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STEPPENDOOM ist das spannende neue Projekt des in New York City und London lebenden italienisch-schweizerischen Toningenieurs, Sounddesigners, Komponisten und Multiinstrumentalisten Marc Urselli. Der Produzent hat herausragende Musiker aus dem Genre des Doom Metal und legendäre indigene Sänger aus aller Welt, die sich der uralten Tradition des Kehlgesangs widmen, eingeladen und zusammengebracht.
Zu den renommierten Künstlern, die dem Ruf des dreifachen Grammy-Preisträgers Marc Urselli gefolgt sind, zählen unter anderem aus dem Metal-Bereich Matt Pike (SLEEP, HIGH ON FIRE), Aaron Aedy (PARADISE LOST), Steve Von Till (NEUROSIS), Christopher Juul (HEILUNG), Dave Chandler (SAINT VITUS) und Scott "Wino" Weinrich (THE OBSESSED) und solche berühmten Meister des Kehlkopfgesangs wie das Alash Ensemble, Batzorig Vaanchig "Zorigoo", HUUN-HUUR-TU, Tanya Tagaq, Albert Kuvezin (YAT-KHA) und Alexey Tegin.
Die uralte Kunst des Gutturalen Gesangs lebt in den Grasländern, Tundren und in den Herzen der Menschen weiter, die in ihrer lokalen Umwelt in und mit der Natur leben. Der Heavy Metal entstand dagegen in Englands industriellem Herzen unter dem Schlagen von Stahlhämmern und dem Lärm des mechanisierten Abbaus von Kohle. Beide Musikstile haben jedoch eine tiefe Sehnsucht nach Freiheit und Menschenwürde gemeinsam.
Gängige literarische Floskeln, mit denen eine Fusion von Musik aus scheinbar gegensätzlichen Genres und Gruppen mit Schlagzeilen wie "Clash of Cultures" oder "Kollision der Welten " beschrieben werden, treffen auf Marc Ursellis STEPPENDOOM offensichtlich nicht zu. Dieses Fest der künstlerischen Einheit lässt sich vielmehr mit der Phrase "Wenn sich Welten vereinen" zusammenfassen.
Marc Urselli's STEPPENDOOM braucht am Anfang unvoreingenommene Ohren und einen offenen Geist, um Gehör zu finden. Obwohl das Album und seine Lieder eine gewisse Aufmerksamkeit und Zeit benötigen, um sich an die ungewohnten Klangwelten zu gewöhnen, offenbaren sie letztendlich eine atemberaubende Schönheit. Vor dem geistigen Auge schweben Adler über Städte, Steppenwinde erwecken Herzen und Geis, während sich Eis in arktische Tiere verwandelt und viele andere Wunder geschehen. Uralte Magie verbindet sich in diesen Songs mit moderner Energie und schafft etwas revolutionäres Neues, in dem eine der ältesten Ausdrucksformen der Menschheit enthalten ist: der Schrei nach Freiheit!

dreamcastmoe is the recording project of singer, songwriter, producer, and DJ Davon Bryant, a lifelong resident of Washington, DC. His music moves freely between moods and modes, hypnotic, romantic, traversing electronic, R&B, funk, soul, and hip-hop... Resident Advisor dubs it "soulful, cross-genre dance music." This ability to adapt and finesse, to twist in different directions while staying true and coherent in vision, can be traced to his home city and its complex cultural history. "Most Black kids in DC don't ever get to this point," he says. "This is what I am making this music for, in the DC tradition of soul and empathy and love that is rooted in this city. My music is for real people dealing with shit every day." A versatile, modern artist and collaborator, dreamcastmoe has thrived in the underground since his first uploads to Soundcloud and Bandcamp in 2017 and subsequent releases with labels like People's Potential Unlimited, Trading Places, and In Real Life Music. Bryant's laid-back personality, emotional honesty, and infectious energy shine through his work and how he talks about it, as Crack Magazine notes in their 2021 Rising feature: "a steady combination of confidence, creativity, and calmness." He grew up playing drums in church; he's worked dead-end jobs, had ups and downs, even sold off all his gear one time, but never stopped reinvesting in himself. He is quick to praise his co-producers, rattle off influences _ the visual feel of NBA 2K, the comedic timing of Bernie Mac, the savvy legacy of Duke Ellington, for starters _ and credit resourceful DC breakouts like Ankhlejohn that showed him the roadmap. His voice, a steady instrument, seemingly connects it all, capable of slow falsetto flow, swaggering talk-rap, and outright croon. His storytelling style is choppy yet fluid, like a mixtape, which is how Bryant sees Sound Is Like Water, his debut on Ghostly's International's freeform label, Spectral Sound. The two-part project culminates as a full-length LP release in November 2022. The first side, released as Part I, opens on the blurred beats of "El Dorado," which dreamcastmoe dedicates to his journey. It's a head-nodder, an off-kilter earworm co-produced by Max D (Future Times, RVNG Intl, etc.), with Bryant harmonizing hooks with synth jabs and a pitched-down presence. "Complicated" is the slow jam, delivered smoothly from a Saturday night crossroads. dreamcastmoe is contemplative and committed... gliding and locking ad-libs into skittering rhythms courtesy of co-producer Zackary Dawson _ but also willing to let something go, "acknowledging that everything in life IS NOT easy." "RU Ready" takes off from the jump as a tribute, challenge, and promise to his partner and his city ("The times you sat with me when I needed you the most / Told me the things that I needed to see / Young black man, really trying to be what I can be / And I'm really from DC). In its potent two-plus minutes, the sonics (co-produced by ZDBT) press the message, all cymbal crashes, breakbeats, and serrated synth lines. "Cloudy Weather, Wear Boots" is a blitzing dance-punk track made in collaboration with Jordan GCZ on Bryant's first trip to Amsterdam. The album's flipside opens on "Much More," the first of two synth-and-beat ballads co-produced by ZDBT. Later on "Long Songz," he claims, "I'm not writing love songs no more," prioritizing the vibe with "all my day ones." He calls it "a cry for more normal moments. Everything doesn't have to be a fantasy love story, more time spent getting to the money, growing, and making a way." He saves two of his most propulsive cuts for the finale, co-produced by Sami, co-founder of DC dance label 1432 R. As their titles suggest, "Take A Moment" and "Make Ya Mind" operate as anthems for movement, with Bryant free-flowing commands above wildly-styled percussion. Per Bryant, the latter is both "wake & bake jam" and a "dance floor bomb." His parting line: "Action / You got to show me action / Reaction." The world of dreamcastmoe straddles virtual reality and the realness of DC, images both imagined and lived-in. Bryant has a knack for unexpected melodies but what makes his music so exciting is his capacity to defy the expectations of genre and image. A fluid ingenuity and vulnerability bottled by Sound Is Like Water, and this is just the beginning.

Das 2021 erschienene Dream Unending-Debütalbum "Tide Turns Eternal" stellte für Derrick Vella (Tomb Mold) und Justin DeTore (Innumerable Forms, Sumerlands) eine deutliche Veränderung ihrer musikalischen Ambitionen dar. Obwohl das Album fest im Death/Doom-Bereich angesiedelt war, zeichnete es sich durch eine weitaus höhere Zielsetzung und Progressivität aus und distanzierte sich damit von anderen Vertretern dieses Stils. Jetzt, nur ein Jahr später, kehrt die Band mit dem atemberaubenden "Song of Salvation" zurück und lässt diesem Erkundungseifer wesentlich mehr Raum, sich zu entfalten und zu glänzen.

