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You may not have heard of Long Beach O.G. Greg Royal aka Pür Royale, but you're definitely familiar with his work. With a resume of remix, production, engineering, and editing work ranging from Dr Dre's "The Chronic" to Bobby Brown's "My Prerogative", to the dub version of Patrice Rushen's "Feels So Real", Greg left an indelible mark on contemporary black music from the mid-80's to mid-90s.

In 1993 however, a one off 100 copy house 12" self titled as "Royal Phenomena" on the surface didn't seem to quite fit with the more traditional hip-hop and r&b output of his extensive discography. I only found out it existed through connecting with another unsung west coast pioneer, Aaron Paar, for Must Have's 2016 Teflon Dons compilation. Greg is credited as a mixing and recording engineer on practically every release on Aaron's own consistently excellent label Worldship. After listening to Aaron tell his story, it was clear Greg's studio experience and mentorship were key elements in the development of Aaron's signature tough SP-1200 house sound. "Royal Phenomena" remains an elusive connecting point for LA hip-hop and underground deep house, and Greg and Aaron remain friends and frequent collaborators.

Aaron put me in touch with Greg, who miraculously kept his original DAT tape recordings of these unique house excursions and was happy to finally share them with a wider audience. Blending hip-hop production techniques, west coast Latin sleaze, midwestern minimalism, and a dash of UK bleep, the LA underground house sound remains singular.

Speckled Dragon Egg Color Vinyl. Being Dead knows how to make an entrance - within the first several seconds of EELS, the duo's new record, the bright, hard-strummed guitar line on "Godzilla Rises" conjures cinematic immediacy, a creature emerging from the depths of the ocean in campy, freaky stop motion, fittingly so. Being Dead's records are mosaics, technicolor incantations, each song its own self-contained little universe. And while the dreamlike EELS probes further into the depths of the duo Being Dead's psyche, it is, most importantly, in the year of our lord 2024, a 16-track record that is genuinely unpredictable from one track to the next: a joyous and unexpected trip helmed by two true-blue freak bitch besties holed up in a lil' house in the heart of Austin, Texas. They decamped to Los Angeles for two weeks to record with GRAMMY-winning producer John Congleton, writing songs for the record until days before they left. The radical shift in process was welcome - a good balance and a challenge, Congleton helping them find new ways to work and helping peel back the layers on the core of their songwriting. Being Dead has grown from a duo to a trio live, including bassist Ricky Motto (who is immortalized finally on record here, particularly in the giggles on "Rock n' Roll Hurts") The resulting EELS is a darker record, tapped more into the devilishness within, but it's also a more raucous, rougher ride sonically. There's heartbreak, excitement, enchantment, dancing - we move through it all at a high-octane pace. Falcon Bitch and Smoofy never want to do the same thing twice on any song, and they don't. From the pummeling garage rock distortion of "Firefighters" to "Dragons II," which appears in its demo form taped on a hand recorder, it's unexpected but intuitive, and, most importantly, singularly Being Dead. Like its animal namesake suggests, the songs on EELS are malleable, the record like slithering through murky waters or strange half dreams, mysterious and beautiful in how it moves, reflective in a wavering sheen. Dipping into each song feels like uncovering a new cavern, plunging into depths unknown but fully open to what will be revealed. On the album artwork, an illustration by the artist Julia Soboleva, there are some weird disparate spectral creatures, a stark glimmer against a cloudy darkness. It's a fitting encapsulation of Being Dead, exuding a welcoming, playful energy even if something foreboding lurks just beyond the pale - more out of frame that's left to uncover, no path unexplored, strange and beautiful in the light.

After a triptych released by Un je-ne-sais-quoi, in barely 3 years, under the name Tachycardie, Jean-Baptiste Geoffroy, musician, composer but also visual artist, continues his very singular journey to the heart of sound matter, with an album composed on Baschet sound structures.

From the 1950s, the Baschet brothers created a truly innovative set of instruments which has since fascinated musicians seeking new sound experiences.

Both sculptures of glass, metal and instruments of great acoustic sharpness, these sound structures have made rare but remarkable forays into recordings of contemporary music (Bernard Baschet, Jacques Lasry, Luc Ferrari, Toru Takemitsu, Jonathan Fitoussi…).

The Baschet brothers were also keen to use these instruments for educational purposes in the form of workshops, cultural action projects or simply by inviting the public to try these instruments at the end of concerts. It is in the Ateliers Baschet, a place aimed at preserving and transmitting the work of the brothers (workshops, conferences, residencies) that Tachycardie recorded this new album.

