to 2016’s Decibel Magazine Year End charting, Strike Mortal Soil. The riffs are stronger, the overall feel the album darker and their love of black metal dimly shines through much more on their past release. The album was mixed and mastered by V. Santura (Triptykon, Schammasch), giving it that much of a gloomier touch. With a tour right out of the gate with Cloak and Uada followed by a European run, the future, though dark in music, can only be bright.
Five Dollar Bill was originally released in 2003, and is now going to be widely available on vinyl for the first time. This record includes songs that are staples in Corb Lund’s live set, such as “(Gonna) Shine Up My Boots” and “Time to Switch to Whiskey.” In addition to these lively jams, Five Dollar Bill features everything from romantic imagery of Corb’s homeland, “Short Native Grasses (Prairies of Alberta),” to songs that give the listener a glimpse into the life of working class folks, such as “Roughest Neck Around” which is an ode to oil riggers and the grit that is required with that lifestyle. “‘Five Dollar Bill’ was a big milestone for me for lots of reasons. It was my first record after my metal band, The Smalls, broke up and it’s when I got really serious about western music. I really dove into my family’s cowboy ancestry and my very rural upbringing in this batch of songs. It was also our first record of many produced by Harry Stinson who is now a very close friend, and our first brush with Nashville, Tennessee, as we recorded half the record down there. It was our last record with Ryan Vikedal on the drums before he flew off into fame and fortune with Nickelback. It was also our last record as a trio. It was my first gold album,” says Lund, “And we are still playing lots of these songs at our shows. It really defined my path forward as a western songwriter and helped lay the foundation for my whole career."
This limited edition release is part of the Corb Lund - Dark Horses Club. New West Records will be releasing unreleased records and material from Corb Lund throughout 2025 and 2026.
- 1: Saged Incantations
- 2: A Dark Carriage Led By Blind Men
- 3: Passage
- 4: Snake Healer
- Wild Host
- I Am The Howling
- Mountain
- Promethean Gallows
- Lurking Beneath The Pines
Rooted in acoustic instrumentation, their music features intricate melodies and
soulful vocals that resonate deeply with listeners. The band has toured the US and
Europe and contributed music to the Vikings series on Netfix, further cementing their
connection to Norse mythology.
Larvatus marks a return to the band's earlier, more mystical sound, evoking the
haunting qualities of albums like Uthuling Hyl and Nordlige Runaskog. This album,
which began taking shape during the uncertain years of 2020 and 2021, refects the
emotional turbulence of the pandemic. Despite the chaos surrounding its creation,
Larvatus is a demonstration of resilience and its introspective and contemplative
nature offering a sense of refuge amid a world in fux.
Over the past two years, Larvatus has been carefully revisited, refned, and expanded.
The album has taken on new layers of complexity, enriched with the addition of
Kakophonix's stunning cello work, which adds an ethereal depth to the intimate
soundscapes. The fnal mix, done by Greg Chandler at Priory Recording Studios,
brings out the full emotional resonance of the music, ensuring the band's earthy,
organic style is preserved while allowing every instrument and vocal to shine with
clarity.
At its core, Larvatus explores the passage of time, the fragility of existence, and the
quiet power of nature. It invites listeners to refect on their place in the world and fnd
solace in the timeless tradition of folk music. The fusion of Nordic folk melodies and
Americana storytelling creates a rich listening experience, staying true to the band's
signature blend of ancient sounds and modern sensibilities.
With Larvatus, Osi and the Jupiter offers a soundtrack for those seeking comfort in
difcult times, reminding us that even in the darkest moments, music can provide
solace, connection, and a sense of healing. It is a celebration of the enduring power of
music to unite and inspire, inviting listeners on a deeply personal journey into the
heart of both nature and self.
- 1: Saged Incantations
- 2: A Dark Carriage Led By Blind Men
- 3: Passage
- 4: Snake Healer
- Wild Host
- I Am The Howling
- Mountain
- Promethean Gallows
- Lurking Beneath The Pines
Rooted in acoustic instrumentation, their music features intricate melodies and
soulful vocals that resonate deeply with listeners. The band has toured the US and
Europe and contributed music to the Vikings series on Netfix, further cementing their
connection to Norse mythology.
Larvatus marks a return to the band's earlier, more mystical sound, evoking the
haunting qualities of albums like Uthuling Hyl and Nordlige Runaskog. This album,
which began taking shape during the uncertain years of 2020 and 2021, refects the
emotional turbulence of the pandemic. Despite the chaos surrounding its creation,
Larvatus is a demonstration of resilience and its introspective and contemplative
nature offering a sense of refuge amid a world in fux.
Over the past two years, Larvatus has been carefully revisited, refned, and expanded.
The album has taken on new layers of complexity, enriched with the addition of
Kakophonix's stunning cello work, which adds an ethereal depth to the intimate
soundscapes. The fnal mix, done by Greg Chandler at Priory Recording Studios,
brings out the full emotional resonance of the music, ensuring the band's earthy,
organic style is preserved while allowing every instrument and vocal to shine with
clarity.
At its core, Larvatus explores the passage of time, the fragility of existence, and the
quiet power of nature. It invites listeners to refect on their place in the world and fnd
solace in the timeless tradition of folk music. The fusion of Nordic folk melodies and
Americana storytelling creates a rich listening experience, staying true to the band's
signature blend of ancient sounds and modern sensibilities.
With Larvatus, Osi and the Jupiter offers a soundtrack for those seeking comfort in
difcult times, reminding us that even in the darkest moments, music can provide
solace, connection, and a sense of healing. It is a celebration of the enduring power of
music to unite and inspire, inviting listeners on a deeply personal journey into the
heart of both nature and self.
YES! Originally released in 2000, Mark de Clive-Lowe's Six Degrees captures the early essence of what would later be known as broken beat, club-jazz and future soul; bridging the sounds of 70s jazz-fusion, jungle, hip-hop, house and Afro-Cuban rhythms. With fender rhodes, synths and an MPC2000 at the core of his production, de Clive-Lowe blended live musicianship with beat-driven sensibilities in a way that was ahead of its time.
Originally released in New Zealand via Kog Transmissions, the album found its way onto the global stage when Universal Jazz UK picked it up. Now, 25 years later, Be With is proud to present a special anniversary vinyl reissue, celebrating a landmark album that laid the foundation for an international career spanning continents, collaborations, and countless musical evolutions. Limited to just 400 copies for the world, these are gonna fly.
In 1998, a 23-year-old Mark de Clive-Lowe set off on a year-long journey that would shape his career and musical identity. Fuelled by an insatiable curiosity and a grant from New Zealand supporting emerging artists, he traveled across the globe — digging through record stores in San Francisco, immersing himself in the rhythms of Havana, collaborating in London’s underground studios and experiencing the jazz legacy of New York. Along the way, he crossed paths with pioneers, mentors and kindred spirits who would deeply influence his sound.
Six Degrees is the sonic diary of that transformative year — a musical world tour distilled into one groundbreaking album. It's both a snapshot of a pivotal moment in de Clive-Lowe’s life and a timeless statement of creative exploration.
The jazzy jungle vibes of "Roundtrip" opens proceedings, inspired by de Clive-Lowe's deep love of drum & bass. It kicks off with a rhythm pattern picked up in Havana, combined with Lonnie Liston Smith-style Rhodes textures and a rolling jungle breakbeat. Sublime. Up next, "La Zorra" is a moving tribute to the folkloric 6/8 rhythms he was surrounded by in Cuba. Afro-Cuban music had a huge impact on his sound and this track reflects those deep grooves brilliantly. Hip-hop has also been a major influence since de Clive-Lowe's teenage years and Manuel Bundy’s scratches bring an essential turntable element to "Melodious Funk", giving it that raw boom-bap edge.
Underground favourite "El Día Perfecto" came about by de Clive-Lowe wanting to write something as catchy as Incognito’s "Colibri", combined with his deep love for Lonnie Liston Smith. Effortless as it sounds, it pretty much wrote itself, seemingly. "Cosmic Echoes" is a nod to house music, but on the chiller side. Named after Lonnie Liston Smith’s band, with bouncy bass, a steady 4/4 groove and chopped tabla percussion, the mood this track conjures up is special. The deeply soulful "Day By Day" became the biggest track from the album, partly thanks to DJ Spinna’s remix and Café del Mar featuring it on their compilation. Cherie Mathieson’s vocals shine here. The lyric came to de Clive-Lowe while hanging out at Cause Célèbre in Auckland: “Day by day, side by side, hand in hand, no turning back.”
"Restless" is a jazz-funk jam built on a classic drum break, heavily influenced by Roy Ayers and the Mizell Brothers. Named in homage to Phil Asher’s Restless Soul moniker, his impact on de Clive-Lowe's journey can’t be overstated. Following on, "Mindscape" is a darker, rawer drum & bass track. The chopped-up drum break and moody synths channel everything he loved about the deeper, more atmospheric side of the genre. "Control" continues the jungle influence — this one’s all about the heavy grooves and deep bass, inspired by nights out listening to Jumping Jack Frost and Grooverider in packed basement clubs.
"Por La Mañana" is a musical snapshot of walking the Malecón in Havana in the morning sun. The city had such a profound impact on de Clive-Lowe and this track captures some of that energy and movement. Penultimate gem "Motherland" is a nod to his Japanese heritage. The melody draws from Japanese scales, shifting between moody introspection and uplifting harmony. Built on a chopped live drum break he recorded in Tokyo years earlier. We end with "El Día Perfecto (Reprise)", a stripped-down reprise featuring percussion, vocoder, Rhodes and synths — leaving the listener with a warm, uplifting final moment.
Speaking to Be With, de Clive Lowe explained just how much celebrating the 25-year anniversary of this album means to him: "Since then, I’ve released so much more music, but Six Degrees still resonates — it captures a really special moment in my life. A turning point, a fork in the road that ultimately changed everything. It’s amazing to reflect on where this journey has taken me, and I’m incredibly grateful for it. I still remember the night I finished "El Día Perfecto". I took a minidisc of it to my friend Cian’s DJ set at Galatos in Auckland. He plugged it in, and I watched the dancefloor move to something I’d just created hours earlier — it was a magical moment.
When Six Degrees was first released, the internet was still in its early days. There was no YouTube, no streaming, no instant global access to new sounds. The album was my way of bringing together all the music and places I had experienced over that year, blending them into something uniquely mine. It introduced me to listeners around the world and opened the doors to a career that would take me to more countries, collaborations and experiences than I ever imagined.
25 years later, I’m so grateful for everything this record set in motion. It’s a document of a moment in time, but it still feels alive — and I’m thrilled to share it again in this special anniversary edition."
Mastering for this 25 year vinyl edition was overseen by Be With regular Simon Francis and it was cut by the esteemed Cicely Balston at Abbey Road Studios to be pressed in the Netherlands by Record Industry. The original artwork has been lovingly brought back to life by de Clive-Lowe himself, with updated liner notes written specially for this landmark reissue.
- La Brume (Odysseus Intro)
- Odysseús
- Tune Out
- 4: Sneakers On The Telephone Line
- Buffoon Of Love (Feat. Mayon)
- Into The Darkness Indeed
- Grenache (Odysseús Interlude)
- 369: (The Sun Gon' Shine)
- Head Against The Wall (Feat. Odessa)
- A River Keeps Running (When A Good Man Dies)
- Moonlight On Gaffey Street
- Viduy (Confession)
Nach 25 Jahren Herman Dune und 15 Alben freut sich BB*ISLAND, Odysseús zu präsentieren, eine neue Sammlung von Songs, die den Hörer auf eine Reise durch das turbulente Leben von David Ivar mitnimmt, eine Reise voller Sehnsucht, Schmerz, Liebe, Tod, Glaube und Erlösung. Es ist das erste Mal, dass Herman Dune mit einem externen Produzenten, David Garza, zusammenarbeitet. Das Set-up besteht fast ausschließlich aus akustischen Instrumenten, die live mit der Band in einem Raum aufgenommen wurden. Es ist Folk-Musik im typischen Stil von Herman Dune mit Anklängen an Americana, Country, jüdische und hispanische Traditionen, aber mit einer ganz neuen Wendung in Sound und Arrangements, vor allem im Vergleich zu seiner letzten rein akustischen Trilogie The Portable Herman Dune. David Herman Dune über die Produktion: "...David Garza getroffen zu haben war reiner Zufall. Ich mühte mich gerade mit einem Geigenarrangement für einen der Songs ab, als er sich in einem überfüllten Café in der Innenstadt von San Pedro an meinen Tisch setzte und mich fragte, woran ich gerade arbeitete. David, ein mit einem Grammy ausgezeichneter Produzent und Musiker, hatte mit Fiona Apple, Iron & Wine, John C. Reilly und den Milk Carton Kids gearbeitet und mit einigen meiner musikalischen Helden wie Lucinda Williams und Townes Van Zandt gespielt. Wir verstanden uns auf Anhieb, und er bot mir an, meine Songs zu produzieren. Wir begannen, die Stücke jeden Abend bei mir zu Hause zu spielen, und einmal pro Woche in einem französischen Restaurant namens Le Compagnon. David kannte die besten Musiker in L.A. - Leute wie Sebastian Steinberg am Kontrabass (Fiona Apple), Richard Edson (Schlagzeuger von Sonic Youth, Schauspieler in Jim Jarmuschs Stranger Than Paradise und Spike Lees Do The Right Thing), Odessa (violin, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros) und Paul J. Cartwright (violin, Olivia Rodrigo). Als wir uns bereit fühlten, versammelten wir alle in meinem Haus für drei Tage Live-Sessions. Es war ein chaotischer, schöner Prozess, bei dem alle in einem Raum zusammen spielten, keine Kopfhörer, keine Overdubs - nur rohe, echte Musik. Aufgenommen und gemischt wurden die Sessions von Chris Sorem (ebenso Grammy-prämiert für seine Arbeit mit den mit den LA-Legenden Los Lobos). Chris brachte eine Wagenladung alter Mikrofone mit und konzentrierte sich auf "Raummikrofone" - djene, die die Atmosphäre des Raums einfangen. Er sagte, dies sei eine Technik, die auf Alben wie Buena Vista Social Club verwendet wurde, und es erzeugte eine Magie im Raum, die spürbar war. Sogar die traurigsten Lieder wurden lebendig mit so viel Freude, Energie und Elektrizität. Die Aufnahmen waren ungefiltert, organisch und hatten Seele. Als wir mit dem Abmischen begannen, waren wir alle vom Ergebnis erstaunt, wir hörten einen Moment in der Zeit, der sich gleichsam zeitlos anfühlte"
- A1: Dark Side Of The Moon - Shine On You Crazy Diamond (6 20)
- A2: Uk Floyd Division - Time (6 24)
- A3: Mystic Force - Young Lust (3 09)
- A4: Several Pieces - The Final Cut (4 21)
- A5: Bugsy Parker - Julia Dream (2 37)
- B1: Berzon - Comfortably Numb (5 11)
- B2: The Nashville Suns - Learning To Fly (2 18)
- B3: Blacktown Band - Hey You (4 40)
- B4: Monkeysoop - "One Of These Days" (3 41)
- B5: In The Pink - Money (6 15)
- C1: Keith Noble & Rado Klose - Mr Compromise (3 24)
- C2: Clare Torry - Love For Living (3 16)
- C3: Hurricane Smith - Oh Babe, What Would You Say? (3 16)
- C4: Ss 20 - Arnold Layne (3 04)
- C5: The Green Telescope - Scream Thy Last Screa (4 38)
- C6: Norman "Hurricane" Smith - Pink Floyd Interview (Talks About His Recording Sessions With Pink Floyd) (5 10)
- D1: Keith Noble & Rado Klose - Ashes & Silver (5 28)
- D2: The Chemistry Set - See Emily Play (3 00)
- D3: Pink Anderson - The Boll Weevil (3 05)
- D4: Floyd Council - Runaway Man Blues (2 52)
- D5: Keith Noble & Rado Klose - Weather (6 58)
- 2025 repress -
French self-taught producer 'La Kajofol' has been known for her "Mystical Techno" sound since 2019.
She now debuts on the leading 'Rave Alert' imprint with her 'Moonchild' EP.
Her talent shines through her use of her own voice, creating hypnotic music that captivates audiences.
This limited 4 track EP is printed on glow in the dark vinyl.
- Muffin Man
- A Grand Day
- Take A Bow
- The Sun
- I Went To A Play In Govan
- The Beyond And The Better Way
- Bring Me The Belt
- Hands In The Air
- Shine On Old
- Boys
- What Lies Beneath, Aka Fratres
Inspired by Abba, early AC/DC, Beefheart and the dark heart of outsider pop, The Beyond and the Better Way is a record featuring warped orchestrations, extended autobiographical rants and sumptuous performances by a collection of Glasgow's (and Ireland's) finest musicians and singers The Gorgeous Pouting Mr AR is a pseudonym for Ronan Breslin - a recording studio owner, composer and academic who teaches sound and music at The Glasgow School of Art.
Ronan comes from an Irish family of musicians, with the most notable being his brother Niall Breslin, who helmed the iconic Irish band "The Blizzards" before becoming a highly regarded mental health podcaster and now presenter on BBC Radio 3. Niall's stellar guitar playing features on many of this record's tracks. The recording will be released on the 23rd May via Strength in Numbers Records on vinyl and digital platforms and will be accompanied by an online collection of song- related essays (aka rants). The album is distributed by Last Night From Glasgow. "The songs explore OCD, politics, anxiety, grief, regret, rage, lost love, but also reflect on joyous moments that define the transition from fearful child to fuck- you adolescence and finally reluctant adulthood. The album title song 'The Beyond and the Better Way' is morbidly confessional; however, it is also a statement of resilience, positivity and optimism for the human condition. There is always a better way." - Ronan Breslin
Again Mysteries delivers 3 exellent long dark atmospheric tracks upholding the established label philosophy. Mastered by Pozek. Artwork by Darkam.
The tribal triumvirate of C. Ysme, Kbyl and Yukai supply fuel for the nomadic war machine. Relentlessly driving, pushing forward at 150 bpm, only stopping for the next gathering in pirate utopia. A maelstrom swirling, drawing you in to the centre of the dance.
Darkness merchants and veterans Too Old Boyz team up with Kaoslog and descend into the catacombs to deal with the fear factor. In the blackness a synth melody shines like a greenish light. Amply named Adrenaline this track urges to keep on moving and confront the monsters. 150 bpm, epic and hard as nails.
After Mysteries #6, #10 and VC 27 Keflat 23 is back and ups the pace going 170 beats full on pumping tribalistic yet subtle in line with the spirit of Mysteries, carefully laying out a mental map of realms and conzepts unknown. Immer geradeaus but when you see the rabbit ask it for directions.
This release includes a 2 side poster, digital download code and artwork sticker.
- Be The Snake
- Actress
- Outliers
- See The Shine
- The Starkers
- Wired Corpse
- Godskin
- Hanging Sun
Scorpion Child wields a sound that hearkens back to when guitar rock ruled the airwaves and going to concerts was the ultimate main event. The Austin, TX quintet released its self-titled debut in 2013 via Nuclear Blast Records. The album landed at #26 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart and #99 on the Billboard Hard Music Albums chart. Following its premiere by Eddie Trunk, iTunes named "Polygon Of Eyes" its "Single of the Week," and Scorpion Child earned a nomination for "Best New Band" at the Classic Rock Magazine presented "Classic Rock Awards." The group's second album, 2016's 'Acid Roulette' was recorded with GRAMMYr Award-nominated producer Chris "Frenchie" Smith Meat Puppets, _And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead and featured the fan-favourite tracks "Reaper's Danse", and "My Woman in Black". The band's new album, 'I Saw The End as it Passed Right Through Me', is set for release on February 14 '25. Austin, Texas band, Scorpion Child, plays dark rock and roll that blends haunting themes and atmospheric melodies; the group's unique fusion of post-punk, hard rock, and brooding aesthetic has garnered it a dedicated fanbase. On the heels of a multi-year reinvigoration, the unit returns in 2024, galvanized with a fortified lineup and renewed dedication. The first taste of what the strengthened Scorpion Child delivers lies in wait with the new single, "Outliers", a powerful punch of a song, filled with introspective lyrics, that perfectly encapsulates the band's distinct style. "Outliers" was recorded at Austin's Point West Recording with Charles Godfrey (Black Angels, The Mountain Goats) and represents the first official new music from Scorpion Child since the 2016 release of its full-length LP, 'Acid Roulette' (Nuclear Blast Records). "Outliers" will appear on Scorpion Child's impending new album, 'I Saw The End as it Passed Right Through Me', slated for an early 2025 release date via Noize In The Attic. With the drop of "Outliers" comes the track's accompanying music video; stream Scorpion Child's "Outliers" now at this location. "Outliers" deep dives into the organizational use of fear tactics and the related, unknown forces that we are supposed to run from, or conform to," offers Scorpion Child vocalist Aryn Jonathan Black. "The song is a look into the thought that "they" are always watching us and that we should play the same game from our POV in the shadows." The vinyl LP is milky clear.
Rocket Recordings’ new Black Hole Series is a place where the unorthodox, otherworldly and esoteric can flourish, and there could be no more fitting first release for it than the most powerful metaphysical travelogue yet from Moundabout. Journeying still further into and beyond the landscapes from which this duo have unearthed inspiration, ‘Goat Skull Table’ is a transmission to give flight to spectral visions and include trance-states in abundance.The vibrations and manifestations of the duo of Paddy Shine(GNOD) and Phil Langero (Los Langeros, Damp Howl, Bisect) has always resonated within a very specific sense of place, transcending linear narratives and astral planes in a quest to unite timeless spirits with inner space. This third release for Rocket Recordings sees them colluding with
the landscape of their surroundings, transcending linear narratives and astral planes in a quest to unite timeless spirits with inner space.The title track marks a focal point here; a Shamanic rite on which Langero’s charismatically charged mantras collude with an audial landscape somewhere on the map between the abstract spell-casting of Nurse With Wound and the druidic gnosticism of Julian Cope. This is Moundabout at their darkest and most ritualistic. Elsewhere, the hypnotic repetition of the twin ten-minute extrapolations ‘Blood On My Blanket’ and ‘Wagon’, and the potent incantatory chants of ‘Am I Not’ and ‘Brave New World’ glow with a rugged and
charged dynamism redolent of the Swedish Psychedelia of Träd, Gräs & Stenar, uniting a minimal aesthetic with maximal impact.
Dauntless, feverish, and reaching new heights of primal intensity ’Goat Skull Table’ is a formidable field guide to the earthen and other
- A1: Arnold Layne Pink Floyd
- A2: See Emily Play Pink Floyd
- A3: Apples And Oranges (Stereo Version) Pink Floyd
- A4: Matilda Mother (2010 Mix) Pink Floyd
- B1: Chapter 24 Pink Floyd
- B2: Bike Pink Floyd
- B3: Terrapin Syd Barrett
- B4: Love You Syd Barrett
- B5: Dark Globe Syd Barrett
- C1: Here I Go Syd Barrett (2010 Remix)
- C2: Octopus Syd Barrett (2010 Mix)
- C3: She Took A Long Cool Look Syd Barrett (2010 Mix)
- C4: If It's In You Syd Barrett
- C5: Baby Lemonade Syd Barrett
- D1: Dominoes Syd Barrett (2010 Mix)
- D2: Gigolo Aunt Syd Barrett
- D3: Effervescing Elephant Syd Barrett
- D4: Bob Dylan Blues Syd Barrett
An Introduction To Syd Barrett, is a reissue of the 2010 collection that brought together for the first time the tracks of Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett on one compilation.
David Gilmour, who originally worked on Syd Barrett's two solo albums, as co-producer of The Madcap Laughs and as producer of Barrett, was the executive producer for the album. Damon Iddins and Andy Jackson at Astoria Studios remixed five tracks including ‘Octopus’, ‘She Took A Long Cool Look’, ‘Dominoes’ and ‘Here I Go’, with David Gilmour adding bass guitar to the last track. Pink Floyd's ‘Matilda Mother’ also received a fresh 2010 Mix.
The album features the original 24-page booklet and graphics plus all lyrics, and was designed including the cover art by long time Pink Floyd associate the late Storm Thorgerson and his estimable studio.
