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Zum ersten Mal auf Kassette! Mit nur sechs Singleveröffentlichungen zwischen 1965 und 1966 und von einem musikalisch abgelegenen Ort wie Lima erschufen LOS SAICOS einen rohe, wilden Sound, der Einiges mit dem gemeinsam hatte, was zur gleichen Zeit auf der Nordhalbkugel ,Garage Rock" getauft wurde. LOS SAICOS teilten sich Gene mit THE SONICS, ROCKET FROM THE TOMBRS, THE CRAMPS und BLACK LIPS. Diese Veröffentlichung versammelt sämtliche ihrer Aufnahmen und erzählt die grandiose Geschichte von LOS SAICOS. Die Archäologie des Rock'n'Roll hat viel gemeinsam mit anderen Formen des Grabens. Wichtige Fundstücke erfordern eine Neueinschätzung der alten Gewissheiten. Ich hatte niemals zuvor von LOS SAICOS gehört, hatte jedoch die WAU Y LOS ARRGHS!!! Version von ,Demolicion" genossen. Während mir die Wildheit des Tracks gefiel, dachte ich nicht eine Sekunde daran, dass das Original noch verstörter sein könnte. Was noch viel wichtiger is: dieser fauchende Strudel Nihilismus wurde in Lima aufgenommen, während der Rest der Welt die BEATLES abfeierte. Chemie ist ein Faktor, der wichtiger als theoretische Kenntnisse oder Können. Es gibt einen Punkt, an dem die Natur die Führung übernimmt - das Individuum muss gehorchen. Wer hätte gedacht, dass es da draußen in Peru eine Combo geben würde, die THE SONICS nach den verdammten SIMON & GARFUNKEL klingen lässt? Best ever Saicotherapie!

Masterful composer- improviser DoYeon Kim is an unparalleled practitioner of the Korean gayageum (a silk-string zither), and is also in possession of a purposeful vocal intensity. This is her debut album as a bandleader, featuring fellow master musicians Tyshawn Sorey (drums), Mat Maneri (viola), Henry Fraser (bass). Armed with an unlikely traditional instrument, flanked by three extraordinary improvisers, radiating a brash, acoustic strategy that simultaneously invokes folk universalism and a No Wave battle- stance, the Brooklyn- based virtuoso will drop a volcanic sonic statement with grand humanist goals on May 1. Kim mingles Korean lullabies, fervent interactions between drums and strings, and pure instrumental expressions of musical self. At times, she sounds like she can halt armies. Wellspring is a call for society to come together.

How the Seoul, South Korea- born 34- year- old came to be the centuries- old zither's leading (only?) practitioner of contemporary improvised music, reflects an expansive embrace of her own culture, her place in modern society, and her ascending recognition of music's liberatory power. DoYeon Kim 's teachers at Seoul National University recognized that her roving musical mind - less interested in ancient repertoire than in speaking to the modern world - needed challenges. America beckoned, with the New England Conservatory offering a non- ethnomusicological pathway via its Contemporary Improvisation department. It set off a process of analysing, absorbing, digesting, and, most of all, listening. Under the guidance of NEC instructor and legendary guitarist Joe Morris, in came the methodologies of Ornette, Braxton and Derek Bailey, to name a few.

""Neverland", the fourteenth studio album by ULVER is the sound of an escape. A journey into undiscovered lands.

Following three albums – "The Assassination of Julius Caesar" (2017), "Flowers of Evil" (2020), and "Liminal Animals" (2024) – rooted in more traditional song and production structures, "Neverland" marks a new chapter in the revered Oslo band's history.

"With 'Neverland' we embraced a more 'punk' spirit – more dreaming, less discipline – freer, quite simply", the band comments on the creative process behind the album.

Bursts of daybreak synths and whooshes of sound set the atmosphere, before the wolves start digging into the dynamics of ambient calm and anarchic mysticism. Dreamy and transportive textures develop into trippy percussive energies, and as the album unfolds, a lush and vibrant, and at times exotic space opens.

Apart from a few recurring distant voices and vocal chops, "Neverland" is a largely instrumental record, reminiscent of the mood and structure of that place where late '90s IDM sounds met the meandering structures of post-rock.

The ghost of premillennial sample culture surely haunts "Neverland", and some might even hear echoes from earlier acclaimed works like "Perdition City" (2000), or the "Silence" EPs (2001), or more recently "ATGCLVLSSCAP" (2016).

Still, "Neverland" sounds and feels like something else, something fresh in ULVER's continuous journey of perennial reinvention. Pop music from in-between worlds? A sonic hallucination? Or better: a collage of dreams. It's up to you."

Call it soulful dream pop, proto-trip hop or downtempo jazz - "Tender Rain" is the follow-up LP to the successful "This Is" album and continues to deliver Ghia's unmistakable sonic magic. On this release, the band shares a selection of previously unreleased vocal songs alongside instrumental pieces, all carried by their trademark chilled and almost meditative atmosphere. Most of the recordings date from the early 1990s, while early demo versions of "New Love" and "Teardrops in Your Eyes" may reach back as far as the late 1980s.

The album opens with the title track "Tender Rain," where smooth vocal jazz harmonies merge effortlessly with soulful pop elements. The track originally appeared only on CD in 1993 on the small Mikado label run by renowned German guitarist Ulli Bögershausen. The band recalls that the piece was first pre-recorded using MIDI equipment and a Tascam 16-track recorder before being completed in the studio with drums by legendary drummer Mickie Stickdorn (Carsten Bohn's Bandstand, Cyklus, Elephant, Lake), percussion by Corinna Ludzuweit, and the final touch-Lisa Ohm's remarkable vocals.

At the time, Mikado was also looking for instrumental material for radio and synchronization use. They selected the track "Tropfstein" for a sampler CD and requested more pieces. In response, "und recken ihre schlanken Glieder" (roughly translated as "and stretching their slender limbs") was composed especially for the project, as Frank Simon remembers. Both tracks appeared on the now rare Mikado sampler CD under the alias z. Zt., short for "zur Zeit" ("at present" or "these days").

Several further pieces in a similar vein were created during this period, including the previously unissued "Auf unserm grünen Sofa," "Reise bei Nacht," and "Was ich Dir noch sagen wollte." These tracks are beautifully crafted downtempo pieces featuring smooth, jazzy piano lines combined with touches of ambient and New Age aesthetics. "Auf unserm grünen Sofa" stands out in particular and will likely resonate with all downtempo enthusiasts. Lutz Boberg recalls that many of these recordings were captured during a single afternoon in the studio, fueled by spontaneous ideas and creative momentum.

On tracks such as "Teardrops in Your Eyes," "New Love," and the haunting Dark Spirits Mix of Ghia's song "What's Your Voodoo?", singer Lisa Ohm delivers soulful pop performances with her clear and captivating voice. "Change Your Sex," the third track previously featured on the Mikado sampler, leans more toward late-1980s funk and was aimed at radio and DJs at the time. Its subject matter was relatively daring for the period, telling the story of someone contemplating a change of sex "to get rid of the troubles."

Together with "This Is" and "Curacao Blue", "Tender Rain" forms another essential chapter in the rediscovery of the band's work. More than thirty years after their creation, these recordings still sound strikingly fresh, reflecting a unique style that in many ways anticipated the rise of trip-hop in the early to mid-1990s.

Certain paths necessitate and call for one singular long sequence in order to arrive at a fully formed conversation or reasoning. Nothing seems to broadcast it more clearly than the trajectory Brussels based Italo-Vietnamese artist Nguyễn Zen Mỹ embarked on during the last decade as Radio Hito.

After a string of highly cherished and sought out tape releases, Radio Hito’s new album ‘L’uso e gli attributi del cuore’, co-released by Maple Death & Meakusma, unfolds with devastating
clarity, a profound balance of depth, minimalism and emotional grounding. A ten-sequence song cycle for voice and MIDI soundfonts adapted from the 2021 book by French poet Claude
Royet-Journoud.

Written and recorded between January 2023 and August 2025, the cycle evolved through nearly 80 live performances from Galicia to Kazakhstan before arriving at its recorded form. Set to an Italian libretto adapted from Royet-Journoud’s text ‘L'usage et les attributs du cœur’ (POL, 2021), the work revisits the tradition of the 19th-century Lied — art song built on existing poetry— transposed into a radically economical contemporary setting: voice and Casio CTK workstations.

