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2025 Repress

Running Back’s Double Copy subsidiary for house music history returns with four musical masterpieces from Chicago, London and an international cast from Italy on its first various artist sampler.
Originally released on Roy Davis Jr.’s Undaground Therapy outlet, Destination Heaven by the enigmatic Earth Boys project delivers a piece of cloud-nine-deep-house that was a staple at Frankfurt’s Wild Pitch Club and during the early days of its successor Robert Johnson. Produced by Cloudy Eyes and Cole Brooks, we unfortunately have never heard from the duo again. Luckily, Family of Few have been a little bit more productive. Also known as Mind Readers, Kevin Elliot and Billy ‚Jack“ Williams produced some of the more tender moments on Detroits 430 West label. Intervoles is amongst the most peculiar and catchy tracks that slow-burning dance floors can hope for.
The flip side turns the attention to the conclusions that Europe drew from its US-role-models. Released in 1992 on Rena Records with the involvement of New York’s JoVonn (a distinct genius of deep grooves himself), the keyboard skills of Pierre Audetat and the production work of I. Betti, M. Clemente and W. Brown, Dummy Head is one of a kind. Swirly echoes, dubby textures and a heavy bass line mate on the Edit Mix of I Have Been Wanting You to create one of the very first examples of fully formed dub-house.
Similar pioneering properties can be ascribed to the work of Rob Mello. We don’t have enough room here to list all his merits, but rest assured that the UK’s house scene wouldn’t be the same without him (Luxury Service Records, Classic et al). Under the Karim guise, Mello delivered a unique stroke of genius. Distilling the essence of deep house, while looking far into the future, In My Mind is many things at once: broken beat, electro, house with embracing chords, and – if you will – a warm-up banger. and does, what all the tracks in here do: turning heads then, turning heads now. Hardcore Deep House!

2025 Repress
Anenon's tenor saxophone breathes an emotive contemplation on loss, meshed with sustained piano and field recordings. 'Moons Melt Milk Light' is a hyper-personal statement contained in a visceral beauty.

LA native Anenon returns with a highly anticipated new album 'Moons Melt Milk Light' on Tonal Union, bearing his most personal, expressive, and arresting works to date. Anenon is the ongoing solo studio and live project of Brian Allen Simon, whom since 2010 has released multiple albums and EPs to critical acclaim, including the highly revered 'Tongue' (2018) and 'Petrol' (2016).

'Moons Melt Milk Light' is direct, efficient, and unwavering in its immediacy. Anenon departs from the electronics of previous works, and embarks on a reductive, almost entirely acoustic approach consisting of piano, tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, and field recordings. All of the music was improvised with everything recorded as either a first or second take with no edits. Any layering happened fast and in the moment, and yet the sonic architecture of the whole feels both planned and refined.

"I feel a kinetic and messy honesty that doesn't exist in any of the other music I've ever made. There is also a sense of being settled, of calm. There is no faking it here."

Mike Montgomery’s lifelong fascination with music began as a solitary endeavor. After secretly mining his dad’s record collection of golden 60s and 70s icons and tumbling headlong into 80s skateboard culture and its thrilling soundtrack, Mike learned guitar and started amassing songs on his Tascam Porta-Studio, chronicling hushed bedroom melodies with each new chord he discovered. Soon, he founded thistle, a wonderfully self-sufficient power trio that served as a rich opportunity to tinker with every stage of the music-making process. Through four LPs and two EPs between 1992-2013 and countless thistle shows criss-crossing North America, Mike discovered how to book a tour, repair equipment, run live sound, manage a label, build a studio, and foster a community of collaborators.

Inspired by R.Ring’s looseness and a growing confidence in spartan songwriting, Montgomery’s latest project - under the Nervous Verbs moniker - further peels back the layers of production and fussiness that might accompany access to a fully appointed studio. Instead of ensconcing himself in Candyland with limitless options, Montgomery treated his latest batch of songs as field recordings, often using phone memos to document melodies and entire performances at their inception, where and whenever they might materialize. He realized “there was something about the idea of noticing I had captured something of myself that I couldn’t recreate on subsequent attempts.” As he collected these home sketches, he shared them with friends (including Kelley Deal, Lori Goldston, Devin Ocampo, Joe Suer, Kate Wakefield, Rick McCarty, Adam Nurre, Matt Hart, Dan Dorff Jr., and Alexis Marsh) who responded with supportive contributions, fostering the initial sparks. “All of the extra tracks people sent me that I dressed the songs up with showed me that these were sturdy enough to hold those layers.”

Building on the acclaim of the band"s earlier work, Needlepoint"s newest offering Remnants Of Light skillfully weaves together proto-prog, British folk, soft rock, and jazz-rock influences, resonating with the sounds of the late 1960s and early 1970s that defined this vibrant musical era. Despite the departure of David and Olaf since their last studio album Walking Up That Valley (2021), Needlepoint"s spirit remains undiminished. They have crafted what they regard as a child of love. Bjorn Klakegg, the band"s wordsmith, is responsible for the evocative lyrics as well as the melodic and harmonic structures, while Nikolai Hængsle (Elephant9, BigBang) continues to steer the project as the producer and musical director, shaping the sound and arrangements. The inclusion of fresh talents like Erlend Slettevoll - who made his debut with Needlepoint on In Concert (2023) and is known for his work with the acclaimed post-bop ensemble The Core - along with the dynamic Ola Overby from Norway"s celebrated funk-soul ensemble Fieh, promises an inspiring new chapter for the band. Their contributions on Remnants Of Light are refreshing and palatable.

The Local Moon (East Berlin 1987/88) The name The Local Moon originated from an intimation by the oriental jester Nasreddin that every city had its own moon. This idea did not go without a certain local colour in the bipolar frontline city of Berlin; from an astropolitical view, its divided sky never saw a full moon, the light conditions were ideologically broken. From the black light of those years emerged The Local Moon. René Le Doil and Ronald Lippok took wings like two crows from a pigeon’s nest when quite suddenly in 1987 light entertainment permeated East Berlin’s Offground and the two musicians were hired for the New Romantic revue New Affair. Before that, Le Doil had been involved in the Stattgespräch fashion spectacle and in Allerleirauh, the “thing of light, space, sound and leather”. Lippok had been the drummer for Rosa Extra, one of the earliest punk rock bands in East Berlin. Together with his brother Robert, who had already come into the picture with an avant-punk project named after the Jules Verne novel Fünf Wochen im Ballon (Five Weeks in a Balloon), Ronald Lippok then founded the post-punk commune Ornament & Verbre- chen, for whom Le Doil would occasionally guest as an... more credits released July 20, 2022 Tape (Side A, B, C – Track #1 - #16) Music by The Local Moon, recorded in April 1987 René Le Doil: accordion, bass, guitar, keyboards, piano, voice Ronald Lippok: acoustic guitar, keyboards, percussion, voice Produced by The Local Moon Single (Side D – Track #17 - #19) Music by The Local Moon, recorded in May 1988 René Le Doil: keyboard Ronald Lippok: keyboard, voice Charlotte Jansen: oboe, voice Alex Wolf: percussion Bo Kondren: emax, traktor Detelf Pegelow: guitar Robert Lippok: clarinet, ethno brass Produced by Bo Kondren Recorded at Gunther Krex Studio

Stix Records, a sub-label of Favorite Recordings, proudly presents the new and 3rd single by Mato & Ethel Lindsey. Following to their stunning cover of the famous “What You Won’t Do For Love” by Bobby Caldwell, and “Baby Come Back”, the underground AOR/Blue-Eyed-Soul classic from The Player, the duo this time takes over “Georgy Porgy” by Toto.