After having combined on his previous albums, analog synthesis, audio-naturalism and percussion in an overwhelming balance, he explored here all the sonic variety of Baschet structures. He then just sculpted this sound material in his studio, using simple effects: editing and pitch.

The result is a new path to explore in Tachycardie’s world, made of subtle percussive crackles, beneficial chaos and restorative oscillations.

‘What makes Sex Swing so powerful is that they transcend the limitations of rock music. Their sound is so full of possibilities, violence, sexuality, sacrifice, even religion. If there was a future to look forward to for heavy guitar music, this is it’ The Quietus The locals call it Sop Ruak – eighty thousand square miles of mountains and mystery and unholy medicine. “It really is an endless seam of activity,” Sex Swing frontman Dan Chandler explains of Golden Triangle – both the title of their new album and the region between Myanmar, Thailand and Laos that inspired it. To know this contradictory corner of the world is to understand fully why the cult-beloved noise-rock artisans turned to it when writing their hotly-anticipated third full-length. The real-life Golden Triangle is a groundswell of both natural wonder and drug production, and who combines beauty and narcotic brutality better than Sex Swing? For a decade now, this
collective of revered UK underground musicians, comprising members of Earth, Mugstar, The Keep and Jaaw, have been pulling audiences into drug- like slipstreams with their alchemy of pummelling rhythms, towering guitars, and unrelenting saxophone through which glimmers of light occasionally pierce through. No wonder their Golden Triangle is an album telling distortion-shrouded tales from one of the most storied, enigmatic places on the planet, with enough invention within to fill eighty thousand miles and more.
Where does this violent, hypnotic aural travelogue take you within the Sop Ruak? The seven tracks that make up The Golden Triangle see the band – completed by bassist Jason Stoll, drummer Stuart Bell, guitarist Jodie Cox, synthesist/guitarist Oli Knowles and saxophonist Colin Webster – adventure first to ‘The Confluence of the Ruak and Mekong Rivers,’ full of shimmering orchestration and feather-light ambience. Then come stops in ‘Myawaddy’, named after a small town embroiled in bloodshed on the border of Myanmar
and Thailand, and ‘Boten, Route 13’ – sparked by stories of a seemingly endless stretch of road from Laos into China. Before long, listeners are plunged into ‘Hpakant’, one of the album’s most invigorating and singular moments, lyrically inspired by a jade mine in Myanmar, where the spoils of forced labour are exchanged for prostitution and methanphetamine. The result is a mesmerising slow-burn of sax, snaking rhythms and sinister spoken word courtesy of the Scottish-born Bruce McClure, who “took the theme and turned it into a sci-fi story of exploitation and vice,” explains the frontman. It’s a track that, like the rest of Golden Triangle, underlines the evolution Sex Swing have undertaken since forming in 2014. From the raw and primitive sounds of the self-titled debut full-length, followed up by the coruscatingType II in 2020. Sex Swing’s third effort retains those early primitive elements and adds layers of structure and complexity. Golden Triangle initial formation was that of programmed beats and bedroom recordings shared electronically in the height of the pandemic. Those ideas were then completed during intensive writing sessions at a secluded farm in Oxfordshire.
Album credits consist of recording by Stanley Gravett at Holy Mountain Studios in Hackney, mixing by Wayne Adams at Bear Bites Horse, mastering from James Plotkin, and the continued aesthetic collaboration with artist Alex Bunn. Golden Triangle bristles with a rawness familiar to fans of the British sonic punishers, but adds new elements indicative of a group never resting on their laurels or sitting in one place. Why would they, after all? There’s an entire world of mountains and mystery and unholy medicine out there to be explored. The Golden Triangle, it seems, is just the beginning.