"I was interested by this incompleteness CRJ mentions - by the ‘suspension’ of meaning questioning readability and intelligibility. I ‘resisted’ to CRJ’s texts since I met him and got to know his work. … It seems to me that when playing the songs, I submit an object to be completed by the audience."

Radio Hito’s distinctive approach to setting poetry to music — spare arrangements, strophic repetition, and a voice suspended between recital, fm transmission and canzone — creates a language of its own, reaching new heights on ‘L’uso e gli attributi del cuore’, songs that are formally rigorous, emotionally restrained, and shaped by the discipline of sustained live performance, interlocking into a coherent cycle.

Rather than illustrating the poem, Radio Hito approaches it as a space of suspension. Royet-Journoud described poetry as a “profession of ignorance” where meaning remains incomplete; these songs extend that trembling state, allowing repetition, digital timbre, and restraint to hold the text open.

Often misread as minimal synth or romantic chanson, Radio Hito’s practice is rooted instead in the lineage of the art song and song cycle: open structures, close attention to language, and a live performance economy that pushes the voice at the heart of the stage. The choice of accessible keyboard workstations — light, portable, and embedded in contemporary popular culture — replaces the historical piano.

Radio Hito creates fantastical, mirage-like songs, intimate yet elusive. Her music is forlorn chanson for the digital age; bringing her haunting and beautiful vocalisations into conversation with MIDI soundfonts and humble-yet-deep casio compositions. Music that strides for simplicity, yet lands miraculously within an entire new universe, a uniqueness achieved from like-minded spirits such as Ghedalia Tazartès, Savina Yannatou & Lena Platonos, Dorothy Carter, cycles that trickle down into estuaries.

“Radio Hito's set is superb. Sitting on the altar steps with a synth, her fabulously expressive vocals colour sparse, pensive compositions.” The Wire

"K8A a.k.a. Kaethe Hostetter is a New York–based violinist. composer, and bandleader, whose work grew out of eleven years living and collaborating in Ethiopia. As a founding member of Debo Band and QWANQWA, Hostetter has been performing Ethiopian music for over two decades, and her solo debut, Woradj Alle, builds on this legacy by reimagining Ethiopian songs through live-looped violin and electronics.
"The album unfolds as a hypnotic, ritual-like performance that expands the instrument into an immersive sonic landscape, that refracts Ethiopian classics through dub, psych rock, and avant improvisation. It is not fusion, but transmission - music that blurs memory, place, and time.
"This collection of musical vignettes is based on my time in Ethiopia, the place I called home for 11 years", Kaethe explains. "The phrase 'Woradj Alle' is one of the first colloquial expressions I learned upon arriving in Addis Ababa, used on public transportation, simply meaning 'let me off right around here'. In choosing this name, I invite you to join me on the rickety minibus journey through my time in Ethiopia, and step off 'the bus' into scenarios, atmospheres, and soundscapes that describe moments I experienced, people I met, and other lasting impressions, striking and mundane."

"In 1910, the illustrator George Herriman created the Krazy Kat comic strip. Ignatz, a vicious mouse, was Krazy Kat’s arch enemy, and his favourite pastime was to throw bricks at Krazy Kat’s head (who misinterpreted the mouse’s actions as declarations of love)
"Ignatz is the alter-ego of Belgian musician Bram Devens. Since 2005, he has released around 20 albums accompanied by guitar, in LP, CD or cassette formats, on labels such as (K-RAA-K)³, Ultra Eczema, Fonal, Mortaux vaches, Okraïna, among others. Ignatz has toured all over the world: Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Great Britain, Italy, Finland, Greece, Switzerland, Portugal, Lithuania, the United States, Japan, etc.
"Since the beginning of his journey as a singer-songwriter, Ignatz has played wonderfully and mysteriously with the combination of the similar and the unfamiliar, between the repetition and permanent reinvention with slight shift in accents... Now For two decades, when discovering his new songs, whether on record or in concert, his expressive and sonic universe can be recognized in seconds, and at the same time, he surprises every time. This is clearly also the case with ‘I Don't Know’, an album for which (after the cassette ‘Coffee, No Cigarettes’, Taping Policies 2017) he trades his guitar for the piano.
"In the mid-2010s, Ignatz inherited the family piano. As a self-taught musician, he explored the instrument and gave a piano concert in the small Flemish town of Geel, which was filmed by Jef Mertens (who also released the aforementioned cassette) and attended by Beata Szparagowska and Philippe Delvosalle from the label By the Bluest of Seas. After some years, it was in his home in Landen that Bram Devens recorded this haunted piano album, which is unlike any other piano record."

Frizzell & Duque's A Sorrow Unrequited moves with suspended patience, each LP piece built from simple melodic figures, each of which eventually thicken out to quiet overwhelm. Working outside their Zake/City of Dawn aliases, the pair realise a more diaristic exposure here, drawing their inspiration and track titles from Julia Frizzell's poems of the same name. 'We Once Believed We Owned The Sky' tone-sets the vibe with long, tidal swells of strings and synth, dissonances sparing but weighted, while 'Closer, Always Closer' moves in similarly tidal cycles, with momentary swellings and torn cellos fissuring through the overall sadness.

Mark Reeve starts 2026 in prime form with ‘Body Drops’, a quick-fire follow-up to his recent A-Sides contribution ‘My Mind’.The veteran artist has an inimitable touch in the studio going back over 15 years and can always be relied upon to deliver high-impact techno creations. Tracks such as ‘Run Back’, ‘Distance’ and his collaboration with Adam Beyer ‘Nine of You’ make thrilling reference points.‘Body Drops’ found its way onto Drumcode via Bart Skils. “Bart and I have a very good musical understanding and we really respect eachother. So, when he said I think this would fit to Drumcode, I was like ok let me send it. Adam came back to me with a massive yes, and it went from there.”He continues: “I can see that a new peak-time sound is evolving. Very modern and groovy sounding, which is exactly what I like. I guess all the other tracks on Drumcode that have come out recently got me very inspired.”The track is a gem. Driven by an otherworldly stomping riff, it immediately strikes you with its unique sonic character. Huge without being banging, watch this fit a variety of high-impact moments.‘Feed My Fire’ is a rolling big-bodied track that sees elements of prog,techno, psy and silky chords combine for a chugging dancefloor cut.“This is a personal favourite of mine simply because it’s so groovy andfits more intimate sessions. But I also tested it in front of bigger crowds and it really does the job.

When Henry Street & Sacred Rhythm Music join forces for a remix outing, it should be obvious the source material and resulting productions are of the utmost caliber. This record proves such a case in point: Johnny "D" DeMairo & Joe Claussell team up for two takes on Candi Staton’s 1979 disco opus 'When You Wake Up Tomorrow.’ The original, whose pedigree could be inferred simply by reading Patrick Adams’ and Jimmy Simpson’s names on the label, is a faultless dance floor cut featuring all the elements you’d expect—lavish horn and string arrangements, sparkling synthesizer accents, and plenty of hand-beat drumming—along with with Staton’s peerless voice. Johnny D’s mix starts carefully, the vocal refrain accented with auxiliary percussion until the rug is pulled out from under us, the ensuing chasm making the following thrust of the track that much more powerful. On the flip.

Claussell’s take starts with reinforced four-on-the-floor, along with a studio count-in, perhaps alluding back to his previous ‘It Seems To Hang On’ edit. As the track establishes itself, ample room is afforded for interplay between bass and guitar, with all the interlacing elements aggrandizing the mood with careful shots of delay and expertly-timed pivots in atmosphere. Both sides are proof of what shouldn’t need evidence: two masters of their craft assembling two wholly new mixes that far surpass the banal copy and paste, add and subtract methodology slung by the less blessed. Pressed on white vinyl, with a custom jacket to boot.

Deaf Center travel through quiet pathways and grand boulevards in their fourth studio album “Through Time”.

Since their last full-length LP, “Low Distance” (2019), the duo has gradually shifted towards a more long-form electroacoustic sound which perhaps makes for their most immersive listening experience so far. Otto A Totland’s piano travels in less frequent rhythms than before, yet is felt even more as a relief in the quieter moments that contrast with Erik K Skodvin’s deep atmospheric worlds. There’s a searching quality within the record which feels like slow movements on the way towards something meaningful, capturing a sense of both peace and awe.

The latter part of the album takes a different turn: fluctuating electronic rhythms over deep strings create an ecstatic yet haunting duality. It is the first time a guest musician appears on a Deaf Center record: British composer and musician Simon Goff joins with violin and viola in the finale, “Further”, a hypnotising piece submerged in layers of strings and drones.