As usual Mato’s unique reggae production skills delivers a blazing version of the multi-platinum worldwide hit, and Ethel Lindsey’s vocals match perfectly with his strong AOR influence and style. To complete and provide the release with a special twist, they also decided to cover the more underrated French version of the song, originally released by Dwight Druick on his Tanger album.

Ethel Lindsey is currently preparing his 1st album to be released on Favorite Recordings, Ethel has a long music and singing experience, unless an almost blank discography. From his very young age, he’s developed a deep passion for AOR and Blue-Eyed-Soul artists.

Starting his reggae production career in 2006, Thomas Blanchot (aka Mato) has released music through various projects on EDR Records, Big Singles or Makasound... In the meantime, he developed a real trademark: taking over classic French, Hip-Hop, OST, Classical or Pop songs, into roots reggae-dub new versions. His 15 years collaboration with Stix Records and label honcho Pascal Rioux gave life to many masterpieces and the story seems far from the end…

Loyle Carner will release his highly anticipated sophomore record, 'Not Waving, But Drowning' on 19 April via AMF Records.

'Not Waving, But Drowning' follows Loyle's BRIT (Best Male, Best Newcomer) and Mercury Prize nominated, top 20 debut 'Yesterday's Gone'. The bedrock of honest and raw sentimentality that you heard on 'Yesterday's Gone' left an inextinguishable mark on music in general and UK Hip Hop in particular, standing out as an ageless, bulletproof debut.

'Not Waving, But Drowning', Loyle's new album, gives yet more evidence - as if it were needed - of his razor-sharp flow and his unique storytelling ability. Yes, he can rap, but he allies that with the sensitivity of a poet, the observational skills of a novelist, and warmth of your best friend. The album opens with 'Dear Jean', a letter to his mother in which he's telling her that he has found the love of his life, 'a woman from the skies', and he's moving out.

It goes without saying that Loyle's music is hard to categorise, but what is even more impressive is that for someone who grew up listening to Mos Def, Biggie Smalls, Roots Manuva, and Wu Tang Clan, he doesn't sound like any of them. Although he might from time to time give lyrical nods to them, he's no imitator.

Loyle loves cooking. There are two tracks on this album named after chefs. The British-Israeli chef Yotam Ottolenghi, and the now deceased Italian chef Antonio Carluccio. 'Ottolenghi' the first single from the album was featured on the BBC Radio 1 B-list, BBC 6 Music A-list and has already been streamed over 5 million times.

Loyle refers to real life for everything, the title of 'Yesterday's Gone' came from a song of his step father, the title of his new album 'Not Waving, But Drowning' comes from a poem by his grandfather, which in turn came from a Stevie Smith poem. What you hear on the track 'Krispy' is real. He is pouring his heart out to his best friend Rebel Kleff after their relationship went downhill, he invites him on the track to say his piece but he doesn't turn up, so we get a flugel solo instead.

Loyle also has his own personal black consciousness movement. When he refers to his 'fathers' in the track 'Looking Back' he really is referring to two fathers. His biological father, a black man who he knows, but knows very little of, and his step father, a poet and musician who happens to be a white man but died a sudden unexpected death from epilepsy (SUDEP). With no real emotional ties to his biological father, but a deep connection with a deceased step-father, where does a young child turn He succinctly captures many of the great, unspoken, cultural and historical paradoxes of multicultural Britain on 'Looking Back'.

An album like this is hard to find. It is for those who like their Hip Hop to have soul, and their soul to have spirit. This is because it works on so many levels, but it is reflecting the personality of its creator. There are a host of collaborators here, Jorja Smith, Rebel Kleff, Kiko Bun, Kwes, Jordan Rakei, Sampha, Tom Misch and more, but none are overpowering. They blend righteously into place.
Loyle is not bitter with people who have let him down, or a society that lets so many down, but the combination of anger and love he has gives his voice the perfect blend of strength and vulnerability. This might be a coming of age album, but it's also a coming of ageless album. Loyle's 2019 Spring tour - which includes London's Roundhouse - sold out within 20 minutes of being on sale.

Not Waving, But Drowning



A rapper that raps about family is hard to find. The boys in the 'hood' tend not to be that interested in how much a 'brother' loves his mother, or how much he misses his dad, or even how much he misses his best friend. The boys in the 'hood' tend to be obsessed with the size of their cars, girls, bank accounts, and other personal 'possessions'. Loyle Carner's Mercury and BRIT Prize nominated debut 'Yesterday's Gone' (Released 2017), made it clear that he wasn't that kind of rapper. In fact, every time I talk to him about his work we talk about the world, and we tended to confuse ourselves by calling his work rap, poems, or songs, sometimes in the same sentence. They are in truth all of these things.



Here's some poetry.



Honestly I need them.

I hate them but I grieve them

I think I've finally found the reason

Trust

Like the fire needs the air.

I won't burn unless you're there.





'Not Waving, But Drowning', Loyle's forthcoming new album, gives us yet more evidence, (if it were needed), that he still has what rappers call, flow, but he hasn't lost any of his story telling qualities. Yes, the boy can rap, but a rapper with the sensitivity of a true poet, the observational skills of a novelist, and warmth of your best friend. The album opens with 'Dear Jean', a letter to his mother in which he's telling her that he has found the love of his life, (a woman from the skies), and he's moving out. He really loves the woman from the skies, but he still loves his mum, and so he reassures her that there is no competition, and tells her that 'She's not behind me or behind you, but beside we and beside two', his words. Or to put it another way, moving out without moving out. My words.



It goes without saying that Loyle's music is hard to categorise, but what is even more impressive is that for someone who grew up listening to Mos Def, Biggie Smalls, Roots Manuva, and Wu Tang Clan, he doesn't sound like any of them. Although he might from time to time give lyrical nods to them, he's no imitator. He says finding his own voice was something he always found easy. Although young, (in terms of a musical career), he has confidence in his own words and his own voice, and has never been tempted to sound like he's been hanging out in the USA, or rolling in 'Grime' on the mean streets of East London. And so when it comes to the creative process he doesn't simply find a beat to jump on and ride. Beats are important, but they are tenderly layered with samples, keyboards, or live drums, all imaginatively assembled for the laying on of words. Some tracks start with the idea, some with poetry, and some with a verse from a singer or some other melodic inspiration, but there is no formula.



Here's some poetry.



Don't hold any memories of us

Rather hold you everyday until the memories are dust

Yo we only caught the train

Cos you know I hate the bus





A prolific reader, who has dyslexia is hard to find. Add ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) to that and life should become even more difficult. To deal with your difficulties you devise coping strategies, which can differ from person to person. Loyle loves cooking. There are two tracks on this album named after chefs. The British-Israeli chef Ottolenghi, and the now deceased Italian chef Antonio Carluccio. Loyle describes himself as 'weird' because he is happy to read a cookbook as if he was reading a novel or a book of poetry. He has opened a cookery school for young adults not just because he loves food and wants to make more of it, but because it is one of the few things that can focus the ADHD mind. And when it comes to his other love, football, his approach is the same. Focus. He wanted to be a striker he says, up front scoring goals, but found his best position was in midfield because he was able to focus, check options, and see passes ahead of time, providing passes for other players just when they needed them. He says, 'You don't grow out of ADHD, you grow into it.' Loyle is also working with Levi's® on their music project where he is mentoring young musicians over a six month period, culminating at Liverpool Sound City festival.



More poetry.



When the going is tough

I wait till it falls on deaf ears

Hearsay

Without the boundaries of love



He also said, 'Ask most people and they will say that they love their mothers, but most are not going to rap about her'. On his first album Loyle's mum Jean wrote about the 'scribble of a boy' that growing up would take things apart to see how they worked. On this album she speaks with pride about a man who has found his place in the world.