Born in Cambridge in 1946, Roger Keith 'Syd' Barrett was the primary songwriter, guitarist and original lead vocalist in the first incarnation of Pink Floyd. He formed the band in the mid-1960s with drummer Nick Mason, bassist Roger Waters and keyboard-player Richard Wright. With their groundbreaking, semi-improvised sets at the legendary UFO Club in London's Tottenham Court Road, they became the prime movers of British psychedelia.
Barrett wrote the warped pop vignettes ‘Arnold Layne’ and ‘See Emily Play’, the group's two hit singles from 1967, as well as 'Apples And Oranges', and the lion's share of the material – the dreamy ‘Matilda Mother’, ‘Chapter 24’ and the whimsical ‘Bike’ – on their debut album The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. Recorded at EMI's famed Abbey Road Studios while the Beatles were making Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Pink Floyd's first album has proved an enduring classic, referenced by everyone from David Bowie to Spiritualized via The Damned.
Barrett contributed ‘Jugband Blues’ to A Saucerful Of Secrets, the band's follow-up, but his behaviour became increasingly erratic and he left in April 1968, a few months after the addition to the group of his Cambridge friend David Gilmour on guitar and vocals.
Syd Barrett's first solo album, The Madcap Laughs, was a long time coming but made the Top 40 on its release in January 1970. Barrett followed in November that year, and contains tracks such as ‘Baby Lemonade’ and ‘Gigolo Aunt’ that provided the names for two cult US groups in the 80s and 90s.
Over the last four decades, Syd Barrett has become the ultimate rock enigma. In 1975, he paid an eerie visit to his former band mates at Abbey Road while they were recording ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’, the centrepiece of the Wish You Were Here album he had inspired. He never entered a studio again. In 2001, he was the subject of a BBC Omnibus documentary.
He died in July 2006 but his legacy lives on in the music of R.E.M., Robyn Hitchcock, Julian Cope, Spiritualized, Blur and countless other groups. Earlier this year, Faber and Faber published Syd Barrett: A Very Irregular Head, an exhaustive biography by long-time fan Rob Chapman.
An Introduction To Syd Barrett provides a handy overview of this visionary talent, this madcap genius whose star shone brightly yet burnt out all too quickly.
- A1: Echoes Of A Billion Sun's
- A2: Messages From The Andromeda Galaxy
- A3: Stardust Memories (Among The Stars Dreams And Memories)
- A4: Trailblazer Of The Cosmos (Comet Rider A Leap Of Faith Into The Unknown)
- B1: Seeds Of Light (Hope For Growth And New Beginnings)
- B2: Fragile Eden (Threads Of Emerald Green)
- B3: The Cold Embrace Of Infinity
- B4: The Star Charts We Shared (A Maurizio Requiem)
After a 30-year interstellar silence, the enigmatic producer Alien Signal—pioneering alias of Italian electronic composer Alex Silvi—reemerges with Whispers from Distant Suns, a transcendent odyssey that bridges retro-futurism and modern electronica. Hailed as a magnum opus, this album transcends genre boundaries, captivating ambient purists, downtempo aficionados, and even experimental listeners with its hypnotic fusion of analog warmth and digital precision.
Cosmic Tapestry of Sound
Drawing comparisons to Vangelis’ Antarctica and Alpha—but reimagined through a 21stcentury lens—Whispers from Distant Suns marries nostalgic synth textures with cuttingedge production. Silvi’s mastery of melody shines through in tracks like “Stardust
Memories” and “Fragile Eden” where shimmering arpeggios and celestial pads drift over robotic, glitch-infused drum patterns and sparse, meditative percussion. The result is a paradox: a retro-futuristic soundscape that feels simultaneously ancient and alien, familiar yet unexplored.
Listener Testimonials
Fans and critics have flooded forums with praise:
“An auditory revelation! It’s like Vangelis met Jon Hopkins in a nebula—vintage soul with a futuristic heartbeat.”
“The textures are gorgeously cinematic. Closing your eyes, you’re adrift in a Tarkovsky film scored for the Andromeda galaxy.”
The Vinyl Experience
Pressed on heavyweight vinyl, the album’s physical release amplifies its immersive qualities. The gatefold sleeve, adorned with surrealist astrophotography and metallic
foiling, mirrors the music’s cosmic ethos. Side A leans into Balearic serenity, with sundappled grooves and aquatic synth ripples, while Side B delves into darker, more
experimental terrain—think Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works colliding with the organic rhythms of Jon Hopkins.
Maturity in Motion
This album is a testament to Silvi’s evolution. Tracks like “Seeds Of Light” and “Message from Andromeda Galaxy” showcase his refined ear for dynamics, balancing silence and sound with surgical precision. Vintage drum machines spar with glitches, while field recordings of crashing waves and interstellar static blur the line between Earth and cosmos. The closing track, “The Star Charts We Shared” crescendos into a 6-minute ambient requiem, leaving listeners suspended in a state of weightless awe.
Final Transmission
Whispers from Distant Suns is more than an album—it’s a transcendent odyssey. Spanning time, space, and the artist’s own creative evolution, this immersive work invites listeners to lose themselves in its ebb and flow. Designed for moments both intimate and expansive, its balearic-tinged atmospheres resonate equally through dawnlit Mediterranean terraces or the solitary glow of headphones in darkness. These are compositions that pulse, morph, and haunt the air long after the final note fades. A living soundscape meant to accompany life’s quiet revelations and clandestine joys—a soundtrack to your most personal moments, crafted as what the artist calls ‘private dance music.’
Tailored for the Discerning Listener
Whispers from Distant Suns is designed with the true connoisseur in mind. This album is a must-have for:
Vinyl Collectors & Audiophiles: Those who value the warmth and tactile experience of heavyweight, limited edition pressings
Electronic Ambient and Downtempo Fans: Listeners who appreciate immersive soundscapes that merge retro analog charm with modern digital innovation.
Retro-Futurism Enthusiasts: Fans of pioneering artists like Vangelis, Boards of Canada, and early Warp Records who seek music that bridges nostalgic synth textures with futuristic experimentation.
Experimental Music Explorers: Individuals drawn to sonic narratives that invite deep, contemplative listening—perfect for both introspective moments and immersive listening sessions.
This release is not just an album; it’s a curated experience for those who desire music as a multidimensional art form, merging the vintage allure of analog sound with a contemporary, cosmic vision.
For fans of: Vangelis, Biosphere, Jon Hopkins, early Warp Records.
The Crystal Hum is the debut vinyl release by Taiwan-based artist Yuching Huang and her first release for Night School.
A beguiling dreamscape of crackles, spluttering, love-struck Casios presided over by the the spectral vocal and guitar work of Huang, Yuching sings love songs at the end of this world and the beginning of the next. Recorded during a hiatus from her group Aemong (a duo with artist Henrique Uba) in Berlin, these songs elevate Huang’s unique vocal style and grasp of atmospherics. The Crystal Hum deconstructs balladry, Garage, guitar music and reforms it into a
unified ghostly otherworld version of these languages.
The Crystal Hum thrums with buried desire, trails of nocturnal reverb seeping out of apartment windows, diaristic vocal performances and deeply emotive, evocative Western-style strings. Formulated by Yuching Huang after periods of frustration and experimentation, the album is an exercise in minimalism and paring back, with some tracks like JohnJohn featuring little else than an elastic bass, spring reverb trails, an interjecting vocal and swelling, dislocated synths. The effect is spellbinding, the soundtrack to getting lost in the labyrinthine, closed streets of Venice, Taipei, Hong Kong, or mirror versions of them in the imagination.
On opener Fly! Little Black Thing, a subterranean funk bassline roots Huang’s singing, a rudimentary, unreliable beat floundering in whimsy underneath. Demure, dream Dance music, Huang references classic lo fi experimenters Suicide and Arthur Russell as well as Night School label mates The Space Lady and Ela Orleans. In fact, after the release of Aemong’s third album Crimson, Huang credits the direction of The Crystal Hum to being enchanted by The Space Lady’s Greatest Hits,
the landmark lo-fi recording made by Susan Dietrich Schneider in 1990. The new, minimalist approach to her sound world reveals and shrouds in equal measure. On the heart-melter Love, a sultry mid-tempo Casio + bass backing drops into the ether with Huang’s vocal swimming in preternatural void before emerging anew, in awe at the world. Every chord change heralds new perspectives, every guitar flurry swells and drips emotion, nothing is wasted and space billows out from between the grooves.
Huang never reveals more than necessary, making this an in-between love album: the right amount of mystery and darkened mirror shines wanely on The Crystal Hum while remaining fragile and vulnerable in the sweet spots. Turning over in pillowing smoke and night in the dark corners, Huang sings in both Mandarin and English. The songs speak of earthly matters seemingly at the edge of dissipating into nothing. Distorted, beguiling Sambas warble like sweating dancehalls in an imagined Lynchian 60s, as on Thoughts. Closer You, An Illusion warps a classic 60s Girlgroup bassline beloved of the likes of Les Rallizes
Denudes into a slight ballad on the edge of the void, held back by the teary-eyed, wistful and enveloping vocal cooed by Huang. Each song feels like a love song dedicated to the bits between worlds, between beats, the negative space between people where desires, feelings and loss hangs in the air, resolute and unresolved.
A heavyweight lineup of dub techno talent comes together for a deep and textured journey. Krystian Shek and Milly James join forces on Promise, delivering two original productions alongside with reworks from Yagya and grad_u. As a bonus, this collection expands even further with digital-exclusive remixes from Raytek and Noosa Sound System that come with the original purchase.
'Glow & Shine' locks into a hypnotic groove from the outset, its analog warmth and weighty percussion forming a solid foundation. A crisp snare and hi-hat pattern provide an irresistible swing, while chords and vocals land together in perfect sync, draped in a rich layer of delay. Spacey breakdowns allow the ride cymbal to subtly emerge, giving the track an evolving energy. The closing moments strip things back, with the chords guiding everything to a natural finish. 'Better That Way' shifts into a more melodic space, balancing intricate drum programming with an emotive vocal delivery. The initial rhythmic stutter adds a unique touch before settling into a flowing beat. As layers build, the chords and voice intertwine seamlessly, evoking a deep, contemplative feel. The breakdown smooths everything out, allowing the track to breathe before a striking bassline shift in the final section brings fresh momentum. The last ambient passage is particularly stunning, offering a moment of reflection.
The legendary Icelandic producer Yagya creates his interpretation of 'Glow & Shine' sees it drifting into dreamlike territory, wrapping the original's elements in a lush, aquatic atmosphere. More of a song than a club tool, it glides effortlessly, capturing a serene, almost weightless mood. On the flip side, grad_u reshapes 'Better That Way' into a crisp, rolling dub excursion. Airy chords swirl above a commanding groove, with well-placed melodic flourishes adding an elegant touch. The arrangement continuously morphs, deepening its hypnotic pull.
Raytek's remix of 'Glow & Shine' injects a sharper rhythmic intensity, pushing the track into darker, more driving territory. The vocal treatment becomes a focal point, cleverly reshaped to make the singing the true hook. Meanwhile, Noosa Sound System takes 'Better That Way' into stripped-down, immersive terrain. The off-kilter drum work and layered percussion create a mesmerizing flow, while the winding structure makes it a DJ-friendly tool.
This well-rounded collection that explores multiple shades of dub techno, this release has both dancefloor energy and introspective depth. With a strong roster of contributors, it delivers a blend of classic textures and fresh perspectives.
Sixth album by Christoph Heemann and Timo van Luijk. Four years after we got Lost in Spice we reached the point of Arrival. An altar on the surface of the water is burning with flames. Behind it you can see a half of the Earth's globe, and on it there’s a bright throne. A pale, translucent ruler wearing a crown sits in the throne. The globe is surrounded by a ball of shadows on which sits a larger dark ruler on a dark throne. Behind the globe are mountain peaks, and all of it is reflected in the water. Above the mountains are clouds which merge into rivers and end in a curved horizon on which forests stand, and the sun rises between them. Above this horizon is another sky with lunar crescents and comets. Above this sky are rows of angels bent over, above which the stars shine. The sun shines in the top left corner and the crescent moon in the right.
Milky Chance are preparing to release their first official live album, "Live From Vienna (FM4 Session)". The recording captures the magic of Milky Chance's captivating performance with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. This special release features fan favorites across all of their catalog including "Flashed Junk Mind," "Don't Let Me Down", a stunning rendition of "Tainted Love," all reimagined with breathtaking orchestral arrangements. Most recently, their global smash "Living In A Haze'" reached over 100 million streams and 1.2 Billion Tiktok views. Along with hits "Colorado" and "Synchronize", "Living In A Haze'" featured on their fourth studio album of the same name which was released in June 2023 on their own Muggelig Records. Delivering over 600 million streams, achieved Gold certification in Germany and Canada and debuted on charts across the globe including the US, Canada, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France. In 2024, the band achieved the highest streams ever for some of their biggest hits including 'Stolen Dance', 'Flashed Junk Mind' and 'Down By The River' of which all songs have been reimagined on this special live release. Pre-order "Live From Vienna (FM4 Session) now and get 'Flashed Junk Mind', 'Living In A Haze', 'Cocoon' and 'Fado' instantly and experience Milky Chance like never before. Milky Chance: "After ten years of our band's journey, it was exciting to give our music a new form and let the songs shine anew. Instead of merely accompanying our tracks with an orchestra, we aimed to create a cohesive band experience. Through the new arrangements, we have built a bridge between modern electronic music and the classical orchestral world. It has exceeded our expectations, and we are very happy to have had this opportunity."
She’s out of this world…
Maltese musician & producer Joon’s galactic debut arrives on our shores fully formed a decade after she first set sail. 12 cuts of uniquely addictive Synthesized Pop twist & turn on the rocky waters of life.
Her story begins after a life-changing car crash on the streets of Malta many moons ago. She was lucky to walk away in one piece. “That car crash was a wake-up call,” she says. “It made me realize how precious life is & I started living the life I felt was worth living.” Inspired to finally pursue her love of music full time, she began collecting instruments. Starting with a Stylophone& a vintage rhythm box, she started documenting ideas. Returning home to Malta after a few years in London, she only met one other woman making electronic music on the island. Driven by the desire to make music possible & accessible for the next generation, Joon co-founded the Malta Sound Women’s Network.
Ten years later, she sends us messages in a bottle from across the Mediterranean Sea. Armed with a Moog & her ethereal voice, she transmits hope & joy from a bedroom somewhere between Sicily & North Africa. Her music is right at home alongside outsider pioneers like Fever Ray, Grimes, Laurie Anderson & Molly Nilsson. Dream Again glides across heavy rhythms & eclectic electro. Telling stories of alienation with a throbbing heartbeat & space-age melodies, she lets us into her ultra-vivid world where anything is possible. Produced by Johnny Jewel, the album shines bright like comet orbiting the label’s dark sky, a much-needed vision of light on the horizon.
“Even if I’m sad or heartbroken, I remain optimistic. I want to grow old with no regrets.”
It’s time to Dream Again…
- A1: Armin Van Buuren - "The Road To Your Destination" (A State Of Trance Year Mix 2024 Outro) (1 02)
- A2: Armin Van Buuren & Moby - "Extreme Ways" (1 10)
- A3: Jerome Isma-Ae - "Hold That Sucker Down" (Hel Slowed Remix) (1:10)
- A4: Hel Slowed & Amber Revival - "Wildfire" (1:10)
- A5: Estiva - "Fine Day" (1 10)
- A6: Armin Van Buure - "Love Is A Drug" (Feat Anne Gudrun - Agents Of Time Remix) (1 10)
- A7: 7 Skies X Antheros - "Finish My Life" (1 10)
- A8: Elysian - "Now We Are Free" (1 10)
- A9: Rivo - "In & Out Of Love" (Vs Armin Van Buuren) (1 10)
- A10: Armin Van Buuren - "Pulstar" (1 10)
- A11: Nilsix - "Old's Cool" (1 10)
- A12: Giuseppe Ottaviani - "Something About You" (Feat Adriana Stone) (1 10)
- A13: Above & Beyond - "Heart Of Stone" (Feat Richard Bedford) (1 10)
- A14: Marlo & Mila Josef - "You Are Not Alone" (Tech Energy Mix) (1 10)
- A15: Gabry Ponte X Giuseppe Ottavinai - "In My Mind" (Feat Malou) (1 10)
- A16: David Forbes - "Alcazar" (1 10)
- A17: Layton Giordani X Tiga X Audion - "Let's Go Dancing" (0 43)
- B1: Armin Van Buuren - "Es Vedra" (1 10)
- B2: Above & Beyond - "Crazy Love" (Feat Zoe Johnston) (1 13)
- B3: Armin Van Buuren & Agents Of Time - "Love Is Eternity" (Feat Orkid) (1 13)
- B4: Semblance Smile - "Just Let Go" (1 13)
- B5: Camisra & Armin Van Buuren - "Let Me Show You" (1 13)
- B6: David Guetta & Mason - "Perfect (Exceeder)" (Vs Princess Superstar) (1 13)
- B7: Armin Van Buuren - "High On Love" (Feat Anne Gudrun) (1 13)
- B10: Laura Van Dam & Ginchy - "Save Me" (1 13)
- B11: Paul Van Dyk - "For An Angel" (Kolonie Remix) (1 13)
- B12: Armin Van Buuren - "Forever (Stay Like This)" (Feat Goodboys - Club Mix) (0 36)
- B13: Oliver Heldens & Armin Van Buuren - "Freedom" (Feat Sam Harper) (0 47)
- B14: Armin Van Buuren, Ferry Corsten, Rank 1 & Ruben De Ronde - "Destination" (A State Of Trance 2024 Anthem) (0 34)
- B15: Giuseppe Ottaviani & Lasada - "Leave You There" (0 39)
- B16: Cosmic Gate & Christian Burns - "Brave" (Sean Tyas Remix) (0 47)
- B17: Daxson - "Elysium" (Transmission Theme 2024) (1 05)
- B18: Ilan Bluestone - "Echoes Of Courage" (0 38)
- B19: Giuseppe Ottaviani X Lea Key - "In The Silence" (0 51)
- B20: Armin Van Buuren - "Part Of Me" (Feat Louis Iii) (0 34)
- C1: Joris Voorn & Avira - "The Orange Theme" (1 00)
- C2: Avira - "Hot Tub Time Machine" (1 12)
- C3: Armin Van Buuren & Ahmed Helmy - "Racing Spirit" (1 21)
- C4: Protoculture - "Starfield" (1 21)
- C5: Artbat & Armin Van Buuren - "Take Off" (1 21)
- C6: Matt Fax - "Raven" (1 21)
- C7: Ferry Corsten X Marsh - "Fulfillment" (1 21)
- C8: Ahmed Helmy - "R4Ve 301" (1 21)
- C9: Andrew Rayel Presents Aether - "Memoria Eterna" (1 21)
- C10: Krevix & Hadriani - "Your Life" (0 54)
- C11: Sharam - "Patt (Party All The Time)" (Adam Beyer, Layton Giordani & Green Velvet Remix) (0 47)
- C12: Mauro Picotto - "Lizard" (Dan Cooper Remix) (0 46)
- C13: Ferry Corsten & Superstrings - "Remember" (0 47)
- C14: Craig Connelly & Nicholas Gunn - "Miss You" (Feat Alina Renae) (0 44)
- C15: Aly & Fila, Philippe El Sisi, Omar Sherif - "Count On Me" (With Jaren) (0 42)
- B8: Orjan Nilsen - "Ashore" (1 13)
- C16: Ben Gold & Bo Bruce - "Half Light" (0 52)
- C17: Ferry Corsten - "Just Breathe" (0 45)
- C18: Eddie Makabi - "Ecstasy" (Feat Einat - Allen Watts Remix) (1 06)
- C19: Factor B - "The Girl With Her Head In The Clouds" (Ellie Song) (0 48)
- D1: Ben Hemsley - "Tidal" (Feat Rose Gray - The Euphoric Mix) (1 03)
- D2: Armin Van Buuren - "Bed Of Rain" (Feat Mila Josef) (1 10)
- D3: Paul Van Dyk & Sue Mclaren - "Love Is Enough" (Shine Mix) (1 10)
- D4: Armin Van Buuren & Hardwell - "Follow The Light" (1 10)
- D5: Allen Watts Presents Awaken - "Fragments" (1 10)
- D6: Maarten De Jong - "Kanua" (1 10)
- D7: Ram & Richard Durand Presents Digital Culture - "Follow Me 2024" (Vs Space Frog & Derb) (1 10)
- D8: Matty Ralph - "Dreaming" (1 10)
- D9: Armin Van Buuren & Gryffin - "What Took You So Long" (1 10)
- D10: Aly & Fila X Lostly - "The Unknown" (1 10)
- D11: Daxson & Nation Of One - "Now Or Never" (Craig Connelly Remix) (0 45)
- D12: C-Systems - "Voyager" (0 47)
- D13: Andrew Rayel - "The Abyss" (0 51)
- D14: Aly & Fila With Ferry Tayle - "Concorde" (Cris Grey Remix) (0 52)
- D15: Armin Van Buuren X Hi-Lo - "Now Love Will Begin" (0 49)
- D16: Armin Van Buuren & Ben Hemsley - "Is It Beautiful" (Feat Lucy Pullin - A State Of Trance 2025 Anthem) (0 47)
- D17: Xijaro & Pitch - "The Path" (0 48)
- D18: Alex Morph - "Ava Mariae" (0 55)
- D19: Richard Durand & Nicholas Gunn - "About A Love" (Feat Jordan Grace) (1 00)
- D20: John O'callaghan, Paul Skelton & Ren Faye - "May The Road Rise" (1 08)
- E1: Cold Blue - "The Great Awakening" (1 03)
- E2: Trance Wax - "Ascend" (Sneijder Remix) (1 07)
- B9: Hel Slowed X Jnsn - "Want Me" (1:13)
- E3: Sneijder Remix - "Don't Stop" (Drums & Acid Mix) (1 07)
- E4: Allen Watts - "Elevate" (1 07)
- E5: John O'callaghan & Alex Holmes - "Devotion" (1 07)
- E6: Miyuki & Jennifer Rene - "Our Song" (1 07)
- E7: River - "I Can't Sleep" (1 07)
- E8: Will Atkinson - "High On The Low" (1 07)
- E9: Craig Connelly & Cari - "Breathe Again" (1 07)
- E10: Aly & Fila & Richard Durand - "Nebula" (1 07)
- E11: Armin Van Buuren & David Guetta - "In The Dark" (Feat Aldae) (1 07)
- E12: Bryan Kearney - "You Will Never Be Forgotten" (Lostly Remix) (1 07)
- E13: Armin Van Buuren X Vize X Leony - "City Lights" (1 07)
- E14: Talla 2Xlc & Fragma - "Toca's Miracle" (1 07)
- E15: Factor B - "A Gift To The Earth" (1 07)
- E16: Alexander De Roy & Hidden Tigress - "Intention" (Eximinds Remix) (1 07)
- E17: Lange - "Drifting Away" (Feat Skye - Drifting Away) (1 07)
- E18: Drifting Away - "Viva L'opera" (0 57)
- F1: Armin Van Buuren & W&W - "Late Checkout" (1 06)
- F2: Ben Gold - "Diving Faces" (1 08)
- F3: Felix - "Don't You Want Me" (Ki/Ki Remix) (1 08)
- F4: Elley Duhe & Whethan - "Money On The Dash" (Armin Van Buuren Remix) (1 08)
- F5: Ben Gold & Scott Mac - "Damager 24" (1 08)
- F6: Gabry Ponte & Le Shuuk - "Psychotek" (1 08)
- F7: Hi-Lo & Maddix - "My Fantasy" (1 08)
- F8: Ben Nicky, Hannah Laing & Paul Findlay X Signum - "Coming On Strong" (Feat Scott Mac - Trance Mix) (1 08)
- F9: Bryan Kearney - "Angel Child" (1 08)
- F10: 0Gravity - "Take My Breath" (1 08)
f11 FLRNTN, Benjamin Duchenne - "Last Man Standing" (feat Sivan) (1:08)
f12 Nicholas Gunn & Harshil Kamdar - "Here I Am" (feat Alina Renae - Richard Durand remix) (1:08)
f13 DJ TH X TH3 ONE X Sue McLaren - "Everything To Me" (1:08)
f14 Matty Ralph - "Te Adoro" (1:08)
f15 Armin Van Buuren & Vini Vici - "Sarabande" (feat Anna Timofei) (1:08)
f16 Lilly Palmer - "Hare Ram" (1:08)
f17 David Forbes - "Techno Is My Only Drug" (1:08)
f18 Armin Van Buuren - "Blah Blah Blah" (Lilly Palmer remix) (1:08)
f19 Armin Van Buuren - "The Road To Your Destination" (A State Of Trance Year mix 2024 outro) (1:14)
- 1: Papaya
- 2: Dais For Moral Performance
- 3: Rat (Hopefully The Boy)
- 4: Hellhole
- 5: In Your Beak
- 6: Data
- 7: Reckoner
- 8: End Game
- 9: Wait
- 10: Trout
TERMINATor, the Seattle and New York based trio, are made up of albie, Lauren Rodriguez, and Veronica Dye. The group sits on the edge of no wave, punk, noise, and sweeping experimental.