The subject of time is an ambitious one, yet Deaf Center manage to balance the humble with the grand in great warmth as seconds become minutes, hours become days and time seemingly freezes as a still-life moment.

The classic Fearless Iranians From Hell Die For Allah LP is now back in print after a twenty-five year hiatus. Remastered and repressed on nuclear green vinyl, this hardcore punk arsenal also includes all tracks from their literally explosive Blow Up The Embassy 7-inch debut. FIFH was a mysterious Texan monstrosity formed in 1983 by Iranian expat (and modern day hashashin) Amir Mamori, who gathered to his side various mutants and apocalyptic freaks from the San Antonio punk rock blast zone, even throwing in two Butthole Surfers rejects for good measure (including none other than the notorious Anus Presley himself). The subsequent recording sessions were a chaotic affair, as guitars were rarely in tune and the drums were seemingly scavenged from the trash. It was all directed by Amir who, with fanatical focus, would inspire the band on to victory from behind a stupifying cloud of hash smoke. The resulting releases were widely praised; from places like Maximum Rock n Roll and the Village Voice in the US, to Sounds and New Musical Express in the UK. They were even cited as forerunners of the musical genre known as Taqwacore. After touring the US in the late ’80s—and leaving in their wake crowd turbulence, police intimidation, and even bounties being place on the heads of the members—the band disbanded in 1989 upon the death of the Ayatollah Khomeini (may Allah have mercy on him). “We’re stoned as shit, and we’re ready to roll.” - F.I.F.H. ’87

Esbe returns to Cold Busted for a phenomenal new four-track EP, Sunset Girl. With previous releases on Dusted Wax Kingdom and Cult Classic, as well as his acclaimed Bloomsday and Late Night Headphones albums for Cold Busted, the Los Angeles-based multi-genre beat-maker is riding a wave. Sunset Girl is another exciting moment in Esbe's musical progression. The release starts quietly with the gentle, muted piano chords of "Special." A sparse hip-hop beat and subdued melodic layers round out the tune, cutting away to reveal a lonesome vocoder vocal. "Again" is as close as Esbe gets to a pop song, as a carefree male vocal and twinkling pianos ride over a crisp, solid rhythm track. More delights await on "Sunset Girl" with its simple piano line, reverby percussion hits, distant sax solo, and splashes of vocal collide in a sonic daydream. "I Want Love" closes things out on a vintage flavor, with echoes of a mid-century school dance reverberating into a modern day beat battle. Potent vibes all around.

Two turntables and a microphone. There is a truth in the clarity of that simple coda, a truth that also belies the breadth of what is possible within its confines. Sometimes you gotta get reminded. I Guess U Had To Be There, the new album from NYC rapper ELUCID and veteran producer Sebb Bash, is one of those ones. So fresh it sounds like it was made tomorrow, but bet money you could put this on in ’89 and get heads bopping.
There are moments in music when masters of their craft cross paths at the height of their respective powers—records like Madvillainy, Liquid Swords, Dr. Octagonecologyst, and Hell Hath No Fury—where the result is more than the sum of its parts. ELUCID and Sebb Bash find themselves in this heady, seemingly effortless ephemera on I Guess U Had To Be There. Everything is both familiar and groundbreaking. The beats shift and flip under ELUCID’s feet but he tightropes it all, delivery nimble as a mountain goat, producer and rapper moving in perfect synchronization. Some shining stars make memorable appearances: billy woods, Breezly Brewin, Estee Nack, Shabaka Hutchings. But this is a two-man show, and the duo keep the spotlight where it belongs. I Guess U Had To Be There is a captivating, convention-defying listen and a high-water mark for two of the best artists in the genre.

"Melodic, dreamy bedroom pop with a nostalgic sheen" is how Tom Davies, creator of brand new dream-pop artist Flopsy's dream, describes this charming little album.
Some of you may know him as GeoWizard; the mad British adventurer/YouTuber who travels in straight lines, but here you get to see or indeed hear a completely different side to him - one that sings in soft, tuneful tones reminiscent of Damon Albarn or Ray Davies, builds ethereal, layered harmonies that wouldn't sound out of place on a Fleet Foxes track, and crafts gorgeous guitar and synth parts that could easily have come straight out of John Frusciante or Kevin Parker's handbook.
Written in a young Davies's bedroom between the years of 2008 and 2014, the songs themselves are far from brand new, but with the help of his good friend and writing partner Liam Rhodes (with whom he played in Birmingham Psychedelic outfit "Kinds of light"), Davies has brought these sentimental tracks to life whilst keeping them bang in line with their original vision.
The result is an album that doesn't really fit into any specific genre, in fact you could argue it's just regular old generic pop, but there's an innocence and a playfulness in there that disarms the listener and transports them to a simpler time when melody ruled supreme.

Rave At Your Fictional Borders is not beyond borders. The band simply denies any notion thereof. Driven by a sense of community, it defines human existence as one bio-organism with planet Earth. Now comprising members Dave De Rose, Marius Mathiszik, and Salim Akki, this incarnation of Rave At Your Fictional Borders first released the 'Entanglement' and 'Utopia' tracks in March 2025. Analogue Nomadism is the project's first album release. Recorded in Morocco and then co-produced and mixed by Dan Nicholls, it is an album of dizzying, trance-inducing scope. Rave music stripped of all external signifiers. Repetition, noise, krautrock, avant-garde sensibilities. This is a search for a groove that both connects and interlocks. The soul of improvisation and exploration runs through all seven pieces on Analogue Nomadism. Genres are referenced and transcended. The open-ended is perpetually embraced.

It is neither night nor day, but there is a half-light all the time. What used to be disconcerting is now not alien anymore. The sky boasts a faint light. Certain shapes are laid out, but get changed through communal ritual. Analogue Nomadism is the music of a feeling of community. It builds and breaks down. It is accepting of the psychedelic standards of the groove. Transportative and vertiginous. Endless.

Saxophonist, producer and composer Brian Allen Simon explores darker hues, transposing waking and altered states under his studio veil Anenon. On the deeply evocative new album 'Dream Temperature', he shifts electronic processing to the foreground, introducing digitized wind instruments and unworldly atmospherics, not heard since his innovating mid-late 2010s output.

A longtime Los Angeles resident, born and raised, Brian Allen Simon has expressively operated under the moniker Anenon, releasing the highly revered 'Petrol' (2016), 'Tongue' (2018) and the viscerally beautiful 'Moons Melt Milk Light' (2023), in a line of unwavering musical dialogues. While the penultimate album was a deliberate, reductive, entirely acoustic detour that was born out of a want to unplug, 'Dream Temperature' sees Brian primed with a newly discovered wind synthesizer as his central compositional tool, alongside acoustic piano and tenor saxophone. The entirety of the album's electronics are triggered by Brian's lungs, generating otherworldly synths modulated by expressive breath control, channelled through the laptop as the core processing chamber for added textural components and field recordings.

A free floating and heavy emotional resonance marks 'Dream Temperature' from beginning to end, invoking the feeling of waking up, still heavy from a night of half-remembered dreams, and continuing one's day in this state. Simon maps out the album's spatial voice early on the statement title track, a deep, yet compact cut, generated from digital saxophone rasps that whistle by in close proximity, along with haze filled textures and sub bass. There is a sonic oscillation of urban grit and pastoral drift throughout as tracks pass by like introspective thoughts, fueling both a tense and ethereal quality that underpins the album. Interluding solo and part-solo piano improvisations 'Last Sun 1' and '2' are positioned adjacent to the buffering digital soundscapes. Their softer, still processed timbres pierce the melancholic exterior, offering a contrasting tenderness that could echo the grace of Ry?ichi Sakamoto, the spiritualist rigor of ECM's Keith Jarrett and a touch akin to Aphex Twin's piano miniatures. 'Nulle Part 1+2' signals the first appearance of an acoustic wind instrument, as tenor saxophone flourishes are juxtaposed against noisy drones, all shouting at the void, with notes resurfacing like lost digital data.