Der 14-minütige Opener des Titeltracks beginnt wie ein morgendlicher Sonnenaufgang über einem ruhigen Meer, bevor er sich zu ätherischer Schwere steigert wie die reich strukturierten Wellen eines plötzlichen Meeressturms. Der Schwung des Songs zieht sich nie in mühsame Wiederholungen zurück, sondern öffnet immer wieder neue Türen, ebbt und fließt wie das Wasser eines Flusses aus seiner Quelle.

Wie ein einsamer Blick aus dem Fenster eines abgedunkelten Zimmers auf die nächtlichen Lichter der Stadt, so bietet "Secret Grief" die Gasttalente des Sängers Phil Swanson und Leila Abdul-Rauf an der Trompete, was die Bandbreite der beteiligten musikalischen Talente und die Tragweite der unverwechselbaren Erzählung von "Song of Salvation" noch weiter vergrößert.

Das ruhige Zwischenspiel "Murmur Of Voices" weicht dem beschwörenden "Unrequited", das mit einem einsamen Gitarrensolo beginnt, bevor es in eine treibende Nachmittagsträumerei und unterbewusste Meditation übergeht.

Schließlich kommt das epische Ende des Albums, der 16-minütige Abschluss 'Ecstatic Reign'. Es enthält die vielleicht schwersten Doom-Momente des Albums sowie die Rückkehr von "Tide Turns Eternal" mit den Gaststimmen McKenna Rae und Richard Poe. Tomb Mold-Schlagzeuger / Kehlkopf Max Klebanoff taucht ebenfalls auf und liefert sich ein beeindruckendes Vocal Battle mit DeTore. Die cineastische Vision des Albums und die akribische, farbenfrohe Detailtreue bringen diese fesselnde Reise zu ihrem dauerhaften Höhepunkt.

Nur ein Jahr nach "Tide Turns Eternal" bieten Dream Unending auf dem grenzenlosen Panorama von "Song of Salvation" eine fortgesetzte Abkehr von begrenzenden Genre-Normen - und gleichsam eine geschickte Neudefinition derselben.

- Decibel Magazine Album des Monats November 2022 Ausgabe
- Gastauftritte von Phil Swanson (Solemn Lament, ex-Sumerlands, ex-Hour of 13), Leila Abdul-Rauf (Vastum, Ionophore) und Max Klebanoff (Tomb Mold, Death Kneel)
- Die Vinyl-Edition enthält ein riesiges 24x36-Zoll-Poster
- Aufgenommen von Sean Pearson und Arthur Rizk. Gemischt und gemastert von Arthur Rizk (Gravesend, Daeva, Eternal Champion, Power Trip, Kreator).
- Wunderschönes Cover-Artwork von Benjamin A. Vierling (Joanna Newsom, Nightbringer, Aosoth)
- Hauptmitglieder sind Derrick Vella (Tomb Mold) und Justin DeTore (Innumerable Forms, Sumerlands, Solemn Lament)

- FFO: Anathema, Evoken, Tiamat, Opeth, Trouble, Blue Nile, Live, Alice In Chains, Kings X

Cult French duo Principles of Geometry is back after an 8 years hiatus with a 26 tracks love letter to IDM & electronica, ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ.

A construct on the language which composes their musical lexicon, a sonic grammar which has been their common thread through 5 albums now.

This album is inspired by classic albums such as Artificial Intelligence on Warp Records, Braindance on Rephlex and was teased online this summer with singles "Cmd Ctrl" and “Hummerican”.

Maraton durchbrechen Grenzen zwischen den Genres und kreieren progressiven Alternative Rock mit dröhnendem Bass, massiven Gitarren und außergewöhnlichem Gesang. Als "schamlos melodisch" beschrieben, experimentiert die Band mit Klängen und kreiert Musik, die als dynamische Reise durch Sinneseindrücke beschrieben werden kann. Thematisch werden Grenzen zwischen Emotionalem und Philosophischem gezogen, und die Songs basieren auf der menschlichen Empfänglichkeit für neue Eindrücke und Entwicklungen. Durch die Kombination und das Experimentieren mit verschiedenen Genres schafft die Band eine unverwechselbare und Klanglandschaft, die sich durch technisches Schlagzeugspiel mit mechanischer Präzision, erdbebenweckenden Bässen, schimmernden Gitarren und fast heiligen Vocals auszeichnet. Trotz dieser seltsamen und wunderbaren Mischung präsentieren sich die Songs überraschend eingängig, aber gleichzeitig zeitlos und als etwas, das man durch mehr als ein Hören genießen und in sich aufnehmen sollte.

The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (commonly shortened to Makaveli) is the fifth studio album by Tupac Shakur, his first posthumous record and the last released with his creative input. Recorded in seven days in August 1996, it was released on 5th November, 1996, almost two months after his death, under the stage name of Makaveli, through Death Row Records, Makaveli Records and Interscope Records.

The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory debuted at number one. It is his only album released under the new alternative stage name and features guest appearances from his rap group Outlawz and rapper Bad Azz, as well as R&B singers Aaron Hall, Danny Boy, K-Ci and JoJo, Val Young and Tyrone Wrice, along with uncredited vocal contributions from reggae musician Prince Ital Joe.

Originally intended as an underground release and preceded by the release of “Toss It Up” as the lead single, the album peaked at number one. “To Live & Die in L.A.” and “Hail Mary” were released later as singles and both garnered praise as standout tracks from the album. All singles charted within the top twenty of the UK Singles chart.

Welcome to ‘STR4TASFEAR, Bluey and Gilles’ second STR4TA album released.

A collection of songs, melodies, grooves and sounds that sit perfectly in the brand new music world it’s part of. Gilles and Bluey are both men who emerged into the Brit funk world. They were both part of this truly thrilling chapter in the story of homegrown music; which manifests itself here in a sumptuous mixture of twanging basslines, spacey synth melodies, clicking beats and wispy, ethereal voices.

And for this new set, they’ve got a few like-minded souls along to join the party. Multi-talented Neo-soul Godfather Omar, and celebrated vocalist, Valerie Etienne, both represent Brit funk’s first bounce. Also welcomed in to the fold is musical polymath, Emma-Jean Thackray, Brighton duo Anushka and Floridian trumpeter/vocalist Theo Croker. ‘STR4TASFEAR’ is Gilles and Bluey’s wide-open window into a timeless, wonderful world of Brit funk (Words by Mark Webster, 2022).

STR4TA has received a rapturous reception, with standout tracks ‘We Like It’ achieving over 1 million streams on Spotify and ‘Rhythm In Your Mind’ exceeding 12 weeks on Jazz FM’s playlist. They have been heavily supported by BBC 6Music, The Guardian, Wax Poetics, The Vinyl Factory, CLASH, Télérama (FR), Radio Nova (FR), Rolling Stones Italy & Japan. Most recent singles “When You Call Me” & “Night Flight”, taken from the upcoming album, has already received support from Rampage (BBC 1Xtra), Jamz Supernova (BBC 6 Music), Deb Grant (Jazz FM) plus NTS, Mi-Soul, Solar Radio, KCRW (US), KEXP (US), Concrete Islands, CRACK Magazine, and Nu-Funk (Spotify).