‘What makes Sex Swing so powerful is that they transcend the limitations of rock music. Their sound is so full of possibilities, violence, sexuality, sacrifice, even religion. If there was a future to look forward to for heavy guitar music, this is it’ The Quietus The locals call it Sop Ruak – eighty thousand square miles of mountains and mystery and unholy medicine. “It really is an endless seam of activity,” Sex Swing frontman Dan Chandler explains of Golden Triangle – both the title of their new album and the region between Myanmar, Thailand and Laos that inspired it. To know this contradictory corner of the world is to understand fully why the cult-beloved noise-rock artisans turned to it when writing their hotly-anticipated third full-length. The real-life Golden Triangle is a groundswell of both natural wonder and drug production, and who combines beauty and narcotic brutality better than Sex Swing? For a decade now, this
collective of revered UK underground musicians, comprising members of Earth, Mugstar, The Keep and Jaaw, have been pulling audiences into drug- like slipstreams with their alchemy of pummelling rhythms, towering guitars, and unrelenting saxophone through which glimmers of light occasionally pierce through. No wonder their Golden Triangle is an album telling distortion-shrouded tales from one of the most storied, enigmatic places on the planet, with enough invention within to fill eighty thousand miles and more.
Where does this violent, hypnotic aural travelogue take you within the Sop Ruak? The seven tracks that make up The Golden Triangle see the band – completed by bassist Jason Stoll, drummer Stuart Bell, guitarist Jodie Cox, synthesist/guitarist Oli Knowles and saxophonist Colin Webster – adventure first to ‘The Confluence of the Ruak and Mekong Rivers,’ full of shimmering orchestration and feather-light ambience. Then come stops in ‘Myawaddy’, named after a small town embroiled in bloodshed on the border of Myanmar
and Thailand, and ‘Boten, Route 13’ – sparked by stories of a seemingly endless stretch of road from Laos into China. Before long, listeners are plunged into ‘Hpakant’, one of the album’s most invigorating and singular moments, lyrically inspired by a jade mine in Myanmar, where the spoils of forced labour are exchanged for prostitution and methanphetamine. The result is a mesmerising slow-burn of sax, snaking rhythms and sinister spoken word courtesy of the Scottish-born Bruce McClure, who “took the theme and turned it into a sci-fi story of exploitation and vice,” explains the frontman. It’s a track that, like the rest of Golden Triangle, underlines the evolution Sex Swing have undertaken since forming in 2014. From the raw and primitive sounds of the self-titled debut full-length, followed up by the coruscatingType II in 2020. Sex Swing’s third effort retains those early primitive elements and adds layers of structure and complexity. Golden Triangle initial formation was that of programmed beats and bedroom recordings shared electronically in the height of the pandemic. Those ideas were then completed during intensive writing sessions at a secluded farm in Oxfordshire.
Album credits consist of recording by Stanley Gravett at Holy Mountain Studios in Hackney, mixing by Wayne Adams at Bear Bites Horse, mastering from James Plotkin, and the continued aesthetic collaboration with artist Alex Bunn. Golden Triangle bristles with a rawness familiar to fans of the British sonic punishers, but adds new elements indicative of a group never resting on their laurels or sitting in one place. Why would they, after all? There’s an entire world of mountains and mystery and unholy medicine out there to be explored. The Golden Triangle, it seems, is just the beginning.

Born in London to Scottish parents, Bishop Briggs grew up in Japan and Hong Kong. Days after graduating high school, she moved to Los Angeles where, after years of performing at any venue that would have her, she was discovered in a small hole-in-the-wall by a former-A&R rep and the rest was history. The music of Bishop Briggs transcends the limitations of singular genres, blending folk, pop and electronic music into a wholly unique sound. Her debut track “Wild Horses” reached #1 on Spotify's US Viral Chart and #2 on Spotify’s Global Viral 50 charts, with airplay on Sirius XM’s Alt Nation, Zane Lowe’s Beats 1 Show and a prized spot in Acura’s 2016 TLX and ESPN’s NFL Playoffs ads.

Speckled Dragon Egg Color Vinyl. Being Dead knows how to make an entrance - within the first several seconds of EELS, the duo's new record, the bright, hard-strummed guitar line on "Godzilla Rises" conjures cinematic immediacy, a creature emerging from the depths of the ocean in campy, freaky stop motion, fittingly so. Being Dead's records are mosaics, technicolor incantations, each song its own self-contained little universe. And while the dreamlike EELS probes further into the depths of the duo Being Dead's psyche, it is, most importantly, in the year of our lord 2024, a 16-track record that is genuinely unpredictable from one track to the next: a joyous and unexpected trip helmed by two true-blue freak bitch besties holed up in a lil' house in the heart of Austin, Texas. They decamped to Los Angeles for two weeks to record with GRAMMY-winning producer John Congleton, writing songs for the record until days before they left. The radical shift in process was welcome - a good balance and a challenge, Congleton helping them find new ways to work and helping peel back the layers on the core of their songwriting. Being Dead has grown from a duo to a trio live, including bassist Ricky Motto (who is immortalized finally on record here, particularly in the giggles on "Rock n' Roll Hurts") The resulting EELS is a darker record, tapped more into the devilishness within, but it's also a more raucous, rougher ride sonically. There's heartbreak, excitement, enchantment, dancing - we move through it all at a high-octane pace. Falcon Bitch and Smoofy never want to do the same thing twice on any song, and they don't. From the pummeling garage rock distortion of "Firefighters" to "Dragons II," which appears in its demo form taped on a hand recorder, it's unexpected but intuitive, and, most importantly, singularly Being Dead. Like its animal namesake suggests, the songs on EELS are malleable, the record like slithering through murky waters or strange half dreams, mysterious and beautiful in how it moves, reflective in a wavering sheen. Dipping into each song feels like uncovering a new cavern, plunging into depths unknown but fully open to what will be revealed. On the album artwork, an illustration by the artist Julia Soboleva, there are some weird disparate spectral creatures, a stark glimmer against a cloudy darkness. It's a fitting encapsulation of Being Dead, exuding a welcoming, playful energy even if something foreboding lurks just beyond the pale - more out of frame that's left to uncover, no path unexplored, strange and beautiful in the light.