The album was recorded at home during either sunset or nocturnal hours between September of 2024 and October of 2025, a period in which Brian found himself craving more lengthy and intimate studio time as he searched for more pronounced textural qualities amidst his new sonic ambitions. 'When The Light Appears, Boy' shows further evidence of this deeper universe, revealing a grittier edge as the album's essential blueprint is sonically inked. A sprawling expanse of wind synths rhythmically encircle the listener before a dreamy, ghostly ambience blankets 'Toyama'. The sound is evocative of the productions of post dubstep era luminaries such as Burial or the productions of HTRK's Nigel Yang. More isolating and enveloping than the previous all acoustic record, this is music both disorienting and yet warmly inviting all at once. A sonic diarist at heart, personal field recordings were also taken from Sardinia, Japan, Big Sur and LA which intersect at unexpected moments throughout the album's 31-minute play time.

'Dream Temperature' is a vital coalescence of both Simon's electronic and acoustic practices with repositioned electronics akin to earlier works, both haunting and elegant, yet still profoundly personal. Simon continuously resonates as an experimental outlier treading an enthralling, non-linear musical path. This music resolutely glows with an unknowing aura, like an untapped energy source waiting to be discharged.

Just when you thought you had heard it all.... Evil Grave were an exceptionally unique underground rock band from Malta that shook the islands with uncompromising attitude and dark imagery. In the early 1970s they ruled the Maltese scene and were voted best band in national polls. Heavily influenced by Black Sabbath and early progressive rock with a traditional Maltese flavour, Evil Grave never released any material during their existence. Several low budget demos were recorded at the time but, over the following years, the name Evil Grave simply vanished into obscurity. Until now! During a recent vacation to the islands, label owner Lee Dorrian became aware of the band and has spent the past three years tracking down as much information about them as he possibly could. With the blessing of original guitarist/songwriter John E Zammit Pace, we are excited to release this ungodly artefact upon the work for the very first time. Death From Malta, gathers together all known existing material from the band, the sound quality of which is decidedly lo-fi but, if anything, this only adds to the mysterious vibe of this simply enigmatic band.

Atjazz presents his long-awaited 27-track long player "Starbase 17" — an epic odyssey through song and sound, offering a rich tapestry of styles that draws listeners into a wondrous sonic realm where rhythm, harmony, and imagination intertwine.

Taking inspiration from his extensive body of work, Martin "Atjazz" Iveson fuses his signature deep musicality with cutting-edge production to reach new creative heights. This time, he brings an exceptional ensemble of world-renowned collaborators aboard his cosmic vessel, each adding their own distinct brilliance to the voyage

Together, this stellar lineup consisting of Fred Everything, Nathan Haines, Sio, Karizma, LyricL, Peacey, Pete Simpson, OVEOUS, Charles Webster, Kaidi Tatham, Clyde Beats, Natasha Watts, Omar, Max Beesley, Josh Milan, Rona Ray, Osunlade, and Clara Hill joins Atjazz on a journey through sound, space, and emotion — where each track is a world of its own, yet all are united by a shared creative vision and boundless imagination.

Purple Haze started out in Linköping in 1981. When singer Christer Göransson joined them towards the end of the year, they soon changed their moniker to Genocide (after the Judas Priest song of the same name) and supported local metal heroes Axewitch. A final name change was to follow: In August 1983, the band, now called Mindless Sinner, recorded a four-track demo entitled »Master Of Evil«, consisting of the title track, “Broken Freedom”, “Key Of Fortune” and “Screaming For Mercy”. This attracted Swedish label Fingerprint Records, and they in turn released the NWOBHM-inspired material as a mini-album with an awful cover and getting the band’s name wrong (spelling it Mindless Sinners). By then, the line-up of the band was Anders Karlsson (bass), Magnus Danneblad (guitar), Jerker Edman (guitar), Tommy Johansson (drums) and vocalist Christer Göransson. »Master Of Evil« originally saw the light of day on Fingerprint in January 1984. This was followed by the second album »Turn On The Power« in 1986 as Christer Göransson explains: “Well, »Turn On The Power« was actually recorded in October 1984, the same year as »Master Of Evil« was released. But the record label was almost out of business by 1985, so as a result »Turn On The Power« didn’t come out until January 1986, and shortly after the label went bust.” Just like on the debut, the cover was once again pretty weird. “Same story,” says the singer. “Blame the label again. We wanted a band photo for the cover but once more Fingerprint didn’t listen. We didn’t know who this girl was at all. And once again we saw the cover for the first time when we visited our local record store.” “I guess »Turn On The Power« was more of a straight heavy metal album compared to »Master Of Evil«,” describes Christer Göransson the band’s follow-up record, “better playing and better songs on »Turn On The Power«. Even though we love »Master Of Evil«. I guess it didn’t sell that much as the label went bankrupt, but the reactions were great.” Mindless Sinner played as much as they could in Sweden at the time but didn’t venture outside their home country. Over the years, their music has often been compared to the Tygers Of Pan Tang from England but Christer Göransson doesn’t see too many similarities: “We really love Tygers Of Pan Tang but I don’t think they were a big influence. It was more Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Saxon, Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne and Dio.” Shortly after the release of »Turn On The Power«, the band cut their name short to Mindless. According to Christer Göransson, this is why: “It was the sign of the times really. We wanted a more melodic kinda style and we just thought it was better to change the name to Mindless. But looking back now we should have stuck to our guns.”

Cathartic avant-rock, literate DIY folk & experimental composition exploring displacement, love, climate change, belonging & the places we call home - RIYL Jim O’Rourke, Richard Youngs, This Heat, Richard Dawson, Flying Nun. ‘Real Home’ is the new album by the Manchester-born, London-based artist Kiran Leonard. His sixth album proper (not including innumerable tour-only CD-Rs and short-run cassettes), since his precocious debut in 2013, ‘Real Home’ finds Leonard invigorated by inspiration and experience, making passionate, literate, and mercurial music that explores displacement, love, memory, climate change, connections to home and more. Encompassing songs recorded after moving to South London, ‘Real Home’ reflects on ideas of belonging and domesticity through folkloric, stream-of-consciousness songwriting. Across nine tracks, Leonard traces lived impressions of the household and the city, expressing sentiments of dislocation, alienation and stasis, but contentment too. Infusing the avant-rock effervescence, terraced dynamics and visionary lyricism of his music with what he defines as a greater sense of openness, Leonard is as versatile, fervent and imaginative as ever on ‘Real Home’, yet his music is somehow more intimate, affecting, and acutely expressive. Shaped by dual considerations of simplicity and formalism, ‘Real Home’ is by turns beautiful, allusive, and ruminative, an album on which Leonard considers what his songs have resembled in the past and what they mean now. In recent years, Leonard has crafted eloquent chamber music inspired by the likes of James Joyce and Clarice Lispector (‘Derevaun Seraun’), responded to contemporary politics and communication breakdown in the digital age (‘Western Culture’), and compiled solo works and ensemble recordings for a longform ode to Jonas Mekas and to one of Leonard’s enduring themes; home (‘Trespass On Foot’). On ‘Real Home’, Leonard reiterates this abiding thematic focus yet ascends to new, different heights, in music of cathartic delicacy and dissonance where all the myriad dimensions of his work to date seem to crystallize. There are sinuous songs about struggle and defying the pace of city life through drift and diversion (‘Pass Between Houses’), stirring songs of intense feeling and crescendo, described as a form of speculative detective fiction (‘Theatre for Change’). There are touching solo piano ballads (the title track), symbolic contentions with carbon capture and climate change (‘Utopia of Bog’), modes of experimental minimalism (‘Void Attentive’), and other profuse feats of compositional range, embroidered with wild tendrils of narrative and lyrical depth. A record to pore over, and get lost in. Exemplifying the vast aesthetic scope of Leonard’s music, lead single ‘My Love, Let’s Take The Stage Tonight’ is inspired by country lodestar Hank Williams, Russian poetry and a late period love poem by William Carlos Williams. Yet for Leonard, the song signals a sense of accessible materiality, and is the product of a more linear approach to writing songs: “My imitation of the great Hank Williams, in spirit if not in substance…This is one of the best efforts on Real Home at a song-as-object. Looking at it now I realise I was trying to write a song that made itself known as a song to the listener, and I wonder whether that’s crucial if you want a song to transcend its context. And that this is either accomplished through a total openness – by being inviting, by laying the tricks of the song out plain to see, as Williams and his many ghostwriters did so well – or by adopting a knowing aloofness, positioning oneself against the listener but letting it be known that that’s what it’s doing. In this song I try both, but mostly the former: as in, I wanted to write a song where every line follows on from the next.” Imbuing the endlessly elaborate and inventive qualities of his music with a newfound streak of candid, clear-cut melodicism, Leonard has reached a special place in his artistry, on a record that feels familial, and expresses closeness. Assembled with affiliates including Lauren Auder, Otto Willberg, Jasper Llewellyn (caroline), Tom Hardwick-Allan (Shovel Dance Collective), Magda McLean (caroline, The Umlauts), Alex Mckenzie (caroline, Shovel Dance Collective), Isabelle Thorn (Dear Laika) & more, the recording process had a significant influence on the subject matter of ‘Real Home’, in sessions defined by close-knit camaraderie and artistic eccentricity: “The theme of the home obviously recurs throughout the record; the album was mostly recorded in domestic spaces with friends, and the name of the album is Real Home. I like the qualifier ‘real’, like you’re getting past the cloak of the word and towards the thing-itself…also nearly all the percussion in this record was recorded on items from my dad’s shed (jam jars, sandpaper, blocks of wood, etc). Real home record!” ‘Real Home’, like anything by Kiran Leonard, is a record of dazzling multiplicity. Yet it’s a companionable prospect with a central premise; a collection of songs where listeners old and new can find a home. An album led by a scene; of Leonard standing at the threshold, ready to welcome you inside. “Exceptional songs that linger” - The Guardian // “An autodidact of amazing talent & energy” – Pitchfork // “A ridiculous amount of talent…confrontational, celebratory, provocative or perverse – he manages all of these emotions & more” - The Quietus /