Welcome to ‘STR4TASFEAR, Bluey and Gilles’ second STR4TA album released.

A collection of songs, melodies, grooves and sounds that sit perfectly in the brand new music world it’s part of. Gilles and Bluey are both men who emerged into the Brit funk world. They were both part of this truly thrilling chapter in the story of homegrown music; which manifests itself here in a sumptuous mixture of twanging basslines, spacey synth melodies, clicking beats and wispy, ethereal voices.

And for this new set, they’ve got a few like-minded souls along to join the party. Multi-talented Neo-soul Godfather Omar, and celebrated vocalist, Valerie Etienne, both represent Brit funk’s first bounce. Also welcomed in to the fold is musical polymath, Emma-Jean Thackray, Brighton duo Anushka and Floridian trumpeter/vocalist Theo Croker. ‘STR4TASFEAR’ is Gilles and Bluey’s wide-open window into a timeless, wonderful world of Brit funk (Words by Mark Webster, 2022).

STR4TA has received a rapturous reception, with standout tracks ‘We Like It’ achieving over 1 million streams on Spotify and ‘Rhythm In Your Mind’ exceeding 12 weeks on Jazz FM’s playlist. They have been heavily supported by BBC 6Music, The Guardian, Wax Poetics, The Vinyl Factory, CLASH, Télérama (FR), Radio Nova (FR), Rolling Stones Italy & Japan. Most recent singles “When You Call Me” & “Night Flight”, taken from the upcoming album, has already received support from Rampage (BBC 1Xtra), Jamz Supernova (BBC 6 Music), Deb Grant (Jazz FM) plus NTS, Mi-Soul, Solar Radio, KCRW (US), KEXP (US), Concrete Islands, CRACK Magazine, and Nu-Funk (Spotify).

Black Truffle is pleased to announce Uri Katzenstein’s Audio Works, produced in collaboration with Holon’s Centre for Digital Art. Spanning sculptural installation, performance, video art, and many other media, Katzenstein’s absurdist, poetic, and often hilarious work made extensive use of sound and music. This, however, is the first release dedicated to the artist’s audio work, collecting 28 tracks produced between the early 1980s and 2017. Compiled from dozens of hours of recordings left uncatalogued (and in some instances unheard) at the artist’s death in 2018, these four sides are a treasure trove, offering a captivating glimpse into a uniquely uninhibited creative practice. Predominantly recorded alone, with some contributions from regular collaborators such as Ohad Fishof on the later pieces, many of these tracks stem from Katzenstein’s time living in New York in the 1980s. Feeding on the cross-pollination of post-punk energy, radical art practice, and new media possibilities that characterised the New York scene at this time, many of Katzenstein’s recordings squeeze multilayered vocal experimentation into synth-based miniatures with a distinctively pop twist, their forms ruptured with anarchic bursts of free-form electronics, sounds from self-built instruments, and field-recorded snatches of the outside world. Katzenstein’s electronic production calls up touchstones of skewed 80s art pop like Laurie Anderson, Ambitious Lovers, and Scritti Politti, but imbued with DIY directness and economy of means. The arrangements of synths, percussion, and noise elements are invigoratingly raw and, at times, almost austerely minimal. On ‘Intermission’, thick distorted chords accompany a wandering portamento melody, inhabiting the wayward carnival space of Roedelius’ most unhinged efforts. Many of the tracks centre on Katzenstein’s multi-tracked vocal performances, often moving between multiple languages, (most commonly English, German, French, and Hebrew). A bewildering range of vocal approaches are present on these pieces, from sweet wordless harmonies to hammed-up growls and monastic recitations. On ‘Skin O. Daayba – Complex Habits no. 3’, improvised resonance singing against a backdrop of echoing electronics and radio snatches. ‘Half Monk Half Herring’ layers multi-lingual syllabic fragments, crossing sound poetry techniques with melodic invention in a way rarely heard outside of Caetano Veloso’s Araçá Azul. On ‘Attempt to Raise Hell’, Katzenstein’s distorted voice spits out streams of alliterative nonsense (‘the hemlock of Henry, he was a hermit…purple pumpkin pulsates to pops’), while on the hilarious ‘Eric’, Katzenstein appears to instruct a small boy simultaneously in basic French and German conversation. On ‘Chicken’, vocal harmonies accompany the pecking and clucking of the titular fowl. Moving from bent, outsider synth pop to snatches of Jo Jones-esque automated instrumental clang and absurdist linguistic experiments, these are far more than footnotes to an artist’s gallery works. Accompanied by extensive, beautifully written liner notes by Roee Rosen and the little information that exists on the individual tracks, Katzenstein’s Audio Works inhabits an outer fringe of DIY pop and sonic experiment reminiscent of Pascal Comelade or Die Welttraumforscher, where accessible forms convey radical interrogations of song, word, and sound.

The Netherland’s De Ambassade have dropped the ‘De’ and are now known as Ambassade. Optimo Music is extremely happy to be working with them and will be releasing their second album in 2023. Ahead of that is this glorious 2 track 12” featuring music that took our breath away when we first heard it. Both tracks are exclusive to this release.

We asked Ambassade to tell us a bit about the tracks…

“These 2 songs were born after a collaboration with Naama Freedman. She’s an artist from Amsterdam and former member of Ambassade. She brought a couple sketches to the studio and we came out with these 2 songs.

The lyrics on ‘Young Birds’ come from an old traditional English folk song from around 1903. It has been re-arranged a couple times throughout the years by multiple artists. The song reflects our development in sound and arrangement with extended synthesiser parts, less conventional song-writing. Also, us singing in English is a new path.

The pulsing song ‘Palette’ is a perfect combination of sequence and extended legato vocal parts. It creates a tense atmosphere which builds up to the very end.”

Born and raised in Lake, Mississippi, a small town east of Jackson, Houser was the son of a musician and took to music himself at an early age. Picking up the guitar before his tenth birthday, he played in bands throughout his adolescence, sharpening his songwriting skills as he attended East Central Community College in Decatur, Mississippi. Prior to his success as an artist, Houser lived as a songwriter, co-writing singles including "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" by Trace Adkins, "Back That Thing Up" by Justin Moore, and "My Cowboy" by country pop artist Jessie James.

Wer hat hier schlechte Laune, fragt Max Raabe mit seinem neuen Album und singt von der Liebe, von ihrem zarten Erblühen und Verwehen, von Gefühlen und ihrer Verwirrung. Es geht um die Verquickung von Glück und Zweifel, von Euphorie und Unsicherheit, von der Freude am anderen und dem Hadern mit sich selbst.