TERMINATor united in 2017 under the mission of undermining traditional sound aesthetics and expectations. Consequently, part of the emergence of TERMINATor’s superbly unusual approach was the fact that each member learned their instruments as the project developed.
After releasing singles and the visual EP, “Rat (Hopefully the Boy),” TERMINATor has finally debuted their full length album. “Placate Boring Flesh” emphasizes musical texture over traditional melodies.
Even through growth and refinement of their sound, TERMINATor stays ever consistent in beginner’s mind within their idiosyncratic approach to composition. Discordant, angular, and atonal, TERMINATor weaves in and through itself. The group shines in their live performances, inviting their audience into a beautiful auditory disorientation of roaring textural bravado. TERMINATor sits on your temple in a balance of angular and sweeping shapes moving through coarse soundscapes.
Bottom line, TERMINATor is truly here to destroy.
“An instinctual curiosity guides their songs into unusual and interesting places, as is evident on Placate Boring Flesh. TERMINATor affectionately sucker-punch your expectations about how young modern women rock.” - The Stranger
“Placate Boring Flesh stands as one of the most exciting rock records to come out of the city in a while” - KEXP
“This Seattle-based trio’s record is an experimental, floating world of sound. Dreamlike (but not dreamy) in the most darkly surrealist way—like translating a Leonora Carrington or Miro painting to music.” - Maximum Rock N Roll"
- Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll
- The Red & The Black
- Flaming Telepaths
- Astronomy
- This Ain't The Summer Of Love
- (Don't Fear) The Reaper
- I Love The Night
- Goin' Through The Motions
- Godzilla
- In Thee
- The Marshall Plan
- Black Blade
- Joan Crawford
- Burnin' For You
- Shooting Shark
- Take Me Away
Released in 2000, Don't Fear The Reaper: The Best of Blue Öyster Cult is a comprehensive compilation album showcasing the most iconic tracks from Blue Öyster Cult's storied career. Spanning their early 1970s beginnings to their success through the 1980s, the album features hits like the legendary "Don’t Fear The Reaper," the hard-hitting "Godzilla," and the haunting "Burnin' for You." Known for blending hard rock with elements of metal and psychedelia, Blue Öyster Cult’s complex guitar work and enigmatic lyrics shine throughout this collection. The album highlights the band’s innovative sound, which helped shape the rock genre with its unique mix of heavy riffs, intricate harmonies, and dark themes. For both longtime fans and new listeners, Don't Fear The Reaper: The Best of Blue Öyster Cult is a must-have, offering a perfect introduction to the band's most influential and timeless tracks. Don't Fear The Reaper: The Best Of Blue Öyster Cult is a limited edition of 2000 numbered copies on translucent blue coloured vinyl.
War Head Constriction, a trio that defined an uncompromising afro psych-rock sound, began by playing shows that combined dark proto-metal influences from Black Sabbath and Deep Purple with afro-rhythmic elements. Their raw energy caught the attention of Afrodisia, a progressive record label, which signed them to release a single in 1973: "Graceful Bird" b/w "Shower of Stone." Unfortunately, the record was too experimental for mainstream audiences and quickly faded, leading to the band's breakup. Despite this, they played their biggest show opening for Fela & the Afrika 70 at the National Stadium in Lagos before disbanding. However, the members quickly moved on, continuing to form new groups.
Amenechi recalls jamming with Soga Benson, his cousin Skid, and Ben Bruce at St. Gregory’s, where they wrote and performed together. Benson, who had previously been in rival groups, became close with Amenechi once he joined Greg’s. Benson, a talented guitarist, joined Ofege for their second and third albums in 1975 and 1977. Despite this, his main group, Grotto, had yet to record. That changed when EMI Records, the leading afro-rock label, took interest in Grotto in 1977.
Odion Iruoje, A&R manager at EMI Nigeria, recalls his first encounter with Grotto, noting their cocky attitude and raw material. He sought to help them find an authentic sound, avoiding the typical influences of British rock or groups like Ofege. Iruoje was passionate about youth bands, seeing them as a fresh opportunity to experiment and create something unique. Despite skepticism from EMI Nigeria about the youth market, Iruoje felt confident that Grotto’s originality would shine through.
Trawling the net for sounds of a different fashion two humans encountered each other and their mutual taste for exotic rhythms, heavy sonics and all things dub.
Based in Scotland and Kazakhstan, drawing influences from ghetto music cultures from around the globe. They broke through barriers, political and language, to collaborate and create. Announcing their sound under the banner ‘Illuminations’ in a hope to shine the light away from the algorithms of corporate greed and control, bringing it back to individuals with creative souls.
Released under scopeotaku’s DiY tape label, this is a limited edition of 50 hand-stamped and numbered cassettes feat 15 tracks by the duo that drag future dystopian soundscapes into bass laden rhythms best heard in dark spaces through large speakers.
In addition to the unique musical proposals and the large body of work that they have developed separately, Amelia Cuni and Werner Durand have been performing together as a duo as well as in collaborations (Tonaliens, Born of Six) for more than 20 years. Fusing her Indian Raga singing in the Dhrupad style with his minimalist and experimental approach, they have expanded the reach of their soundworlds as well as proposed new paths for contemporary music.In this occasion, Uli Hohmann joins them in a range of hand drums from the Middle East and North Africa, plus a dulcimer-sounding hammered guitar. Durand's various self-made wind instruments, soprano sax, and blown kalimba shine along with Cuni's astounding vocals, which are sometimes sung through a mirliton (a medieval type of kazoo). Clearing is the trio's first published recording.
Seconds of Thirst, recorded in one session at Uli´s studio in Bavaria in early 2014, is truly a conjuring where distinctive balances come to gather. A deep drone unfolds patiently in a hypnotic manner, comprised by Werner's characteristic PVC clarinets, a hammered guitar played by Hohmann, and subtle electronic tones. Above all, Amelia's singing voice, filtered through the mirliton, drifts buzzing along the gradually shifting harmonic waves, meandering through serpentine melodic lines and microtonality.
In the middle pieces, vocals turn into an ethereal multi-layered chorus, an exotic and astonishing instrument pulsing delicate and vaporously, like a gliding silk sail without a mast to bind it. Misty ambiances linger on as the soft atmosphere disperses the weight of undelivered syllables. Just intonation aligns the pan-ney's winds with vocal navigation. Foe to scattering, hurry, and affectation, Clearing's pace has lifted a fog translucent enough to reveal treetops calmly appearing, efficiently condensing damp into definite drops that fall drumming, forecasting what's yonder.
With a condensing sound going from Buddhist morning chants down to Indian festive traditional music, the title track, which closes the album, is the most vibrant of all, permeating a bit of commotion through buzzing drones and galloping percussion. Without disorder, yet without measure. Clearing is therefore this shuttle into the distance, this space that weaves, unites, and tenses the different cords that we are made up of.
When the clouds advance silently, gray, until they become dark in a few minutes, it means that the monsoon is coming. It reaches us without apparent noise, but then resounds in its images, leaving behind lightness, freshness, clarity, and a tremendous luminosity that comes from so far away: from the Himalayas, from so ancient, from Sanskrit, from a sound where the darkness and the divine, where the concrete and the landscape, where the rock and the humidity leave a mark that brings together and ties a sky loaded with new clouds.
- A1: Ramon Casiano
- A2: Darkened Flags At The
- A3: Cusp Of Dawn
- A4: Surrender Under Protest
- A5: Guns Of Umpqua
- A6: Filthy And Fried
- A7: Sun Don't Shine
- A8: Kinky Hypocrite
- A9: Ever South
- A10: What It Means
- A11: Once They Banned
- A12: Imagine
- A13: Baggage
- B1: Kinky Hypocrite (Live, 2018)
- B2: Guns Of Umpqua (Live, 2018)
- B3: Filthy And Fried (Live, 2018)
- B4: What It Means (Live, 2018)
- B5: Surrender Under Protest (Live, 2018)
- B6: Baggage (Live, 2018)
- B7: Ramon Casiano (Live, 2018)
- B8: Ever South (Live, 2018)
‘American Band’ is the 11th studio album by DriveBy Truckers and was released during the tumultuous year of 2016, its politically charged lyrics reflecting those troubled times.
The Chicago Tribune called it “one of the band’s strongest front-to-back albums.” Rolling Stone and NPR deemed it one of the best albums of that year.
It is reissued here, in another election year, with a bonus LP of live recordings and updated liners from Patterson Hood and repackaged with archival
artwork from Wes Freed
wieder lieferbar Die Camouflage? Ja, richtig: die Camouflage, Meister der Traurigkeit im Kleid des elektronischen Songs. 1987 eroberte die deutsche Band mit "The Great Commandment" Platz eins der US-Billboard-Dance-Charts, die Musik verband genialisch die Kühle von Kraftwerk, den Pop von OMD und die melancholische Düsternis von Depeche Mode. Jetzt erscheint "Greyscale": ein frappierend aktuelles, zwingendes Album. Untätig war die Gruppe seit den späten 80ern ohnehin nicht: Regelmäßig erschienen Alben, zuletzt 2006 das Album "Relocated" und 2014 eine Single-Compilation - auf Facebook zählt die Gruppe über 50.000 Fans. Die Musik auf "Greyscale" klingt weit und atmosphärisch und gleichzeitig zwingend und dicht. Produziert hat Mastermind Heiko Maile, der auch als Filmmusikkomponist Erfolge feiert. Stilsicher kontrastiert er elektronische Elemente mit akustischen, neben Beats und Gitarren sind auch ein Kinderchor und das Streicherensemble des Deutschen Filmorchesters Babelsberg zu hören. Songs für den Tanzboden und fürs Herz - und auf einem ist gar Peter Heppner zu hören.
Dark Evergreen VInyl. The odd couple of Kristian Dunn (El Ten Eleven) and Damon Che (Don Caballero) was the result of some clever musical matchmaking by Karl Hofstetter, founder and curator of Joyful Noise Recordings. Karl introduced Dunn and Che via email in April 2023 after Dunn's prolific output outgrew the resources and abilities of his instrumental duo El Ten Eleven. Less than a year later, after countless text messages and song sketches were exchanged, and one fateful meeting at a recording studio was organized, their nascent project's debut record, See You at the Solipsist Convention, was complete. Despite Che's initial unfamiliarity with Dunn's musical output, their personalities bridged any and all gaps_both Che and Dunn share a flair for the comically absurd and musically adventurous, a mindset that shines throughout See You at the Solipsist Convention. Che has become legendary for his calculated polyrhythms and undeniable physicality, while Dunn is known for relentless experimentation and productivity akin to a freight train. Quickly, the unlikely pair transformed into destined collaborators. Scaffolded around eight-string bass, knotty percussion, and intricate syncopation, See You at the Solipsist Convention is a carnival of delights for fans of the post-everything persuasion_uncategorizable yet reverent to the altar of instrumental rock. Beyond all measure, Yesness stands as a testament to the powerful dividends of friendship and collaboration. We are nothing without each other - our partners, our local record store clerks, our neighbors. Music, too, thrives on our entanglements. With twelve tracks, an upcoming tour, and an unexpected friendship stemming from one email, Yesness underscores the brilliant machinery of human connection.
- Intro
- Stress
- The Extinction Agenda
- Thirteen
- Black Sunday
- Drop Bombs
- Bring It On
- Why
- Let’s Organize
- 3-2: 1
- Keep It Coming
- Stray Bullet
- Maintain
- Stress (Remix) (Featuring Large Professor)
- Bring It On (Remix)
- Why Remix (Bonus Track)*
- Bounce (Bonus Track)*
- Stress (Instrumental)*
- The Extinction Agenda (Instrumental)*
- Thirteen (Instrumental)*
- Black Sunday (Instrumental)*
- Drop Bombs (Instrumental)*
- Bring It On (Instrumental)*
- Why? (Instrumental)*
- Stray Bullet (Instrumental)*
- Maintain (Instrumental)*
- Let’s Organize (Instrumental)*
- 3-2: 1 (Instrumental)*
Tape[20,59 €]
In an era where flexing original styles was mandatory to gain respect, few Hip Hop groups were more respected than Organized Konfusion. The Queens-based duo of Pharoahe Monch and Prince Po shined brightest on their 1994 sophomore LP “Stress: The Extinction Agenda,” which is receiving a reissue to mark its 30th Anniversary. Backed by dark, bass-heavy, and jazzy production, “Stress” showcased Pharoahe and Po’s dynamic and ever-shifting rhyme styles and electric chemistry from start to finish, creating an album that is an undisputed classic among hardcore Hip Hop fans.
In an era where flexing original styles was mandatory to gain respect, few Hip Hop groups were more respected than Organized Konfusion. The Queens-based duo of Pharoahe Monch and Prince Po shined brightest on their 1994 sophomore LP “Stress: The Extinction Agenda,” which is receiving a reissue to mark its 30th Anniversary. Backed by dark, bass-heavy, and jazzy production, “Stress” showcased Pharoahe and Po’s dynamic and ever-shifting rhyme styles and electric chemistry from start to finish, creating an album that is an undisputed classic among hardcore Hip Hop fans.
Love Is A Flame In The Dark is the debut album by experimental songwriter Karl D’Silva. A raw labour of love, a towering spire of twisted steel, tenderness and becoming, it’s a body of songs that belies the virtuoso talents of an artist whose reputation has been built on collaborating with various avant garde underground luminaries. Self-recorded at home in Rotherham and pulsing with the conviction of a true believer, these songs burst out of their self-consciousness to meet life head on, bristling with energy, 10 glimpses of the human spirit in the darkness.
Recorded throughout 2021 - 2023 and mixed in Leeds with engineer Ross Halden, D’Silva has constructed a Pop language for himself. Mutated songs that owe a small debt to the post-Industrial music of Cabaret Voltaire, Nine Inch Nails and Coil, they’re nonetheless powered by a vigorous tenderness, earnestness and D’Silva’s knack for melody. Each song is meticulously sound-designed, using synthesised sounds created from scratch married with D’Silva’s virtuoso playing on saxophone and guitar. The songs on Love Is A Flame In The Dark are unabashed, earnest love letters to living, requiems for a world fading away and small gestures of solidarity in the face of entropy.
Until now, D’Silva’s fingerprints could be found on live dates with Thurston Moore, Oren Ambarchi, Hardcore pioneers Siege and Rian Treanor as well as recordings by previous groups Trumpets Of Death and Drunk In Hell. Primarily associated with the alto saxophone in his improvisation work, Love Is A Flame In The Dark features a dizzying array of instrumentation, all played by D’Silva. D’Silva’s current membership of the group Vanishing may be a good touchstone for the dense, sonically thrilling world-building on the album but the most
striking instrument, perhaps, is D’Silva’s voice. With a soulful, rasping timbre resulting from prolonged intubation as a new-born, his vocal is both fearless and tender. On the soaring, electronic body mover Wild Kiss, thundering percussion is in service to Karl’s voice full of desire, arching up into a flayed falsetto. It’s a trick repeated on Flowers Start To Cry, where it’s deployed against the backdrop of layers of ripping alto and thudding drum programming that recall Nine Inch Nails’ visceral production, if they were covering a Prince hit. These songs capture the essence of 2024’s Karl D’Silva music; pure physicality
breaking down to reveal a shining, compassionate vulnerability.
The full breadth of Karl D’Silva’s instrumental prowess is in evidence from the off. On The Outside imagines blooming out of personal apocalypse with a soundscape of synth, saxophone worthy of any late 60s Free Jazz blower and crushing sound design. Entropy is planet-sized synth pop, Nowhere Left To Run uses midi-string orchestration to tell a story of light emerging from the dark. It’s a theme picked up
throughout the album: The Butcher is a political parable, the narrator holding power to account with grotesque, brutal imagery. It’s on a track
like Real Life that the true message emerges, however. D’Silva is peering through the layers of artifice, struggle and the fog of daily
living to find a life full of energy, connection and light. Each song here is a route into this light, out of the darkness.
- A1: Welcome Back
- A2: Just Like You
- A3: Automatic (Feat Panama)
- A4: Northern Lights (Feat David Harks)
- B1: String It Again
- B2: Mirage
- B3: Shadow Of You (Feat David Harks)
- C1: Primordial (Feat Niya Wells)
- C2: Still Not Forgotten
- C3: Take It From Me (Feat Emma Brammer)
- C4: Athena (Feat Anduze)
- D1: Don't Go (Feat Nteibint)
- D2: All For You
- D3: Through The Night (Feat David Harks)
2024 Repress
'Solar Nights' is the long awaited second album from German nu-disco star Tim Bernhardt, aka Satin Jackets. Released on Eskimo Recordings this April, 'Solar Nights' follows on from Bernhardt's critically acclaimed, and Gold certified, debut LP 'Panorama Pacifico' and features 14 tracks of smooth disco and leftfield pop sounds with guest appearances from the likes of Future Classic's Panama, David Harks, Niya Wells, Emma Brammer and Anduze.
The global success of 'Panorama Pacifico' has seen Bernhardt coaxed out from his remote studio in one of Germany's ancient forests to play to fans across the world, from South Korea to Mexico and beyond, experiences that inspired both the album itself and its title, 'Solar Nights'.
"In recent years the world's become smaller, a more inter-connected place. It can be dark and cold here, with snow all around, and the next day I can be playing to people on a beach. Somewhere on the planet it's always daytime or summer, but beyond that day and night just blend into each other these days," Tim explains. "We have daytime discos so you can go and party while the sun is still high in the sky, and you can go and hit the gym at night. Beit day or night, Satin Jackets is your soundtrack."
And what a soundtrack it is, from the first chords of opening 'Welcome Back' it's clear we're in safe hands here, the warm pads, delicate guitars and pianos providing the perfect introduction to the album. Whether it's the slow burning seductive pop of tracks like 'Just Like You', piano led house tracks like 'String It Again', the Balearic haze of 'All For You' or bonafide hits like the Nordic inspired 'Northern Lights' and 'Mirage' that between them have already scored well over 10 million streams across streaming platforms, 'Solar Nights' takes everything we loved from 'Panorama Pacifico' and polishes it to an ultra high sheen.
And in an age when rough and raw production is seen as an easy shorthand for authenticity, Tim's love of über-smooth production has made him an unlikely iconoclast, "I had always been fascinated by how glossy people like Nile Rodgers made their music," he reveals. "It always sounded like the musical equivalent of a fashion magazine's cover. I'd been making more underground music for a while but really wanted to go in totally the other direction and instead create a really smooth, polished sound."
That obsession with sonic fidelity shines through across every track on 'Solar Nights', and the years since his debut was released have been well spent perfecting his craft. "Even in just the last couple of years I've made some big changes in how I produce music. Compared to my debut, everything under the hood has changed here," he explains. "Every day, with every production, I'm learning new things and when I listen to these new tracks, the depth in the mixes, the clarity, I like to think of 'Solar Nights' as Satin Jackets but in 3D."
From wanting to recreate the sound of magazine covers to appearing on them, the past few years has been quite some journey for the still enigmatic producer. The man behind the golden mask may prefer to stay out of sight but 'Solar Nights' reveals him to be fully in control, producing music that reflects the glamour and glitz of 70s Manhattan, artfully updated for the 21st century.
Frankfurt’s Max Buchalik is in the early phases of his production career but has many years of experience throwing parties in his hometown, where he is a pioneering force. With his deep understanding of dancefloor dynamics, he now pairs his love of the 80s with rich sound designs on his debut release for Brooklyn-based imprint Melodize.
Opener ‘Higher State’ is a bright house cut awash with sugary, pixelated chords and twinkling pads. Its retro-future charms and colourful, uplifting arps all serve to get hands in the air and heads amongst the stars. Remixer Venice Arms is an alias of accomplished dark disco don Curses, who has long been a fixture in the Berlin underground. His take on ‘Higher State’ is a snappy proto-house cut with 80s synth work and natty chords that are busy and full of fun.
The second original ‘Midnight Passion’ is another vibrant track with throwback synth progressions and retro textures. The melodies shine bright as they rain down over snappy drums and melancholic leads packed with exciting emotions. Remixing this one is Italian DJ, producer and label owner Fabrizio Mammarella, who has a fine discography that takes in releases on DFA, Permanent Vacation and Correspondant, as well as his own Slow Motion Music, Wrong Era Records and Emet. His lively disco-house version is lit up with shiny chords, chattery percussive patterns, woodpecker-like hits, and sustained chords that will dazzle the dance floor.
Nigerian electronic musician and violist Ibukun Sunday debuts on Phantom Limb with Harmony / Balance, a brooding, introspective take on Afro-ambient music that follows two acclaimed digital-only albums for Phantom Limb imprint Spirituals.
Based in Lagos, Ibukun Sunday has expertly positioned himself between the rarely-married cultures of ambient and West African musics. He entwines his compositions with field recordings from his native Nigeria and deeply considered philosophies of existence, humanity, and society. The themes of Harmony / Balance derive from Swami and Hare Krishna founder A. C. Bhaktivedanta and his work Bhagavad-Gita Eng: “As It Is”, a script on the duality of human nature. In Bhaktivedanta’s text, two cousins - warriors from the sacred Hindu text the Mahābhārata - and their armies are pitted against each other. The humility, self control, and devotion of one cousin against the arrogance, envy, and pursuit of power of the other. Bhaktivedanta writes that from this battle we see the necessity to cultivate and nurture our love and faith, but to simultaneously understand our selfishness and hubris. Appropriately, in Ibukun Sunday’s music, a heavy, apocalyptic dread contrasts fascinatingly with passages of light. The static-spiked, corrosive sound design of Harmony / Balance conjures darkness, but its skipping rhythmic patterns and melodic contours are made of beautifully vibrant colours.
Though Sunday excels in the kind of drawn-out elegance also found in the work of Kali Malone, William Basinski or Fennesz, and also in a magisterial repetition akin to Terry Riley or Manuel Göttsching, his unique practice, classical training, and core culture shine through in a pure and singular way. Scattered throughout Harmony / Balance are unexpected melodic antiphonies closely aligned with African music, interspersed between huge, spacious drones and field recordings.
Lead track “Arrayed On The Battlefield” evokes mythical and deific wars with hissing, buzzing synthesis that could be dystopian if not for a levitational, sunlit harmonic structure. It rolls and shimmers, transcendent frequencies alive with rhythm. Later, “Enemy Of My Enemy” employs shimmering, meditative chord pads and blissful negative space, while towards the end of the record, “To Fight With” could have been taken from a Denis Villeneuve sci-fi - the fizzing, fiery distortion at its peak gradually, carefully yields a rumbling, distant thunder as it closes. Throughout the record, Sunday’s education as a classical viola player is also evident. A honed musicality and developed ear for harmonic resonances lend the work a measured eloquence, even amidst deep, spiritual intuitiveness. This intensely personal and powerfully expressive creativity is key to the grace with which he crosses divides.
Ibukun Sunday is a solo electronic musician and violist based in Lagos, Nigeria. He has released two albums with Phantom Limb’s digital-only imprint Spirituals, which enjoyed rightful acclaim as unique and powerful works of experimental ambient music. He also performed at Phantom Limb’s 5th anniversary celebrations in 2023, playing alongside Richard Skelton at St. John’s on Bethnal Green in London, UK.
Dark Entries again shines a spotlight on bathhouse disco don Patrick Cowley with a newly remastered release of Kickin’ In. Although Cowley tragically passed from AIDS-related illness in 1982, he left an extensive archive of unreleased tapes, many of which Dark Entries has had the honor of releasing. While working as a lighting technician at The City, SF’s disco cabaret, Cowley saw rising star Frank Loverde perform. Cowley asked Loverde to contribute vocals to some material in progress, and Frank, Linda Imperial, and Peggy Gibbons joined Cowley in the studio. The resulting songs included “Kickin’ In,” a 9-minute cybernetic disco stormer that taps into the essence of Cowley’s hi-NRG sound: equal parts spaced out and zoned in on the dancefloor. In May 1978 Cowley joined Loverde on stage at The City to perform “Kickin’ In” as they opened for disco diva Sylvester.