Tahiti 80, the cult French group, is back with a tenth album entitled Hello Hello.

Since their formation in Rouen in the 90s, Tahiti 80 have built a substantial discography, collaborating with artists such as Cornelius, Tore Johansson, Adam Schlesinger and Richard Swift. The indie pop quintet offers us today twelve irresistible and captivating songs on a solar tenth album. With its welcoming title, Hello Hello presents itself as a desire to merge the spontaneity of live performances with the chemistry of a band working in the studio. Xavier Boyer, lead singer and songwriter, explains: “We felt a slight frustration with our previous album, Here With You, released in 2022. The pandemic had forced us to record separately at home. When we realized our new demos were going in this live direction, we looked for the perfect place to capture that spirit."

It is at the Paraphernalia studio, located in the French countryside, that the members of Tahiti 80, including in addition to the singer, Pedro Resende, Médéric Gontier, Raphaël Léger and Hadrien Grange, perfected their musical interactions for ten days during the summer 2023. Integrated very early in the process, Stéphane Laporte, aka Domotic, brought his distinctive experimental touch to the arrangements and production. The vocals and additional synthesizers were then finalized between Paris, Rouen and Montpellier in the fall

The twelve songs that make up Hello Hello form a homogeneous suite, highlighting the creativity, diversity and maturity of a group which has just celebrated twenty-five years of career. Opening the album, “Every Little Thing” subtly mixes shoegaze guitars and synth pop. It’s also one of the rare Tahiti 80 tracks that keeps the same chords from start to finish. The singer confides: “It was an exercise in minimalism, with the constraint of finding varied vocal melodies revolving around the same chords. Singing the line ‘I Love Every Little Thing About Us’ made me realize that it could also be about us as a group.” The title song also plays the simplicity card with Boyer’s unique timbre, complemented by a drum machine passed through a tape echo and a catchy recorder theme – proof that years of practice of this instrument in French schools was not in vain!

The other distinctive trend is Brazilian: “Lose My Head”, “Soft Echo” or “Poison Flower” each display tropicalist attributes: swaying rhythms, rounded bass, soft guitars, all enhanced by a reverberated sound treatment. “From Caetano Veloso to Tim Bernardes, there is a unique way,” notes the vocalist, “of linking rhythm and melody that has always inspired us.”

However, the Tahiti 80 touch is not being put aside. “About Us”, sung by guitarist Médéric Gontier who can also be heard on “1+1” and “Anyway”, marks a return to the roots of indie pop. An impression confirmed by the hit “Vertigo” and its signature all in major sevenths supported by the elastic groove of bassist Pedro Resende. The song which sounds like a quick return trip between late 70s California and Tokyo City Pop, will find its place after “Crush!” and “Heartbeat” in the Rouennais’ songbook. Xavier Boyer concludes: “ if we manage to surprise ourselves, it will also work for the listener. but when you reach the tenth album, you must also manage to renew ourselves without denying ourselves what we did previously.”

With their innovative and unique approach to indie pop, their timeless melodies and their sophisticated productions, Tahiti 80 has never ceased to resonate with fans around the world. Their latest collection, Hello Hello, should easily consolidate their status as a singular group and esteemed personalities on the international music scene.