Mit Wer hat hier schlechte Laune schließt Max Raabe an seine letzten Produktionen an und geht noch einen Schritt weiter. Er wahrt die lieb gewonnene Ästhetik der Weimarer Republik, aber stärker denn je
übersetzt er seine künstlerischen Prägungen in moderne musikalische Formen. Zum ersten Mal ruhen einige der neuen Lieder auf einem Fundament aus elektronischen Rhythmen. Alle Freundschaften aus der »Raabe-Pop«-Phase sind wieder dabei: Annette Humpe, Christoph Israel, Peter Plate, Ulf Leo Sommer, Joshua Lange und Achim Hagemann. In der popmusikalischen Landschaft der Gegenwart ist Max Raabe ziemlich einzigartig – beseelt vom Witz
vergangener Zeiten, aber auch vom Wissen über den Wandel der Welt.

Available from Blank Forms for the first time since its original 1980 release on ALM-Uranoia, New Sense of Hearing documents a collaboration between Takehisa Kosugi and Akio Suzuki, two luminaries of Japanese experimental music in the lineage of Fluxus. Blank Forms's high-quality reissue of the sought-after, long out of print LP, is produced by musician-artist Aki Onda and mastered from the original tapes recorded on April 2, 1979, at Tokyo's Aeolian Hall. Described by Suzuki as the "culmination" of their sound,New Sense of Hearing features the two musicians improvising together in that empty Tokyo theater, Kosugi on vocals, violin, and radio transmitter and Suzuki on the Analapos, his namesake glass harmonica, spring cong, and kikkokikiriki, all apparatuses of his own invention. Suzuki and Kosugi first met at the city's Minami Gallery in 1976 on the occasion of "Sound Objects and Sound Tools," an exhibition of Suzuki's homemade instruments. Two years later, at the Festival d'Automne in Paris, Suzuki invited Kosugi to join him for a suite of performances as part of the exhibition "MA: Espace - Temps au Japon," organized by architect Arata Isozaki and composer-writer Toru Takemitsu. Suzuki and Kosugi performed together at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, nearly fifty times, honing their approach to mutual improvisation, before traveling with the exhibition to Stockholm and New York_critic Tom Johnson wrote in the Village Voice that he had "seldom seen two performers so completely tuned in on the same types of sounds, the same performance attitude, the same philosophy, the same sense of what music ought to be."For New Sense of Hearing, the duo reunited in Japan and produced an extraordinary dispatch from their collaboration of arioso violin, echoing vocals and bangs, and metallic twangs. As Johnson observed in 1979, Kosugi and Suzuki are "in a very subtle artistic world where there can be no direct relationships. . . . Only coincidence." Takehisa Kosugi (1938-2018) was a composer, artist, and violinist from Tokyo. In 1960, Kosugi founded Group Ongaku, the country's first improvisational performance collective dedicated to Happenings, with Mieko Shiomi and Yasunao Tone. Four years later, Fluxus leader George Maciunas published Events, an eighteen-piece set of his text compositions. Between 1971 and '74, his band the Taj Mahal Travelers produced four live albums. In 1977, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company invited Kosugi to be their resident musician; from 1995 to 2011 he served as the company's musical director. The Whitney Museum of American Art presented "Takehisa Kosugi: Music Expanded," a two-day retrospective of Kosugi's work, in 2015. Akio Suzuki (b. 1941) was born in Pyongyang, North Korea, to Japanese parents. For the artist-musician's first Fluxus-style work Kaidan ni Mono wo Nageru (Throwing Things at the Stairs), 1963, Suzuki tossed a bucket of miscellaneous objects down a flight of stairs in Nagoya Station and listened to the sounds it produced. During the next decade, he would create original instruments including the Suzuki-type glass harmonica and the echo instrument Analapos. In 1976, Tokyo's Minami gallery hosted his first exhibition, "Akio Suzuki's World: Sound Objects and Sound Tools." For his 1988 performance piece Space in the Sun, Suzuki spent twenty-four hours listening to his surroundings on the meridian line which runs through Amino, Kyoto. Suzuki has performed and exhibited at many venues and music festivals, including Documenta 8 (Germany, 1987), the British Museum (2003), Musée Zadkine (France, 2004), Kunstmuseum Bonn (Germany, 2018), and the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (2019).

A wise character once reminded her to tread the heavy ground with light feet. After a whirlwind two years since moving back to Hong Kong and starting from scratch, Xiaolin has re-emerged from the depths of her studio stronger than ever with a second EP - her first vinyl release to date.

Inspired by the Tower card from the Tarot, Tower Moment EP is a cosmic journey through four stages of healing: darkness, acceptance, transformation and freedom.

The record begins with “Dark Night” (of the Soul), followed by the gentle comfort of “Safe With Me”, a nostalgic electro ballad. On Side B: a chuggy tune layered with textures and samples, “Lemuria”, transports listeners to a surreal land of self-discovery, while Blue Hour completes the experience with his anthemic “Elevator” remix.

With her signature mix of 909 kicks and 808 breaks blended with acid bass lines, subtle percussion and ethereal melodies, Xiaolin’s organic approach to techno and electro showcases her colourful palette and sensitivity as a musician, along with a love for jazz and warm synth sounds from the early 90’s era.

"Playing The Angel | The 12" Singles" enthält in dieser als Deluxe-Box Set aufgelegten Sammler-Edition insgesamt zehn 12" Vinyl-Schallplatten, die die Single-Auskopplungen aus dem im Oktober 2005 veröffentlichten elften Depeche Mode-Studioalbum "Playing The Angel" repräsentieren, und die neben den eigentlichen Titeln "Precious", "A Pain That I'm Used To", "Suffer Well" und "John The Revelator/Lilian" auch umfangreich mit B-Seiten, Remixen, Instrumental- und Dub-Versionen sowie anderen Aufnahmen aus dem Album-Umfeld ausgestattet sind. Die zehnte und letzte Platte, speziell für diese Kollektion zusammengestellt, offeriert B-Seiten und Remixe, die seinerzeit verstreut auf CDs und Maxi-Singles erschienen waren.Jedes Box Set innerhalb dieser Reihe enthält die Singles jedes einzelnen Depeche Mode-Albums auf hochwertigem Vinyl, wobei die remasterten Tonspuren direkt von den ursprünglichen Mastertapes stammen. Die spezielle Box Set-Grafik wurde von den jeweiligen Original-Alben inspiriert, während für die 12" Singles selbst die damaligen Cover-Artworks herangezogen wurden.

All You Need Is Now is the 13th studio album by English new wave band Duran Duran. Produced by Mark Ronson, the album was originally released in the US on March 22, 2011. The album peaked at #11 in the UK, becoming the band's 13th Top 20 album. It debuted at #29 on the US Billboard 200 chart (#7 Top Alternative Albums).

The lead single “All You Need Is Now” peaked at #38 on Billboard’s Adult Pop Songs Chart, while “Leave A Light On” reached #31 on the same chart.