“Kickin’ In” was initially released in 2015 via Honey Soundsystem who found the tapes in the basement of Megatone Records owner John Hedges. This newly remastered version was made possible due to the discovery of the original multi-track recordings of "Kickin’ In," allowing for a fresh mixdown by Jim Hopkins as well as the creation of a new instrumental version. Also included are two impeccably sleazy Cowley jams recorded in 1980, “Thief of Love” and “Make It Come Loose.” Cowley narrates excerpts from his erotic journals on these raunchy slow-burners, capturing the vibe of SF’s leather bars and backrooms. “Thief of Love” features frequent Cowley collaborator Paul Parker on background vocals. This reissue of Kickin’ In includes features an illustration by Gwenaël Rattke that originally appeared Cowley’s erotic journal, Mechanical Fantasy Box, as well as a postcard with lyrics. “Patrick parted the veil and entered a dark world of forbidden vices, wondrous musical panoramas and bold, strident, hopeful possibilities. Patrick brought the future to us and laid it at our feet.” – David Diebold, Tribal Rites
2024 Reissue
Dark Entries celebrates its 15th anniversary by returning to where it all started, our initial darkest entry: Eleven Pond’s masterpiece Bas Relief, an ultra-obscure album from 1986 that would become a definitive dark pop holy grail. Eleven Pond was James Tabbi (vocals, acoustic guitar), Jeff Gallea (drum machine, synthesizer, vocals), Jack Schaeffer (guitar) and Dan Brumley (synthesizer, samples, vocoder, melodica). They met in Rochester, NY, while attending art school, brought together by their shared love of 4AD and Factory Records. Taking cues from acts like Joy Division, Fad Gadget, and For Against, Eleven Pond’s infectious basslines, churning guitar riffs, and atmospheric synths will charm all fans of moody music. But what really makes Bas Relief shine is the timeless songwriting on classics like “Tear and Cinnamon”, “Portugal”, and the anthemic “Watching Trees.”
With only 500 copies in it’s initial release, Bas Relief resurfaces with a fresh remaster that corrects a pitch shift from previous reissues. Each copy is housed in a screen printed jacket, like the 1986 edition, and includes a lyric sheet, two postcards and a bookmark. Bas Relief is a true lost relic of the cold 80’s and an essential piece Dark Entries history.
Hospital Records’ jazz-infused drum & bass supplier and Goldfat Records co-founder Mitekiss drives into 2021 with his ‘Night Bus Stories’ EP, with four brand new tracks that are some of his best work to date.
Following on from the triumph of his ‘Objects To Push’ EP which received support from legendary figures including LTJ Bukem and DJ Fresh, Mitekiss’ latest release is profound and from the heart.
’City Angels (feat. Milo Merah & RSWT)’ beckons with sombre guitar licks and piano chord progressions drenched in melancholy. Milo Merah lays down captivatingly sincere vocals as he proves himself to be one of London’s rising musical talents. Nottingham born and bred, MC and vocalist RSWT showcases his deep-rooted musical ability as his vivid bars are flawlessly intertwined amongst Mitekiss’ orchestral strings.
Trickling ride cymbals and soulful keys set the scene on ‘Rain (Falling Down)’ as Mitekiss’ love for jazz eminently shines through. Mr Porter graces the track with a sublime vocal hook which drifts above delicate drums and off-beat bass notes.
In honour of the night bus on which he was a frequent traveller, Mitekiss exposes his deeper and darker side on ‘N68’. Tearout breaks, moody synth drones and a ruthless bassline make a mind-bending sonic imprint demonstrating Mitekiss’ diverse range of production mastery.
Teaming up with esteemed talent Javeon who’s no stranger to vocalling an array of drum & bass anthems, ‘Ring Alarms’ is a raw and irresistible stepper that encompasses enchanting melodies and warm flourishes.
Beyond his latest ‘Night Bus Stories’ EP, Mitekiss continues to demonstrate his taste-making abilities through the running of his very own label, Goldfat Records, which has proven to be ahead of the curve by putting out some of the most forward-thinking and sonically diverse drum & bass this year. With previous releases also on Shogun Audio, Skankandbass and his own Goldfat imprint, Mitekiss is building up a solid discography which is guaranteed to set the precedent for the sounds of tomorrow.
ReKab's Cyborg Romance EP is a sci-fi journey into the realms of electronic music, featuring the producer's talent and versatility in full effect. The title track, 'Cyborg Romance,' with the angelic synths and a symphonic homage to artificial intelligence, is pure space sex. The mid-tempo electro beats offer a lush, euphoric experience that blends an 80s vibe with futuristic sounds. 'Minimal Mind dives deeper with deep bass hits, soft Detroit keys, and a melodic, soothing atmosphere. There's a poignant and gentle touch to this track, adding depth to ReKab's sonic landscape. On Side-2, 'Twisted Space' takes listeners on a trek through deeper, dub-infused chords, evoking images of space travel and exploration. The track has a techy undertone and a fast-paced rhythm that adds to its cosmic feel. Closing things out is 'Downtime,' an acid-tinged symphonic electro piece that adds a darker, more serious tone to the collection. Overall, Cyborg Romance shines with ReKab's ability to explore different styles and moods within his music, demonstrating a varied style palette. The balance of dancefloor focus and deep listening is a winning combination. Drawing comparisons to electro legends like E.R.P., Cignol, and Carl Finlow, ReKab maintains a techno aesthetic rooted in the UK-Detroit second wave sound. This record is Hot! Hot! Hot!
In 1971, Atlantic Records released a pair of Dusty Springfield singles produced by the legendary songwriter/producer Jeff Barry (one-time songwriting and romantic partner of Ellie Greenwich, and author of too many hits to name): “Haunted”/”Nothing Is Forever” and “I Believe In You”/”Someone Who Cares.” A restless Dusty, freshly relocating to America from her native England, then departed the label and left an additional 9 songs recorded with Barry in the can, where they stayed until Rhino issued one track, “Faithful” (in mono), as a bonus track on the 1990s CD release of Dusty’s 1970 Atlantic album A Brand New Me. The other tracks didn’t surface until a subsequent deluxe reissue of Dusty’s landmark 1969 album Dusty in Memphis included them as bonus cuts.
Then, reissue producer Jim Pierson—who tracked down the missing masters after being lost for over two decades —assembled Dusty’s Barry-produced masters and put them together in a single package for the first time to create the third Dusty Springfield Atlantic Records album as planned in 1971. Real Gone Music’s release of Faithful on LP presents these historic Barry-Springfield collaborations exactly as they were originally intended to be heard, with the 12 tracks meant for the album release out on vinyl over 50 years later. All tracks are in stereo, while the liner notes on the new gatefold spread, penned by The Second Disc’s Joe Marchese, feature a number of rarely-seen photos of the legendary singer. These stunning pop, soul and gospel flavored selections showcase the iconic singer at the height of her vocal magic. A missing/ jumbled part of Dusty’s august recorded legacy, finally set right and available in its intended format. Out on metallic gold and purple “royalty” vinyl as befitting The Queen of Blue-Eyed Soul…limited to 1500 copies!
Two years after the release of the Polarius EP Inner Voices Of A Clown, Danny Wolfers returns to Altered Circuits, this time under his best-known alias Legowelt, for Ruins Of Cracktopolis: a collection of "hymns to survive the dystopian circus of today's techno scene" in the artist's own words. On Do You Know Who You Never Be, a short staccato lead and dark chords revolve around a monolithic kick drum pattern that takes care of the cadence and bass. A mysterious vocoder and a laser sequence that gets torn and twisted to the max join, but the track never loses its steady pace - it gets help from shakers so much mixed to the front they could be lifted from a B'more track.
Amidst the effervescing 303 lines and bold drum sequences of In A Trance Dance All Night" Wolfers finds a canvas for a stretched synthesizer jam with eighties breaking allure. This melody, together with the pads and vocal, are drenched in reverb - they float like mist ascending from the The Hague dunes. Throughout Ruins Of Cracktopolis, more vintage Dutch West Coast, the hiss-laden broken beat that guides the bass sequences and ominous blippy synth patterns switches to a 4/4 structure and back. These make for captivating shifts in pace while the minor progressions continue unfolding. Like Twin Peaks targets prime energy once the arpeggiator sequence present from the start lowers an octave. The track runs smooth like a pomade slick-back; it's only tempered slightly when the crunchy kick and tom change place for a moody chord sequence break. Even if these four tracks target the club, they are equally suited for - quoting Wolfers again - "leisurely home listening". Their greatest strengths are, as so often, their melodic aspects.
The artist is known to be a synthesizer aficionado, but his unique personal touch immediately shines through no matter which gear he works with. The machines never seem to dominate the composing process; quite the opposite: it's as if he isn't programming or registering as much as trying to teach them his take on electronic music.
Joanna Gemma Auguri releases her new album "Hiraeth" on 28th June via Duchess Box Records Joanna Gemma Auguri is a Berlin musician, songwriter and actress. In the various stages ofher musical solo and band projects, she incorporates influences from folk, ambient andavant-garde music.Being five years old she escaped with her parents from Poland, which was under martial law,and had to learn at an early age what uprooting means. This experience is reflected in her music as an expression of personal sadness, compassion, but also despair about the state of the world.2021 she released her solo debut "11" on her own label Lavender Music. It was mainly characterized by accordion, zitherand her vocals. Her new album "Hiraeth" was recorded at Candy Bomber Studios in Berlin by Ingo Krauss, with a large number of musicians. Besides choir, double bass, lap steel guitar, drums, cello, horns , different organs and keyboards her original instruments accordion and zither still shine through from time to time. Joanna's voice sits unmistakable on top of the majestic,nearly monumental compositions which despite their richness always stay basic and delicate. "Hiraeth" is an untranslatable Welsh word that describes the longing for a home, a place or a feeling that no longer exists or never existed.The album will be released June 2024 on Duchess Box from Berlin.
A1 - Blue Sky
Opening with a clean, DJ-friendly Hot Pants break, Blue Sky offers the listener a subtle, warming production with inquisitive synth work creeping around a fine selection of serene effects, panning excitedly across a pristine, polished field. Utilising light orchestral strings, a soft undertone bassline and wistful twilight sounds, Aural Imbalance blends danceable breakbeats with the soothing sounds of yesteryear as fluidly as ever.
A2 - Starburst
Starburst jumps straight into a tight, energetic beat pattern constructed with old school breaks and an off-key bassline, soon joined by eerie, spectral pads to gradually build an ethereal, other-worldly vibe. The composition is elevated by arising symphony of swirling blippy melodies, expressing a nervy and curious tone with detail and harmony before the beat recedes, allowing the melodies to shine alone in the dreamy outro.
AA1 - Frozen Tears
Aural Imbalance conjures a quietly grandiose track with Frozen Tears, driven by muffled keys and thick hi-hats in the intro before a luscious, meditative melody enters the mix. Intricate breakbeats with a suitably understated bassline accompany the fading and echoing synthetic strings, rich pads and subtle bells, producing a beautifully varied spectrum of sound, perfect for the Spatial record box.
AA2 - Moonlit Clouds
A distinctive, impeccably produced Helicopter break takes center stage with Moonlit Clouds, a deftly relaxing ambient aura floating overhead as synths and knowing melodies slowly weave their way into your psyche like shimmering fireflies seizing the moment in the dark. A low sub bassline permeates the depths to complete a collage of euphony to round off another special EP from Aural Imbalance.
Words by Chris Hayes Spatial/Red Mist
- A1: She Never Wrote Back
- A2: With You I Still Feel Alone
- A3: Dressed Up Ausländer
- A4: (Bolt) Golden Hour At Sisters
- A5: Crashed
- B1: Just Pretend To Be Someone Else
- B2: I'm Poster Syndrome
- B3: Bubble Life
- B4: 4Real
- B5: Closed Eyes
- C1: Other, Like Me
- C2: Methodology #17
- C3: Boy On A Swing
- C4: I Have A Keen Interest
- D1: In A Place Like This
- D2: Mark Up
- D3: I Am An Artist
Experience the sonic journey that is The Black Dog's latest album, "Other, Like Me," as they delve into the intricacies of the artist's psyche, questioning the very essence of individuality and creative worth. The album invites listeners to confront darker thoughts about self-identity, imposter syndrome, and the relentless pursuit of creative value, all while celebrating the joy found in the act of artistic creation. In this introspective exploration, The Black Dog challenge both themselves and their audience, creating a musical experience that is profoundly personal and open to interpretation. The themes woven throughout the album are a poignant counterpoint between the shadows of self-doubt and the exuberance of creative expression. It's an inward exploration, offering a place of solace for listeners to find comfort amid the chaos of external influences. The album's title, "Other, Like Me", draws inspiration from an interview with Cosey Fanni Tutti in 1999, resonating deeply with The Black Dog's outsider perspective. The phrase encapsulates the essence of the album, reflecting the band's unique identity and shared experiences, while respecting each member's individual passions and interests. Navigating the waters of cognitive dissonance, The Black Dog bring an authenticity to their music that mirrors the internal and external conflicts of the contemporary music scene. With a commitment to stripping back layers and allowing the heart of each song to shine through, "Other, Like Me" offers a raw and unfiltered musical experience that speaks directly to the soul. It's an invitation to introspection, a celebration of independence, and a testament to the power of authentic artistic expression.
THE 1968 ALBUM ON WHICH JOHNNY CASH BECAME A LEGEND: AT FOLSOM PRISON AMONG THE MOST IMPORTANT AND POTENT STATEMENTS OF THE 20TH CENTURY
Johnny Cash already knew his way around Folsom Prison when he and his band stepped inside the institution’s forbidding walls on the morning of January 13, 1968 to record At Folsom Prison. He’d played there two years prior. But this time was different.
Cash took the stage that day for two shows amid a darkening sociopolitical atmosphere and a raging war in Vietnam, as well as the knowledge his career and health hung on by a thread. The Arkansas native shared many of the long odds and abject failures of the inmates for which he performed. The songs he chose, and the conviction with which he delivered them, say as much. The point at which Cash transformed from a country star into a legendary artist, and a bold statement about the American prison state and its commitment to rehabilitation, the triple-platinum At Folsom Prison remains one the most important, potent, and fabled records of the 20th century.
You can hear it echo off the walls of the room; pulse through the itchiness of the Tennessee Three’s acoustic-based boom-chick rhythms; crackle in the announcements conveyed over the intercom; ring in the comedy of the off-cuff remarks and pair of novelty tunes; sense it in palpable energy that wells up within Cash and his audience. And you can experience it like never before via Cash’s knockout singing. The bedrock foundation of all his music, the singer’s baritone resonates with profound degrees of depth, pliability, and passion that underscore how much this appearance meant to him — and the extent he was living the narratives.
Indeed, every song on At Folsom Prison serves a purpose and speaks to the conditions — mental, emotional, physical, geographical, legal, social — the inmates confronted on a daily basis. Beginning with the explicit messages of the opening “Folsom Prison Blues,” Cash makes it clear he understands and shares many of their plights. Not for nothing did the myth of Cash having done hard time persist for decades once this record hit the streets. That’s how real it is, and how dedicated Cash remains to conveying every note with the same truth he invests in the impromptu comments he makes between and amid songs.
Listen to the sorrow, regret, pity, and loneliness of Merle Travis’ “Dark as the Dungeon,” Cash pulling syllables til they threaten to break and inhabiting the mood of bleak phrases such as “pleasures are few” and “the sun never shines.” Witness the isolation, dejection, and sadness punctuating the walking-blues “I Still Miss Someone,” matched in gravity by a solemn reading of “The Long Black Veil” — a traditional dirge that involves murder, cheating, and deception. Cash cuts even deeper on a heartbreaking solo rendition of “Send a Picture of Mother” and plainspoken version of Harlan Howard’s “The Wall,” detailing a suicide disguised as jailbreak through cliched-jaw deliveries that softly curse the impossible situation.
In chronicling temptations, mistakes, mortality, punishment, and life “inside” — for better or worse, the stories of the disenfranchised, forgotten, written-off, and unrepentant — At Folsom Prison also has a blast playing the outlaw role. Cash captures wild-eyed craziness and out-of-control mayhem on a revved-up take of “Cocaine Blues,” taking extra satisfaction in its dastardly tales by way of voice that shifts into character for the sheriff and judge. The gallows humor and racing drama of “25 Minutes to Go”; quicksilver accents and resigned acceptance of “I Got Stripes”; train-whistle blare and twangy locomotion of “Folsom Prison Blues” — all fight the law only to see the law win.
Cash remains deeply committed at every moment, and inseparably connected with the tortured souls removed from the goings-on of the outside world. No wonder all but two songs here stem from the day’s first performance that saw Cash, Luther Perkins, Marshall Grant, and company give everything. As does the Man in Black’s soon-to-be-wife, June Carter. The couple’s fiery duet on “Jackson” scorches; their combination of surrender and fortitude “Give My Love to Rose” puts us in the dying protagonist’s shoes.
And with the closing “Greystone Chapel,” famously penned by convict Glen Sherley, who watched it all happen under the watchful eye of guards, Cash separates the corporeal from the spiritual, relaying lessons about salvation and survival. Heady themes to which he’d return for the remainder of his illustrious career.
The current lineup of New Haven's long running Mountain Movers (guitarist/vocalist Dan Greene, bassist Rick Omonte, guitarist Kr yssi Battalene, & drummer Ross Menze) have been playing together for over a decade now, making their recorded debut on a slew of singles released from 2011-2013, but it wasn't until 2015's "Death Magic" (released on New Haven label Safety Meeting) that the potential of that iteration of the group became clear; Mountain Movers are a force of nature. The camaraderie & sensitivity to each others playing has only grown over time, cr ystallizing on the group's trio of albums for Trouble In Mind; 2017's eponymous "Mountain Movers" served as a reintroduction of the group to a larger audience, while 2018's "Pink Skies" raged like a group confident in its strengths, and 2020's prescient "World What World" - written & recorded before the world shut down - slightly shifted focus away from the jams & back toward the weight of guitarist/songwriter Dan Greene's poetic tales of magical realism. The band's ninth album "Walking After Dark" finds a happy medium between both aspects of the band's strengths; Greene's lyrical compositions and the group's long-form improvised jams. To those that are tuned in, that feeling of communion is evident in the Movers' playing. The members swap & cycle effortlessly through instruments without missing a beat, utilizing the downtime of lockdown to write & record every jam in their practice space. Those piles of tapes would eventually get edited & sequenced into "Walking After Dark", a tour-de-force double-album that balances fried, stony brilliance with outré excursions of experimental serenity. Consider the opening track "Bodega On My Mind" that ambles in like a road-worn traveller, its lysergic folk strums peppered with acidic lead lines from Battalene's Telecaster, eventually giving way to "The Sun Shines On The Moon, where the group's sizzling guitars are buoyed by Omonte's pillowy bass & Menze's percussion. From there on out, tracks like "Factory Dream" give the listener a taste of The Movers' modus operandi here; a mixture of (more) traditional song craft interspersed between long-form, improvised pieces of modern psychedelia. The group shuffles through instruments; synths, drum machines, auto-harp, various forms of percussion (and whatever else was laying around) as well as the trad guitar/bass/drums configuration to craft a suite of songs that - while not necessarily similar in composition - feel unified in their overall sonic scope. Tracks like the 14-minute "Reclamation Yard", whose deep-space electronic pulse is juxtaposed against side C opener "See The City "s persistent acoustic strum that showcase similar ideas of the `spirituality ' of losing ones self in repetition, but executed differently. In many ways "Walking After Dark"s duality feels like a merger of "On The Beach"-era Neil Young & the collective freak-outs of Amon Düül, taking inspiration in the `incorporeality ' of free music and lacing it with Greene's hazy, haunting lyricism and is an exciting step forward for a band that's already a few steps ahead. "Walking After Dark" is released on black double-vinyl in a full color gatefold jacket & includes an insert with artwork & lyrics by member Dan Greene.
Splattered Vinyl - Limited Edition of 200 - Includes free digital download code for Bandcamp!
On this Remix album, nine visionary producers are taking Florian Meindl's latest tracks into various directions on a journey.
Umwelt delivers a hard-hitting synth treatment, while Shaleen injects a housy, sexy touch into the mix.
Volpe channels the essence of Detroit influenced Techno, Beau Didier unleashes a relentless hardgroove rework, and Decka infuses dub techno vibes into the composition.
Janzon's exceptional vocal work shines through and Schott keeps it classic and pounding as well as GAEL with her dark vibe, while Garb adds a mesmerizing psy-techno leaning touch.
This limited edition splattered vinyl release is not just about the music but also features stunning artwork that complements the album's diverse vibe - one side of each record is missing the paper label so the splattered colors can be seen in the middle of the vinyl.
Pull the Rope, the new record by Ibibio Sound Machine, casts the Eno Williams and Max Grunhard-led outfit in a new light. The hope, joy, and sexiness of their music remain, but, further honing the edge of their acclaimed 2022 album Electricity, the connection they aim to foster has shifted venues from the sunny buoyancy of a sunlit festival to a sweat-soaked, all-night dance club. Williams and Grunhard attribute this shift to a matter of collaborators, recording Pull the Rope with Sheffield-based producer Ross Orton (Arctic Monkeys, M.I.A.) over the course of two weeks. The way the pair wrote songs changed significantly_rather than Eno penning lyrics to music generated by Max and company's jamming, Orton started with Eno and Max writing together before adding the band. With less time in the studio and a new way of considering how they built songs, the duo found making decisions about Pull the Rope's sound quicker and more instinctual than before. "Ross is from Sheffield, which has an edgier, more industrial vibe than London," Grunhard explains. "He hears things differently than us, is more grounded in rave and grungier sounds, and knew when to add drums or push the instrumentation more. It was very different for us, but it lends itself to where Ibibio Sound Machine is going." In melding their songwriting process, Grunhard and Williams have, impossibly, pulled the trick of making Ibibio Sound Machine a tighter band than ever before, building out from their core in a way that highlights the electrifying group of musicians they play with. Rather than recording with the full band in the room, Pull the Rope was sculpted, elements added and shaped by Grunhard, Williams, and Orton along the way. As a result, Pull the Rope is a nimble, sleek machine that's thrilling from the first note of the opening title track, Eno's otherworldly voice and PK Ambrose's throbbing bass driving through a kaleidoscopic array of house, post-punk, funk, Afrobeat and disco, bangers and ballads, making an argument for unity that begins on the dancefloor. "We are the places we grew up, the places we've been, and the people we've met along the way," Williams says. "Hopping around the globe, we've found that people are fundamentally the same_they're people. Opposing sides push and pull, but there is an alternative to war, violence, and suffering." Lead single "Got to Be Who U Are" literally globetrots, name checking locales across the world that would feel disparate were it not for how well-traveled they are. Eno growing up in the musical melting pot of the Ibibio region of Nigeria and Max being a conservatory-trained musician from Australia, one could call their meeting in London and formation of Ibibio Sound Machine predestined. "Mama Say" and "Let My Yes Be Yes" touch themes of female empowerment. They're indicative of the band's depth as they push further into the electronic; "Mama Say" hits notes of electropop while "Let My Yes Be Yes" fuses electro to Afrobeat. Ibibio Sound Machine have always imbued their music with political consciousness, and the light that shines through in Williams' vocals and voice has never felt more necessary. The sound of Pull the Rope, then, is hope in darkness, bliss in spite of bleakness. Once again, Ibibio Sound Machine are here to provide the soundtrack to the best night of your life, and the better world to come.