Black Vinyl. In Rumi's poem A Great Wagon he writes of a place of total acceptance. "Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there," It is a boundless, liminal space where we can release the judgments we make and carry of ourselves, and the comparisons to others. When we think of this field, there is a sense of tranquility that only comes when we are undisturbed by the shadow self and see existence as neither bright nor dim, white nor black. But as lead singer Greg Bertens explains, arriving there is a whole different story. "This is a poem I've returned to over the years, and I love the idea of this place, but getting there is life's journey." Bertens adds "I think the longing for and elusiveness of this field is a recurring theme in our music." Field is enveloped by themes of regret, disconnection and frustration but with the space to understand that these feelings are a natural part of the struggle between reconciling the inner and outer self. The Los Angeles/San Francisco-based group have been indie shoegaze stalwarts since their formation in 2001. After two decades and a handful of line-up changes, their extensive discography presents a dynamically textural, lush psychedelic rock that has featured guest appearances by members of Pavement, My Bloody Valentine, and Snow Patrol, among others. 2021's LP We Weren't Here (Sonic Ritual) was hailed for its dense instrumental blanket, where unrelenting hi-hats and heavy kicks exist alongside dreamy drone guitar. This propulsive nature permeates Field, as members Bertens, Noël Brydebell (vocals), Nyles Lannon (guitar), Jason Ruck (synths), Justin LaBo (bass), and Adam Wade (drums) produce a kaleidoscopic sonic landscape. Patient, sprawling instrumentation builds a foundation in which Bertens' themes of endurance, perseverance and clarity can bloom with a considered poise. As a lyricist who writes in response to the instrumental arrangements, rather than a focus on a specific theme or person, Field is a testament to Film School's ability to create in the moment, and to showcase the magic that stems from when we are truly present. With over two decades in the industry, Field cements Film School as a distinct, dominant force in the shoegaze scene. Soaked in an emotionally open, imaginative atmosphere, the album is both singular and expansive, and leaves the door open for a constantly evolving interpretation. Film School have never confined themselves to the rigidity of specifics, and it's on Field that they urge us to look beyond the binary of certainty, and to take a second look.

Limited pressing of 300 LPs ! 180gm VINYL LPS w/ INSERT & DOWNLOAD FILE UNDER : GARAGE ROCK / PUB ROCK "I wanted to make a very NOW album, our past was fantastic at the time but it was exactly that.the past. We've learned a lot since then and with the combination of influences and personal tastes we've concocted a combination of Raw Power guitar grunt, a touch of The Cars' pop sensibilities and Bad Seeds brood." Dave Butterworth Veteran rockers The Double Agents return with their third album New Motion a powerful new recording evoking directness and immediacy and marking their first release of new material in nearly two decades. The Double Agents' initial incarnation circa 2000 saw the fiercely independent quintet rise from humble stages to becoming one of Melbourne's most revered pub rock bands. They twice toured Europe and eventually shared the stage with iconic luminaries Dead Moon, Mudhoney, The Dirtbombs, Celibate Rifles, The White Stripes and The Black Keys before an amicable hiatus in 2008. New Motion is a modern Australian rock record and marks a departure from their garage rock roots, as best exemplified in their self released 2023 anthology compilation Best Bits. So Far spanning their first three releases. The familiar twin vocals remain, Kim and Dave summoning that deep Dead Moon energy, as does Ryan Tandy's singular lead guitar playing and the rock solid backbeat of Myles Gallagher, but the band's scope seems to have widened on this record, with the inclusion of longtime cohort Mick Stylianou (Saint Jude) adding style and harmonic punch on bass guitar and backing vocals. ..The New Motion sessions were tracked to analog tape by Finn Keane at Head Gap and Julian McKenzie at Newmarket with vocal post production by Dave Larkin (Dallas Crane), mixing by Callum Barter (Courtney Barnett, Kurt Vile), mastering by Mikey Young. Dave Butterworth also produced the album.

Long-running NYC hard rockers Mirror Queen offer a heady mix of psych, prog and NWOBHMisms with
the release of their fifth full-length, Dying Days. Influences such as Blue Öyster Cult, UFO, Camel,
Wishbone Ash and Iron Maiden soar amidst their singular mix of insistent guitars and melodic vocals.
The intent is to blast the audience by including songs with volume and adding hooks to the timeless riffs.

2024 Repress

Hart & Tief returns. Pampa's dark bastard. The Proverbial black sheep. For the second statement from the label, we have the twin voices of DJ Koze and Robag Wruhme. Both are masters at remaining simultaneously identifiable yet surprising, and the freedom afforded by this fledgling label sees them push their respective milieus. Driven see's Koze return to previously mined percussive tropes and plumb a new minimalist clarity of emotion through maximal means. The track thuds, clicks and pumps in a singular trajectory that belies its complexity and compliments its title. Not to be outdone, Robag Wruhme provides X-mop 198, a slice of linear horror-techno that deftly re-contextualises its simplistic components in to a jagged and constantly surprising listen, creating a form of body music for the mind.