Eigentlich kaum zu glauben, dass es bis heute kein Weihnachtsalbum des unvergessenen Louis Armstrong
gab, schließlich hat er einige der romantischsten, witzigsten und swingendsten Weihnachtssongs aller Zeiten
aufgenommen. Diesem Missstand hat sich jetzt das Jazzlabel Verve angenommen:
„Louis Wishes You A Cool Yule“ ist die erste Louis-Armstrong-Weihnachtsplatte überhaupt und präsentiert seine Weihnachtstracks erstmals als zusammenhängendes Gesamtwerk. Die Zusammenstellung enthält
sechs Decca-Singles aus den 1950er Jahren, zwei Duette mit seinen Lieblingspartnerinnen Ella Fitzgerald
und Velma Middleton, und den monumentalen Evergreen „What a Wonderful World“, der längst auch zu
einer Art Hoffnungshymne geworden ist, die zum Geist des Weihnachtsfestes passt.
Als besonderes Geschenk an Satchmo-Fans enthält das Album eine bisher unveröffentlichte Aufnahme
von Louis’ berührender Lesung von Samuel Clement Moores Gedicht „A Visit from St. Nicholas“ (auch
bekannt als „The Night Before Christmas“), für die Pianist Sullivan Fortner, eine Jazz-Ikone aus New
Orleans, eine wunderschöne musikalische Untermalung liefert.

Derya Yildirim and Grup Simsek are back with their third album Dost 2, the second of a two part series following 2021"s highly acclaimed Dost 1. The eight-track release sees Turkish singer, baglama player and multi- instrumentalist Derya Yildirim and her international band of brothers and sisters continue their psychedelic journey, meandering through Anatolian folk music and poetry with their electrifying grooves, while also delving into their own lives and personal experiences.

Ltd Edition White Vinyl, DL card.

Debut from genre-defying producer, Yosa Peit. Laurie Anderson meets Bjork; Prince overlapped with Arthur Russell and the hum of Blue Velvet, with jarred and splintered ambient production reminiscent of Aphex Twin. ‘Phyton’ gets a special expanded edition via Fire Records, featuring unreleased tracks; ‘Tyrann’, a live version of the haunting album track ‘Serpentine’ and end of the night lament, ‘Rise’. ‘Phyton’ is a conundrum with its own humour and beauty amid the electronica soundtracking; it’s a record that’s defied genre categories when first released on Tax Free Records two years ago. Yosa’s ascension from singer to producer is now complete. “In my head I was making a movie,” Yosa told No Wave magazine, “I dreamed up a Coen Brothers’ movie scene for a few tracks.” The result is a haunting, provocative sound; a soundscape where songs merge and splinter, a trip that’s never predictable.

"The production is super fresh" Holly Herndon. // “Warped lo-fi meets glitchy electronica and pop” The Vinyl Factory //

Download extras: 1. Serpentine (Live Bonus) 2. Rise (Bonus)

Das Debütalbum der drei Frauen und zwei Männer von
"Dearest Sister" steht für ein aktuelles Phänomen: junge
Musiker*innen mit weitem Horizont und einer fundierten,
jazzgeprägten Ausbildung, die ihr Können nicht dazu nutzen,
Jazz im herkömmlichen Sinne zu spielen, sondern Musik, die
sich mit den Einfl üssen und Themen der eigenen Generation auseinandersetzt. Es ist eine Musik, die sich ständig
weiterentwickelt und neu entdeckt. Diese Band ist sich
dessen bewusst, was sie bringen kann, und das ist etwas
Neues, Besonderes und sehr Wahres.

Having torn up raves for well over a decade, the Detroit duo Rickers and Ted Krisko AKA Ataxia present their debut longplayer ‘Out Of Step’. Featuring guest spots from close peers DJ Minx, Andrés and Mr Joshooa, they twist house, techno, electro, breakbeat and rave into revitalized new shapes; embellished with a touch of soul, funk and hip hop. With backgrounds in hardcore and punk, Ataxia’s debut is suffused with that energy, attitude, and approach; this is raw, lean and unashamedly no-nonsense dance floor tackle that goes straight for the jugular. Heavily analogue, the album experiments with tape saturation, which harks back to the duo’s formative years in bands, recording demos to cassettes. These straight-up, in-the-red tracks give preference to overdriven drum machines, rather than generic polished sheen, but conversely, it’s all deceptively well-crafted too; ‘Out Of Step’ is a standout record that’s big in character, bringing to mind the renegade spirit of Underground Resistance, and the bombastic brilliance of The Prodigy and Chemical Brothers.

Defiantly optimistic despite the state of the world, a “life is good” vocal sample meets minor chords sliding over 808 hats on the exemplary house/techno pumper ‘Detroit Gospel’, before a lighter moment on the album, but no less impactful with its hefty low-end thump, is ‘Pine Island’ featuring Motor City hero Andrés. Together they cook up a Motown-inspired house cut awash with horn swells and backup singers, bouncing to wide swung funk bass, in classic 313 style. ‘Language’ turns the club on its head – busting out one of the most distinct basslines in recent times, and bristling with buzzy, undulating chords, whilst ‘Maxia’ features influential Detroit royalty DJ Minx. Inspired by her classic ‘A Walk In The Park’, with a fat distorted kick and stealthy bass groove, this is low-slung, stripped-back, heads-down coolness. The high-tech funk of ‘Spit In Your Percolator’, is laser-guided in its efficiency, with a strobe-like, increasingly intensifying energy, peppered with clever, tripped up vocal chops. With the next cut, conveyor belt noises and fast churning low-end gives way to a dubbed-out breakdown, on the deep breakbeat roller ‘98 Degrees’. Charged with a blistering, rave intensity, ‘Number Streets’, is a futuristic distorted techno workout that booms through the subs, whilst ‘The Formulator’ mixes filtered snippets, abstract synth noises and melodic bleeps with a bassline echoing Paperclip People’s ‘The Floor’. Closer to the UK definition of hardcore, combining 4/4 and breakbeat, ‘The Pusher’ evokes the spirit of late 80s orbital raves, adding a natty keys solo, and deadly bass used sparingly, for even deadlier effect. ‘Feels Like’ sees Rickers and Ted team up their studiomate and fellow TV Lounge resident and club booker, Mister Joshooa. Inspired by Photek but also almost UKG in style, this breakbeat session is stamped with MJ’s signature chopped vocals and intricate rhythmic interplay. The bubbling, wobbly loose swing of ‘WM’ is constructed around a classic chopped-up MTV cribs sample, with a filtered vocal creating a far out psychedelic effect – all of which is propelled apace by a huge bruising LFO. The LP concludes in fine style with ‘Dance The Bridge’, where bouncy beats and wigged-out keys meet bright, gently uplifting synth chords that bring a clear-skied mood; ending the record as it began, on an optimistic note.

‘Out Of Step’ marks another chapter in the ongoing relationship between Life and Death co-founder DJ Tennis and Ataxia. Their connection goes back to the earliest days of the label, where they played gigs together on some of Tennis’ initial visits to Detroit. It’s a friendship that’s blossomed organically over the last decade through their shared love of punk and hardcore, and led to the fruition of one of Ataxia’s most compelling projects to date. Labels to release Ataxia’s output include legendary Detroit techno imprints Planet E and KMS, plus the seminal American house label Nervous Records. Their catalogue also includes music for Visionquest, Leftroom, 20/20 Vision and Seth Troxler’s Play It Say It.

FORTUNA EHRENFELD sind aus der deutschsprachigen Indie Szene nicht mehr wegzudenken. Martin Bechler hat sich mit seiner eigenwilligen Poesie ein eigenes Genre geschaffen und zieht mit unverbrauchter Gelassenheit einen nach dem anderen Pfeil aus dem Köcher.