Pull the Rope, the new record by Ibibio Sound Machine, casts the Eno Williams and Max Grunhard-led outfit in a new light. The hope, joy, and sexiness of their music remain, but, further honing the edge of their acclaimed 2022 album Electricity, the connection they aim to foster has shifted venues from the sunny buoyancy of a sunlit festival to a sweat-soaked, all-night dance club. Williams and Grunhard attribute this shift to a matter of collaborators, recording Pull the Rope with Sheffield-based producer Ross Orton (Arctic Monkeys, M.I.A.) over the course of two weeks. The way the pair wrote songs changed significantly_rather than Eno penning lyrics to music generated by Max and company's jamming, Orton started with Eno and Max writing together before adding the band. With less time in the studio and a new way of considering how they built songs, the duo found making decisions about Pull the Rope's sound quicker and more instinctual than before. "Ross is from Sheffield, which has an edgier, more industrial vibe than London," Grunhard explains. "He hears things differently than us, is more grounded in rave and grungier sounds, and knew when to add drums or push the instrumentation more. It was very different for us, but it lends itself to where Ibibio Sound Machine is going." In melding their songwriting process, Grunhard and Williams have, impossibly, pulled the trick of making Ibibio Sound Machine a tighter band than ever before, building out from their core in a way that highlights the electrifying group of musicians they play with. Rather than recording with the full band in the room, Pull the Rope was sculpted, elements added and shaped by Grunhard, Williams, and Orton along the way. As a result, Pull the Rope is a nimble, sleek machine that's thrilling from the first note of the opening title track, Eno's otherworldly voice and PK Ambrose's throbbing bass driving through a kaleidoscopic array of house, post-punk, funk, Afrobeat and disco, bangers and ballads, making an argument for unity that begins on the dancefloor. "We are the places we grew up, the places we've been, and the people we've met along the way," Williams says. "Hopping around the globe, we've found that people are fundamentally the same_they're people. Opposing sides push and pull, but there is an alternative to war, violence, and suffering." Lead single "Got to Be Who U Are" literally globetrots, name checking locales across the world that would feel disparate were it not for how well-traveled they are. Eno growing up in the musical melting pot of the Ibibio region of Nigeria and Max being a conservatory-trained musician from Australia, one could call their meeting in London and formation of Ibibio Sound Machine predestined. "Mama Say" and "Let My Yes Be Yes" touch themes of female empowerment. They're indicative of the band's depth as they push further into the electronic; "Mama Say" hits notes of electropop while "Let My Yes Be Yes" fuses electro to Afrobeat. Ibibio Sound Machine have always imbued their music with political consciousness, and the light that shines through in Williams' vocals and voice has never felt more necessary. The sound of Pull the Rope, then, is hope in darkness, bliss in spite of bleakness. Once again, Ibibio Sound Machine are here to provide the soundtrack to the best night of your life, and the better world to come.
- Dodge The Rain|The Gentle Spring (Previously In The Field Mice)
- Just Who Are The Cockleshell Heroes?|Action Painting!
- Alone Tonight|The Catenary Wires (Previously In Heavenly)
- Apple Tree|The Hit Parade
- Look Alive!|Jetstream Pony (Previously In Aberdeen)
- Everything Is Real|Soundwire (Previously In The Sweetest Ache)
- The Branch Line|Leaf Mosaic (Previously In The Springfields)
- Captivate This Broken Love|Secret Shine
- Beauty, You Will Break Us All
- Double Ninth|Gnac (Previously In St Christopher)
- Chemistry|Tufthunter (Previously In Heavenly)
- In This, The...|Useless Users (Previously Action Painting/Secret Shine)
- A Final Love Song| The Orchids
- Wake The Silver Dancing Waves|Wandering Summer (Previously In Boyracer)
- Open Your Eyes|Mystic Village (Previously In The Sea Urchins)
- Unknown Frequencies|Boyracer
- Pamela|Robert Sekula (Previously In Fourteen Iced Bears)
- Laugh...|Vetchinsky Settings (Previously The Orchids/St Christopher)
- Burnout '23|St Christopher
- June In Her Eyes|Sepiasound (Previously In Blueboy)
Second Compilation Of New Music By Ex-Sarah Records Bands! Under The Bridge 2 is the sequel to the celebrated 2022 compilation album that reunited groups and songwriters who had once recorded for cult label Sarah Records. The new album showcases the continuing creativity of a special group of musicians who have never rested on their laurels. Bigger and more expansive than the first album, Under the Bridge 2 is a double LP, containing twenty brand new tracks. There is a huge range of material here, from intense, dark chamber pop to dense shoegaze to out-and-out indiepop. Exciting new groups are unveiled: The Gentle Spring (a new project by Michael Hiscock of The Field Mice); Vetchinsky Settings (a collaboration between Mark Tranmer and James Hackett of The Orchids); and Mystic Village (which features new songs by Robert Cooksey of The Sea Urchins). You will also see familiar starry names like Even As We Speak, The Orchids and Secret Shine - bands whose line-ups have remained mostly unchanged since the 1990s. And there are established bands who didn't appear on the first album but are now represented - bands like Action Painting! and The Hit Parade. Most of the tracks are exclusive and unreleased: there's the first new song from The Catenary Wires since 2021, a brand new fizzbomb from Jetstream Pony, a haunting instrumental from GNAC. The emphasis of Under The Bridge is on the new. The bands' shared history means they have a shared aesthetic, even a shared ethos - they all believe that the future is more important than the past. They are as independent and as uncompromising as ever, but they are still uncynical - and still excited about what Pop Music can be. Under The Bridge 2 is available as ltd vinyl double LP, CD and digital download. It will not be on streaming sites. CDs and LPs include a 12 respectively 24-page illustrated colour booklet.
Anjunabeats is pleased to announce the self-titled debut album from JODA, aka Jono Grant and Darren Tate. JODA are a fresh musical pairing with shared DNA. Both together and apart, Jono Grant and Darren Tate have been there, done that and bought the vintage synth gear to celebrate.
Grant is one-third of Above & Beyond who, over the course of a two-decade career, have established themselves as one of the biggest electronic groups in the world. Eight studio albums (including one as vocal trance group OceanLab and two acoustic reworks), 17 compilation albums, a film score and nearing 100 singles speak to an output as varied as it is prodigious.
Their label Anjunabeats is home to a bustling community of artists with over twenty years of catalogue. As a classically trained musician, songwriter, producer and hitmaker, Tate is an OG Top of the Pops-botherer. In the early Noughties, at the outset of his career, he appeared on the show three times, once with Angelic, his collaboration with Judge Jules and the latter’s wife, performing classic trance banger It’s My Turn, then twice under the name Jurgen Vries.
The following years saw more musical adventures, more Top 40 UK hits (12 in total) and more pseudonyms, including the trance-facing DT8 Project. In 2003, the pair managed to sync their schedules to work on a couple of tracks, ‘Let The Light Shine In’ and ‘Nocturnal Creatures’. Clearly, there was chemistry here. But as the pair’s respective careers subsequently took them off round the world in opposite directions, reconnecting other than fleetingly was never easy. Then in 2019 Tate returned to his trance roots and signed to Anjunabeats for his DT8 Project releases.
During the 1990s Shizuka self-released a series of four cassettes, barely heard by anyone outside of their inner circle. Culling together live recordings and home demos, these served as companions to the scant amount of proper Shizuka releases at the time (including the recently reissued Heavenly Persona). Concentric Circles is proud to present the third and most anomalous cassette from Shizuka, simply titled III, on vinyl for the first time in an edition of 500 copies. Formed by guitarist and singer Shizuka Miura, alongside husband Maki Miura, who’d previously played with both Les Rallizes Dénudés and Fushitsusha, the group known as Shizuka started in the early 90s with Jun Kosugi (also of Fushitsusha) on drums, and a revolving cast of bass players, including J.J. Junko, whose sole recorded appearance with the band is here on III. Devoid of any of their trademark noise and bombast, III feel distinct from their studio and live albums of the era, largely due to its fragility; haunted and spare, the songs revolve around Shizuka Miura’s gentle, unforced sighs, and Maki’s flickering, flinty guitar. The first side of the album features four songs – “For You,” “Lunatic Pearl,” “The Night When The Door Opens” and “To The Sky” – which will be well-known to Shizuka fans from previous recordings, but the drastically understated renditions here are particularly moving for their quietude and intimacy. The second half of III consists of a side-long duo session, just Shizuka and Maki Miura together at home, circling around the simplest two-chord motif for twenty minutes, Shizuka singing the most heavenly melody, strung through the sky of this lengthy improvisation. It’s an astonishingly beautiful performance, one that stills time through its becalmed repetition, pointing towards the endless forever. In this respect, it feels like an ultimate extension of Opal’s early recordings, Big Star’s 3rd or even Galaxie 500’s quietest moments. III lifts the darkness away, allowing for a softer, more gentle Shizuka to shine through, bringing with it a side to the band that most never knew existed. A lovely discovery if there ever was one.
Redrum Recordz and Fremdtunes present:
Maj Rachel - 'My Shadow Was a Nun'
With her debut "My Shadow Was a Nun", Maj Rachel creates anamalgam of soul, musique concrete, sound design experimentsand classical. She employs objects as percussion, fieldrecordings, piano, guitar, synths, violin and effects incompositions that are rich in color and contrast. Her music isabstract, paradoxical, full of emotion. At times, her voicesubmerges into a tumultuous sea of reverb and distortion, onlyto emerge in soft, bittersweet melodies. She sounds dark andeerie. She sounds romantic and whimsical. In short, it's apowerful debut album that engages the mind, heart, and gut.
This is what Maj herself says about "My Shadow Was a Nun":
"So sensitive yet so immune. Light beams shine through millionsof holes. The sun makes the black thick wall seem light grey.The light pulls apart to colors. Love feels painful yet beautiful.You are around even though you're not. A brain doesn't like tothink it's alone. Arranged sound into personal stories, all self-recorded. Because sound creates deep emotion."
- A1: Armin Van Buuren - Am I Ai? (A State Of Trance Year Mix 2023 Intro)
- A2: Gareth Emery - Missing You (Feat Maria Lynn)
- A3: Above & Beyond - 500
- A4: Armin Van Buuren - Love Is A Drug (Feat Anne Gudrun)
- A5: Dim3Nsion - Stronger Now
- A6: Armin Van Buuren & Matoma - Easy To Love (Feat Teddy Swims - Tanner Wilfong & Assaf Remix)
- A7: Estiva - Via Infinita
- A8: Aname - Escape
- A9: Super8 & Tab & Crowdplusctrl - Incomplete (Feat Jess Ball)
- A10: Miss Monique & Avira - Subterranean (Feat Luna)
- A11: Laura Van Dam - Needing You
- A12: Maor Levi & Magnificence - Let You Go
- A13: Kasia - Universal Nation
- A14: Hel Slowed & Amber Revival - If You Only Knew
- A15: Aname - Anywhere (Road Trippin’) (Road Trippin’)
- A16: Armin Van Buuren - Dayglow (Feat Stuart Crichton)
- B1: Dekkai - Firmament
- B2: Armin Van Buuren - In & Out Of Love (Feat Sharon Den Adel - Innellea Remix)
- B3: Orjan Nilsen - 9910
- B4: Armin Van Buuren - Motive
- B5: Chicane - Saltwater (Feat Moya Brennan - Ilan Bluestone Remix)
- B6: Seven Lions & Above & Beyond - Over Now (Feat Opposite The Other)
- B7: 7 Skies - Tokyo777
- B8: The Blizzard - Kalopsia (Matt Fax Remix)
- B13: Dim3Nsion - Adagio In G Minor
- B14: Giuseppe Ottaviani Vs Alex Sonata & Therio - Tears Of The Kingdom (Feat Tishmal)
- B15: Giuseppe Ottaviani & Ilan Bluestone - Futuro
- B16: Hel Slowed & That Girl - Hold Onto This
- B17: Gareth Emery - Vertigo (Feat Sarah De Warren)
- C1: Ahmed Helmy - Glitch
- C2: Ferry Corsten - Mind Trip
- C3: Cubicore - Bifrost
- C4: Lostep - Burma (Aname Am Remix)
- C5: Armin Van Buuren - Vulnerable (Feat Vanessa Campagna)
- C6: Ahmed Helmy - R4Ve 201
- C7: Achilles & Wintersix - Night Vision
- C8: Fergie - Here Comes That Sound
- C9: Dod - So Much In Love (Armin Van Buuren Remix)
- C10: Ferry Corsten - Yes Man
- C11: Ahmed Helmy & D72 - Analogy
- C12: Ben Gold & Ruben De Ronde - Bliksem
- C13: Bryan Kearney Vs Karney - Compromise
- C14: Achilles, Semblance Smile & Sharon Valerona - Never Lost
- C15: Orjan Nilsen - Xiing (Nilsix Remix)
- C16: Maarten De Jong, Frank Spector & Luca Morris - Minuetto
- C17: Asteroid - Free
- C18: Murzo - Kiss The Night
- C19: Xijaro & Pitch - Invisible (With Adara)
- B9: Luke Bond Vs M6 - Nexus
- C20: Bryan Kearney & Bo Bruce - Shine A Light
- B11: Eelke Kleijn - Time Machine
- C21: Paul Van Dyk & Ciaran Mcauley - Someone Like You
- D1: Paul Van Dyk, Marc Van Linden & Sue Mclaren - Beautiful Life (Shine Ibiza Anthem 2023)
- D2: Miyuki - Love Again Like That (Feat Tara Louise)
- D3: Xijaro & Pitch - Chasing Dreams
- D4: Binary Finary - 1998 (Victor Ruiz Remix)
- D5: Emma Hewitt Vs Roman Messer - Fallen
- D6: Will Rees Vs Asteroid - Exhilarate
- D7: Artento Divini Vs Davey Asprey Presents Adda & Ontune - Divas
- D8: Whiteout - Adsr
- D9: Mhammed El Alami - Healing
- D10: Ciaran Mcauley & Susie Ledge - You’re Never Alone (Uplifting Mix)
- D11: Driftmoon - Feel The Waves
- D12: Allen Watts & Rene Ablaze - On My Way (Feat Cari)
- D13: Xijaro & Pitch - Time (With Cari)
- D14: Trance Wax - Artificial Intelligence
- D15: John O’callaghan - Riverside
- D16: Alex Morph & Amy Wallace - Surrender
- D17: Allen Watts - Set Me Free
- D18: Giuseppe Ottaviani - Angel (Feat Faith - Yelow Remix)
- D19: Aly & Fila Vs Chapter 47 Vs Richard Bedford - Edge Of Tomorrow
- D20: Sneijder Vs Cari - You Take My Breath Away
- D21: Ben Gold - Follow The King (Feat Madelyn Monaghan - David Forbes Remix)
- D22: Solarstone - Solarcoaster (Maarten De Jong Remix)
- D23: Daxson - Who We Are
- D24: Giuseppe Ottaviani - To The Stars (A Dreamstate Anthem) (A Dreamstate Anthem)
- B10: Uufo - Energize
- B12: Armin Van Buuren & Punctual - On & On (Feat Alika)
- D25: Haliene - Reach Across The Sky (Ben Gold Remix)
- E1: Trance Wax - Ascend
- E2: Emma Hewitt Vs Xijaro & Pitch - Everlasting
- E3: Craig Connelly & Christina Novelli - Black Hole (Giuseppe Ottaviani Remix)
- E4: Andrew Rayel - One More Memory
- E5: Craig Connelly - Nathan’s Song
- E6: Armin Van Buuren, Ferry Corsten, Rank 1 & Ruben De Ronde - Destination (A State Of Trance 2024 Anthem)
- E7: Ardi - Mystical
- E8: John Askew - Aces Hi
- E9: Giuseppe Ottaviani - Conscious Mind
- E10: Armin Van Buuren & Just Us - Make It Count
- E11: Bk - Xtc Nation
- E12: Bryan Kearney - Encanta
- E13: Somna & Sarah De Warren - Satellites (Will Atkinson Remix)
- E14: Emma Hewitt Vs Daxson - Warrior
- E15: Craig Connelly & Haliene - Other Side Of The World
- E16: Ram & Cari - What Matters
- E17: Sneijder Vs Nat Conway - Everybody’s Free
- E18: John Askew - Running In The Dark
- F1: Ben Gold - Ultrasonic (Maarten De Jong Remix)
- F2: Armin Van Buuren - Computers Take Over The World (Maddix Remix)
- F3: Will Atkinson - Cosmic Heartbreak
- F4: Armin Van Buuren Vs Xoro - God Is In The Soundwaves (Feat Yola Recoba)
- F5: Armin Van Buuren & Vini Vici - When We Come Alive (Feat Alba)
- F6: Bk - You Are The Master
- F7: David Forbes - Dreamstate
F8 . Liam Melly - Energy
F9 . Armin Van Buuren - Space Case
F10 . The Obsessed - Free Yourself
F11 . Ie Shuuk & B Stylezz - Konje
F12 . Armin Van Buuren - Lose This Feeling (Maddix remix)
F13 . Armin Van Buuren - Lose This Feeling (Dimension remix)
F14 . Armin Van Buuren - AI Vs Humanity (A State Of Trance Year mix 2023 outro)
1975 was a banner year for superstar Alice Cooper with the release of the groundbreaking concept album Welcome To My Nightmare. This album showcases Cooper's theatricality, storytelling prowess, and ability to create an immersive world of horror and fantasy.
From the opening notes of the title track, "Welcome to My Nightmare," listeners are transported into a dark and twisted dreamscape. Cooper's signature blend of rock, glam, and theatricality shines throughout the album. His gritty yet melodic vocals, combined with a richly layered musical backdrop, create an atmosphere of eerie enchantment. The album's production incorporates haunting orchestral arrangements, catchy hooks, and powerful guitar riffs, crafting a sonically diverse and captivating listening experience.
Teaming up again with his longtime producer Bob Ezrin, the duo assembled some of the greatest music to go along with the David Winter-produced TV special, and in doing so, created some of his best known songs like the huge hit single "Only Women Bleed." This Top 5 single carried Welcome To My Nightmare into multiple platinum territory and forever etched the word superstar to the name of Alice Cooper.
All the hallmarks of a top-notch Analogue Productions reissue are here for you to savor: Mastered directly from the original master tape by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering and cut at 45 RPM. Pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Quality Record Pressings and RTI, and housed in tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jackets with film lamination by Stoughton Printing.
- A1: Darkland (00:39)
- A2: Tulips (02:55)
- A3: Immaculate Conception (00:46)
- A4: Love Theme No 3 (01:23)
- A5: The Owl In Daylight (00:51)
- A6: Innovative Patterns (02:24)
- A7: Osiris (00:58)
- A8: Groove Experiment No 3 (01:49)
- B1: Raincloud (03:57)
- B2: Phonic (00:48)
- B3: Love Theme No 2 (01:58)
- B4: Italian Summer (00:52)
- B5: Endless (02:11)
- B6: Wonder Theme (01:09)
- B7: Willow (01:06)
2023 Repress
Maston’s Darkland is a breezy collection of the material from the Tulips sessions that didn’t make it on to the original LP. Originally a digital-only release for those in the know in the autumn of 2018, after re-issuing Tulips in 2020 it made too much sense for Be With to give Darkland a vinyl release.
Like Tulips, Darkland was recorded mostly in Hoorn, in the Netherlands, between 2015-2017 during downtime from Frank’s touring duties with Jacco Gardner’s band. Bits were also done in Los Angeles on some extended trips back home.
The collection plays like an alternate view of Maston’s instant modern classic Tulips; a companion piece to the LP proper with similar mixture of shorter themes and more full length tracks. As Frank Maston explains: “I think Darkland is the shadow of Tulips in a way… what it might’ve been in a different universe. But the heart of Tulips beats in these songs as well and they evoke the same memories and feelings for me. I see my process playing out across these songs - lots of experimentation and trying out new techniques and sounds and just sort of going for it.”
Frank goes on: “It was all from the same pool of material, like 30+ ideas. I was making a lot of little demos… some would be more fleshed out and become songs and others would just be a cool riff and not go anywhere. When I started trying to form it all into an LP I went through all the sessions and ideas and collected the ones I thought were the most fleshed out and cohesive together as a whole. There were a fair amount of songs that were finished and in hindsight really should have been on Tulips (like what would’ve been the title track). And the rest of these songs are either very early versions of tunes that ended up on Tulips or some cool ideas that just ended up being dead ends. It definitely shows how wide my net was in the beginning before I narrowed the record down stylistically.”
Darkland opens with its ornate 39 second title-track before striding into “Tulips”, that full-length title-track that never was. It’s a real head-nod, percussive-rich electric piano stunner that would’ve been a comfortable standout on the album proper. But now this “downlifting” gem is given ample room to shine on this record.
The funky organ-led bass and drums workout “Immaculate Conception” will keep your neck gently snapping while MPC fiends go reaching for their sampler. And that’s gospel. “Love Theme No 3” cuts a breathtakingly stylish vibra-slapped swathe through the middle of the opening side before we’re startled by the pronounced bass and twinkling percussion of “The Owl In Daylight”. Charming digi-drums underpin the wonky synth (quiet-)banger “Innovative Patterns” which has a lovely melodic switch-up in the final third before the tempo (and hairs on your neck) rise on the faintly creepy yet imminently groovy “Osiris”. The gorgeously soft-focus “Groove Experiment No 3” closes out the first half in slow-mo wonderment.
The lushly melancholic “Raincloud” ushers in side B before the emotionally-stirring “Phonic” taps at the door, coming on like the long lost sister to Pet Sounds’ “Let’s Go Away For A While”. Next up, the swooning beauty “Love Theme No 2” keenly sways in front of you, growing ever more insistent and hypnotic. The too-short “Italian Summer” conjures the same flirtatious imagery as the title hints at whilst “Endless” is a fascinating “piano-pella” alternative version to “Rain Dance” from Tulips. “Wonder Theme” has a nostalgic, exotic 60s swing and album closer “Willow” is a hushed, campfire folk gem. The gently circular strumming is just magical.
Speaking to Aquarium Drunkard back in 2019 about the sessions that became Tulips, Frank noted: “I was really surprised by the lack of sunlight during my first winter in Holland, so I would call it Darkland which then became the name of the first demo I wrote during that time. It was also the working title of the record when I first started writing. Some are full songs that didn’t make the cut (including what would have been the title track), some are just ideas that I never finished.”
Whilst we were working on Darkland’s vinyl release Frank explained more specifically about the music that didn’t make it on to Tulips: “When I was putting together the tracklisting for Tulips I was already thinking that whatever didn’t make it onto the LP would be cool to release eventually somehow. The response to Tulips has been so passionate over the years that it’s nice to be able to offer another piece of that world. And for me personally it’s amazing to have more of my work out there in the world. Most common bit of feedback was that many of these songs should have been on Tulips. The odd friend says it’s much better than Tulips.”
Just like Tulips before it, Simon Francis’s vinyl mastering for Darkland has been cut at 45rpm so you can trip out to this as well at a woozy 33 1/3. The artwork too has been designed by Frank himself as a literal visual continuation of the Tulips cover.
We couldn’t possibly say whether Darkland is better than Tulips, and luckily we don’t have to decide.
COTONETE is back!
After releasing numerous and now collectable standalone singles, plus some now famous collaborations with Dimitri from Paris, 2019 saw Parisian based 8 piece, Cotonete release their first long player in 15 years! Under the guidance of Melik Bencheikh from Paris’ rare record emporium, Heart Beat Vinyl. The dark moody mover "Super-Vilains" came out to great success on Heavenly Sweetness.
After playing some packed live shows around France and the UK, including the acclaimed Sunday at Dingwalls in Camden, hosted by Gilles Peterson and Patrick Forge. Somewhere along this part of the journey, they came across the Brazilian music legend and vocal powerhouse, Di Melo. He softened their souls, and from this love affair came the album "Atemporal". Released on Favourite Recordings, this 8 track album would end up being sampled by Canadian superstar Drake, for his 2023 album ‘For All the Dogs Scary Hours
Edition’.
So now into 2024, and we have Cotonete full length number two. They’ve enlisted the producer Guts to guide them towards sunshine, groove, warmth and all the colours in his rainbow. With their tongues firmly in their cheeks, the album is titled ‘Victoire de la Musique’ - a dig at the annual French music award ceremony. Taking the band deep, producer Guts showed them new and exciting rhythms from all corners of the world. The record’s first example of this is ‘Venezuela’, a track directly inspired by the jazz funk from the great Caribbean nation.
Other key musical exploration on the record can be attributed to the late composer Francis Lai. On ‘Cinq Pour L'aventure’ - an almost 15 minute epic monster showcasing the band’s love for 70's French movies soundtracks. “L’aventure c’est l’aventure”, was a movie by one of the most famous French directors Claude Lelouch The single from the soundtrack was sung by French music superstar Johnny Halliday.