Yes, poetry.



I'm still looking for the answers

Trying to find the right questions

Still waiting for my fathers

But can't break them in to sections



This poetry is serious. Loyle has his own personal black consciousness movement. He told me that he always felt safe at home, and being the darkest one in the family never meant a thing, but then when he had to face the outside world he felt hostility. It shook him up. Now he had to start asking questions, but what were the questions. This is serious. When he refers to his 'fathers' in the verse above taken from the track 'Looking Back' he really is referring to two fathers. His biological father, a black man who he knows, but knows very little of, and his step father, a poet and musician who happens to be a white man but died a sudden unexpected death from epilepsy (SUDEP). So to whom would a young black (or mixed race) kid turn He succinctly captures many of the great, unspoken, cultural and historical paradoxes of multicultural Britain when he says, 'My great grandfather could of owned my other one.' We are a people descended from enslaved people on one hand, and enslavers on the other, something we are still struggling to come to terms with, and this can be apparent in one family. A big book could have told you that, but here we get it in one line on the track, Looking Back.





Loyle refers to real life for everything. The album is peppered with captured moments that he records on his phone. These moments can range from conversations with taxi drivers, to capturing the moment when England scores a goal in the world cup. The title of 'Yesterday's Gone' came from a song of his step father, the title of his new album 'Not Waving but Drowning' comes from a poem by his grandfather, which in turn came from a Stevie Smith poem. What you hear on the track 'Krispy' is real. He is pouring his heart out to his best friend after their relationship went downhill, he invites him on the track to say his piece but he doesn't turn up, so we get a flugel solo instead. Yes people, this is real.



An album like this is hard to find. It is for those who like their Hip Hop to have soul, and their soul to have spirit, this is an album for those who have, (I'm sorry, I'm going to say it), emotional intelligence. This is because it works on so many levels, but it is reflecting the personality of its creator. There are a host of collaborators here, Jorja Smith, Rebel Kleff, Kiko Bun, Jordan Rakei, Sampha, Tom Misch and more, but none are overpowering. They blend righteously into place. Loyle is not bitter with people who have let him down, or the society that has let him down, but the combination of anger and love he has gives his voice the perfect blend of strength and vulnerability. This might be a coming of age album, but it's also a coming of ageless album. His first album worked, and this second album is a continuation of that work. Not creating a form, but being formless, as someone like Bruce Lee once said.

And here's some poetry from mum.



We talked long in to the darkest hours

Until we saw the burnished sky

And our eyes stung

As our words blurred and became thoughts

As we were silenced by the dawn

We clung to each other like sailors in a storm

As the first decade of the 21st century came to a close, a new generation of hip-hop artists began to emerge, leveraging the power of digital mixtapes to capture the attention of listeners around the globe. With deceptively intricate flows bringing smoke-filled visions to life, two of the leading lights in this rap renaissance were Smoke DZA and Curren$y. These talented artists both released breakthrough projects in 2009 before ascending to even greater heights, including Billboard-charting albums, high-profile collaborations, extensive touring, and joint projects alongside Wiz Khalifa, The Alchemist, Pete Rock, Big K.R.I.T., Freddie Gibbs, Benny The Butcher, Styles P, Harry Fraud, and more. In 2019, Smoke DZA and Curren$y finally linked for a full-length release, entitled Prestige Worldwide. The two longtime collaborators bring out the best in each other on the acclaimed collection, with inspired rhymes and trunk-ratting beats reverberating from Harlem to New Orleans. Featuring appearances by Styles P and Dave East, Prestige Worldwide is now receiving a new vinyl release via GoodTalk and Nature Sounds after years out of print.

Back in the day, when he was the drummer for Poni Hoax, Vincent Taeger would sing in French whatever came to his mind backstage after concerts, just for fun, to amuse his friend the late Nicolas Ker. Since then, time has flown by, undoubtedly bringing its share of ups and downs. Nonetheless, today, this artist with a long career is finally releasing his debut album as a singer, OK Crooner. It's indeed an album for a singer, but also one for a musician. For this part, Taeger doesn't come alone; he brings along the Jazz Kamasutra, a sexy sextet that knows how to play everything and will later accompany him on stage. To get to this point, Vincent Taeger had to stop playing around with big names like Air, Damon Albarn, Justice, Lenny Kravitz, Skepta, Tony Allen, Oumou Sangaré, Jeff Mills, Archie Shepp, Sampa the Great, Andrea Laszlo de Simone... More than half of the major artists with whom he once collaborated, contributing to their albums or simply laying down a drum, bass, or any other heavy instrument line. Before OK Crooner, he also transformed into Tiger Tigre. This roaring alias was used for a first solo album, instrumental and so deep that one might have thought the ghost of François de Roubaix had taken shape. But that was before, before this exceptional musician decided to dive into the vast ocean of French variety to give a sequel, a culmination to this project. During COVID, Vincent Taeger started frantically listening to Souchon, Chamfort, Gotainer, and Christophe. Inspired by his elders, while not renouncing his attachment to the meticulous arrangements reminiscent of Alain Goraguer's soundtracks, he picked up a pen to jot down snippets of songs to accompany his increasingly sophisticated compositions. And the worst part is that he enjoyed it! Coming from rap, he has a knack for punchlines. Throughout the album, he delivers just as many harsh or soft words as good ones, alternating between risqué humor, Gaulish wit, and poetry. Partially recorded at Studio Ferber, but mainly at home with his partner, known by the alias La Plongée, who co-produced the album for the occasion, OK Crooner is a key album in Vincent Taeger's discography. Besides being the one where he finally unveils his voice to the public, without pretense as it is prominently featured and minimally, if at all, retouched, Taeger also offers music that suits him perfectly. Sharp yet accessible, jazz, pop, baroque, classical, modern, and resolutely marked by Tony Allen's legacy, which he daringly mixes with Beethoven in the Fifth Symphony. His alter ego, Vincent Taurelle, with whom he has produced many albums, took care of mixing this one.

2025 Repress

Midnight In Tokyo 2, the second installment to the compilation series that rounds up hidden gems by Japanese artists that's perfect for listening at night in Tokyo, is here. This time the collection brings together some tasty electric jazz fusion from the '80s , compiled by Dubby, the man behind the online record store Ondas.

The compilation begins with "Hikobae," a dark and slow cosmic jazz by saxophonist Genji Sawai, followed by "Danza Lucumi," an odd Caribbean-style jam by Today's Latin Project, a band fronted by Tadaaki Misago of Tokyo Cuban Boys, with arrangements by Yasuaki Shimizu. "On The Coast" is a soulful and mellow vocal track arranged by Ryuichi Sakamoto, from guitarist Shigeru Suzuki's album White Heat, and fusion boogie cut "In The Hot City" is by Mr. Theodore, which was a one-off project by a mysterious artist.

The melancholic soul jazz number "So Long America" is the title track from the album Yasunori Soryo released in '82, following a stint in America with the band Brown Rice. "Twisty" is a tropical reggae tune from the album Samba Kathy, an underrated classic by Jugando which was released on Trash, a sublabel of one of Japan's finest jazz labels, Trio. "Samarkand" is an electric Latin jazz jam that sounds like something Miles Davis and Santana could have played on, performed by a Latin funk band from Fussa. "Imagery" is a primal African fusion track by Katsutoshi Morizono, a member of the prog rock band Yoninbayashi.