Backwoodz Studioz is excited to announce the release of Crayola Circles, a collaboration between rapper Fatboi Sharif and producer Child Actor. While both artists have long standing connections to Backwoodz, this album marks their first collaboration of any kind and breaks new artistic ground for all parties.


Sharif’s previous album, Decay, released on Backwoodz in 2023, was a haunting experimental rap masterpiece, an acid trip in a mental hospital. On Crayola Circles Sharif trades menacing psychedelia for a simmering stew of blacklight expressionism, his verses slipping effortlessly through the swells and tides of Child Actor’s masterful production. No matter how uneasy the waves grow, Sharif is at ease, a truth teller whispering anti-riddles in your ear. This album feels like a new chamber for Child Actor, as well. The producer has been on an impressive run since dropping CINE- a collaboration with rapper Cavalier- on Backwoodz in late 2024. Child Actor has shown up in the liner notes of everyone from Navy Blue (The Sword & The Soaring) to Earl Sweatshirt (Live, Laugh, Love) to ELUCID (Revelator) to Open Mike Eagle (Neighborhood Gods Unlimited), to Ghais Guevara (A Quest to Self-Mythologize), amongst others. On Crayola Circles Child Actor’s production is dynamic, shifting and sliding into new phases and movements in an instant. The beats are full and knotty, leaning into jazz and folk, while remaining tethered to the tender minimalism that is his signature. It’s a difficult balance for any producer, and here it is executed perfectly, placing us in a world of wood and brass, cowhide and undersea piano. On any other record, this soundscape would steal the show — and it very nearly does — but Sharif’s command never wavers, ever in control; a lucid dreamer in an induced coma.
There are no guests, no skits, and no interludes. There might not even be songs, instead Crayola Circles seems akin to a great river; singular, traversing forest and jungle, mountain and valley, running from mouth to endless sea.

Fog On Mirror Glass introduces a new aesthetic amongst Donald Beaman albums. After four albums of varied full-band arrangements, this album emerged as an idea to present solo performances in conversation with full-band work. The bulk of the songs were recorded in the same place they were written: Beaman’s living room. Long time bandmate and producer Kirt Lind set up a makeshift studio at Beaman’s house to record the guitar parts in the same room where they were written, using the same guitars on which they were first played.

Unfurling with a measured pace, the resulting album combines elegiac lyrics with elemental arrangements played with an almost jazz-like reverential expressiveness, calling to mind the works of Cass McCombs, Will Oldham, and Jake Xerxes Fussell. Album opener “Glass Bottom Boat” sets the tone for the album with just Beaman and his guitar – written during the final months of a decade-long stay in New York City, the song was finished upon his arrival back in California. Meanwhile the title track, long a staple in live sets, lands near the middle of the album to recalibrate the mood, featuring the ghostly guitar work of longtime collaborator Ken Lovgren. “Old Universe” lifts things up a bit, propelled by the brushwork of drummer Michael Nalin and the jaunty bass playing of Kirt Lind. Finally, the album ends much the way it began, with Beaman and his guitar on album closer “Bamboo”.

“The dictionary definition of less is more.” - ---- Mojo
“His ability to carve universal empathy from mundane domesticity is remarkable.” - ---- RNR Magazine
“...a collection of evocative scenes and vivid emotions sung to sparse musical arrangements in Beaman’s distinctive sonorous tones” - Americana UK
“...pure and simmering, like a tattoo dedicated to a long lost friend, slightly fading from years in the sun, a memory that will always bring a tear in those quiet reflective moments.” - Psychedelic Baby Magazine

Fresh from releasing projects on Method 808 and Future Classic, landing a huge collaboration with Chloé Caillet, and delivering an official remix for Fatboy Slim, PPJ are entering a new chapter in full force. Their expansive take on global street sounds, ranging from neoperreo to Miami bass, gets a cool re-coating.

Led by the magnetic vocalist Páula, with production from Povoa (individually supported by Four Tet, Ben UFO, and Barry Can't Swim, with recent releases on Live From Earth), the duo operates in maximalist mode: playful, sensual, and slightly unhinged.PPJ’s new era, JOKER, embraces a figure that appears everywhere from card decks to carnival culture as a symbol that mirrors their own DNA: funny, eerie, seductive, unpredictable. The EP leans further into club territory, but rather than polishing their edges, PPJ amplify them.

At the emotional core of the record sits “Coeur,” co-produced with Chloé Caillet. It begins with an MPB-tinged foundation flirting with bossa nova. It’s unmistakably Brazilian, bathed in sunset hues before being sped up and twisted into a dance-floor-ready electronic form. The groove shimmers with tension: warm percussion, elastic basslines, and Páula’s voice hovering between intimacy and tease. It feels like a remix of itself, romantic, but slightly untrustworthy.

If “Coeur” glows, “To Nem Ai” is a slow burner. A very deep and downtempo house cut, it unfolds slowly, almost luxuriously, guided by sensual vocals that feel whispered directly into the ear of the listener. A hypnotizing piano sample that feels like a late-night confession. It’s the kind of record that transforms a dancefloor into something tactile.

Elsewhere, “Me Pega” is a high-energy reinterpretation of the tech-house sounds from Santa Catarina, one of southern Brazil’s most feverish party states, twisted and accelerated for ferocious impact. Drawing direct inspiration from Sarro, a raw and vibrant Brazilian street dance, the track captures physical intensity in its purest form: sweat, bass pressure, collective release.

Its counterpart, “Tem Carnaval” channels Páula’s vivid storytelling into a thunderous ode to Rio’s carnival spirit, euphoric, chaotic, cinematic landed just in time for this year’s celebrations.

On “Sexy Doce,” rugged electroclash melodies collide with unexpected references. “It was inspired by Budots, which is dance music from the streets in the Philippines,” Povoa explains. “Then we mixed it with Páula’s Brazilian vocals. Baile funk is similarly from the streets, so there is a connection.” The result is raw yet futuristic, a cross-continental flirtation that feels both underground and explosive.

With this new EP, PPJ make music like they’re tuning into a dozen pirate frequencies at once. Pirate radio from Rio to Berlin to Manila intercepting fragments of street culture, sensuality, and chaos, and stitching them into something deliriously cohesive.
JOKER doesn’t just nod to club culture. It challenges it, twists expectation and leaves a lasting impression.

Fifteen years after their first album "Time for a Change", and drawing on the experience of two others ("Elephanz" 2017, and "Rien de personnel" 2023), ELEPHANZ now returns with a fourth album that carries the scent of first loves, the kind you sing from the heart with your hands gripping a guitar.

"Love. Hurt. Repeat." tells, across ten songs, the story of a return to oneself, like coming home after years spent roaming the world, only to realize that everything you needed to understand yourself was already there at the starting line.

To help you understand what this new album makes me feel, I'd like to tell you about my first meeting with Jon and Max in 2009, when I became the band's bassist. Sixteen years ago, I discovered these two young men and set off in their family Kangoo van on my very first tour.