Guests are scattered very tastefully across the album, on the only cover version of the record, the Brazilian master Jorge Ben’s ‘Bebete Vãobora’, Sabrina Malheiros was invited to lend her lungs. The daughter of Azymuth’s Alex Malheiros helps join perfectly the dots from a band that are without a doubt Cotonete’s biggest influence. Brazilian jazz funk, now with an added French touch.
On ‘Day in Day Out’ a powerful performance is given from Leron Thomas on vocals and trumpet. Perhaps also known for his role as the musical director for Iggy Pop and touring member of his band. This track is an already tried and tested dance floor filler, emphasizing just how tight the band really can play - the track even found its way into BBC Music’s Craig Charles’ ‘Track Of The Year’ selection.
No record so soulful would be complete without a trip to the UK. Omar, London’s Godfather of New Soul pops in. Having recorded with artists like; Courtney Pine, Level 42 & Erykah Badu, in his distinctive smooth style, he blesses the track ‘What Did Run You For?’ The final vocal visitor is Gystere Peskine, a Parisian based musical hero, who shows off his retro future funk feels on ‘O Ceu es Preto’ - which literally translates as ‘the sky is black’ - although given the hugely uplifting and almost Gospel Soul of this Russian/Brazilian singer, he
has us seeing things far brighter.
Cotonete have endeavored to build a worldwide rainbow warrior team of merry boys and girls. Fighting the brave fight to shine light towards the fact that music will always win…. "Victoire de la Musique" - a symphony of spring, songs of the new world, a "Victory Of Music”
1000 miles away from the beating musical hearts of Rio and São Paulo in the late ‘70s, the Brazilian city of Belém gave rise to a little-known record label called Erla - Estudio Rauland. Though not prolific in its output, the label made up for it in quality and experimental offerings, with several records on the label now becoming sought-after pieces among collectors. One such release is the sublime four-track psych, MPB, rock EP by singer-songwriter Jarbas Mariz.
They say never judge a book by its cover, though on this occasion you pretty much can. The wonderful tripped-out ‘70s artwork by Baby is a sure-fire indication of the music lying within. Though the EP was recorded in ‘77, it clearly gained inspiration from the psychedelic hippy idols of the previous decade and could easily have been a soundtrack to an acid trip scene in an obscure Brazilian movie.
Low-fi and quirky, there are moments of beauty and splendour but also hints of darkness; with a sublime balance of music and styles throughout. At points Jarbas will have you drifting through a folk flute daydream, the next moment a growling, psych-distorted guitar breaks and parts the calm. An ability to make those elements blend cohesively is where Jarbas’ true brilliance shines through.
Jarbas played, and still plays, with some of the key figures in Brazil's musical underground. Guilherme Coutinho (whose Guilherme Coutinho - E O Grupo Stalo album from ‘78 was also re-issued on Mr Bongo) features on electric piano for this release, with fans of his work being able to pick out his tones and playing style. Elsewhere, Jarbas also collaborated with the late great Lula Côrtes on the 'Bom Shankar Bolenath' album from 1988 and 'Rosa De Sange' from 1980. He was a member of the wonderful Cátia de França band and is a regular in the legendary Tom Zé group.
'Transas Do Futuro' is a special record and one we are honoured to be reissuing.
plastic death - the second album by glass beach - is a follow-up record almost five years in the making. The band's 2019 debut, aptly titled the first glass beach album , has over the years grown a cult fanbase for its unflinching depiction of queer life as mediated through social media, its oversized ambition, and its scrappy yet adventurous production. And while it took some time to arrive, plastic death sounds like the logical expansion of all the things that made their first album so special. Years and years of relentless writing, tinkering demos, cancelled tours and a few lockdowns only strengthen the chaotic core of what makes glass beach' s maximalist approach work so well. Frontperson and primary songwriter J McClendon is joined by lead guitarist Layne Smith, bassist Jonas Newhouse and drummer William White to create something adventurous on each song. Trumpet, trombone, violin, and even marimba dance and bloom alongside the band's own creative and dextrous instrumentation - a stunning, transformative creation that pulls from indie rock, jazz, prog, hardcore, metal, experimental, and beyond. Songs like lead single "the CIA," are examples of the band's ambitious writing. It's a dark, dancy, post-punk/jazz hybrid, a coordinated, breathless braid of synth and saturated guitar. Tension and confusion explode into a brutal modern metal climax to close the track, flickering with glitchy production zaps and razor-sharp stops. The artwork of plastic death is similarly rich with detail, resulting in a bioluminescent, fully-realized double album depicting sprawling scenes where moments of neon brightness shine momentarily in a dark undersea - a metaphor for the moments of optimism and catharsis glass beach provide on these songs. "This album is the Pacific garbage patch: cultural trash strewn together seemingly by accident, standing in stark juxtaposition to each other ," says McClendon. plastic death is a complete, uncompromising, playful work of art; every corner and crevice of the record's 13 tracks, each arrangement and timbre and texture, is alive with intention and possibility.
plastic death - the second album by glass beach - is a follow-up record almost five years in the making. The band's 2019 debut, aptly titled the first glass beach album , has over the years grown a cult fanbase for its unflinching depiction of queer life as mediated through social media, its oversized ambition, and its scrappy yet adventurous production. And while it took some time to arrive, plastic death sounds like the logical expansion of all the things that made their first album so special. Years and years of relentless writing, tinkering demos, cancelled tours and a few lockdowns only strengthen the chaotic core of what makes glass beach' s maximalist approach work so well. Frontperson and primary songwriter J McClendon is joined by lead guitarist Layne Smith, bassist Jonas Newhouse and drummer William White to create something adventurous on each song. Trumpet, trombone, violin, and even marimba dance and bloom alongside the band's own creative and dextrous instrumentation - a stunning, transformative creation that pulls from indie rock, jazz, prog, hardcore, metal, experimental, and beyond. Songs like lead single "the CIA," are examples of the band's ambitious writing. It's a dark, dancy, post-punk/jazz hybrid, a coordinated, breathless braid of synth and saturated guitar. Tension and confusion explode into a brutal modern metal climax to close the track, flickering with glitchy production zaps and razor-sharp stops. The artwork of plastic death is similarly rich with detail, resulting in a bioluminescent, fully-realized double album depicting sprawling scenes where moments of neon brightness shine momentarily in a dark undersea - a metaphor for the moments of optimism and catharsis glass beach provide on these songs. "This album is the Pacific garbage patch: cultural trash strewn together seemingly by accident, standing in stark juxtaposition to each other ," says McClendon. plastic death is a complete, uncompromising, playful work of art; every corner and crevice of the record's 13 tracks, each arrangement and timbre and texture, is alive with intention and possibility.
Aroop Roy’s star is deservedly in the ascendancy! As one of London’s most exciting selectors, he’s managed to position himself in the sweet spot of being the DJ’s DJ and causing wild scenes wherever he plays, with headline grabbing sets at Defected Croatia, We Out Here, Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide and many more.
As a producer, musician and label owner, he continues to excel, armed with a vast knowledge of outernational sounds, from rare African disco, jazz, funk, to house, UKG and seemingly everything in-between. His open-minded approach has led to brilliant releases and remixes for labels as diverse as Soundway, Heavenly Sweetness, Permanent Vacation, Club Bad, Delusions of Grandeur, Atjazz Recordings and his own Vive La Musique imprint.
Having played a few gigs together, it was only a matter of time before Jimpster convinced Aroop to get an EP together for Freerange and the resulting Re Bulele EP couldn’t be any more satisfying!
Leading the charge, 'Mama Mwana' captivates with entrancing thumb piano loops and a traditional African vocal all propped up by a subtle yet chunky house beat to lock the dancers in.
'Re Bulele' features the hypnotic vocals of Botswana native Fox Meropa. Aroop masterfully combines a deep, techy Afro House groove with glassy synth pads to form a stripped back instrumental with the vocals front and centre. Seemingly disparate elements shine on this wonderful alternative to the deluge of maximal Afro House tracks being released these days.
Moroccan producer FNX Omar delivers the goods with a sublime remix of Re Bulele. Creating tension with layers of looping vocals along with a rolling, percussive groove. Like the original, this remix transcends genres and will create special moments on the dancefloor, whether it be in a dark, sweaty basement or daytime festival in the sunshine.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of LA the Darkman’s Heist of the Century LP, Coalmine Records has partnered up with the Brooklyn native for a special edition vinyl reissue, marking the first time that the record’s been repressed since its original release. This album is widely regarded as one of the strongest and most underrated releases from a Wu-Tang Clan affiliate, and it’s easy to understand why once you hear its dynamic 18 tracks. The Killer Bee embodies the raw spirit of the Wu while adding his own signature gritty flavor throughout Heist of the Century. He shines whether he’s spitting solo on standouts like “Shine,” “Street Life,” and the title track, and when he’s joined by rap heavyweights like Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Havoc, and Masta Killah. Rae actually delivers two show-stopping guest performances on”Az the World Turns” and “Spring Water.” The production lineup is just as serious, which boasts credits from the likes of RZA, DJ Muggs, Havoc, 4th Disciple, as well as Carlos “Six July” Broady who produced 10 tracks among others. Whether you were there day one, only started diving into the Wu’s vast discography recently, or somewhere in between, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better representation of their sound than Heist of the Century. “Heist of the Century undeniably continues in the vein of the surrealistic, orchestral sound that branded the Wu-Tang Clan as one of the most revolutionary hip-hop groups of the decade.” MTV.
The band quickly garnered attention with their explosive live performances and a unique sound that effortlessly blends elements of hardcore punk and metal.
The band's lineup features members from the renowned group Cult Leader, bringing a wealth of experience and a collective passion for creating music that resonates with listeners on a visceral level. With their debut album, 'Pessimist', set to release on October 27th via Church Road Records, RILE is poised to make a resounding impact on the music world.
Pessimist is a cathartic journey through the depths of human emotion, delving into themes of inner turmoil, existential struggles, and the darker aspects of the human psyche. From start to finish, the album showcases RILE's exceptional musicianship and their ability to craft songs that are both haunting and sonically crushing.
Drawing influences from bands like Converge and Trap Them,
essimist delivers a relentless onslaught of churning riffs, blistering drums, and gut- wrenching vocals. The band's tight- knit chemistry and artistic cohesion shine through on tracks like lead single 'Climb Out', where they seamlessly weave together melody and aggression to create an unforgettable sonic experience.
With their heartfelt and thought- provoking lyrics, RILE lays bare their
vulnerabilities and fears, inviting listeners to confront their own inner demons. The album's dynamic production enhances the intensity of each track, immersing the audience in a maelstrom of sound that leaves a lasting impact
While this may be the first release on Sheffield's Central Processing Unit from Global Goon, the one known to friends and family as Johnny Hawk brings a whole heap of experience to the Nanoclusters mini-LP.
Hawk started dropping Global Goon records on the legendary Rephlex Records back in the 1990s. The project's subsequent releases have taken in imprints as esteemed as WéMè and Balkan. Factor in a whole host of other aliases which have delivered missives via the likes of Planet Mu, and you know even before you press play on this witty, wily record that you're dealing with a master at work here.
The confidence with which Global Goon approaches Nanoclusters shines through in Hawk taking much of the mini-album at midtempo. Cuts like 'Khroxic Mould', 'Metallik' and 'Syntheseers' sound like Bochum Welt heading down a dark alleyway. The former in particular is a seasick lope, the tuned synths lurching around like sailors on deck in a storm as bass ebbs and flows underneath the mix.
The influence of Kraftwerk comes through prominently at times here, particularly in the way 'Calcula' and 'Digit Six' play pensive, slightly sombre synth chords off some simple but effective forward motion in the drum programming. That is not to say that Nanoclusters is not full of invention, though. None of the productions are overly flash, but this approach allows the little details to shine through more clearly, from cleverly panned hi-hats to hissing synth counter-melodies which flit in and out of the mix. Enthralling and packed full of ear candy, they're further evidence that Nanoclusters is the work of an expert craftsman.
While the pulse of Nanoclusters remains relatively steady throughout, it's still a rather lively record. Plenty of these tracks will get the dancefloor moving if deployed correctly - though whether they're heard at home or in the dance, it's the attention to detail which makes them stand out.
'Snapterisk' is as perfect an example of machine-funk as you're likely to find - the drum programming is razor-sharp but rubbery with bongos, the bass a lithe burble, and those wobbly stabs of keys that put a bit of wiggle in the beat? Delightful stuff. Elsewhere the ever-looping arpeggio of 'Metro Esc' has hints of Frankie Knuckles' house classic 'Your Love', though an array of interesting sonic nuggets - snippets of vocal, radar-like bloops, a gently insistent low-end pulse - soften the track's clubbier elements with a pillowy sheen. And Hawk throws us a curveball right at the end of Nanoclusters, tapping back into that old Rephlex sound for the fizzy, braindancing 'Metal Glass'.
Global Goon doesn't need to show off on Nanoclusters - from brilliantly slick machine-funk to Kraftwerkian reveries, the CPU debutant lets the music do the talking here. It makes for a confident and vivacious mini-LP, one which wears its expertise lightly.
RIYL: Cardopusher, Bochum Welt, Cygnus, D'Arcangelo
Gloam is the highly anticipated sophomore album from alternative folk band MAYBEL. Similar characteristics from their debut, Gathering, are carried forward: elegant harmonies, soft instrumentals and a shared optimism coupled with a wide open vulnerability. The songs still echo the intimacy, warmth and closeness of their relationships, yet the band has matured. MAYBEL's evolution shines through with ambitious compositions, thoughtful songwriting, and a deeper understanding of themselves as the album’s themes pierce with growing pains, anxieties and hopes for change. It’s a record about movement and stopping; the ongoing act of coming apart and coming together. Gloam is for listening in your bedroom or in transit, missing friends, on your way to see them. It holds an optimism that rings clear yet nestles and dwells in a brooding, muddy darkness - placing it firmly in the illustrious Canadian folk canon. This is the first album for which all four members (Fez Gielen, Ali Hendra, Loris Kecaj and Lauren Spear) wrote songs. For the most part, they were written during the pandemic separately and then shared in the upstairs living room where Lauren, Ali and Loris used to live together. The result is a shared diary on love, grief and moving on. The band's ability to effortlessly blend traditional folk elements with modern production techniques is reminiscent of the collaborations between Emmylou Harris and Daniel Lanois. Just as Harris and Lanois brought a fresh perspective to country music, MAYBEL embraces experimentation in their sound without compromising the warmth and intimacy inherent to folk music. As with their debut Gathering, MAYBEL recorded Gloam with producer/engineer Jonas Bonnetta at Port William Sound in Mountain Grove, Ontario. Resonating with a sound borne of the studio’s deeply intimate rural environs it is no wonder the band chose to return. Here they were joined by Eliza Niemi on bass/cello, Caylie Runciman on bass/drums with Jonas adding synths and percussion. Gloam is an old Scottish word for twilight. It appears like a fantasy between the day and night, a time seemingly frozen, drifting, or ignored all together. Gloam is the mood and time within which the album takes place. MAYBEL describes it as being: “In transition, between sleeping and waking—a quiet underworld where one is alone with their thoughts, in true presence with the in-between.” The final track on the album, “For Nothing”, captures something of the album’s twilight hope. It begins with lilting solos and gracefully builds in energy and color. MAYBEL sings to its listeners, “All that work for nothing” with a buoyancy and radiance that chimes against the lyrics. They repeat: “All that work for nothing”. For all of the band, the last few years have resulted in significant change and stress. Yet they continue to try, through their music, to will themselves towards optimism. They ask for you to marvel with them at the charming and terrifying possibility of life. They harmonize again, not despairingly, but almost ecstatically “All that work for nothing!”
Lucky Pepper is a spicy french old school rock"n"roll band led by Geoffrey Lucky Pepper. Add some mississippi/swamp bluesflavor, a spontaneous big energy and a vintage SciFi comicsaesthetic to the meal and there it is! After the release of his EP "Rock"n"RollAttack!" in 2019, Lucky Pepper releasesits new album "Easier Said Than Done"in 2023. 12 original tracks with raw energy,mixing swamp blues and rock"n"roll.
- A1: Donald Campau - Welcome To The Needle
- A2: Laurent Pernice - Plan De Coupe
- A3: Brian Ladd - Brian Song
- A4: Pacific 231 - Eve Very Nice
- A5: Jacki Moreau - Knossos
- A6: Sound Color - Wandering Soul
- B1: Vox Populi! - Micro Climax
- B2: Mistery Plane - Disturbing
- B3: Sound Color - The Unconquered Sun
- B4: Jacki Moreau - Paris-Pop
- B5: Dreaming With Vox Populi! - Infusion
- B6: Jean Cocteau - Les Enfants Terribles
Platform 23 reunites once more with Vox Man Records to dig deep into their archives and shine a new light on. In the past they have done some mega well loved Alternative Funk compilations which got the label off to a fine start and now they dig into an array of cult cassette releases to bring us treasure from Audiologie N-4 - The Independant Psychedelic Trip and Audiologie 5 et 6 - Ethniques Urbaines. This is music from the avant-garde and post punk scenes that draws on wave, spoken word, dark dub and industrial for its eerie yet alluring charms, all with a real edge. Ethnic, idiosyncratic and psyched out, this is another great overview.
Skemer is a brand new cooperation between singer Kim Peers, who’s also a model for Vogue, Steven Meisel, Prada and guitarist Mathieu Vandekerckhove of post-metal band Amenra and his personal project Syndrome. Two very different worlds collide and lead to minimalist dark wave deconstructions that are equal parts brutal and erotic. This duality is reflected in the name Skemer, which next to its obvious English meaning of ‘intriguer’ also stands for ‘dusk’ in Mathieu’s native tongue West-Flemish, as well as in their debut album. Recorded just a few months after meeting, a sense of urgency shines through in the tracks that build Benevolence. The winding sensuality of Sunseeker juxtaposed with the pounding harshness of Best, the faint twirl of Call Me versus the solemn gait of Heartbreak. Just like with their effervescent live performances where Peers seductive vocals coalesce with Vandekerckhove’s austere beats to meld into a transcendent fury. Everything has a double nature in the hands of Skemer. Vinyl LP limited to 500. Comes in UV Glossy Varnish picture sleeve.
After touring the world's Techno and Goths clubs intensively, Die Selektion are back with their unique blend of Synth- Pop and Electronic Body Music. Heavyhearted but hopeful trumpet melodies, German lyrics that make you question your past and future once again, synthesizer sounds in the great tradition of '80s Wave and Pop, combined with hard-hitting drum machines - this forms the base of their self- proclaimed Prosecco Wave world. Their new album "Zeuge aus Licht" features 9 hits to live, love and laugh to, and makes you forget your everyday worries.
Die Selektion sat down together in a new line-up consisting of all three founding members Gillian, Rief and Rieger, as well as Savenberg, who joined in 2013.
The outcome of this mesmerising gathering is a supersonic experience for body, heart and soul. The new songs expand the sound of the band with an almost casual, elegant diversity. Every single component shines and an understanding of what makes pop really pop comes through, adding ironic glitter to the black nihilism of Dark Wave. With "Zeuge aus Licht", Die Selektion opens a new door in their fluid band set- up. And we should all be excited to find out what's hiding behind it.
In March of 2020, after learning that a dear friend’s life was coming to an end, Johansing sat down and in one sitting wrote the song “Daffodils”. An elegiac tribute to someone facing death with grace and curiosity, the lyrics confront Johansing’s own mortality by observing the brief lifespan of a Hlower. Only a week later when the world came to an abrupt standstill, she soon found herself processing this recent loss while trying to make sense of a new global reality. Across the ensuing months, Johansing found herself increasingly untethered by a world of isolation and political upheaval.
Having been a frequent touring member of bands like Hand Habits and Fruit Bats, and often being called into the studio to lend her harmonies and multi-instrumental talents to records, Johansing’s phone no longer rang. Living in Los Angeles she feared her musical community was vanishing, as friends and collaborators continually announced they were leaving the city. It was in returning to her piano nightly that she found the greatest solace, feverishly writing the songs that would be collected on her next album. Resulting from this new sense of time and focus was a deepening of her songwriting. As Johansing recalls, “I felt like a metamorphosis happened during that time. There was a lot of personal growth and healing.”
Throughout Year Away Johansing traverses uncharted emotional landscapes brought upon by the changes occurring all around her. The forced self-reflection of the moment is aptly captured by “Old Friend”, featuring an aching melody and swooning production that recalls the best of Harry Nilsson. The epic piano and saxophone-driven “Smile with My Eyes” addresses the loss of community as friends became distant and political divides between family grew. On “Smile” Johansing pushes her vocals further than ever, expanding her range and using her peerless voice as the singular instrument it is. Facing the loss of a family home due to environmental destruction, “Shifting Sands” is marked by soaring Hlutes, Hield recordings and glassy synthesizers that nod to Japanese New Age.
“Daffodils”, the stunning album centerpiece, is built from a pastiche of looping samples, swirling Mellotron and dazzling vibraphone. “Keep your heart open wide, you never know your time / Keep your heart wild, true Hlower child”, Johansing sings as she says goodbye to an elder, while the band reaches a grief-stricken crescendo of woodwinds and chiming bells. On the title track, Johansing takes listeners on an eerily meditative journey of collective experiences. “I wanted to keep the progression simple and repetitive so that musically we could add new elements little by little, while the emotional tone of the lyrics becomes increasingly more strained and expressive”. The song grows to a fever pitch as Johansing sings higher than she thought possible; the tension of the repeating chords Hinally resolving into a hopeful coda as multiple soloists weave around each other.
Amidst heavier themes, Johansing still leaves room for her love of irresistible pop melodies and lush production. The driving “Last Drop” and mid-tempo “Valley Green” are two of her catchiest songs to date. On the former Johansing sings the anthemic chorus, “As if it were the last drop, and nothing ever lasts forever / As if it were the last stop, too far out to come back ever”, longing for a love that she’ll never take for granted, while also admitting that she doesn’t always know how good she has it. “Valley Green” features shimmering layers of 12- string guitars, stacked horns and an impeccable solo by co-producer and multi- instrumentalist Tim Ramsey (Vetiver, Fruit Bats), hinting at a love for bands like NRBQ.
Having been eager to capture the initial spark of songwriting, Johansing booked time at Highland Park’s 64 Sound Studio the week that it reopened. Over the course of three days, she and her band gathered basic tracks for 10 songs, before returning home to Hinish the record with Ramsey. Setting forth to make an album that paid homage to the music that kept them company during the months spent alone together, the duo pulled inspiration from a wide net including Burt Bacharach, John Carroll Kirby & Haruomi Hosono. Ramsey’s newfound love of early digital synthesizers dovetailed effortlessly with Johansing’s fondness for classic 70’s horn and string arrangements, creating a sound that is distinctly modern yet warm and familiar.
Once again Johansing called upon some of the Hinest players of Northeast Los Angeles’ vibrant music community to lend a hand with the record. The 70s R&B-folk of “Watch It Like a Show” features an electric guitar solo from Hand Habits’ Meg Duffy, while album closer “Endless Sound” boasts backing vocals from electronic musician Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and swooping Indian-inspired violins from Amir Yaghmai (HAIM, The Voidz). The record shines brightly thanks to an ace mix from veteran producer Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliott Smith, Cat Power), woodwinds from Logan Hone (John Carroll Kirby, Eddie Chacon), and a featured rhythm section of drummer Josh Adams (Jenny Lewis, Bedouine) and bassist Todd Dahlhoff (Feist, Devendra Banhart). Recorded across multiple studios including LA’s famed Sunset Sound, the album remains steadfastly buoyed by the adept engineering of Tyler Karmen (MGMT, Alvvays).
Though born of turbulent times, Year Away is ultimately interested in moving forward. The album ends with “Endless Sound,” where Johansing laments seismic global changes, (“The water is hotter, the mighty thaw / The current’s reversing, the last are lost”) but vows to keep going (“No storm can take me down / Endless light, endless sound”). It’s Year Away’s resilience that shines through despite the darkness. It’s a sound all her own and Johansing’s most cohesive set of songs yet.
First time on Vinyl, presented in Gatefold Sleeve on Double LP. Originally released in 2015 and carefully forged between 2011 and 2014, "De Aeris In Sublunaria Influxu" showcases a magically crafted alchemical wedding between these two titans of drone ambient. The 2LP features an exclusive bonus track. Troum navigates through cavernous, subterranean spaces where cyclical sounds reverberate towards impressive crescendos of icy noise, luminous drones and dramatic, guitar-driven ghostly melodies. Their truly unique soundscapes shine in a perfect symbiotic movement with the Swedish dark ambient maestro Peter Andersson. Engulfed in a hauntingly beautiful kaleidoscope of grey-ish melancholia, raison d’être comfortably walks deeply into Troum’s vast territory, delivering his very own trademark of eerie tones, ominous sacral ambience and crystal clear constructions. Airy lush enigmatic atmospheres live together with dark breathing, reverberant transformative drones. Rich and gorgeously layered.