"Windmill" is the most acoustic sounding tune on this compilation, a breezy Brazilian affair with a Hermeto Pascoal feel. "Mystery Of Asian Port" is by the band Parachute, which consisted of Japa-nese fusion giants like Akira Inoue, Tatsuo Hayashi and Masaki Matsubara. The cosmic jazz record sounds like something Daniele Baldelli would play in his sets. "Bay Sky Provincetown 1977" is a classic Japanese fusion tune by guitarist Yuji Toriyama.

The set also features the mellow but danceable "Heatwave" by keyboardist Keiichi Oku, featuring a female vocalist (which some have identified as Rie Ida), and last but not least, closing out the 13 track compilation is "Day Dream At The Bob's Beach," a wonderful urban fusion with a beautiful vibraphone melody, from the Japanese fusion classic album that was a one-off project by studio musicians

Ploughing lesser-used breaks and finding finesse in the ruffest and tuffest rave emissions, Jason Warlock is back with more of that untouchable clout he rolls out as Hooverian Blur. Team Sneaker have been proud to platform the project plenty in the past, and so it goes on this latest four-strong salvo of blunted samples and head-threading synth hooks.

In terms of pace and sheer sonic breadth Hooverian Blur aligns with the embryonic days of hardcore, before breakbeat dogma had set in. Rather than opting for tear-out intensity, the likes of 'Hypnotizer' and 'Wacky Robot' roll with a lean-on that feels like the sweet spot between rave and rap. It's trippy, ready to take a left turn and tweak your nervous system with a plethora of zaps and pings, and it's got more than enough bassweight and mid-range snap to get bodies twisting, but edgy hysteria has been replaced by a cool and deadly demeanour which makes these joints all the more addictive.

'Project One' still slaps with a crafty one-two between rolling drum licks and machine-powered thrust, and 'Double Depths' digs deep down in the crusty edits, but yet again Warlock demonstrates an assured poise in his Hooverian Blur guise which can only come from serious skin in the game.

Veyl is pleased to welcome Harlem back to the label with a new 8 track LP titled Cage. The Stockholm-based duo of Martin Thomasson and Johan Skugge last appeared on the imprint with 2021’s, Bait, and the project now returns diving deeper in to their infectious cocktail of menacing electronics.

Bringing with them a vast body of work, ranging from dub to minimal techno, with Harlem the pair fuse electro, no wave, post-punk, disco, proto-body, dub, hip-hop, and grime, creating a unique sound that cannot be categorized. Cage opens with “Shut Your Body”, a muscular piece which drills into the surface, setting the stage for what’s to come. Next up is “Fantasy Scan” a dance floor ready jam that picks up the pace and lures us into the pleasure dome. “Blow by Blow” brings a nihilistic energy to a fictional scenario that takes its cues from the past while remaining firmly in the now.

“Kiss The Steel” continues on the slow burning path, dropping us into a dream like state, blurring the lines of reality and plunging us into a surrealist nightmare or reverie? “Dummy Up” comes roaring back, injecting a dose of electro and body that sounds like a soundtrack to your favorite cult gathering. With “Sleuth”, we hear the repetitive grind of a man at work, searching for the unknown, unlocking new mysteries along the way. As we head toward the finale, “Contact High” brings back a seductive dance, ready to movie bodies and stir emotions. Closing things out is “Wiggle Walker”, returning us to a drifter’s journey, a wanderer’s melody that carries us to the end, or is it just the beginning?

Terra Utopia returns to Emotional Response with a second long-from EP / mini-LP, 10 more tracks that span the ethereal sounds of ambient, atmospheric beats and liquid drum and bass.

Originally intended as a one-off project from French producer Benoit B, Terra Utopia 1 was recorded in 2 weeks while sojourned in an Athens’ Spring. A personal dedication to a specific sound he loved.

Since the original release, a debut LP under his own name followed, before Benoit embarked on his new club orientated project Blu:sh, releasing a series of acclaimed EPs for the likes of esteemed Kalahari Oyster Club and Roza Terenzi’s Step Ball Chain label.

However, the incredibly positive feedback of the first Terra Utopia recordings led to reappraisal and return to the name and here again, a second set of 10 tracks (8 vinyl and 2 digital bonus).

Once more recorded as short pieces – cut loud for DJ play – they interconnect to feelings of intangible expanses, that embracing summer, the warmth, a latent stillness of the azure sea and sky. This invitation, a narrative forever calling, of long days, calm nights, the infinite astral plain in minds eye.

The ambience has progressed, beats crackle and snap, tracks visualise an individuality, names are anointed, with the collaboration with singer dvdv on Shadows Of Memories, a floating, mesmeric highpoint, a dreaming siren.

No fears, the children of the heat embark.

2024 Repress alert

Space Ghost is excited to announce the release of Dream Tool, a four track 12” EP produced by Space Ghost himself. Dream Tool offers up four spacious house tunes exploring Space Ghost’s signature style of dance music. Each track is equipped with groovin’ drums, atmospheric pads, catchy piano melodies, and bouncy basslines. Dream Tool is the debut release of Space Ghost’s new label, Peace World Records.

With the launch of Peace World Records, Space Ghost aims to harness his passion for music to create a unique platform for like-minded artists in the Bay Area and beyond. Since moving to Oakland in 2009, Space Ghost has been a consistent fixture in the Bay Area music scene, DJing regularly and refining his production skills. For Space Ghost, honing his craft and creating enduring, high-quality art is essential, making the establishment of his new label a natural progression in his artistic journey.

Space Ghost has garnered an international following over the years by steadily dropping a diverse array of LPs and EPs. He has collaborated with Danish label Tartelet Records for multiple projects and has also put out music with acclaimed labels such as Apron Records, Pacific Rhythm, and PPU. Across his releases, Space Ghost’s production style weaves between ambient and dance music, drawing inspiration from the underground scenes of the '80s and '90s while adding a contemporary touch.

The launch of Peace World Records and its debut release, Dream Tool, marks Space Ghost’s inaugural step towards his goal at a full-time music career. Embodying his journey, this debut release truly is his Dream Tool.

The long-awaited new full-length from legendary electronic pioneers THE ORB with cover design from iconic graphic wizards THE DESIGNERS REPUBLIC • A fascinating sonic journey over four epic tracks, constantly switching between psychedelic flourishes and beat-driven focus

Veritable pioneers of electronic music, iconic act THE ORB returns to Kompakt with the new full-length MOONBUILDING 2703 AD - another major slice of psychedelic synth bliss, obscure loops and deep ambient textures tossed in swinging breakbeats and powerful basslines. Installing a forward momentum rather unusual for a genre-defying project like this, the latest effort from masterminds Alex Paterson and Thomas Fehlmann follows their 2005 album success on Kompakt, the cheekily named "Okie Dokie It's The Orb On Kompakt" (KOMPAKT CD 45), as well as several contributions to our Speicher and Pop Ambient series - but more importantly, it finds the legendary duo at the peak of its creativity, ringing in another essential phase in what can only be called a ground-breaking career.

True to form, the new offering MOONBUILDING 2703 AD features a small track list, but turns each one of its four cuts into a mini epic in its own right. Opener GOD'S MIRRORBALL hits the ground floating, employing a handful of cozy statics to great effect before finally discharging into an intricate mosaic of atmospheric melodic sketches and gripping rhythms. With a hypnotic runtime of more than 14 minutes, it immediately establishes a blueprint for the other album tracks to follow, perfectly illustrating the vast extent of the artists' vision and their impressive skills in luring in listeners - welcome to THE ORB's sonic labyrinth, where nothing is what it seems and the unexpected waits just around the corner.