Through our early rehearsals around the piano of their childhood, I discovered their love for pop music in all its breadth, always in search of harmonies and melodies that touch the heart in the simplest way and gently ease your sorrows along the way. With them, I learned to appreciate the mainstream hits I had previously dismissed on principle, and I discovered the demanding art of melody as I listened to them sing about love and friendship through unforgettable catchphrases.

Listening today to some of the songs from their new album, I think back to those two young men with a big-city rock look, shut away in the living room of their family home, talking only about leaving that dull countryside behind to live the big life in the capital (Streets of Rage). What I once took for a kind of revenge against the hostile environment of their adolescence was in fact an almost vital need to find their place among others, to feel understood in order to feel at ease in their own skin.

Today, I find them again with the same guitar and the same inexpensive Juno as back then, but with the confidence shaped by years of concerts, writing, studio encounters, and all kinds of experimentation. The music of this fourth album has never been so close to that of their earliest days, but their voices have been set free. They no longer sing about who they dreamed of becoming, but about who they have always been, their most distant concerns, sometimes even their darkest ones, yet always in search of the light.

It is as if ELEPHANZ had to travel all the way around the world to come face to face with themselves again. There is no longer any shame in being who you are, and it is even the best way to understand yourself, to exist and to heal. To heal from grief and heartbreak, to understand the child you once were and the one who carried them (Mother), to forgive yourself and finally learn to love yourself.

That is what makes this record as sensitive as it is powerful and strikingly truthful. It was written and recorded like a cry, live, in just a few weeks, using the instruments of their beginnings: sharp bass and drums, powerful guitars, and synthesizers that are at times soaring, at times carriers of liberating melodies. The art of ballads remains, as does that of universal pop songs.

There is a beautiful urgency here, the urgency of finding oneself again in order to understand oneself through both pain and beauty, and "Love. Hurt. Repeat." is its most perfect expression.

'Matsuli Music is proud to announce the first vinyl reissue of Philip Tabane’s Sangoma ("Spiritual Healer") since its 1978 release. Remastered from the original tapes with lacquers cut by Frank Merrit and pressed on 180g heavyweight vinyl at Pallas in Germany, this definitive edition re-asserts the power of one of South Africa’s landmark recordings. Featuring new liner notes by cultural critic Kwanele Sosibo and artwork restoration by Siemon Allen, Sangoma returns in full force through an extended Malombo line-up, fronted by Tabane's spellbinding guitar - ancestral, timeless, and unbound.
'Philip Tabane (1934–2018), the mercurial guitar genius of South African music, forged a sound that was as rooted in the spirit world as it was in daily life. With the Malombo Jazzmen of the 1960s, Tabane disrupted Western notions of “jazz,” bringing the resonant rhythm of cowhide malombo drums into the foreground. While outsiders and the uninitiated often reached for labels like “primitive yet sophisticated,” Tabane and his collaborators named it more truthfully: “music of the spirit.”
'By the time of Sangoma, Tabane stood at a crossroads. Fresh from a period of three years’ touring in the United States where he graced the Newport Jazz Festival, and played alongside Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Pharoah Sanders and others, he brushed off comparisons with characteristic self-assurance: “No, I don’t play like Miles. Miles plays like me.” Back home in South Africa, and with a newly signed international distribution deal with WEA Records, he harnessed this momentum into a larger band setting, capturing a rare intensity.
'The result was Sangoma—an album that bridges contradictions: expansive yet intimate, celebratory yet haunted by exile and return. Tracks such as “Sangoma,” “Hi Congo,” and “Keya Bereka” are not simply performances but living testaments, songs that would remain in his repertoire for decades. Unlike the moody, immersive character of much of his work, here Tabane is on the move—urgent, restless, uncontainable. As he announces on the second track, “Maskanta wa tsamaya” (“something that kicks ass”).
More than four decades on, Sangoma is both an historical document and a timeless invocation. From his home in Mamelodi to the world and back again, Tabane’s spiritual healing endures—raw, electric, and unbowed.'

In 2026, the sample alchemist returns to his first love with his 11th album, Endless Smile 2. A 16-track project conceived as a tribute to his landmark 2015 album Endless Smile, which featured his iconic tracks “Betty” and “Qu’attendez-vous de moi”.

Born from a desire to return to the essentials, Endless Smile 2 focuses on instrumental compositions enriched with samples and organic textures inspired by the 70s. The album develops a warm and sun-soaked atmosphere, crossed by the melancholic touch that defines Degiheugi’s musical universe.

Recorded between 2023 and 2025 in his studio Endless Smile Records and mixed by his longtime collaborator Mr. Gib, the album opens with the trip-hop anthem “The Last Opening”. Far from being a simple introduction, it acts as a true gateway into Degiheugi’s new sonic journey. Keyboards set the tone, the horn section led by N’Zeng invites listeners into the groove, while guitars and organic keyboards immerse us fully into his musical world. The scene is set: he’s back.

Among the standout tracks, “Ain’t Goin Down” delivers a reggae-influenced groove driven by a message of hope, while “Vem O Mar” (feat. Hugo Kant) explores funk and tropical soundscapes. “Ipanemax”, a nod to the classic “The Girl From Ipanema”, and “Ouh Baby” extend this Brazilian atmosphere, while “Savoir Danser” leans toward oriental textures and “Juanita Bonita” ventures into a bold fusion of cumbia and dub.

The album also reveals Degiheugi’s signature melancholic side. An addictive loop settles deep into the listener’s mind as “Sympathique et sympa” balances nostalgia with urban groove. The haunting strings of “Naked” and the soul ballad “She Worries” respectively reflect on mortality and the fragility of romantic relationships. Guest artist Miscellaneous addresses gender-based violence on “Love Is Blind”, telling the story of a woman trapped in a toxic relationship.

Endless Smile 2 closes with “Enivrez-vous”, an outro inspired by Charles Baudelaire’s poem, bringing the album to a contemplative conclusion. With this release, Degiheugi masterfully completes a musical journey that began ten years ago.

Onna Last Live 1983 includes the final performance by the original line-up of Onna, the psych-rock project of revered Japanese manga artist, Keizo Miyanishi. Onna’s legend has largely rested, until now, on one self-released and self-titled seven-inch from 1983. Reissued by Holy Mountain in 2009, its rediscovery, along with several archival live and studio sets that leaked out across the 2000s, signalled to a wider audience the power of Miyanishi’s strikingly hypnotic songwriting. With Onna Last Live 1983, though, we hear the group’s perfect line-up performing at its peak.

While Miyanishi was the core member and conceptualist of Onna, the other members of the group would also go on to make significant contributions to the Japanese underground. Guitarist Michio Kurihara would eventually be known for his membership of YBO2, Ghost and White Heaven, and collaborations with the likes of Boris and Damon & Naomi. Drummer Ken Matsutani formed Marble Sheep & The Run-Down Sun’s Children and The Mickey Guitar Band, while also running the Captain Trip label. Joined by the late bass player Yasui Yutaka, to whom the album is dedicated, this quartet only performed live in 1983; the live set here was recorded at Silver Elephant.

It’s a different line-up to the Onna duo that’s documented on their single. After Miyanishi and fellow manga artist Mafuyu Hiroki recorded that material, Miyanishi decided he wanted to start playing gigs; Hiroki left, and Kurihara, Matsutani and Yutaka joined soon after. This line-up allowed Miyanishi to significantly expand Onna’s powers, leading to a sound that Kurihara once described to Ptolemaic Terrascope magazine as “repetitive and heavy, yet quite orthodox.”

The songs here are simple yet deeply effective in their repetitive power, generally revolving around two or three simply strummed chords for guitar. Bass and drums repeatedly lock into mantra-like grooves as Kurihara’s guitar scales the walls, with Miyanishi’s consumptive moans and sighs sent torquing through FX. The cumulative effect of the seven songs here is very heavy indeed; if the prologue “Always…” drifts beautifully through five minutes of placid, beseeching melancholy, the epilogue, “Never Seen A Light Like This”, spirals out into sixteen minutes of glazed-over psych-rock, completely monomaniacal and thrilling in its slow-motion tumult.

Throughout, you can hear Miyanishi and co. reaching for something ineffable, something beyond and between the notes. It’s a phenomenal performance; it’s also no surprise that the group disintegrated after this show, given its intensity. Matsutani and Yutaka left after the Silver Elephant show, with Miyanishi and Kurihara continuing through the first half of 1984 firstly as a duo, and then a trio with new drummer Yoshiki Ueonyama. Kurihara left soon after. But Onna Last Live 1983 is proof plenty of the powers of the original Onna quartet, sending their Rallizes/Velvets dream-mantras off into darkened, stormy skies.