Mit 'Solo I.' liefert er sein kleinstes aber auch sein klarstes Album ab.
Für die Freunde der schwebenden Fortuna Klavierballaden ist diese Platte der (zweite) Himmel!
Jetzt endlich auch als Vinyl erhältlich!

HDIGH (acronym for How Did I Get Here) by Dave East x Mike & Keys is now available on vinyl format. The album was produced entirely by frequent East collaborators Mike & Keys and features Method Man, Musiq Soulchild, Anthony Hamilton, Benny The Butcher, Trae Tha Truth and Steven Young. On HDIGH, Mike & Keys bring their “A-Game”, incorporating heavy boom bap and smooth melodic instrumentation into their production throughout the album, providing the perfect backdrop for East to spit his patented braggadocios bars. HDIGH is the first project to come from the East Harlem rapper since he linked up with Harry Fraud in 2021 for HOFFA, and has East reflecting on his upbringing and rise in the music industry.

HDIGH is available in your choice of a blue and pink splatter or black vinyl pressing

The 6th release in the 'Foundations' series of classic House curated by DJ Spinna and Kai Alce, Sandee's 1988 masterpiece Notice Me joins seminal tunes from Ralph Rosario, Dreamer G, Cajmere, Chip E & K-Joy and Tyree Cooper to complement this amazing selection of hugely significant and killer heritage tracks. Written by Robert Clivilles and co-produced with David Cole (C+C Music Factory), the pedigree of Notice Me is seriously enhanced by the vocals of Latina singer and original member of the vocal group Exposè, Sandeé (Sandra Casañas) and the sound editing of long time Clivilles & Coles collaborator, the producer and percussionist Luis Rivera. Bass heavy and featuring a drum break that inspired so many great House cuts Notice Me was picked up by DJs of the calibre of Frankie Knuckles and Roman Ricardo on release in 1988. Notice Me became a dancefloor favourite at legendary clubs such as Tunnel and Palladium in New York City and the Riviera in Chicago , subsequently reaching number 9 in the Billboard Dance Charts in 1989. Tragically both Sandeé and David Cole died at far too early ages (46 and 32 respectively) but their places in the pantheon of House music history are assured as the vocalist and the co-producer of Notice Me. Indeed it is an era defining track and definitely a must have in your vinyl collection. A word about the Foundation Series from its curators: Kai:“Well my interest in 7”s is new. I have been a collector of 12”s all my life, House & Disco. Being inspired by JRocc after playing one of Discogs’ Crate Diggers events, my initial focus was on finding House 7”s which proved to be harder than I thought… Most were not available in 7” format & the popular ones that existed were quite rare. So now me and Spinna are trying to fill some of those empty spaces.” Spinna:“45 DJing has become a new excitement among vinyl DJs, but although endlessly repressed on other formats, a few classic house titles have simply never been pressed on 7” vinyl. We ran our ’45 wish list past BBE and the rest is history. When creating the edits we tried to imagine we worked for the original record label and were cutting the ‘radio edit’. The aim: to keep the heart of the track intact while reducing the length to fit the format.”

HDIGH (acronym for How Did I Get Here) by Dave East x Mike & Keys is now available on vinyl format. The album was produced entirely by frequent East collaborators Mike & Keys and features Method Man, Musiq Soulchild, Anthony Hamilton, Benny The Butcher, Trae Tha Truth and Steven Young. On HDIGH, Mike & Keys bring their “A-Game”, incorporating heavy boom bap and smooth melodic instrumentation into their production throughout the album, providing the perfect backdrop for East to spit his patented braggadocios bars. HDIGH is the first project to come from the East Harlem rapper since he linked up with Harry Fraud in 2021 for HOFFA, and has East reflecting on his upbringing and rise in the music industry.

HDIGH is available in your choice of a blue and pink splatter or black vinyl pressing

AMRA, the collaborative project between Paul Purgas (Emptyset) and artist and filmmaker Imran Perretta, continue their excavations into syncretic mythologies, diasporic echoes and ancient rhythmic talas. hills/demons ruminates on spectral landscapes whilst bringing together a wider group of collaborators, forming a collection of dense percussive polyrhythms alongside sitar improvisations from British-Pakistani multi-instrumentalist Nabihah Iqbal and guest vocals from Bangladeshi singer Sohini Alam. Developed for a performance with the London based commissioning platform Artnight, the release expands on AMRA's exploration of archival traces and the struggles that marked South Asia's partition, summoning alternative histories and the echo of ancestral voices.

“The Long Meadows is the endless stream never getting to the sea, through the lens of a couple in love unable to buy a home. It's the Now and the Past both melding into one cry of confusion, unanswered and forever in pursuit, “locked out of the next life”.

Following both a global pandemic and an acclaimed, landmark debut album, inimitable Irish Alt-Folk act Junior Brother returns today with details of his new album The Great Irish Famine, and a new single titled “No Snitch”. The album follows his much lauded 2019 Pull The Right Rope and is out 2nd September via multidisciplinary Irish label Strange Brew.

The Great Irish Famine leaps boldly forward into an exciting new chapter, and into a shaken new world - staggeringly profound, brutally beautiful in its epic sweep.

Speaking about the themes across the album Kealy further explains, "I was very conscious to bring each element of the debut into this follow-up, but dramatically dig ten times deeper and stretch ten times further down into each avenue”. “No Snitch" soars amidst darkly comic self-reflection ("This Is My Body"), anxious reflexes on modern living ("No Country For Young Men"), and the painful role the past plays in a nation's present ("King Jessup's Nine Trials").

Both startlingly dynamic and profoundly accomplished, The Great Irish Famine reflects fall-out of trauma both personal and universal, national, and international, minor, and mountainous, historic, and contemporary - all uncompromisingly conveyed through the magnetic, emotionally potent vision of a one-of-a-kind artist at the top of his game.

Written and recorded between 1972 and 1982 in Western Oregon, Back to the Woodlands is a previously unreleased, and nearly lost, album made by Ernest Hood during the same era as his near mythical album Neighborhoods. A visionary combination of field recordings, zithers, and synthesizers, Back to the Woodlands offers an unprecedented depth of access to this singular artistic mind.

Born into a musical family, Ernest Hood began a promising career as a jazz guitarist during the 1940s, touring internationally with his brother Bill Hood and the saxophonist Charlie Barnet, before contracting polio in his late twenties. The disease left Ernest unable to play the guitar and confined him to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. It also forced him to adapt and innovate around his musical practices in the face of adversity; Hood’s value of sound matured with a remarkably democratic and nonhierarchical approach and application.

Taking up the zither, a less physically-demanding stringed instrument to the guitar, embarking upon the unprecedented process of incorporating field recordings into his work as early as 1956, and eventually discovering the synthesizer, Hood’s music became imbued with optimism and subtle cultural critique. This ethos and technique - refined over the coming decades - would lay the groundwork for a sprawling body of radio work, mail order recordings for homebound listeners, and Neighborhoods, self-issued as a small vinyl edition in 1975.