Likewise, follow-up track MOONSCAPES 2703 BC presents itself as a uniquely versatile affair sitting comfortably between ambient flourishes and beat-driven focus, holding as many twists and turns as a caper movie, but carefully grounding every single one of its cliffhangers in its impeccable flow. With a runtime of approximately 9 minutes, LUNAR CAVES is the shortest jam of the bunch - and also the most ethereal, keeping its rhythmic content to a bare, pulse-like minimum and opting for enticing, freewheeling synth textures instead. Album closer and title cut MOONBUILDING 2703 AD introduces a surprisingly jazzy vibe mingling rather well with the wealth of electronic tricks up its sleeve - even indulging in abrasive bass sweeps and a breathtaking multitude of different rhythm sections constantly switching places. It's a fitting closing act for a full-length as multifaceted as this, as idiosyncratic as possible and as muscling as needed.


• Das langerwartete neue Album der legendären Elektronikpioniere THE ORB mit einem Coverdesign der gefeierten Graphikschmiede THE DESIGNERS REBUBLIC • Eine faszinierende Klangreise über vier epische Tracks hinweg, permanent zwischen psychedelischen Schlüsselreizen und beatgetriebenem Fokus changierend

Mit THE ORB kehren echte Pioniere der elektronischen Musik zu Kompakt zurück - der Langspieler MOONBUILDING 2703 AD präsentiert erneut einen grossen Wurf in Richtung psychedelischen Synthie-Segens, obskurer Loops und porentiefer Ambient-Texturen, geschwenkt in schwungvollen Breakbeats und wirkmächtigen Basslines. Mit einem für genresprengende Projekte wie diesem hier eher unüblichen Vorwärtsdrang beerbt das neue Album von den Großmeistern Alex Paterson und Thomas Fehlmann ihren 2005er Erfolg auf Kompakt, das augenzwinkernd benannte "Okie Dokie It's The Orb On Kompakt" (KOMPAKT CD 45), sowie einige Beiträge zu unseren Speicher- und Pop-Ambient-Serien - viel wichtiger allerdings, daß wir das legendäre Duo auf der Höhe ihrer Schaffenskraft antreffen, eine neue wesentliche Phase einläutend in einer Laufbahn, die nur als bahnbrechend bezeichnet werden kann.

In bekannter Manier hat das neue Werk MOONBUILDING 2703 AD eine eher kleine Tracklist vorzuweisen, baut dafür aber jeden seiner vier Tracks zu Mini-Epen von eigenem Recht um. Der Eröffnungsakt GOD'S MIRRORBALL schwebt einem da vor Ohren, zuerst nur mit einer Handvoll gemütlichen Rauschens bewaffnet, später dann in ein feingliedriges Mosaik von atmosphärischen Melodieskizzen und mitreissenden Rhythmen explodierend. Mit einer hypnotisierenden Lauflänge von über 14 Minuten etabliert das Stück die Blaupause für die folgenden Ereignisse, perfekt die enorme Reichweite der künstlerischen Vision und ihre Fähigkeit zur massenhaften Verführung nichtsahnender Tänzer illustrierend - willkommen in THE ORB's Klanglabyrinth, wo nichts ist wie es scheint und das Unerwartete um jede Ecke lauert.

Ähnlich präsentiert sich der Folgetrack MOONSCAPES 2703 BC als einzigartig vielseitige Angelegenheit, bequem zwischen ambienten Ornamenten und beatgetriebenem Fokus sitzend und mit sovielen Drehungen und Wendungen wie ein Gaunerfilm - doch stets seine Cliffhanger im makellosen Flow erdend. Ein wenig über 9 Minuten lang, ist LUNAR CAVES der kürzeste Entwurf in der Gruppe - und auch der ätherischste, hält er doch die Rhythmusanteile auf einem puls-ähnlichem Minimum und optiert stattdessen für freilaufende Synthie-Texturen. Das letzte Kapitel des Albums schließlich ist auch der Titeltrack: MOONBUILDING 2703 AD besitzt eine überraschend jazzige Note, die sich ziemlich gut in den Reichtum an elektronischen Tricks einfügt, welche hier aus dem Ärmel geschüttelt werden - sogar in rauem Bass schwelgend und eine atemberaubende Vielfalt an Rhythmussektionen aufrufend, die ständig die Plätze tauschen. Es ist ein passender Abschluss für ein derart facettenreiches Album, so idiosynkratisch wie möglich und so anschiebend wie nötig.

This is an outrageosly brilliant EP. Indie-spirit, early industrial noises, a bold handling of white noise / filter effects and vocoder vocals, virtuously mixed together in a funky acid dancefloor stomper. Jörn’s unmistakable trademark is deep electronic coolness, combined with a good dose of humoristic winks, sophisticated and puristic at the same time - and of course highly recommended. The B-Side contains a remix of Thee Church Ov Acid House, a project by Wuttke together with his longterm recording partner Oliver Bradford.
They offer an intense100 BPM version in an early 90s “post-rave” fashion.
Oscillating samples, drenched in fuzz, skirt around classic organ keys and balearic percussions. A great set opener, closer or, as intended, something to put on when you get home from the rave, while the sun is rising but you’re not quite ready to go to sleep.

Info-text : Miriam Schulte

The Dub Pistols reissue journey continues and some could argue we’ve saved the best for last. Originally released on CD in 2012, the tour-de-force of ‘Worshipping The Dollar’ is finally receiving the vinyl treatment it deserves.

Including festival big hitters such as Mucky Weekend, Alive and Bad Card, this outstanding LP is being pressed on stunning blue and white splatter vinyl and it sounds better than ever. With its hard-hitting beats, infectious melodies, and socially conscious lyrics, 'Worshipping The Dollar' still acts as a commentary on the current state of our world and the detrimental effects of greed. The album features collaborations with legendary artists such as Rodney P, Red Star Lion, and Lindy Layton, adding an extra layer of depth to an already dynamic sound.

From their early beginnings as a soundsystem project, Dub Pistols have grown into a party-rocking live band that ignites festivals and venues. Main man Barry Ashworth has even gone a step further by developing his own hugely successful ‘Mucky Weekender’ festival named after Worshipping The Dollar’s lead single. Mucky by name, Mucky by nature - the festival certainly isn’t for the light hearted!

‘Worshipping The Dollar’ serves as a testament to Dub Pistols’ enduring spirit and tenacity and you can now pre order the album on how it was originally meant to be listened – on glorious vinyl.

a Alive feat. Red Star Lion 04:42
b West End Story feat. Akala 03:42
c Mucky Weekend feat. Rodders 05:08
d Bang Bang feat. Ashley Slater [03:33]
[e] Rubadub feat. Lindy & Dan Bushall [05:00]
[f] New Skank feat. T.K. [04:18]
[g] Rocksteady feat. Rodney P & LIndy [04:20]
[h] Countermeasure feat. T.K. [04:40]
[i] Gunshot feat. Darrison & Rodders [05:42]
[j] Bad Card feat. Dan Boskills [05:22]
[04:16]

Dienne creates hazy pieces of music full of the melancholy of remembrance and loss combining analogue instruments with reverb-drenched vocals and shimmers of processed electronic sources. Her new album "Conducturis" emerges as a sensory exploration of the human spirit and the boundless horizons of artificial intelligence.

"Abundant in beauty and rich in disturbances" serves as the guiding principle for Belgian composer, Dienne, as she builds songs and soundscapes that portray the images and stories that play behind her eyes.

Combining analogue instruments like the oboe, the piano, and the flute with reverb-drenched vocals and shimmers of processed electronic sources, she creates hazy pieces of music full of the melancholy of remembrance and loss.