When asked about the founding fathers of German thrash metal, band names such as Kreator, Sodom, and Destruction come to mind. Perhaps even Tankard. The name Living Death is usually not among them. There is a simple reason for this. Similar to the Swiss band Hellhammer, Living Death from Velbert were simply a tad too extreme for most fans and the press. Thorsten “Toto” Bergmann's truly shrill vocals and the poor production of the first two (legendary) albums did not make it easy for the public to adequately assess the band's musical significance. Living Death was founded in 1981 by the two Kelch brothers, Reiner on guitar and Dieter on bass. In the early days, guest drummer Eric sat behind the drums. The line-up was completed by Frank Fricke on second guitar and the aforementioned singer Thorsten “Toto” Bergmann. Living Death recorded their first demo with three tracks in 1981, which earned them a deal with the Belgian label Mausoleum Records. A year later, their debut album “Vengeance of Hell” was released, which actually suffered from its very thin (and treble-heavy) production (in 1985, the record was re-released as a remix – with slightly improved results). However, the below-average production should not obscure the fact that “Vengeance of Hell” offers a few timeless thrash metal classics with “My Victim,” “Heavy Metal Hurricane,” “Hellpike,” and the title track “Vengeance of Hell.” The raw, unpolished sound of Living Death sounds more contemporary than ever today, 30 years after its initial release. This only proves that it took the music world three decades to catch up with Living Death.

Purple Haze started out in Linköping in 1981. When singer Christer Göransson joined them towards the end of the year, they soon changed their moniker to Genocide (after the Judas Priest song of the same name) and supported local metal heroes Axewitch. A final name change was to follow: In August 1983, the band, now called Mindless Sinner, recorded a four-track demo entitled »Master Of Evil«, consisting of the title track, “Broken Freedom”, “Key Of Fortune” and “Screaming For Mercy”. This attracted Swedish label Fingerprint Records, and they in turn released the NWOBHM-inspired material as a mini-album with an awful cover and getting the band’s name wrong (spelling it Mindless Sinners). By then, the line-up of the band was Anders Karlsson (bass), Magnus Danneblad (guitar), Jerker Edman (guitar), Tommy Johansson (drums) and vocalist Christer Göransson. »Master Of Evil« originally saw the light of day on Fingerprint in January 1984. Christer Göransson takes us back to the early days of Mindless Sinner saying: “We wanted to record an album, but we couldn’t afford the studio cost. We were lucky to win a music contest, and the price money paid for the studio. I remember walking into the studio, and we thought it was like a spaceship in there, with all the buttons and flashing lights everywhere. We recorded the four songs that would become »Master Of Evil«. We then gave the tape to the Axewitch guys, and they played it to their record label at the time Fingerprint/Web Records and they liked it so much that they signed us as well.” Over the years, the music of Mindless Sinner has often been compared to the Tygers Of Pan Tang from England but Christer Göransson doesn’t see too many similarities: “We really love Tygers Of Pan Tang but I don’t think they were a big influence. It was more Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Saxon, Black Sabbath, Ozzy, Dio etcetera. That kinda stuff.” In addition to the four tracks of the original edition of »Master Of Evil«, the current High Roller Records pressing also contains the five songs of the band’s first demo tape from early 1983 (including “Mindless Sinner”, “Higher And Higher”, “We All Go Back”, “Heavy Metal Will Never Die” and “City Games”). All nine tracks were mastered by Patrick W. Engel at his Temple Of Disharmony in November 2025. Cutting by SST Germany on Neumann machines for maximum quality on all levels ... The ultimate audiophile re-issue of this Swedish metal classic!

Leather-jacket krautrock? Indeed. Welcome to the world of Carrboro NC's Object Hours. These generous saviors consist of three Triangle scene lifers who all worship the riff but imagine what happens if the riff fell into the middle of your favorite CAN LP. Yes, it lives up to the hype.

"Solved By Walking" was recorded in the winter of 2025 at Betty's in the Chapel Hill woods, these are mighty rock slabs ready for all seasons. Rock believers have felt the ripples and knew the day was coming. Object Hours is a band that fits right in on stage alongside acts as varied as Kim Gordon and Tropical Fuck Storm, bringing the house down in these and similar moments. These are songs that groove, peel paint, sandblast, inspire unconscious movement, make your head bob - frequently all at the same time. These are the jams inspired by the time that you heard "Fun House" coming out of that dude's car with the windows down in the middle of the summer, the ones inspired by the kids who own 3 copies of "Daydream Nation," the ones who listen to the last 1:30 of Wire's "Too Late" over and over. This is the band that has a timer on stage so they don't keep each song playing for days on end, the band whose Bandcamp bio succinctly summarizes their approach thusly: "We try to keep songs under 25 minutes for your sake." Every word here should be inspiration for you to *want* and *need* to hear this record and every word here is true. Just you wait.

Real heads know and the rest of the heads are getting ready to find out. Get ready for Object Hours' "Solved By Walking".

Swiss powerhouse The 18th Parallel presents another slice of fine modern roots reggae! All Fruits Ripe is a heavyweight showcase album rooted in the foundations of reggae while firmly anchored in the present. Recorded between 2015 and 2025, the project brings together a powerful lineup of Jamaican vocalists — Micah Shemaiah, Keith Rowe (from rocksteady duet Keith & Tex), Rod Taylor, Var (Inna De Yard, Pentateuch), Hezron, and Itral Ites — each representing a different generation of conscious reggae music.

The album features six vocal cuts and five dub versions, highlighting both lyrical strength and sound system culture. Carefully mixed by master engineer Roberto Sánchez, All Fruits Ripe stands as a transnational reggae statement: Jamaican voices carried by a European band deeply connected to the roots with a profound respect for the culture that gave birth to reggae and dub. It features legendary guest Jamaican musicians Leroy ‘Horsemouth’ Wallace, Scully Simms, Dalton Browne, or Errol ‘Blacksteel’ Nicholson.

A mature and carefully crafted release where every track feels essential — like fruit finally ready to be harvested.

From the maniacal opening notes and carnival barker howl that launch the album, The Ugly Organ wasted no time searing itself into a listener's ears and quickly established Cursive as a musical force with which to be reckoned. A self aware examination of artistic constraints (or lack thereof), relationships, sex, and the intersection of all three, The Ugly Organ wowed critics and audiences alike with its cerebral, cathartic blend of songs. Fiercely intelligent and cohesive - the liner notes laid the songs out like a play, complete with stage directions - across its diverse sonic landscape, the album landed Cursive on the Sunday Arts & Leisure section cover of The New York Times (which also called it "a marvelous collection of riddles and left turns, conceived as a single piece of musical theater") and earned accolades from Rolling Stone ("a brilliant leap forward"), Entertainment Weekly, Billboard, Alternative Press, MAGNET ("The best punk record you'll hear all year"), Esquire, and SPIN, among many others, as well as a place on numerous year-end best lists.The Ugly Organ feels as vibrant and vital today as it did upon release more than 20 years ago. A landmark album, it not only catapulted Cursive from the simmering indie underground to the forefront of a genre, but also served to inspire a host of young bands in its wake.

2026 Repress

Gaudi’s Jazz Gone Dub is a masterclass in genre fusion, seamlessly blending the improvisational essence of jazz with the heavy atmospheric grooves of dub. Known for his eclectic approach to music production, Gaudi pushes the boundaries yet again, creating a sonic landscape that feels both nostalgic and refreshingly innovative.

Four years in the making, from the opening track it’s clear that Jazz Gone Dub is more than just a mashup of styles—it's a thoughtful exploration of the intersections between two rich musical traditions.

Gaudi’s multi-instrumental talents are on full display, and the presence of reggae royalty is palpable, courtesy of rootsy melodies from David Hinds (Steel Pulse), Jah Wobble’s iconic bass grooves, Ernest Ranglin’s intricate guitar lines and Sly & Robbie’s rhythmic genius. Add Sardinia’s Train to Roots band, Manu Chao collaborator Roy Paci, veteran guitarist Marcus Upbeat, Mr Woodnote and Tim Hutton’s brass work, Gavin Tate-Lovery’s sultry sax and flute, Horseman’s percussive flair plus Colin Edwin and Vlastur’s serious basslines, and the
result is a rhythmic foundation that’s both solid and fluid, allowing the jazz elements to float freely above the dub undercurrents.