Where Neighborhoods, a nostalgic opus, drawing from a well of collective memory of the 1950s, is defined by traces of human activity, Back to the Woodlands leaves the modern world behind, delving into Hood’s love for nature. Only recently discovered in his archives, the album dramatically expands his concept of “musical cinematography,” imagistically triggering states of sensory memory from within its zither and synthesizer melodies, intertwined with field recordings made during Hood’s extensive travels throughout Oregon. If Neighborhoods is a retreat into the gauzy joys of a romanticized past, Back to the Woodlands is an immersion in the timeless sanctuary of the natural world.

Mouth Full of Glass is the debut album by Chicago singer, songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Macie Stewart (She/They). Their story is one of finding solace and strength in solitude, where lush arrangements search for the meaning of

self, both within and without partnership. Exploring loneliness, as well as the growth and beauty blooming from it, Macie’s inner meditations reassess their own relationships in a singular voice that could ring true to anyone.

“Life is a perpetual discovery of your own habits and perceptions,” Macie explains. “This record is about digging into and embracing those less favourable parts of yourself in order to shed them. The hope is always to find the most authentic self while honouring who you once were, and who you could be.”










[i] 9. Defeat

Since its formation in 2010, the Melt Trio has become one of the world's most innovative guitar trios in contemporary jazz. And way beyond. Stylistically speaking: If you like Tortoise, Khruangbin, but also Philip Catherine, Bad Plus or Marc Ribot, you can already look forward to one of the outstanding albums in November of this crisis-ridden year.

On their countless concerts and tours all over the world, the three Berliners have refined their special style more and more and show an even stronger will to create in details. Their combination of acoustic and electronic sounds seems more subtle and at the same time more powerful than ever, specific influences from jazz and classical modernism to post- and prog rock can at best be made out dimly, because the music simply sounds like Melt Trio. It is and remains a guitar trio that does without any comparison. "Melt is neither Nirvana on jazz, nor Bill Frisell Trio in rock, nor Massacre in ambient. Melt is Melt, unique, individual, gripping and moving," it was once said elsewhere.

Texas born, Swindon bred, South Londoner Rainn Byrns is no stranger to the independent music press having enjoyed coverage in The Line Of Best Fit, DIY Mag, Dork, So Young, Hard of Hearing and The Guardian for his recent singles and Country Living EP. With the build up to his debut album New In Town, BBC 6Music’s Steve Lamacq, Amazing Radio and Radio X’s new music guru John Kennedy have all been playing tracks from it (+ John Kennedy has invited Rainn on to his X-Posure show for a session and interview during the week of release). Rainn’s innate talent for writing from the heart with total honesty shines bright on the album through a collection of indie lo-fi future classics, jam-packed with melodies and a tasteful bedroom-pop sensibility. Tinges of Americana, inspired by his early years growing up in Texas can be heard throughout, and combined with Rainn’s on the nose lyrical delivery, make this an exciting debut long player from an artist brimming with talent and potential. Further support from 6Music, Radio X & Amazing Radio

Sinnlich und hypnotisch, pendelnd zwischen minimalistischen und melodischen Tracks kommt die vierte
Veröffentlichung aus der “Morricone Segreto”-Serie vom Label CAM Sugar daher: die erstmals komplette
Veröffentlichung von Morricones psychedelisch-erotischer Musik zum Filmdrama „Quando L’amore È Sensualità“ (When Love is Lust, 1973), eines der vielen Meisterwerke des legendären Italieners.
Einige Titel waren bereits auf Compilations zu hören und haben Kultstatus bei Morricone-Fans, hier ist
erstmals der ungekürzte Soundtrack mit 11 bislang unveröffentlichten Tracks zu hören, frisch von den
analogen Originalbändern remastert.

”In der Weihnachtsbäckerei - Meine 20 beliebtesten Weihnachtslieder” ist eine besondere Auswahl der beliebtesten und bekanntesten traditionellen und neuen Weihnachtslieder von und mit Rolf Zuckowski.
Bei einigen Familien laufen sie das gesamte Jahr, in den meisten werden sie im November wieder hervorgeholt, wenn es früh dunkel und der Wunsch nach fröhlicher Besinnlichkeit laut wird: die unvergesslichen
Weihnachtslieder von Rolf Zuckowski. Sie sind in nur wenigen Jahren Volkslieder geworden und aus der
Winter- und Weihnachtszeit in diesem Land nicht mehr wegzudenken.
Aus seinem jahrzehntelangen Schaffen mit mehr als 100 Weihnachts - und Winterliedern wurden für dieses
Album die 20 beliebtesten Originalaufnahmen ausgewählt - die ultimative Best-Of des erfolgreichsten
deutschen Weihnachtsliederkomponisten und -interpreten, natürlich mit dem zum Volkslied gewordenen
Titelsong und Hit ”In der Weihnachtsbäckerei”!
Diese Zusammenstellung gibt es jetzt erstmals auf Vinyl: auf zwei 180g-LPs im Gatefold-Cover und mit
allen Liedtexten auf den illustrierten Innenhüllen. Das Beste, was sich unterm Weihnachtsbaum drehen
kann.

Es sind die wohl bedeutendsten Alben ihrer Karriere: 1991 veröffentlichten Guns N‘ Roses ihr drittes und
viertes Studioalbum “Use Your Illusion I & II“ - beide am selben Tag, dem 17. September. Beide Alben,
die in ihrer ersten Verkaufswoche mit 685 Tsd. und 770 Tsd. Alben in den USA einen Verkaufsrekord aufstellten und selbstverständlich Platz #1 und #2 der Billboard Charts belegten, warfen legendäre Hits, wie
”November Rain”, ”Don’t Cry”, ”Knocking On Heaven’s Door”, ”You Could Be Mine” oder ”Civil War” ab.
Zum ersten Mal erfuhren nun alle Tracks eine musikalische Aufbereitung und kommen in zeitgemäßer
Tonqualität daher. Neben allen bekannten Albumtracks gibt es auf den Deluxe Versionen Aufnahmen von
zwei Live-Konzerten in Audio- und BluRay-Qualität, sowie eine neue Version von “November Rain“ mit
einem 50-köpfigen Orchester.
Die größte Deluxe Version der neuen Editionen bringt es auf 97 Tracks – 63 davon bisher unveröffentlichte
Audio und Video-Tracks - sowie ein 100-seitiges Hardcover-Buch, Backstage-Pässe und vieles mehr.

Symposium, the pop-punk band heralded as ‘the best live band in Britain’ by Melody Maker in the 90’s, release their first Best Of compilation: ‘Do You Remember How It Was?’ A compilation that gathers together their finest moments in one place and provides a fully rounded view of what made them so intoxicating in the first place. Symposium’s achievements in just six years of being a band read like a 90’s rock‘n’roll-call; supported by the likes of John Peel, Jo Whiley, and Steve Lamacq on BBC Radio 1, heralded by music mags such as Melody Maker, Kerrang! and NME, and performing on TV shows such as TFI Friday and Top of the Pops. During their appearance on Top of the Pops in 1997 performing ‘Fairweather Friend’ completely live, frontman Ross became the only singer in the show’s history to stage dive, and the band received only the third ever stage invasion from the audience after Nirvana and Oasis. This set contains the hit singles ‘Farewell To Twilight’, ‘Fairweather Friend’, ‘Drink The Sunshine’, and the previously unreleased track ‘Bleach’.