Her debut album Addio (2022) was released on Nicolás Jaar's Other People imprint. Addio is a 32-minute study on loss and mourning. Following the death of her grandmother due to Covid-19, and unable to say a proper goodbye due to travel restrictions, Dienne set out to give her "Addio" through musical form. The result is a deeply intimate work that channels classical instrumentation through foggy electronic experimentation.

Memories, biographies, and family histories merge in this simultaneously somber and optimistic work which plays out like a universal and comforting ode to lost loved ones. Her second album, Conducturis, accompanies an immersive film installation delving into speculative fiction, conceptualized by Mira Sanders and Cédric Noël. Conducturis will be released on Cortizona at the end of January 2025.

Conducturis is an immersive film installation project that delves into the realms of speculative fiction, employing the cinematic language of the road movie to envision the ramifications of constructing an artificial brain within the Swiss landscape.

Following their encounters with key figures in the Human Brain Project during an art research expedition in Geneva from 2019 to 2020, conceptualized by Cédric Noël & Mira Sanders, they stumbled upon a remarkable discovery: a hidden fiber-optic cable linking Geneva to Lugano.

Anchored at both ends by the Human Brain Project in Geneva and the CSCS (Centre Suisse de Calcul Scientifique) in Lugano, this conduit facilitated the transmission of intricate brain simulations from the imposing computational hub in Lugano to Geneva via a 'superconductor' cable.

While the nuances of this fiber network eluded the naked eye, Sanders & Noël meticulously pored over maps, gathered endless data, and traversed the terrain. In crafting "Conducturis", they chose to portray an immersive journey along this IT infrastructure connecting Geneva and Lugano, exploring the curious allure of dreaming about artificial landscapes.

The accompanying originalscore by Dienne invites audiences to delve into the intersection of human creativity and machine intelligence. Guided by the principle of being "abundant in beauty and rich in disturbances", Dienne embarks on a sonic exploration of the Swiss landscape, translating its ethereal beauty and technological wonders into evocative musical compositions.

"How can a human sound like a machine?"

This intriguing question lies at the heart of Dienne's artistic endeavor. For her, the soundtrack of "Conducturis'' transcends mere musical notes; it embodies a profound philosophical exploration into the essence of human creativity amidst the rise of artificial intelligence.

Similarly, "How can a human being compose like a machine?" serves as a pivotal inquiry guiding Dienne's creative journey. As she navigates the delicate boundary between human expression and machine cognition, she skillfully intertwines the pulsating rhythms of data transmission with the haunting melodies inspired by artificial landscapes.

Drawing inspiration from the cinematic aesthetics of the road movie genre, as envisioned by Sanders & Noël in their speculation on the construction of an artificial brain, Dienne weaves a sonic tapestry that transports listeners on a contemplative journey through mountains, lakes, and cities.

Each track for "Conducturis" becomes a testament to the fusion of brain and landscape, inviting audiences to ponder the limitless potential of human imagination.

As audiences immerse themselves in the evocative world of "Conducturis", Dienne's soundtrack serves as a guiding force and perfect companion, leading them through a transcendental experience where reality and imagination merge, and the symphony of human and machine harmonizes seamlessly.

"Conducturis" emerges as a sensory exploration of the human spirit and the boundless horizons of artificial intelligence. With Dienne's soundtrack as its heartbeat, this project invites audiences to embark on a voyage of discovery, where the echoes of human creativity reverberate across the digital frontier.

GC'mon Tigre announces their new instrumental project, Instrumental Ensemble - Soundtrack for Imaginary Movie Vol 1. This album offers an alternate view of cinematic music: a soundtrack composed for a fictional film using a challenging and inventive method. This project investigates an alternative approach in which music shapes and guides visual storytelling. It's the first in a series of albums dedicated to as-yet-unmade films, enabling listeners to explore music as a key component in cinematic narrative. The original story that inspired this music was created in partnership with a large language model, which was taught and instructed in substance and style to best fit the project's artistic concept. C'mon Tigre works with AI to achieve collaborative harmony while contemplating on the unavoidable future ahead. Each track on the album depicts a scene, delivering stories about humans juggling personal issues and contacts with advanced technology. The end result is a story told by sound and text, designed to immerse listeners in a multisensory universe.

Dive Into the Pulsating Beats and Euphoric Melodies of Liverpool's Electronic Sensation, North 90, as They Unleash Their Highly & New Anticipated Ep. Hailing From the Heart of the Uk, This Band Draws Inspiration From the Iconic Sounds of Early '90s Uk House, Paying Homage to Legends Such as 808 State, a Guy Called Gerald, Lfo and Altern 8. Venture Further Into the Ep, and North 90 Reveals Their Profound Connection to the Madchester Era, Evoking the Spirit of Happy Mondays, Remixed by Paul Oakenfold, and the Psychedelic Vibes of Stone Roses, Remixed by Grooverider. the Sonic Exploration Reaches Its Zenith With the Opening Track, the Incredible and Euphoric "I'll Say Yes (Becca Mix)," a Masterpiece Reminiscent of the Cult Project Band N-Joi. as the Ep Unfolds, Each Track, From the Powerful "Baracuda" to the Ethereal "Fantasy" and the Dynamic "The Hack," Showcases North 90's Mastery in Crafting a Sonic Landscape That Transcends Time. the Collective Brilliance of the Ep Leads Us to Proclaim North 90 as a Band to Watch, With Tracks So Exceptional That They Border on the Realm of Genius. in a Musical Journey Where Each Note Reverberates With the Essence of a Bygone Era, North 90 Stands as a Testament to the Greatness of England. the Beats Are Timeless, and the Memories Are Eclipsed in a Symphony of Sound. England Is Vast, England Is Eternal, and North 90 Emerges as a Beacon, Carrying the Legacy of Uk House Into the Future. Their 12 Inch Is Not Just an Ep; It's a Sonic Testament to the Enduring Spirit of Electronic Music....

The Soultrend Orchestra is a side project of the producer and musician Nerio ‘Papik’ Poggi.
Owner of the main project, Papik, Nerio Poggi has been one of the most internationally renowned Italian producers for the Nu Jazz
Lounge sound for over ten years, with around forty albums under his own name and those produced by him with solo artists or
with monothematic collections such as the ‘Cocktail’ series.
With the project The Soultrend Orchestra, Nerio Poggi has dedicated himself in particular to the Soul Jazz and Disco sound, with
a particular eye on the 70s/80s sound that starts from artists such as Roy Ayers, George Benson and Donald Byrd to arrive at the
Acid Jazz sound of Incognito and The Brand New Heavies.
The first album '84 King Street', released in 2017, was the one most dedicated to the Disco sound, also for the title that reports the
address of the legendary New York club Paradise Garage from where Disco music in the late 70s was definitively launched all over
the world by the deejays David Mancuso and Larry Levan in primis.
With the second album of 2022 'Live For Funk' the sound ranges more towards Soul and Jazz thanks to some songs that have driven it such as About Love openly inspired by the sound of Roy Ayers.
This third album, produced like the second Live For Funk together with Peter De Girolamo (aka P.A. Jeron) is due out at the beginning of 2025 and is titled Non Imagine where he continues in the search for these same sounds.
With some of his closest collaborators such as Alfredo Bochicchio, Massimo Guerra, Simone ‘Federicuccio’ Talone and vocalists
Laura Lanzillo, Erika Scherlin and Anna Fondi, the album as always also has other illustrious guests such as Wendy D. Lewis, Ely
Bruna, Nadyne Rush, Filippo Perbellini, Stevie Biondi and Nicole Magolie on lead vocals.
In the tracking list we also find some covers in this album: Lost In Music, a symbolic song of Disco by Neil Rodgers and Bernad
Edwards (Chic) made famous in the 70s by Sister Sledge, and Summer Madness, a very particular song by Kool And The Gang,
famous for its magical atmosphere here perfectly rendered by Peter De Girolamo's keyboards and Anna Fondi's voice.