Lutalo's highly visceral folk goes electric on The Academy, the Vermont multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer's debut LP. Recorded in January 2024 at the storied Sonic Ranch and self-produced along with Jake Aron (Snail Mail, Protomartyr, L'Rain), The Academy feels like watching the best underground film you've seen in years; establishing Lutalo as a singular voice of this generation of indie rock. Lutalo describes The Academy as their "first chapter" - a time capsule of the lessons they've learned in their 20-something years of life. "This record is exactly that: a `record' of my early life," they say of their debut album, out via Winspear. "The experiences, thoughts and feelings I was holding at those times and am currently processing. To me, this is the first big stamp of my existence I'm sharing." While Lutalo's 2022 EP Once Now, Then Again introduced them as a lo-fi acoustic guitar wunderkind, The Academy is bigger and bolder without compromising Lutalo's inviting sense of emotional intimacy, inspired by alt-rock veterans like Thom Yorke and Rob Crow as well as electronic greats like Aphex Twin and Bowery Electric. The Academy's grander arrangements are heard in the biting adrenaline rush of "Ocean Swallows Him Whole," or the anti-war jangle of album closer "The Bed." Their lyrics are often deeply intuitive, flowing as a stream of consciousness, albeit with weighty meanings. With their unique baritone and finesse for lyrical world building, Lutalo cuts to the bone-while only just beginning to reveal the depth of their artistry and vision.

Lutalo's highly visceral folk goes electric on The Academy, the Vermont multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer's debut LP. Recorded in January 2024 at the storied Sonic Ranch and self-produced along with Jake Aron (Snail Mail, Protomartyr, L'Rain), The Academy feels like watching the best underground film you've seen in years; establishing Lutalo as a singular voice of this generation of indie rock. Lutalo describes The Academy as their "first chapter" - a time capsule of the lessons they've learned in their 20-something years of life. "This record is exactly that: a `record' of my early life," they say of their debut album, out via Winspear. "The experiences, thoughts and feelings I was holding at those times and am currently processing. To me, this is the first big stamp of my existence I'm sharing." While Lutalo's 2022 EP Once Now, Then Again introduced them as a lo-fi acoustic guitar wunderkind, The Academy is bigger and bolder without compromising Lutalo's inviting sense of emotional intimacy, inspired by alt-rock veterans like Thom Yorke and Rob Crow as well as electronic greats like Aphex Twin and Bowery Electric. The Academy's grander arrangements are heard in the biting adrenaline rush of "Ocean Swallows Him Whole," or the anti-war jangle of album closer "The Bed." Their lyrics are often deeply intuitive, flowing as a stream of consciousness, albeit with weighty meanings. With their unique baritone and finesse for lyrical world building, Lutalo cuts to the bone-while only just beginning to reveal the depth of their artistry and vision.

Lutalo's highly visceral folk goes electric on The Academy, the Vermont multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer's debut LP. Recorded in January 2024 at the storied Sonic Ranch and self-produced along with Jake Aron (Snail Mail, Protomartyr, L'Rain), The Academy feels like watching the best underground film you've seen in years; establishing Lutalo as a singular voice of this generation of indie rock. Lutalo describes The Academy as their "first chapter" - a time capsule of the lessons they've learned in their 20-something years of life. "This record is exactly that: a `record' of my early life," they say of their debut album, out via Winspear. "The experiences, thoughts and feelings I was holding at those times and am currently processing. To me, this is the first big stamp of my existence I'm sharing." While Lutalo's 2022 EP Once Now, Then Again introduced them as a lo-fi acoustic guitar wunderkind, The Academy is bigger and bolder without compromising Lutalo's inviting sense of emotional intimacy, inspired by alt-rock veterans like Thom Yorke and Rob Crow as well as electronic greats like Aphex Twin and Bowery Electric. The Academy's grander arrangements are heard in the biting adrenaline rush of "Ocean Swallows Him Whole," or the anti-war jangle of album closer "The Bed." Their lyrics are often deeply intuitive, flowing as a stream of consciousness, albeit with weighty meanings. With their unique baritone and finesse for lyrical world building, Lutalo cuts to the bone-while only just beginning to reveal the depth of their artistry and vision.