Bubbling up from the psychedelic tar pits of L.A., Frankie and the Witch Fingers have been a constant source of primordial groove for the better part of the last decade. Formed and incubated in Bloomington, IN before moving west to scrap with Los Angeles’ garage rock rabble, the band evolved from cavern-clawed echo merchants to architects of prog-infected psych epics that evoke a shift in reality. After a stretch on Chicago/LA flagship Permanent Records the band landed at yet another fabled enclave of garage and psychedelia - Brooklyn’s Greenway Records, now working in tandem with psych powerhouse LEVITATION and their label The Reverberation Appreciation Society, the groups latest effort is dually supported by a RAS / Greenway co-release. After years of searching for the specific alchemy that would tear open the cosmos, they found the formula with the addition of Shaughnessy Starr on drums in the summer of 2018. They began a new cycle and tripped into tip-on double gatefold territory, flesh-ing out their lysergic impulses into a monolith of sound that closes in from all sides. The band reached new levels of grandiosity and utilized every minute to manifest their psych-soul Sabbath in four dimensions, spilling psychic blood on a populace ready and eagerly waiting. Yet, as expansive, inventive, and immersive as any studio album might be, the band is born for the stage. As their live prowess caught the ears of some legends in their own right, the band practically lived on the road last year with stints opening for Oh Sees, Cheap Trick and ZZ Top. Along the way the constant pulpit of the stage would form ZAM into a transformative experience while plotting their next permutation of space and time. That transformation, Monsters Eating People Eating Monsters... (repeated infinitely,) rises like a Phoenix from the road tar, van exhaust, and ozone crackle of amps in heat. Once off the road it was recorded in just five blistering days. Though, while the tour may have hammered the album into shape and brought about a wind of change, those changes stretched to the band itself as well. In the wake of the tour the band’s longtime bassist Alex Bulli made his exit, with the majority of bass parts on the album being written and played by multi-instrumental magician Josh Menashe with occasional pitch in from songwriter Dylan Sizemore. Stripped to their core the band has created their most ambitious work to date, an album that takes the turbulence of ZAM and crafts it into a beast more insidious and singular than anything in their catalog. Moving forward, the band has taken on new blood. Completing their lineup, Nikki Pickle (of Death Valley Girls) will join them working the new album out roadside on bass. A new horizon of Frankie and the Witch Fingers draws near and we’re all set to follow them into the unknown.

Sunshine Only Sometimes: Archives Vol. 2, 1972–1975 continues Anthology Recordings’ excavation, and exploration, of southern singer, songwriter, and psychedelic serviceman Robert Lester Folsom’s bountiful archives. Recorded across Georgia in various bedrooms, a barn, and a motel room with a reel-to-reel and a revolving cast of whip smart studio musicians in the first half of a dazed and confused decade, Sunshine Only Sometimes furthers Folsom’s place in the canon of long lost but eventually found independently spirited, high-flying American folk rock. When Anthology’s reissue of Music and Dreams, the sole contemporaneous album released in 1976 by Folsom, surfaced in 2010, little else was known of Folsom’s nearly five-decade deep archive of unreleased demos and fully formed studio recordings.

Fangst never announced their arrival – without a warning they were just there, and so was the demand for their music. The band’s hook-laden songs were quickly embraced by audience and press alike. Suddenly there was a new challenger to the throne of Norwegian “mother tongue rock”. Fangst appeared with a bang – releasing four singles in quick succession in 2021. Seeing the band live, it’s easy to be seduced by the four band members and their magnetic stage presence. Now they’re ready with their debut album on Jansen Records. But this is hardly a musical debut for the guys who make up this four-headed beast. All members of Fangst come with heaps of musical experience, and the bare mention of their other bands – Death By Unga Bunga, Honningbarna and Hvitmalt Gjerde – will awake fond memories in every concert goer who’s ever encountered those bands. Fangst’s debut full-length will be out in the fall of 2022, and if captivating Norwegian lyricism or very, ehm…rocking rock (or even both!) is your bag, then you’ll get your fill here. The band’ sound is a result of their diverse musical backgrounds and combines to create beautiful rock music – sporadically dangerous and at times plain cute.

With thirty years of active, nefarious service under their bulletbelts, NECROPHOBIC are undisputed legends of the death and black metal underground. Formed in 1989 by drummer Joakim Sterner, the Stockholm blackhearts propagated a singular and fearless vision from the very start, confirming their prowess with now legendary debut album The Nocturnal Silence in 1993. Eschewing the self-conscious amateurism and primitive sonics that many of their peers held dear, NECROPHOBIC established a bold and vivid identity of their own, conjuring a densely melodic but endlessly wicked take on macabre extreme metal that countless lesser bands have since emulated. With “Hrimthursum”, the 5th full-length album, NECROPHOBIC already injected its blasphemous attack metal with melody and atmospherics, not to mention a great attention to instrumental detail, in the first place when the album was released in 2006. The Swedish black death metal legends are re-releasing this full-length record as first out of nine upcoming re-issues in total. The album will be available as Ltd. CD Jewelcase in slipcase, Gatefold LP & Poster and Digital album. A must have for every black and death metal maniac out there!

Her Shadow offers dreamy pop music with moonlight melodies, heavenly hooks and Lynchian twists. The ethereal soundscapes come to life in a dream noir universe oozing with catchy choruses, Morricone motifs and vintage sounds interweave with state of the art production. The birth of Her Shadow was inevitable. Old friends, guitarist-songwriter Tomi Henttunen (Royal Lips) and keyboardist-lyricist (Kuolemanlaakso) had a versatile but very different background in making music but a shared obsession with Twin Peaks and Lana Del Rey. The original idea in 2016 was to combine the best of both worlds, and spice up the mix with film noir and dream-like elements – to make music that they love, but had never done before. They recruited the enigmatic singer Anna Carolina (Royal Lips), drummer extraordinaire Toni Ronkainen (Kuolemanlaakso) and producer-engineer Jaani Peuhu (Swallow the Sun, Lord of the Lost etc.), and recorded a four-song demo. They instantly got signed to Svart Records, and started working on their debut album. After five long years of hard work, it is finally ready to be released upon the world. As they say, good things come to those who wait: The Ghost Love Chronicles will be released on November 11, 2022. The album was produced by musical and visual mastermind Henttunen, mixed by Sampsa Väätäinen (Ismo Alanko, Neøv etc.) and mastered by Jaime Gomez Arellano (Ghost, Paradise Lost, Opeth etc.). The songs range from the mellow Motown mood of Fifth Season to the modern pop banger Kinda Love You, from the Morricone-inspired Vigilante to the nightmarish haunted house thriller What Hides in the Dark and from eerie playfulness of White Lane to ghoulishly beautiful Devil Inside. It remains to see, if The Ghost Love Chronicles will grow into a hit album or a cult classic, but it sure has the potential for both. Slip into something comfortable, open the doors of your perception and enter realm of Her Shadow. HER SHADOW Anna Carolina – lead vocals Tomi Henttunen – guitar, bass, keyboards Markus Laakso – keyboards, backing vocals Toni Ronkainen – drums and percussion Harri Hyvönen – live bass Otto Daavitsainen – live guitar