The more you recall a particular memory, the more it distorts and plays on your sense of narrative continuity. In this way, the vividly textured layers of Secret Recess – the debut Dauw LP from Luke Entelis aka Viul – comprise a sacred experience that leaves a unique emotional residue with each listen. Some pieces feature delicate melodies curling over themselves, while others offer gradually evolving loops underpinned by subtle guitar plucking, distant found sounds and obscured voices at half-speed. All are crafted meticulously with analogue sources and sifted through soft-edged tape processes that reward a dedicated headphone session, conjuring the solitary space promised in the album’s title.

From a home studio replete with analog synthesizers, guitars, effects and tape machines, Secret Recess emerged slowly across an era when most of us turned inward by necessity, drawing upon a library’s worth of sketches, recombinations and lightning strikes. Entelis also cites in particular a road trip to the national parks of the southwestern US that significantly informed the hazy, spacious atmospheres of the work that followed; by his account, “the desert wind was too intense for field recording,” but you can still feel it drifting across compositions like “Taurum” and “Eighties”. Such a union of urban huddle and open-sky expanse allows the album to take on new colours anywhere it’s heard.

Whether fully formed in one brief spell or developed over months of revisitation and refinement, each facet of the Viul catalogue conveys a rare, sweet melancholy pulled from thoughtful circuitry and the core artistic impulse to simply document the ephemeral – those moments in existence that you have to accept losing, but which replay endlessly once the day unravels.

“In the depths of the recording process I often feel simultaneously in touch with past and future versions of myself, which is strange, but good, I think.” (Viul)

Viul has been the primary project of Brooklyn’s Luke Entelis for nearly twenty years, but only in the last half-dozen has it come to fruition beyond the ears of friends and family. The albums Bright Decline (Disques d’Honoré, 2019) and Outside the Dream World (Past Inside the Present, 2019) beautifully justified this patient arc, and the collaboration Konec with Benoît Pioulard (A Strangely Isolated Place, 2022) entwined the two artists’ sensibilities into one of the most notable ambient/experimental collections of the year.

For the hotly anticipated third release on her critically acclaimed new record label Uppers and Downers, Dr. Rubinstein has tapped one of her favorite producers--Yerevan's Dave N.A.--to take the helm and deliver a smart and stunning rave EP pitched at the intersection of acid and jungle. A prolific producer, adventurous DJ, and co-founder of the ABC Community, Yerevan's collective hub for amplifying breakbeat,jungle, and drum & bass sounds in the Armenian rave community, Dave N.A. is no stranger to Uppers and Downers, just having contributed a vivacious, jungle influenced reinterpretation of Rubi's track "Extacid" to the label's second release, Rubi's Acid Spa Remixes. For the past decade, Dave N.A.'s productions have reliably offered a fresh, frenetic yet finely tuned take on classic rave genres and their acid-drenched antics while exploring the cutting edge of international experimental bass and hard rave idioms. 'XLSoundwaves' proves to be no exception, taking listeners on a boisterous yet atmospheric, tight yet sprawling sonic journey that combines acid, jungle, hard trance, breakbeat, and IDM influences amid a striking wash of captivating, high-definition ambient studio sound design.
'XL Soundwaves' kicks off with "BFLY," an expansive track that features tunneling hard trance 303 lines deftly weaving through bouncy jungle breaks at a sprightly 165, all emerging from and ultimately fading back into an ethereal plenitude of ambient pads punctuated by a soulful, resonant vocal refrain. Next up, "Radiance" offers an infectiously groovy, sidewinding jaunt through cheeky acid breaks that evolves into a crescendo of lush, eyes-to-the-sky ecstasy. "XL," the EP's third offering, brings the heat with fat basslines, frequent turntablist rave licks, and a freaky sense of humor, almost cinematically projected onto a vast horizon of sumptuous strings. The EP comes to closewith "A.I.R.," a thoughtful banger with a mischievous IDM sensibility that sets acid jungle adrift on an ocean of shimmering orchestral sampladelia and ambient synth radiance.
To some, Dave N.A.'s acid jungle opus might seem like an unexpected plot twist in thecuratorial trajectory of Uppers and Downers. Much to the contrary however, the 'XL Soundwaves EP' is a perfect early release, helping to establish the mission of Uppersand Downers as continuing the search across diverse international rave genres, traditions, and communities for producers and productions that resonate with Dr.Rubinstein's lifelong pursuit of soundtracking her ideal rave: one that offers ravers access to an ecstatic, joyful, affirmative, and inclusive sense of home, of feeling at homewith both oneself and one another through the music.

Over 19 tracks, Wayfaring Strangers: Cosmic American Music mines gold from dollar bin country-rock detritus to reconstruct events as seen from the genre's wild west - Americana's vast private press substructure. As progenitor and contemptuous poster boy for the music that came to be Cosmic American, Gram Parsons found himself mired in a recording career spent mostly in scouting the perimeters of chart success. "He hated country-rock," Parsons collaborator Emmylou Harris would later reflect. "He thought that bands like the Eagles were pretty much missing the point." Parsons had been orbiting the idea of Cosmic American Music for some time. In 1968 he'd parted ways with the Byrds and was looking to take air with a new project. "It's basically a Southern soul group playing country and gospel-oriented music with a steel guitar" he told Melody Maker, on the subject of The Flying Burrito Brothers. So it was that when A&M's Burrito Brothers debut The Gilded Palace of Sin made it to shelves in February of 1969, early adherents to the Cosmic American gospel were already echoing its message from areas flanking Gram Parsons' Southern California hills and canyons. There was F.J. McMahon in coastal Santa Barbara, Mistress Mary further inland in Hacienda Heights, and Plain Jane of Albuquerque, New Mexico, each responding by committing their own private readings to tape before day one of the 1970s. Parsons himself might've disdained them, had he even been aware of such minor ripples, shimmering at the edges of his desert oasis. But these were true believers all the same, given over fully to his roots music concept, each filling vinyl grooves with non-rock instrumentation like fiddle, banjo, and pedal steel guitar, the last undoubtedly Cosmic American Music's most distinguishing stringed signifier. Only too predictably, big labels did the grunt work of confining and defining the movement, as ABC, United Artists, RCA, and more played catch-up with Asylum's raptor rock juggernaut, via backwoods crossover also-rans with names like Gladstone, American Flyer, and Silverado. Twang reigned, the shitkickers kicked shit, and the vaguely western-sounding guitar records piled up. Country-rock became "the dominant American rock style of the 1970s," as Peter Doggett's comprehensive Are You Ready for the Country put it much later. Wayfaring Strangers: Cosmic American Music picks up and dusts off golden ingots from the dollar-bin detritus of that domination, to reconstruct events as seen from the genre's real Wild West-America's one-off private press label substructure.