Mit "The Machine in the Ghost" erreichen HAUJOBB den beeindruckenden Meilenstein des zehnten Studioalbums. Auch ihr neuestes Werk unterscheidet sich von all seinen Vorgängern. Das derzeit in Leipzig residierende Duo verweigert sich weiterhin standhaft jeder Wiederholung. "The Machine in the Ghost" unterscheidet sich bereits durch die Verwendung von Feldaufnahmen, um die Sounds für dieses Album zu erzeugen. Um die gewünschten Effekte zu erzielen, haben HAUJOBB bewusst auf eine Mischung aus Software und Hardware gesetzt - letzteres in Form von mit Alltagsgegenständen erzeugten Tönen. Diese symbolische Anspielung auf eine Zeit, in der es weniger Software und mehr analoges Drehen an den Reglern gab, ergänzt das Thema von "The Machine in the Ghost" um einen Hauch von Retro-Feeling - ohne jede nostalgische Verklärung. Das Album dreht sich um die spannungsgeladene Beziehung zwischen analog und digital, Geist und Materie. Als sich HAUJOBB im ostwestfälischen Bielefeld zunächst zu einem Trio formierten, kamen ihre Haupteinflüsse noch aus der Vancouver-Schule des Industrial - und speziell SKINNY PUPPY sowie FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY. Dies ist auf ihrem ersten Album "Homes & Gardens" (1993) noch hörbar, doch schon bald wurden HAUJOBB selbst als Aushängeschilder eines modernen elektronischen Industrial-Sounds angesehen. Auf den folgenden Alben "Freeze Frame Reality" (1995) und "Solutions for a Small Planet" (1996) entfernten sich die Deutschen zunehmend von den kanadischen Einflüssen, indem sie damit begannen, IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) mit Industrial und EBM zu verschmelzen. Damit katapultierten sich die Deutschen mitten in die internationale Szene und verschafften sich sogar in den USA einen Kultstatus. Auch nachdem HAUJOBB zum Duo mutiert waren, blieben sie einflussreich und insbesondere ihr 2011 in Eigenregie veröffentlichtes Album "New World March" gilt als weitere Großtat. Mit "The Machine in the Ghost" schlagen HAUJOBB ein neues spannendes Kapitel in ihrer bemerkenswerten Karriere auf. Unmittelbar zu Beginn der nächsten industriellen und kreativen Revolution, die der rasante Aufstieg der künstlichen Intelligenz auszulösen verspricht, legen HAUJOBB ihre metaphorischen musikalischen Finger erneut direkt an den Puls der Zeit.

Nigerian electronic musician and violist Ibukun Sunday debuts on Phantom Limb with Harmony / Balance, a brooding, introspective take on Afro-ambient music that follows two acclaimed digital-only albums for Phantom Limb imprint Spirituals.


Based in Lagos, Ibukun Sunday has expertly positioned himself between the rarely-married cultures of ambient and West African musics. He entwines his compositions with field recordings from his native Nigeria and deeply considered philosophies of existence, humanity, and society. The themes of Harmony / Balance derive from Swami and Hare Krishna founder A. C. Bhaktivedanta and his work Bhagavad-Gita Eng: “As It Is”, a script on the duality of human nature. In Bhaktivedanta’s text, two cousins - warriors from the sacred Hindu text the Mahābhārata - and their armies are pitted against each other. The humility, self control, and devotion of one cousin against the arrogance, envy, and pursuit of power of the other. Bhaktivedanta writes that from this battle we see the necessity to cultivate and nurture our love and faith, but to simultaneously understand our selfishness and hubris. Appropriately, in Ibukun Sunday’s music, a heavy, apocalyptic dread contrasts fascinatingly with passages of light. The static-spiked, corrosive sound design of Harmony / Balance conjures darkness, but its skipping rhythmic patterns and melodic contours are made of beautifully vibrant colours.



Though Sunday excels in the kind of drawn-out elegance also found in the work of Kali Malone, William Basinski or Fennesz, and also in a magisterial repetition akin to Terry Riley or Manuel Göttsching, his unique practice, classical training, and core culture shine through in a pure and singular way. Scattered throughout Harmony / Balance are unexpected melodic antiphonies closely aligned with African music, interspersed between huge, spacious drones and field recordings.



Lead track “Arrayed On The Battlefield” evokes mythical and deific wars with hissing, buzzing synthesis that could be dystopian if not for a levitational, sunlit harmonic structure. It rolls and shimmers, transcendent frequencies alive with rhythm. Later, “Enemy Of My Enemy” employs shimmering, meditative chord pads and blissful negative space, while towards the end of the record, “To Fight With” could have been taken from a Denis Villeneuve sci-fi - the fizzing, fiery distortion at its peak gradually, carefully yields a rumbling, distant thunder as it closes. Throughout the record, Sunday’s education as a classical viola player is also evident. A honed musicality and developed ear for harmonic resonances lend the work a measured eloquence, even amidst deep, spiritual intuitiveness. This intensely personal and powerfully expressive creativity is key to the grace with which he crosses divides.