All sounds assembled and recorded by raison d'être (Peter Andersson) and Troum (Stefan Knappe, Martin Gitschel) between 2011-2014. All sounds processed, manipulated and structured by Peter Andersson 2011-2014. K-14 level mastering by Peter Andersson 2014. Artwork by Ritxi Ostáriz.
2LP Vinyl Edition of 300 copies, Gatefold Sleeve, Matt Lamination, Black Paper Innersleeves. 8 Tracks. Running Time 76:28
Repress on green vinyl of GGGOLDDD's fourth album, Why Aren't You Laughing'. The Dutch ensemble marry hypnotic gothic vibes with soulful heavy rock, overlaid with atmospheric, often dream-like vocals. The multi-faceted album is complex in its construction, but by enlisting producer Jaime Gomez Arellano (Paradise Lost), each element is given ample room to breathe and indeed shine. GOLD's fourth album, Why Aren't You Laughing?, produced by Jaime Gomez Arellano (Paradise Lost, Grave Pleasures). The Dutch ensemble marry hypnotic gothic vibes with soulful heavy rock, overlaid with atmospheric, often dream-like vocals. Available on CD & LP. Recalling the experimentalism of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, the dark and sweet beauty of Kristin Hersh and Throwing Muses, but firmly rooted in a powerful, yet artsy rock vibe, GOLD have tapped into something truly unique.
In the heart of the cosmos, a tale unfolds. It begins with "My Space," where ethereal synths weave a cosmic tapestry, guiding you through distant galaxies. As you journey further, "Satan" emerges, beckoning you to dance with the darkness itself, under the canopy of sadistic beats.
Venturing deeper into the EP, "Get Stupid" takes you to an enigmatic dimension, where gravity-defying rhythms entice you to embrace your wildest instincts. In "Yallah," the atmosphere shifts, transporting you to a mystical oasis where sonic mirages shimmer in the desert of sound.
And just when you thought the adventure reached its pinnacle, "Can't Get Enough" mesmerizes with its infectious grooves, leaving you irresistibly addicted to the sonic enchantment.
Turns out Coco Bryce is more than just a hot piece of man meat. On "My Space" this enigmatic master of sound once again harnesses the forces of the universe to craft five enthralling compositions. His boundless creativity and passion for exploration shine through in every beat, taking you on a euphonic jungle expedition like no other.
ChatGPT rated this release 5 out of 5 on Tripadvisor
Philadelphia’s DEVIL MASTER’s roots in ritual magick have never been more prominent than on their highly anticipated new album Ecstasies Of Never Ending Night. Recorded live to analog tape by Pete DeBoer (Blood Incantation, Spectral Voice), Ecstasies expands on the warped riffing and dark atmospheres that have already propelled DEVIL MASTER as one of the underground’s most unique and unfettered bands. From the band’s blackened punk maelstrom of “Acid Black Mass” to the spiraling death rock of “Abyss In Vision” and the layers of refined atmosphere on the closer “Never Ending Night”, lead guitarist Darkest Prince of All Rebellion shines across a collection of fiery, tumultuous riffs - Lyrically, vocalist Disembody Through Unparalleled Pleasure laces Ecstasies with life-affirming blasphemy and existential dread. Ecstasies of Never Ending Night witnesses DEVIL MASTER at its core. Vocalist Disembody Through Unparalleled Pleasure has assumed the role of bassist, strengthening the songwriting alongside Darkest Prince and founding member/rhythm guitarist Infernal Moonlight Apparition. Fresh blood was required and found in drummer/keyboardist Festering Terror in Deepest Catacomb (a.k.a. Chris Ulsh of Power Trip and Iron Age). Ecstasies of Never Ending Night proves to be a crucial addition to the pantheon of evil satanic metal. In the end, magick reigns!
Producer Scrappy Jud Newcomb and Cleaves teamed up for the third time in early 2022 between Covid surges to record a new batch of songs, Slaid's first in five years.
Familiar themes of struggle and resilience will be a surprise to no one. As Scrappy puts it, "This album speaks to the hopeful, the hard working, the battered, confused, and the sad. But above all to the believers in the city of freedom that we heard in the stories of our youth and all those FM radio hits."
The first single, "Through the Dark," was co- written with Slaid's long- time collaborator and life- long friend, Rod Picott ("Broke Down," "Take Home Pay").
Slaid describes it simply as "a song about offering comfort in hard times."
Joseph Hudak of Rolling Stone calls Cleaves "a master storyteller, one influenced not by the shine of pop-culture but by the dirt of real life."
"More than 20 years into his career, Slaid Cleaves just keeps getting better . . .
There are few contemporaries that compare. He's become a master craftsman on the order of Guy Clark and John Prine." - Austin Chronicle
- A1: Maxine
- A2: Flowers (Feat. Method Man, Raekwon & Superb)
- A3: Never Be The Same Again (Feat. Carl Thomas & Raekwon)
- B1: Theodore (Feat. Trife, Twiz)
- B2: Ghost Shower
- B3: Strawberry (Feat. Killah Sin)
- C1: The Forest
- C2: The Juks (Feat. Superb & Trife)
- C3: Walking Through The Darkness (Feat. Takitha)
- D1: The Hilton (Feat. Raekwon)
- D2: Love Session (Feat. Ruff Endz)
- D3: Street Chemistry
Ghostface Killah reunites with his partner in rhyme Raekwon to bring fans Bulletproof Wallets, which continues Ghost’s winning streak of delivering front to back classic material. Filled with the usual Ghost slang, bass heavy production, Bulletproof Wallets dropped not long after Supreme Clientele without skipping a beat. The fun Ghost & Rae are having on this record is beyond apparent. Bulletproof Wallets is almost like a party album, hit singles and street bangers. “Never Be the Same Again” (with Carl Thomas & Raekwon) and “Ghost Showers” play alongside “Maxine” and “The Forrest” all working off each others energy. Other stand outs like “Walking through the Darkness”, “The Hilton” all bang through the speakers and continues to add to Ghost’s undeniable catalog. On some groundbreaking production from The RZA, Alchemist, Carlos 6 July Broady and Mathmatics, Ghostface shines and the chemistry between Rae and Ghost is incredible!
"Life Plans and Parallel Side Tracks" by Ismael Zouaoui (aka Ish) is the highly anticipated album on Libertine Records. Spanning Electro, Drum 'n' Bass, Dark-Wave, and Ambient, Ish's versatile production shines. Inspired by diverse influences like Brave New World, Japanese Anime, and early Techno/Trance, the album's contemporary, textured sound captivates.
After 25 years of living his dream as one of hip hop’s most respected producers, Hi-Tek is digging back into his roots with a brand new trio of instrumental vinyl LPs in 2023. “Beatbox Studios (1995 MPC 60II)” is the first of the series, each featuring a selection of restored and remastered beats, carefully chosen from an archive of DAT tapes. These LPs manage to both provide a window into Tek’s development and to shine light on the work of an already enormously-talented musician whose beats would’ve sounded right at home on classic releases from the mid-1990s.
Having learned to make beats off of borrowed equipment as a teenager, the aspiring DJ/producer born as Tony Cottrell achieved a break of sorts when he was hired in 1995 to manage one of the rooms at Beatbox Studios, a sprawling complex in the Clifton neighborhood in Cincinnati. It became the go-to-spot in town for emerging talent, giving him a chance to learn about the intricacies of recording and to sharpen his communication skills with artists to maximize their performance The gig also gave Tek plenty of down time to practice on and to master the studio’s Akai MPC 60II while making his own music. It was around this time he began to collaborate with the top rap talent in Cincinnati, and he started regularly visiting New York City to plant seeds for new relationships in the industry.
Though his work eventually evolved far beyond the styles present on “Beatbox Studios,” here you’ll find many signature elements of that era’s contemporary New York sound: some snappy drums reminiscent of A Tribe Called Quest or Easy Mo Bee, plenty of horn stabs a la Pete Rock or Lord Finesse, and the kind of dark pianos and filtered bass lines that producers like the Beatminerz were steadily employing. These were his biggest influences at the time, and that was the sound of 1995. As it turns out, that classic sound remains in demand today, and while Hi-Tek was not a well-known name in hip hop circles at that time, the calibre of beats on “Beatbox Studios” prove that he was a talent to be reckoned with, even then.
Boy Harsher, Portishead, Thom Yorke, Radiohead, Beak>, ERAAS, SUUNS. Over the past seven years, Public Memory's distinctive use of analog synthesizers, electronic beats mixed with organic percussion, lo-fi sound design, and gritty ambience has created a singularly eerie and shadowy world. The first seconds of Public Memory's new record, Elegiac Beat, thrust us immediately into that world. We are in media res, with a feeling of sudden movement from a sensible point A to B. Given some time however, we realize that there is something askew–a bit of brightness here, some shadows pushed aside, some jazz and funk amongst the dub and Krautrock. This is an unfamiliar, ambiguous mood that pushes Public Memory towards new ground. We still drift past the clouded lights and hollowed out buildings of previous albums, but with an occasional bounce in our step now, a bit of golden haze around the edges. First single "Savage Grin" cements this clearly. The track has a jazzy, trip-hop flavor, albeit filtered through Public Memory's narcotic, hazy lens. We could be in a hotel lounge in the alps somewhere on holiday, or out of time in a majestic, sparkling ballroom. But we still have the feeling of being haunted, or perhaps even hunted in some way. This feeling intensifies and comes to a head towards the ever-darkening end of the track, leading directly into "Afterimage", in which someone almost imperceptibly sings "I hear them coming" in a twisted, auto-tuned flail. Second single "7 Floor" begins with flanged drums and damaged synthesizer stabs, evoking a kind of apparition floating towards us in the mist. As the track moves on there is, similarly to "Savage Grin", a contrast in feeling between a cold exterior roaming and an interior, warmer, human place. This time however, we move from the colder to the warmer as the synths from the track's beginning make way for a Rhodes-style organ and backing string synth, infusing an unexpected sense of peace. But like "Savage Grin", the track moves to its end through an in-between place beyond the haze. Faded and distant synthesizers meld with voices–human, or perhaps otherwise–that beckon us, or perhaps warn us. We can't be sure which. Third single "Far End Of The Courtyard" brings us closest to classic Public Memory territory with hip-hop beats, chopped and screwed samples, lo-fi ambience, and ghostly electric pianos complementing the vocals. There is darkness, perhaps more here than in the previous two singles, but with a crucial moment of uplifting lightness so subtle it may be missed upon first listen. As an inverse to both "Savage Grin" and "7 Floor" we end with brightness, the jazzier side of the record pushed to the forefront as the track fades away on that golden haze. In the end though, the haze may be just that: a vapor, a mist, a slight dusting of some other world on top of the degraded one Public Memory so effectively portrays. Elegiac Beat is between two places, and as it straddles the line between the two, we are uncertain if the light it brings shines directly from the sun, or if it is dimly reflected through that majestic ballroom world. For fans of 1990s Bristol trip hop, coldwave, and Thom Yorke's The Eraser
- Mountains At Midnight
- Shiner In The Dark
- Pull Me Through
- The Firing Line
- Tell Me When It's Too Late
- Triggers
- How Many More Times
- High Waters
- There Goes My Cool
- Waves
Clear Vinyl[27,31 €]
British epic doom metallers Godthrymm (featuring members once
involved in such luminaries as My Dying Bride, Anathema, Vallenfyre, and
Solstice) return with their new album, Distortions
The follow- up to 2020's widely- lauded 'Reflections' shows the Halifax- based
quartet of Hamish Glencross (guitars/ vocals), Catherine Glencross (keyboards/
vocals), "Sasquatch" Bob Crolla (bass), and Shaun "Winter" Taylor-Steels (drums)
elegantly expanding upon their sound and vision. With tracks like "Follow Me,"
featuring former My Dying Bride compatriot Aaron Stainthorpe, "Echoes," and
"Devils," Distortions advances Godthrymm into the hallowed halls of the genre
they adore to death.
"I absolutely wanted to create a much more layered and complex arrangement in
the sound," says Godthrymm's Hamish Glencross. "Totally amping up the
contrasts to the extreme--the light shines brighter, and the darker depths are vast
trenches. There is a lot more harmony and melancholy for much of it, but also
some slab-heavy riffing, too. We wanted a total progression in the production and
more class and clarity in the sound, as opposed to Reflections, which could get
quite dense in tone."
Distortions is the second part of Glencross' Visions trilogy-- the third part,
Projections, is already in the works. Throughout its seven- track, hour- long
expanse, Godthrymm's sophomore effort delves deeper into the despondent
march of post-pandemic singles "Chasm" and "In Perpetuum," the latter released
exclusively on Decibel Magazine's Decibel Flexi Series in 2022. Glencross'
emotionally-charged vocals pair perfectly with his towering riffs and thoughtful,
crestfallen harmonies. The rhythmic foundation of Crolla and Taylor- Steels is
absolutely critical to Glencross' woebegone eclat. With Catherine Glencross'
angelic vocals and atmospheric keyboards stitched into the monumental "As
Titans," the granite-hard "Obsess and Regress," and the stirring "Pictures Remain,"
Distortions has it all.
The songwriting for Distortions began during the first lockdown. For an album
centered lyrically on grief, loss, regret, resolve, love, and determination, it's hard to
imagine something inexplicably heavy yet remarkably beautiful. Producer Andy
Hawkins (Hark, Grave Lines) was the perfect man for the job. Spread across The
Nave Studio in Leeds and Sasquatch Music Studio in Huddersfield, he captured
Godthrymm at their most menacing ("Unseen Unheard") and vulnerable ("Follow
Me"). The tones he extracted from Glencross, Crolla, and Taylor-Steels absolutely
crush, while the brighter moments (like Catherine Glencross' spell-binding vocals
on "Obsess and Regress") splinter Godthrymm's disheartened darkness in two.
Distortions was mastered by Mark Midgley (Doom, Hellkrusher) for Northern
Mastering Co.
Octave One return with Never On Sunday Vol.2, an EP with new remixes from Orbital and Giorgia Angiuli next to three standout recent tracks.
The Detroit duo’s Never On Sunday alias was born in the nineties with a view to making a mix of downtempo, deeper and more thoughtful electronic sounds. After just two EPs, it lay dormant until last year when the new EP The Bearer on their own 430 West label brought it back to life to a great reception. Then came the Octave One Presents Never On Sunday album this year that collected together a wealth of originals and remixes which are now coming on 12".
First up is legendary brotherly duo Orbital - a UK antecedent to the Burden brothers who have been crafting pioneering electronic sounds for decades. Their remix of ‘Price We Pay’ feat. Karina Mia is deep house excellence. It has a bouncy groove, elastic bassline and simmering vocals that send shivers down the spine and the sci-fi synths twinkle up top. Italian multi-instrumentalist Giorgia Angiuli has long been innovating in the techno world, drawing on her classical background to craft standout sounds for the likes of Kevin Saunderson’s KMS label. Her remix is six uplifting minutes of synth arpeggios, soulful techno drums and epic breakdowns that will captivate any dance floor.
The b-side features three cuts from the Never On Sunday (Deluxe) album and opens up with 'Lifelike', a slow, pulsing dub with mysterious melodies and sinewy synths reflecting light like stars in a night sky. A textured bassline arrives to bring a real sense of tension to the melodic beauty. 'Soon After' is another cosmic cut that rides on hammering bass beneath lush synths capes and rays of hope that pierce the darkness. The blissful 'Mona' closes down with heavenly and expansive pads that shimmer and shine as rich bell sounds and choral pads bring a warm sense of atmosphere.
Never On Sunday Vol.2 is another package of deeply emotional electronic sounds.
Bob Dylan was at several crossroads in the mid-1970s. Artistically, he was largely written off as being past his prime. Emotionally, he was suffering through a painful divorce from his then-wife Sara Lowndes. Creatively, he appeared at a stalemate, his previous decade's unprecedented run of transformational brilliance finished. Then came Blood on the Tracks.
A start-to-finish cycle that documents a lover's pursuit of, entanglement with, and loss of a woman, the bracingly intimate 1975 effort remains one of the most encompassing break-up albums ever made and ranks as the most personal statement of the Bard's career. To hear it is to experience the agony, frustration, trauma, highs, lows, confusion, sadness, and, ultimately, requisite redemption associated with intimate relationships gone astray. Dylan maintains it's a work of fiction, but it's evident close-vested autobiographical premise is what helps make it universal: It's the icon singing through tears, going out of his mind, battling hallowing emptiness, firing shots across the bow, and accepting culpability. It is, in short, a consummate expression of love's darker sides and the consequences of what happens when dreams unravel.
As part of its Bob Dylan catalogue restoration series, Mobile Fidelity is thoroughly humbled to have the privilege of mastering the iconic LP from the original master tapes and pressing it on dead-quiet LP at RTI. The end result is the very finest, most transparent analogue edition of Blood on the Tracks ever produced – and the first-ever proper analog reissue. Fantastically presenting both the solo acoustic and band-supported songs with the utmost clarity, dynamics, presence, immediacy, spaciousness, imaging, and balance, this version shines a high-powered light on the fluid vocal phrasing, timbral shifts, functional rhythms, and inward-looking strumming that contribute to every song here serving as a wound-exposing confessional.
For all the melancholic pain, unresolved questions, shattered memories, wasted times, unrequited dialogues, and weary regret within, Blood on the Tracks remains as daring as it is reflective. Rather than follow for a monotone caustic vibe, Dylan's songs burrow into the subconscious for the manners in which they are even-keeled, mellow, and occasionally, even peaceful. Dignity, honour, poignancy, and fairness – all traits uncommon in any situation in which partners dissolve histories, change hearts, and attribute blame – instil the record with equilibrium on par with the consistency of the flowing melodies.
Throughout, tunes come on and proceed as if they could continue forever, Dylan spinning poetic verses and conversations amidst finely tied knots of acoustic notes, chords, and fills, the deceivingly simple architecture conjuring the intertwined refractions of a bezeled jewel, various angles, colours, and textures conjoining into a gorgeously inseparable whole. Backed by Tony Brown's flexible albeit subtle bass, Buddy Cage's country-streaked pedal-steel guitar, and Paul Griffin's soul-baring organ – an instrument used to shadow, tuck-point, and illuminate here as effectively as any time in rock history – Dylan pours soulful emotion, open his veins, and bleeds.
Ranked 16 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and replete with existential thought, piercing directness, raw singing, and majestic arrangements,
Given the sonic and artistic merit of this album, we anticipate huge demand.
"Life Plans and Parallel Side Tracks" by Ismael Zouaoui (aka Ish) is the highly anticipated album on Libertine Records. Spanning Electro, Drum 'n' Bass, Dark-Wave, and Ambient, Ish's versatile production shines. Inspired by diverse influences like Brave New World, Japanese Anime, and early Techno/Trance, the album's contemporary, textured sound captivates.
Dark Entries has a surprise delivery! Malebox brings us six previously unreleased funk-fueled jams from the archives of the cybernetic disco titan himself, Patrick Cowley. Best known for his chart-topping disco anthems, Cowley left us with an incredible body of work before his tragic death in 1982 due to AIDS-related illness. Since 2009, Dark Entries has been working with Cowley’s friends and family to uncover the singular artist’s lesser-known sides, including his soundtracks for gay pornographic films on compilation albums School Daze, Muscle Up, and Afternooners.
But Malebox gives us more of the Cowley we know and love: churning disco-funk and hi-NRG tracks that are spacey and sleazy, gritty and sublime. Recorded from 1979-1981, these six tracks illuminate what was one of Patrick’s most creatively exciting periods. “If You Feel It” and “Love Me Hot” were both early Paul Parker demos; the former is a peak hour hi-NRG bomb, while the latter dips into Cowley’s zoned-out space disco sound. Jeanie Tracy’s soulful vocals feature on the demo version of “Low Down Dirty Rhythm”, which was later re-recorded by Sarah Dash. The slower, less-varnished rendition here hits with a wild psychedelic edge. Meanwhile, Patrick’s gifts for careful orchestration and infectious melodies shine on “Floating” and “Love and Passion”, which were likely demo tracks for Loverde. The songs on Malebox display the vitality and inventiveness of a brilliant composer taken from us too soon.
Malebox sleeve design was by Gwenaël Rattke, and features a hyper-color retro collage. Also included is an air mail envelope containing a letter from Patrick Cowley to French disco producer Pierre Jaubert as well as liner notes and hand-written lyrics. Malebox will be released on November 12th , which is the 40th anniversary of Patrick’s passing.
Irish DJ and producer, Ben Prophet, has caught the attention of some of the electronic scene’s most influential names in recent years. Currently residing in the underground music hub of Newcastle, his dark and exhilarating tracks have proven to captivate dancefloors. Now the artist is set to embark on his most monumental release to date, with the four track EP ‘From Dusk’. Staying distinctly true to himself, the EP channels Prophet’s love for bassline, electronica, and techno, whilst placing a key focus on mechanical vocals that add a mind-bending element that listeners can get lost in. ‘From Dusk’ will be released to the world via HAAi and Alice Pelly’s Radical New Theory label, a proven base for projecting emerging talent.
‘From Dusk’ is an EP that serves as a bold declaration. Prophet was determined to take listeners on a journey across the four tracks. Never resting on his laurels, the artist ventured into many corners of the dance world, whilst maintaining a core signature sound. Opener ‘Telepathy’ Sees Prophet build an emphatic, heavy hitting techno track, centring around a manipulated spoken-word vocal. It’s a sound that holds nothing back and is showcased again on ‘Down The Rabbit Hole’. Equally dark in its design, Prophet once more places distorted vocals at the forefront, this time displaying an industrial take on breakbeat. On the flip side, we see ‘Ocarina’ and title track ‘From Dusk’ turn the dark energy on its head with a distinctly melodic approach which adds a touch of psychedelia and high emotion to the EP. What’s clear is there’s something on ‘From Dusk’ for anyone that loves club music.
Speaking on the release, Prophet states:“HAAi has been one of the biggest inspirations for my sound, so to have become friends and to release my music on her label Radical New Theory is a massive moment for me. I’ve taken a different approach on each track, but each has my signature sound and is ready for the dance floor.”
HAAi also offers an insight into why she wanted to release ‘From Dusk’ on Radical New Theory: “Ben Prophet’s tracks have such a driving force and a dark energy to them, which is so powerful in the club. I’m extremely excited to get this record out in the world.”
Prophet’s previous releases ‘Hyper Funk EP’ and ‘King Of Rock’ on Chapeau music and Happy Wax Records respectively reached dancefloors across the world with regular plays from the likes of Mall Grab, Skream and VTSS. His gritty and energetic productions are born for the peak-time dance floor where its power creates intoxicating effects. No longer a hidden gem of the North East, the artist's music has gathered serious momentum and ‘From Dusk’ might well be the record that makes Ben Prophet a household name.
‘From Dusk’ is the third release on Radical New Theory, a label created in 2020 by HAAi and Alice Pelly which aims to shine a light on unique emerging talent, and the inevitable stars of tomorrow. Last year the label released LUXE’s debut ‘Belonging EP’ which was championed by MaryAnn Hobbs on BBC 6Music, and the artist has since gone on to tour across Europe. Whilst Ozzy, who released the labels first record ‘Een’, has since released on Barnt’s Schalen imprint. Radical New Theory was born out of a love for the craft of dance music and the careful consideration of what they release ensures the highest standards. A safe space for emerging talent, be sure to keep your eyes out for what comes next from the label
Don Glori, a.k.a multi-instrumentalist Gordon Li, returns with a remix EP that tears open five tunes from his groundbreaking debut, Welcome.
Taking an opportunity to sink into some of the ideas explored on the original album, the five remixes featured here sees some of Europe and Australia’s finest throw open the shutters and shine a light on Li’s inventive compositions and remarkable instrumentation.
Rosie from the Block, a.k.a Belgian multi-instrumentalist, producer and DJ Roselien, leans right into the percussion and drum kit playing that made Welcome so infectious, layering this with cheeky bubblegum-beat bass lines that lend the whole affair an incredibly smooth, street-soul styling.