Despite this star-studded line-up, Gaudi remains the glue that holds this gem together: his production is meticulous yet organic, allowing each track to breathe and evolve naturally. The use of space, delays and reverb—a hallmark of dub music—is expertly handled, giving the album a dreamy, immersive quality. Tracks like Susceptible and Alabaster Moon showcase Gaudi’s ability to create mood and atmosphere without sacrificing melodic and rhythmic complexity.

In Jazz Gone Dub Gaudi has crafted an album that feels both timeless and forward-thinking, a celebration of musical synergy where the free-spirit of jazz meets the deep resonance of dub. Whether you’re a fan of either genre or simply appreciate masterful musicianship and innovative production, this album is a must-listen.

Late Bush presents “Hoarses” on the label Vlek Records, an original repertoire in which he blends electronic music - power ambient, IDM, avant-pop - and early music, which share the same affective intensity, a taste for ornamentation and a form of sonic excess.

At the heart of this material, AI-cloned voices, both human and spectral, extend the idea that any baroque interpretation is a reconstruction of the unknown. They contrast with organic strings recorded with Echo Collective, in a temporal and radical hybridization, creating a fluid and unstable material, between memory and simulation.

One of the conceptual starting points is essential: we have no sonic trace of baroque music as it was played. Only scores remain, and sometimes contradictory indications, a sensitive archaeology, even an imaginary projection.

Everything that is played today is therefore, in fact, a reconstruction, an interpretation of a vanished material. According to this logic and to pursue this reflection, the cloned voices, transformed by AI, are not a rupture but propose a natural continuation of this chain of reinvention, of this relationship to the invisible, to the indefinite. They do not aim to replace a human voice, but rather to embody the fact that any baroque restitution is already a fiction.

The project does not seek to imitate the real, but to play with the thresholds of the plausible, of the spectral. The music then becomes a fluid material, manipulable, alterable, and the performers, musicians or machines, are its vehicles.

The strings, carried by the sensitive and expressive interpretation of Echo Collective, breathe into the project a vibrant authenticity. Their presence brings an organic and tactile dimension that contrasts with the fluid and intangible aspect of the voices and the electronics.

Venturing into “a limbo world between medieval tropes and modern-day decay”, New Orleans musician Urq (half of art punk duo Spllit) returns with a new solo offering. Recorded over a single, intense month, This Dismal Village is a homespun document that sits somewhere between jittery punk, dreary psychedelia, and hooky bedroom pop. Recorded to 4-track, the record embraces limitation as a creative engine, resulting in a sound that is raw, unsettled, and deeply atmospheric.

The album is set not in a fixed point in time or geography, but a liminal environment where dystopic visions and archaic fixtures exist side by side. In the dismal village, kings and witches share space with televisions, skyscrapers, and modern enterprise; organ fanfares echo down streets populated by disgruntled townsfolk and whispered gossip. It is simultaneously the dark ages, 1950s suburbia, and a 21st-century metropolis. Embracing anachronism was central to the project’s identity, an attempt to collapse history into a single, uneasy present.

Sonically and philosophically, the album sits firmly in the tradition of rough and raw cassette rock. Guided By Voices’ Bee Thousand looms large as an influence, particularly its ability to build an entire world through unpolished, first-take recordings. Robert Pollard’s idea of the “four P’s” (psych, punk, prog, and pop) serves as a neat summary of the artist’s musical instincts and each element can be traced right through the heart of This Dismal Village. Further inspiration comes from post-punk’s so-called “Calgary Sound,” a loose movement blending psych pop, post-punk, and math/prog elements with a home-recorded, unpretentious ethos.

The result is an album that unrolls like a place wandered through, uneasy, occasionally familiar, and impossible to pin down in time. All captured on tape before it could disappear like an apparition, like a dream only half-remembered.

It's with great pleasure that we present the 100th release of Quintessentials! Happy 100! Started in 2008, Quintessentials` slogan was and still is "deep, raw and real". On the way to the 100th release, we discovered talents like (just to name but a few...) Anton Zap, Baaz, Ugly Drums, Mat Chiavaroli, Simon Hinter or The Black Fan, as well as featuring established producers like Luke Solomon (as Lukatron), Borrowed Identity, Alton Miller, Simoncino, Soul of Hex, Felipe Gordon, Javonntte, KRL, Andy Ash or Ralph Session. Quintessentials has never just released stricly one type of music, but put together cool tunes from the House spectrum: Deep House, NY House, Detroit House, Acid House, Chicago House....or do we wanna call it just "House music"? This classic old school 6-track compilation features again a multi house culture and fuses present and past! Quite essential we think!

King Street Remixed – Dam Swindle revisits classic material from the legendary King Street Sounds catalogue, with Dutch duo Dam Swindle delivering three fresh interpretations of timeless house cuts.

Featuring vocals and productions from house mainstays Arnold Jarvis, DJ Pierre and 95 North, the EP blends classic King Street with Dam Swindle’s signature deep house sound.

Warm basslines, musical chords and groove-driven drums give these remixes strong crossover appeal between soulful house fans and modern deep house DJs, with all three cuts built for dancefloor play.

Importantly, this marks the first time these Dam Swindle remixes have been available on vinyl, making the release appealing for both DJs and collectors of the King Street catalogue.

Backwoodz Studioz is excited to announce the release of Crayola Circles, a collaboration between rapper Fatboi Sharif and producer Child Actor. While both artists have long standing connections to Backwoodz, this album marks their first collaboration of any kind and breaks new artistic ground for all parties.


Sharif’s previous album, Decay, released on Backwoodz in 2023, was a haunting experimental rap masterpiece, an acid trip in a mental hospital. On Crayola Circles Sharif trades menacing psychedelia for a simmering stew of blacklight expressionism, his verses slipping effortlessly through the swells and tides of Child Actor’s masterful production. No matter how uneasy the waves grow, Sharif is at ease, a truth teller whispering anti-riddles in your ear. This album feels like a new chamber for Child Actor, as well. The producer has been on an impressive run since dropping CINE- a collaboration with rapper Cavalier- on Backwoodz in late 2024. Child Actor has shown up in the liner notes of everyone from Navy Blue (The Sword & The Soaring) to Earl Sweatshirt (Live, Laugh, Love) to ELUCID (Revelator) to Open Mike Eagle (Neighborhood Gods Unlimited), to Ghais Guevara (A Quest to Self-Mythologize), amongst others. On Crayola Circles Child Actor’s production is dynamic, shifting and sliding into new phases and movements in an instant. The beats are full and knotty, leaning into jazz and folk, while remaining tethered to the tender minimalism that is his signature. It’s a difficult balance for any producer, and here it is executed perfectly, placing us in a world of wood and brass, cowhide and undersea piano. On any other record, this soundscape would steal the show — and it very nearly does — but Sharif’s command never wavers, ever in control; a lucid dreamer in an induced coma.
There are no guests, no skits, and no interludes. There might not even be songs, instead Crayola Circles seems akin to a great river; singular, traversing forest and jungle, mountain and valley, running from mouth to endless sea.

For its third release, Honey Trap turns toward the instinctual. Ritmo Animal is a record driven by body memory, where rhythm becomes language and movement becomes communion. Vancouver- and Colombian-rooted duo Dosis weave club music with lived histories, drawing from punk ethics, soundsystem culture, and a deep commitment to collaboration.

Formed by Daniel Rincon and Zachary Treble, Dosis operates in the space between structure and looseness, where grooves feel hand-built and edges remain intentionally rough. Across five tracks, Ritmo Animal resists clean categorization. House mutates into dub-soaked psychedelia, vocals surface and dissolve, and percussion swings between discipline and abandon.

The A-side opens with “I Want To Be Your Dog”, a low-slung, hypnotic burner featuring Alien D, setting the tone through repetition and restraint. The title track, “Ritmo Animal,” anchors the record in motion, with saxophone lines from Dave Biddle threading through percussive momentum and grounding the track in something tactile and human.

On the flip, “Malibu” offers a softer pull, with Hannah Acton’s vocals drifting through warm, unhurried rhythm. “Humo,” featuring Hashman Deejay, leans deeper into smoke and sway, while closer “Sancocho” stretches time entirely, favoring communal simmer over destination.

Ritmo Animal is music made for shared space. It is not concerned with polish or purity, but with connection, between scenes, cities, and bodies on a floor. Another chapter in Honey Trap’s ongoing exploration of intimacy, pleasure, and rhythm as refuge.