Ibukun Sunday is a solo electronic musician and violist based in Lagos, Nigeria. He has released two albums with Phantom Limb’s digital-only imprint Spirituals, which enjoyed rightful acclaim as unique and powerful works of experimental ambient music. He also performed at Phantom Limb’s 5th anniversary celebrations in 2023, playing alongside Richard Skelton at St. John’s on Bethnal Green in London, UK.

Nina Ryser's music has always inhabited its own world; a singular and cohesive collection of Keyboard-centric home recordings that marry her undeniable pop sensibilities with a truly bizarre dreamlike aesthetic. With a solo career spanning 7 releases as well as her work in the highly influential art-punk trio Palberta, Nina's artistic voice has been a staple in the American underground for over a decade, her distinctive and consistent sound earning a cult following. Her latest effort Water Giants signifies a departure in both sound and artistic practice - her first solo release recorded outside of her home studio, with a myriad of first time collaborators, it's Nina's most lavish and expansive offering to date, honing in on the heartfelt songwriting at the core of her work. After completing her usual process of demoing the songs for Water Giants, Nina felt that she wanted to try something new, escaping the confines of her minimal studio setup and the limitations of working alone. At the recommendation of several friends, she began working with Lucas Knapp, a Philly based producer who has contributed work to many Dear Life releases (including Florry's The Holey Bible, Hour's Ease the Work, and Joey Nebulous's Joey Spumoni Creamy Dreamy Party All the Time ). Lucas and Nina's recording sensibilities aligned quite seamlessly, breathing new energy into the songs in what she describes as an "effortless collaboration". The result is some of her most pristine experimental pop offerings to date, centering Nina as a dynamic performer and lyricist without foregoing the surreal qualities of her previous work. The album features contributions from many of her peers in the Philly music community, including Jill Ryan (Great Time), Victoria Rose and Nino Soberon (@, Brittle Brian), Eli Kleinsmith (The Knee Jerk Reaction), and her husband Gabe Adels, whom she frequently collaborates with in the synth-pop duo Data. Even the cover art is a departure for Nina, who has previously crafted it herself or with longtime friend/visual artist Izzy Kross, this time assembling a collage of photographs taken by Eve Alpert (Palm) fit for the album's newfound dimensionality. Lyrically, Water Giants stands as Nina's most personal work to date. Taking a cue from her previous release, I Miss My Dog, which was written as Nina was processing the imminent loss of her and Gabe's dog Billy, Nina approached the writing process with unbridled honesty and chose not to edit or overthink her words as she had in the past. The result is a number of candid, heartfelt reflections on love, illness, addiction, anxiety, and the beautiful absurdity of a trash pile on the street. Interspersed throughout the album are Nina's signature woozy instrumentals, which add some escapism to the grounded nature of the material. By putting faith in a newfound collaboration without straying from her natural instincts, Nina has crafted the most dynamic album in her discography, an exciting testament to her songwriting prowess and what can be accomplished by stepping out of your comfort zone as an artist.

"A Singular Blend of Dynamic Post-Pop & Electronic Production Featuring The Vibraphonist’s Remarkable Quartet Special Guests Gerald Clayton and Marquis Hill Named One Of Downbeat's 25 For The Future

“His music is fresh, it speaks to everyone. Never heard anyone play vibes like that before.” -Herbie Hancock

“Best vibes player I’ve heard...” -Quincy Jones

In discussing Elements of Light, his fifth album as a leader, the vibraphonist-composer Simon Moullier often returns to a specific term: unfolding.

“This is an important word — the unfolding of a song,” says Moullier, who was born in France and lives in New York. “It’s something I’m very attached to, and something I’m always working on.” As he explains, many of his essential influences —Wayne Shorter, Milton Nascimento, Toninho Horta, Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, Ravel, — have been masterful unfolders in their writing. Moullier admires the movement and design in their music and harmony, the way one section of a tune leads into the next, everything flowing in a natural, beautiful, inviting way. Even the most serious intellectual musical concepts are rendered with a directness, a simplicity that can captivate a general audience. “For me, no matter how complex an idea can get,” he says, “clarity is always key.”

That’s a mature, evolved outlook for a millennial jazz musician to embrace, and it’s shared among Moullier’s youthful quartet featuring pianist Lex Korten, bassist Rick Rosato and drummer Jongkuk “JK” Kim. What’s more, these musicians of astonishing technical facility interact with the selflessness and good taste that Moullier’s song-focused music requires; to say it another way, they use their virtuosity to make the bandleader’s compositions sound as human and affecting as possible — never to preen."