Other key players include Swedish duo Mount Liberation Unlimited, lending their take on things an introspectively dark, brooding atmosphere that evolves into one of their trademark acid-house extended journeys; Australian radio DJ and producer Ennio Styles working alongside Liam de Bruin, hip-hop/soul duo Man Made Mountain, led by MC Cazeaux O.S.L.O, and an insanely infectious organic house take on hit single Dlareme by one of Melbourne’s finest, Teymori.
A perfect companion to an album that broke open the Melbourne scene and laid out new parameters for the quality of jazz, samba and funk-inspired music emerging from that city, Welcome Remixes breathes fresh life into this incredible album and reminds us just how goddamn fun making, playing and performing music can be.
Sharing a mutual love for Dance Music in all its shapes and forms please welcome Philipp Lauer & Johannes Albert for the first time together. These Bucketheads overcame the franko-hessian border and give us a 3-Tracker on the A side that is "Based On Boss". The title track swims in 909 Drums, vocal samples shine through, and organ chords lead the way. You will be moving your feet with "Four 44", still all about a basement, a red light and lots of feeling. Rounding things up with the loopy powers of "Posh-O-Rama", if you are in need of soft breaks with a lovely twist. Now who's the boss?
Speaking B sides: Hamburg-Moenchengladbach-London? Probably not your everyday route. Three pillars in their own leagues team up for "Survivor": Boris Dlugosch, Marc Romboy and C.A.R. on vocal duties. Created in times of lockdowns and standstills "Survivor" is a midtempo stomper, slightly dark yet extra moving. Clocking in at 110 BPM a percussive beat is haunted by C.A.R.'s voice and a hypnotic robot bassline. Occuring melodies and pads do the rest. Remix time? Oh yes! Spicing and speeding things up a little the Johannes Albert remix arrives with additional chords, gated snare drums and maybe even happiness.
Singular Texan musician Craig Clouse hurtles unstoppably towards the 20th birthday of his dancefloor-splintering electronic project Shit And Shine, releasing a landmark LP, his first full-length for The state51 Conspiracy, ‘2222 And AIRPORT’. Acid house, minimal techno, electro, funk, krautrock, hip hop, found sound, spoken word, live percussion and industrial are blown apart stupendously and then reassembled – mad-scientist style, in a way peculiar to Clouse – into 13 hypnotic and transportative tracks.
Lead single SWISS, out 24 March, is a gloriously minimalist funk jam that sounds like the exact point at which someone turns the lights off at a lowkey house party and a wild night for the ages gets under way. An almost scornfully skeletal riff, sounding like a misfiring Cyberdine Systems Model 101 summoning up a Prince circa Sign “O” The Times riff while crashing head first into the hyper-processed early work of Prefuse 73, also featuring a cheeky sample of revered Mancunian DJ Luke Una talking about “existential fucking darkness”.
This is followed on 4 April by INFINITE SHITE, arguably the epic central track to the album, is a Shit And Shine banger for the ages, its dancefloor affect, undeniable. An unforgiving, pulsating Byetone-style bass drone worthy itself of being blasted on a Funktion-One rig, is just the background for a colossal acid b-line, destroying all in its path.
Micro details bristle at the liminal level, threatening to only reveal themselves to those in a club, those listening on headphones or those experiencing a heightened sensory state.
- A1: The Good Vibes Intro
- A2: Penthouse Elevators
- A3: Nature At Work
- A4: Jungle Developments
- A5: Ice Cold Coolers
- A6: Bounce Keepers
- A7: Another Two4
- A8: Smoked Cookouts
- A9: Bands Jukes
- B1: The Bad Vibes Intro
- B2: Intended Mayhem
- B3: Leeches
- B4: Dgf
- B5: Short Tempers
- B6: Problems And Solvers
- B7: Dead Ringers
- B8: Angry Cosmos
- B9: Unbeautiful
Following in the footsteps of his famed brother Madlib, Oh No has become one of the most celebrated independent hip-hop artists of the 21st century. His storied career has included not only rap success but an impressive resume behind the boards, with production credits for Mos Def, Freddie Gibbs, De La Soul, Action Bronson, Talib Kweli, Ab-Soul, and more. An innovator in the art of sampling with a history of exploring diverse source material, Oh No is now back with Good Vibes / Bad Vibes, a new instrumental album deconstructing the work of iconic vibraphonist Roy Ayers. A split collection with two thematically distinct halves, the album is entirely constructed from the early, jazz-centric realm of the Ayers archive. Good Vibes is "light and vibrant, with colorful layers radiating under the sun shine,” Oh No explains, while Bad Vibes contains “dark murky atmospheric tones for the angry moments, those times when it’s necessary to step in the mud.”
Warehouse find!
Teenage Fanclub have announced news of their tenth studio album, Endless Arcade, released 5th March. Even if we weren’t living through extraordinarily troubling times, there is nothing quite like a Teenage Fanclub album to assuage the mind, body and soul, and to reaffirm that all is not lost in this world.
Endless Arcade follows the band’s ninth album “Here”, released in 2016 to universal acclaim and notably their first Top 10 album since 1997; a mark of how much they’re treasured. The new record is quintessential TFC: melodies are equal parts heart-warming and heart-aching; guitars chime and distort; keyboard lines mesh and spiral; harmony-coated choruses burst out like sun on a stormy day.
In the 1990s, the band crafted a magnetically heavy yet harmony-rich sound on classic albums such as “Bandwagonesque” and “Grand Prix”. This century, albums such as “Shadows” and “Here” have documented a more relaxed, less ‘teenage’ Fanclub, reflecting the band’s stage in life and state of mind, which Endless Arcade slots perfectly alongside. The album walks a beautifully poised line between melancholic and uplifting, infused with simple truths. The importance of home, community and hope is entwined with more bittersweet, sometimes darker thoughts - insecurity, anxiety, loss.
Such is life. But the title track suggests, “Don’t be afraid of this endless arcade that is life.”
A preview from the album came in February 2019 with Raymond’s ‘Everything Is Falling Apart’, an online single released at the outset of a six-month tour and a highlight of Endless Arcade.
Everything is falling apart? Well, yes, but the song was written long before COVID-19 arrived. Neither was Raymond’s inspiration political or social, but more, “the entropy in the universe, the knowledge that everything eventually decays,” he explains. But Raymond says relax. Or rather, “Relax, find love, hold on to the hand of a friend”.
Fortunately, Endless Arcade was virtually finished by the time lockdown was announced, bar the odd tinker under the engine hood. It seems timely, given how everyone had to initially stay home under lockdown, that the album starts with Norman’s ‘Home’, though it was chosen in part because of its opening line: “Every morning, I open my eyes...” The album’s longest track (at seven minutes) typifies TFC’s relaxed groove, culminating in Raymond’s peach of a guitar solo.
Norman’s search for ‘home’ could be literal: after all, he’s been living in Canada for the last 10 years. But it’s also figurative. Like Norman’s other Endless Arcade songs – The Sun Won’t Shine On Me’, ‘Warm Embrace’, ‘I’m More Inclined’, ‘Back In The Day’ and ‘Living With You’ – his words on ‘Home’ are etched by loss and yearning. “Without going into too much detail, the last eighteen months have been challenging for me on an emotional level,” he admits. “But it’s been cathartic channelling some of these feelings and emotions into song.”
In contrast, Raymond’s songs – he’s also responsible for ‘Come With Me’, ‘In Our Dreams’, ‘The Future’ and ‘Silent Song’ – are philosophical and questing. As he sings in ‘The Future’: “It’s hard to walk into the future when your shoes are made of lead”, but he’s still going to try, “and see sights we’ve never seen.”
In the band’s own near future, they’re already planning another new album given they can’t yet tour the one they’re releasing now. Welcome back, Teenage Fanclub, unafraid of this endless arcade that is life.
Warehouse find!
Teenage Fanclub have announced news of their tenth studio album, Endless Arcade, released 5th March. Even if we weren’t living through extraordinarily troubling times, there is nothing quite like a Teenage Fanclub album to assuage the mind, body and soul, and to reaffirm that all is not lost in this world.
Endless Arcade follows the band’s ninth album “Here”, released in 2016 to universal acclaim and notably their first Top 10 album since 1997; a mark of how much they’re treasured. The new record is quintessential TFC: melodies are equal parts heart-warming and heart-aching; guitars chime and distort; keyboard lines mesh and spiral; harmony-coated choruses burst out like sun on a stormy day.
In the 1990s, the band crafted a magnetically heavy yet harmony-rich sound on classic albums such as “Bandwagonesque” and “Grand Prix”. This century, albums such as “Shadows” and “Here” have documented a more relaxed, less ‘teenage’ Fanclub, reflecting the band’s stage in life and state of mind, which Endless Arcade slots perfectly alongside. The album walks a beautifully poised line between melancholic and uplifting, infused with simple truths. The importance of home, community and hope is entwined with more bittersweet, sometimes darker thoughts - insecurity, anxiety, loss.
Such is life. But the title track suggests, “Don’t be afraid of this endless arcade that is life.”
A preview from the album came in February 2019 with Raymond’s ‘Everything Is Falling Apart’, an online single released at the outset of a six-month tour and a highlight of Endless Arcade.
Everything is falling apart? Well, yes, but the song was written long before COVID-19 arrived. Neither was Raymond’s inspiration political or social, but more, “the entropy in the universe, the knowledge that everything eventually decays,” he explains. But Raymond says relax. Or rather, “Relax, find love, hold on to the hand of a friend”.
Fortunately, Endless Arcade was virtually finished by the time lockdown was announced, bar the odd tinker under the engine hood. It seems timely, given how everyone had to initially stay home under lockdown, that the album starts with Norman’s ‘Home’, though it was chosen in part because of its opening line: “Every morning, I open my eyes...” The album’s longest track (at seven minutes) typifies TFC’s relaxed groove, culminating in Raymond’s peach of a guitar solo.
Norman’s search for ‘home’ could be literal: after all, he’s been living in Canada for the last 10 years. But it’s also figurative. Like Norman’s other Endless Arcade songs – The Sun Won’t Shine On Me’, ‘Warm Embrace’, ‘I’m More Inclined’, ‘Back In The Day’ and ‘Living With You’ – his words on ‘Home’ are etched by loss and yearning. “Without going into too much detail, the last eighteen months have been challenging for me on an emotional level,” he admits. “But it’s been cathartic channelling some of these feelings and emotions into song.”
In contrast, Raymond’s songs – he’s also responsible for ‘Come With Me’, ‘In Our Dreams’, ‘The Future’ and ‘Silent Song’ – are philosophical and questing. As he sings in ‘The Future’: “It’s hard to walk into the future when your shoes are made of lead”, but he’s still going to try, “and see sights we’ve never seen.”
In the band’s own near future, they’re already planning another new album given they can’t yet tour the one they’re releasing now. Welcome back, Teenage Fanclub, unafraid of this endless arcade that is life.
Sometimes I sink into the dark side of life,
Lucky me to have music to pull me back into the light” Kutiman
Following on from his critically acclaimed Open LP released in October, revered polymath Kutiman returns to Siyal Music with his Dense EP. Kutiman continues to push forward with developing his sound as we see the artist creating his first ever electric leaning release. Not the only first, as the haunting vocals layered throughout are a result of Kutiman debuting his very own voice. Kutiman pulls elements from various musical inspirations, be it moody electronica, garage and 2step, modern classical music, ambient or twisted r'n'b. The outcome is a unique, cutting edge blend of emotional pitched down vocals, melodic airy pianos and glitching sound effects.
“This EP expresses emotions from a dark period that I went through. At the time I was into dark electronics and also found inspiration from Rhythm and Sound, Burial, The Blaze, Plasticman and more. The EP all started from a little "Volca" drum machine, which I hooked up and set up a mostly analogue setup around it with some synths and drum machines that enabled me to "jam" a lot of the music without the need to stop for overdubbing or editing”. Kutiman
With an illustrious career spanning over a decade, Ophir Kutiel aka Kutiman moved to Tel Aviv as a teenager to study jazz at the prestigious Rimon music college. It was during this time that he was able to immerse himself in music, with influences cited as Massive Attack, DJ Shadow, Amon Tobin and Parliament. Fast forward to 2007 and his self-titled debut album received a 8.2 rating from Pitchfork and set the precedent for what was to come. Other tastemakers to highlight over the years include; The Guardian, Billboard, The New Yorker, The Wire, Uncut and XLR8R among others. Kutiman is forever pushing boundaries with his music, and draws on a range of world influences from spiritual jazz to psychedelic funk. ‘Dense EP’ sees Kutiman adding yet another string to his musical bow, as we enter the era of electronic inspired music.
What a record! The outstanding Solar Plexus, the much-loved third album from Ian Carr and Nucleus, was first released on Vertigo in 1971. Inevitably, original copies are now very tricky to score and, like all the Nucleus records, it’s aged ridiculously well. This Be With re-issue, re-mastered from the original analogue tapes, shows off just why this deserves to be back in press.
Genius trumpeter and visionary composer Ian Carr was one of the most respected British musicians of his era. He was a true pioneer and saw the potential in fusing the worlds of jazz with rock, just as Miles Davis and The Tony Williams Lifetime did in the US. In late 1969, following the demise of the Rendell-Carr quintet, and tiring of British jazz, Carr assembled the legendary Nucleus. Regarding music as a continuous process, Nucleus refused to “recognise rigid boundaries” and worked on delivering what they saw as a “total musical experience”. We can get behind that.
Under bandleader Carr, Nucleus existed as a fluid line-up of inventive, skilled musicians. This constant evolution and revolution was all part of the continuous musical exploration and discovery that took jazz to new levels. And the music has kept relevant. To steal a line from a review of our re-issue of Roots, when it comes to anything Nucleus “it’s basically already hip-hop”.
We'll let Ian describe this one: "I wrote Solar Plexus' last year with the help of an Arts Council grant. It is based on two short themes which are stated at the beginning (Elements I & I1). The first theme is angular and has a slow, crab-like movement: the second theme is direct, simple and diatonic. CHANGING TIME and SPIRIT LEVEL explore the first theme and BEDROCK DEADLOCK and TORSO explore the second one. SNAKEHIPS DREAM tries to fuse both themes. (The title is a reference to the famous dancer 'Snakehips' Johnson)."
Solar Plexus features the same lineup as Elastic Rock and We'll Talk About It Later, but they're augmented by six guests, three of which play brass. Carr himself had almost full control of the writing and it does feel very different to the previous albums. It's more of a jazz record loosely based on a rock foundation rather than jazz fusion jamming.
The haunting synth-and-bass soundscape "Elements I and II" opens the album in dramatic, experimental fashion. It gives way to the bright, funky feel-good jazz of "Changing Times". An elegant onslaught of horns, courtesy of guests Kenny Wheeler and Harry Beckett, ride a solid groove for the duration. How the brass refrains have eluded samplers is beyond us. The melancholic "Bedrock Deadlock" features the brooding majesty of Jenkins' oboe and Clyne's mournful, skittering double bass. Wah wah guitar, drums and funky percussion then take over before the horns ride us out over frenetic beats. The dark, angular "Spirit Level" is a real highlight, by turns harmonic and beautiful then dissonant and wayward. Wonky jazz with no apparent structure or melodic bones. Regardless, it represents a great showcase for each virtuoso performer.
The breezy soul of "Torso" feels like a breath of fresh air, skipping along in the uptempo style with guitar, horns, drums and bass. A track which truly sounds scintillating, featuring sax solos, fantastic propulsive interplay from all the group around the halfway stage before Marshall gets his chance to really shine in closing out with a polyrhythmic drum solo. Final track "Snakehips' Dream" stretches cooly out over 15 minutes to round out a spellbinding album. An epic, suave groove, it's a relaxing piece with warm electric keys, laconic guitar and languorous horns. Truly sophisticated soulful jazz. An absolute masterclass. We could easily listen to this all day long.
This Be With edition of Solar Plexus has been re-mastered from the original Vertigo master tapes, Simon Francis’ mastering working together with Cicely Balston's cut at AIR Studios to weave their usual magic with these wonderful recordings. The stunning gatefold sleeve has been restored to complete this sensational package.
- A1: The Void – Prologue
- A2: King Of Blood
- A3: Unsere Zeit Läuft Ab
- A4: We Belong To The Night
- B1: The Last Crusade
- B2: Fliegen
- B3: Tief
- C1: Dark History
- C2: Kein Mensch
- C3: Shine Again
- C4: Living On The Edge Of The Night (A Gothic Anthem)
- D1: The Prophecy
- D2: Wir Sind Unsterblich (Alternative Mix)
- D3: Ohne Wiederkehr
25 Jahre Blutengel! Neue Sounds, aber immer noch der gleiche Typ - Mit dem neuen Album “Un:Sterblich - Our Souls Will Never Die” reflektiert Chris Pohl seine gesamte musikalische Vergangenheit, zeigt aber auch, dass Blutengel sich weiterentwickelt und wandelt. “Un:Sterblich - Our Souls Will Never Die” ist wohl Blutengels bisher persönlichstes Album mit Einblicken in tiefere, dunklere Gefühle der letzten Jahre. Stilistisch hat Chris Pohl einerseits mit Songs wie “King of Blood”, “Can you see me” und “Ohne Wiederkehr” neues gewagt, bleibt dabei aber sich selbst und seinen musikalischen Anfängen mit Liedern wie “Back for Blood”, “Dark History” und “Shine Again” treu. Mit 25 brandneuen Songs und 12 (!!!) Musikvideos zelebrieren Blutengel ihre 25-jährige Erfolgsgeschichte.
Irish-born, Manchester-based Kerrie is a multi-disciplinary artist, incorporating live sets, DJing, producing and running her label Dark Machine Funk across her repertoire of work. Now, Kerrie follows up last year's 'Raw Regimen' (BP063) with a second EP for James Ruskin's seminal Blueprint Records.
Having garnered a rich musical education through working at and holding a DJ residency for one of the UK's most respected record shops Eastern Bloc, Kerrie's in-depth knowledge and unwavering dedication to music shines through her notable back catalogue and bolshy, unforgiving DJ and Live sets. Honing her craft for over a decade, Kerrie has played worldwide in celebrated venues such as Tresor, Berghain, fabric, FOLD, Elsewhere NYC and festivals including Freedom Medellin, Freerotation, Drift and Basilar.
First learning to mix via her brother's turntables in the early 2000s, it wasn't until 2009 that Kerrie invested in her own set-up and built an extensive record collection, covering everything from ambient, electronic, house, EBM, acid, electro, and her go-to genre, techno. Kerrie delivers tough moods from the turntables, as conveyed in her mixes for Reclaim Your City, Bassiani, SLAM and Crack, where she carefully blended high-energy styles of UK, Detroit, and European techno, many of which stem from the 90s and the 00s. It's frequent to hear Kerrie weave broken elements into her mixes too, chopping up the 4/4 groove at just the right moment to keep things propulsive. Kerrie's Live sets are fast becoming renowned for their trippy motifs and high impact on the dancefloor, applauded by Berlin's long-running club Tresor, where she made several appearances with her Elektron machines. Kerrie's Live set at Freerotation in 2019 was one of the festival's most talked-about debuts, and this year, Kerrie will return to and debut at multiple festivals and clubs across Europe and the Americas.
Following well-received releases on labels such as Don't Be Afraid, Cultivated Electronics, I Love Acid and Symbolism, Kerrie launched her imprint Dark Machine Funk DMF in 2020. The label homes her distinctly raw aesthetic and honours her love for dark, gritty, metallic and industrial sounds melded with elements of funk, heavily influenced by second-wave Detroit artists, UK techno and music by some of her favourite artists; James Ruskin, Blawan and Surgeon. Kerrie's first release on DMF, 'Inner Space PT1', was praised by Resident Advisor, who credited her ability to make "lean, fierce techno that knows how to groove."
2022 was a watershed year for Kerrie's productions. She debuted on the monumental UK techno label Blueprint with her EP 'Raw Regimen', which landed acclaimed reviews. Truly welcomed to the Blueprint family, Kerrie shares her second EP on the label in May and joins the crew at Blueprint showcases around the globe. This year marks the release of Kerrie's 10th EP on vinyl, and considering her consistent output on DMF, Blueprint and many more labels, the producer shows no sign of slowing down.
Coming to international prominence in more recent years, regardless of her decade-long tenure in Manchester's vibrant scene, Kerrie is deeply invested in the culture of electronic music, starting from her teenage era as a raver in Ireland up to her innovative projects today. In 2017, she founded Eastern Bloc's in-house event space to nurture local talent, which remains at the heart of Manchester's music community. Having ended her 11-year stint at the shop in 2023 to fully commit to the studio and accommodate her increasingly busy tour schedule, Kerrie is forging a long-lasting path fuelled by drive, passion, authenticity and a community-first way of thinking.
She’s out of this world…
Maltese musician & producer Joon’s galactic debut arrives on our shores fully formed a decade after she first set sail. 12 cuts of uniquely addictive Synthesized Pop twist & turn on the rocky waters of life.
Her story begins after a life-changing car crash on the streets of Malta many moons ago. She was lucky to walk away in one piece. “That car crash was a wake-up call,” she says. “It made me realize how precious life is & I started living the life I felt was worth living.” Inspired to finally pursue her love of music full time, she began collecting instruments. Starting with a Stylophone& a vintage rhythm box, she started documenting ideas. Returning home to Malta after a few years in London, she only met one other woman making electronic music on the island. Driven by the desire to make music possible & accessible for the next generation, Joon co-founded the Malta Sound Women’s Network.
Ten years later, she sends us messages in a bottle from across the Mediterranean Sea. Armed with a Moog & her ethereal voice, she transmits hope & joy from a bedroom somewhere between Sicily & North Africa. Her music is right at home alongside outsider pioneers like Fever Ray, Grimes, Laurie Anderson & Molly Nilsson. Dream Again glides across heavy rhythms & eclectic electro. Telling stories of alienation with a throbbing heartbeat & space-age melodies, she lets us into her ultra-vivid world where anything is possible. Produced by Johnny Jewel, the album shines bright like comet orbiting the label’s dark sky, a much-needed vision of light on the horizon.
“Even if I’m sad or heartbroken, I remain optimistic. I want to grow old with no regrets.”
It’s time to Dream Again…
- 1: Intro
- 2: Half Life
- 3: Optichrome
- 4: The Holy Mountain Still Shines
- 5: Loma
- 6: Breathe Memories
- 7: M.f. Heaven
- 8: Signal To Noise
- 9: The Guidance
180g clear vinyl. This is for Indies only. Milan/London experimental band Throw Down Bones are returning with their new album 'Three' on February 24th. A towering body of work that feels both apocalyptic and jubilant, 'Three' is Throw Down Bones' eagerly-awaited return following 2018's 'Two' and the tragic passing of founding member Dave Cocks in a motorcycle accident in 2019. Choosing to continue the band in honour of Cocks, in February 2020, surviving co-founder Francesco Vanni returned to London's New River Studios with long-term collaborator and producer James Aparicio (Spiritualized, Nick Cave) and a new band in tow, made up of bassist Marion Andrau and drummer Raphael Mura. Working in the studio with the new band for the first time, several hours of improvised recordings were captured over the course of those early New River sessions, which were then expanded and pieced together between Aparicio in London and Vanni in Milan. Ready to lacerate eardrums and send into a trance once more, the result is a 9-track album spanning feedback-blasted industrial psychedelia, heavy electronics, krautrock and dark ambient. Overcoming huge psychological and practical difficulties, 'Three' is a powerful and moving record in more ways than one - a post-industrial triumph that's at once hedonistic, cathartic and poignant. Describing 'Three' and its intentions, Vanni says: "This album tries to reverse the usual band-listener interaction. We hold no truth and we're not willing to serve any universal answers to anything. Instead, we question the listener who, according to their experiences and sensitivity, will find a reply for themselves. That's the role of instrumental music and why we love it so much. It brings the listener to the centre of the project, giving them an active role in translating music into meaning. Every single note in this album is dedicated to our brother Dave Cocks."



























































































































