The Acidboychair music project started in the early noughties as a commentary on what journalist Simon Reynolds would summarise a few years later as Retromania. Initially conceived by Thomas Baldischwyler and Andreas Diefenbach as a performative revival travesty with large-format drum computers and synthesizers reconstructed from cardboard, everything took a surprising turn when DJ Mooner (the man behind the now defunct Munich music label Erkrankung Durch Musique) took an interest in the adventurous audio material produced by Baldischwyler. In 2005, the LP 1987 (EDM1016), produced almost exclusively with long-forgotten software (SoundEdit 16, RB-338, etc.), was released on Mooner's label. As a result of the growing number of bookings, Baldischwyler had to think about improving the performability of his intentionally amateurish productions. Fortunately, the Ableton Live programme became a DAW with a MIDI sequencer and support for VST plug-ins as early as 2004 - and this made it easier for him to execute his intuitive, error-friendly version of acid house. This can be heard on the first two sample-heavy tracks on the A-side of Come Down Easy, which were recorded in 2005 and 2006 respectively at Acidboychair gigs at Hamburg's Golden Pudel Club and Munich's Registratur. The first two tracks on the B-side (produced sometime between 2006 and 2008) were actually supposed to be part of a solo release on the Acido label run by Dynamo Dreesen, but this never materialised. However, the final tracks and the 133.3 BPM lock grooves that follow are the title and central to this catalogue number TBG123: Through ethno-musicologist Arthur Boto Conley, who had already released a one-sided 12 on his label with material from one of Baldischwyler's audio installations, he met Florian Meyer (Don't DJ) and Marc Matter (Spoken Matter), who introduced him to their collaborative project Institut F?r Feinmotorik (IFFM). Baldischwyler's attempt to approach the sound aesthetics of IFFM led to the tape 60 Minutes Of Barely Modified Lock Grooves (TCCC06), recorded in Rome in 2018. A buyer of this tape introduced him to the Detroit collective Pure Rave, which he immediately contacted and introduced to the work of the IFFM. It was important for Baldischwyler to have an analogue update made and so both the Detroiters and IFFM, who now live in Berlin, were given 8 copies of EDM1016's backstock to remix the material in their own way. At their jam in Detroit, Pure Rave opted for the almost identical material that IFFM had also used for a live performance in the Hamburg project space Beek. The dominant jumps in both arrangements come from the track Eightyseven, produced in the early 2000s for the LP 1987, an awkward remix of the Spacemen 3 track Come Down Easy, which is also referred to in the liner notes on the inner sleeve of TBG123. The almost two-decade-old revival idea thus turns into false memory syndrome and runs into a - in keeping with our times - clean-cut (endless) groove. Kassem Mosse (The KM of MM/KM) on Come Down Easy after a first listening session: I think it all works very well as a mix, no matter where you start it carries you further forward back in the loop. if I understand the liner notes correctly, it's about the music's turn from tradition preservation (doing everything right) to ecstatic delusion (not doing everything right when intoxicated). Now that I'm reading again instead of listening, the titles give me a different understanding of the connections; how the skipping belongs together, which playtime is connected. Now I can name my favourites. Thank you for the journey!

“My introduction to “noise” came from a record shop in Lake Worth, Florida ran by a musician named Kenny 5. Kenny had left Detroit sometime in the mid nineties and had begun selling used records and CD’s from the downtown strip of this tiny southern Florida city in a humble shop sandwiched between a deli and a dog grooming business. Kenny previously was on labels like Amphetamine Reptile and timeSTEREO, and the records and videotapes that would be on repeat at his shop were a vast sonic expanse that spoke to the eclecticism of his experience as a touring musician participating and adjacent to American noise culture through the early to late 90’s. In 1998, I was eleven years old and I would order a pizza with him and watch VHS tapes of Japanese noise and deathmatch bootlegs, as well as any other sonic and subcultural rarities that far outstripped my age to comprehend (notably the RRR “Journey Into Pain” compilation and various Vanilla Tapes videos). This widecast net of information formed an introduction to a reality that did not fall deaf on me, but it took many years later for me to reorient the specific freedoms of what this dense and cathartic sound culture had imparted on my life and would continue onward to.

What does this have to do with this selection of choice recordings from the Secret Boyfriend catalog for the enmossed label? For the uninitiated, Secret Boyfriend is the long running moniker of Ryan Martin, North Carolina musician and label proprietor of the Hot Releases imprint. For over a decade from this writing I have watched Secret Boyfriend, and Hot Releases by extension as a curatorial and archival effort, embodying the multiplanal capacity that noise loosely functions from as an umbrella ideology and formalist avenue for sound creation. For anecdotal purposes, from (before) 2006 until roughly 2023 the East Coast of the United States showcased a vibrant network of eclectic regional festivals that saw wide swaths of artists addressing and negotiating the notion of what qualified “noise” from a conceptual and ideological perspective. Some festivals honed in on particularities in aesthetics and tropes, and others had a kind of “catch-all” implementation that allowed for a salvation of the sort of alienated and singular artistry that was amassing throughout these territories. While clear guidelines had been set from regional predecessors as to how noise with a capital “N” should maneuver, Secret Boyfriend is emblematic in the spirit of fluidity that was either implicitly coupled to the notion of the genre, or grew to evolve towards or devolve from.

Within Secret Boyfriend performances, I have seen and admired a mirroring from a ravenous appreciator of this culture at large back towards itself. Typical of a Secret Boyfriend set is an interchangeable narrative arc wherein blistering feedback laden scrap metal improvisations are forayed into naive ambient or “pop” songs, or skipping CDs, or mixer feedback play, or delayed Roland 707 drum workouts all at once and in a unique hegemony. Secret Boyfriend's stylistic mastery of each endeavor is at once an homage to a history of loving listening and enacting, while a brave step into the realm of actualizing the unique fluidity of his own practice. In performance and the action of network engagement, Secret Boyfriend operates a survey of that which he sought to hear and that which he cultivates around his work. His operations are mirrors, and the project (alongside his other peers) is a reflection on the ethos of his time.

Conversely his recording practice narrows in on these moments and allows for a different kind of intimacy or alienation for the non live listener. This record of selected “pop songs” (let's call them that) is particularly poignant at a time when the culture Martin mirrors is at a strange crossroads with itself. The aforementioned festival networks necessarily change and shift. The onlookers become the artists, the artists find new horizons, and the spaces for these cycles fade into locales of a distant memory. It seems, from my perspective, that audiences currently yearn for a more bottlenecked experience, searching for some ontologically vetted manifestation of an idea, of a sound and less for an experience that functions in opposition to our collective banalities. This makes sense in the face of general global catastrophism that plagues us. We need certainty of what something is somewhere, don’t we? Noise as an idea has expanded and contracted to so many iterations of itself it is hard to tell what it even is, and it is particularly difficult to identify in the absence of solid network activations a moment to reflect on its own complexities and nuances. In the face of so much change, I argue that the language of noise culture at large has on one hand become increasingly didactic and predictable, and laughably inclusive and non linear on the other. Probably has always been this way, but now we are in the midst of a moment of extreme access and indexicality, which somehow cauterizes expansion and naivety and chance.

This record highlights the Secret Boyfriend that obscures didacticism by highlighting output that opens up for more challenging catharsis and emotive signal processing. It provides an entry to the materialism of a cultural field full of ecstatic complexity and beautiful inconsistency. In these muted moments Secret Boyfriend has given us over his career we have an argument for evolving languages that further challenge our notions of what is supposed to happen and how it is supposed to be presented. In his more song oriented expansiveness, we can punctuate the ability to think in new modalities. Listening to these recordings reminds me of the polarity of sitting in the record store as a kid and understanding that His Name Is Alive is on 4AD and (gasp!) timeSTEREO. This trite early impression that nothing is really as different as our imaginations might want them to be, and that we can do whatever we want mostly within the creative realms we work through is an important filter to look through Secret Boyfriend as a project and a vessel. If we can achieve abandon and vulnerability through our artistic endeavors, then we have a sound model for, maybe, new potentialities. If that’s too much projection, or just complete liberal bullshit, I am fine with that. Secret Boyfriend's oeuvre at best offers us moments of reprieve to ponder these complexities, or at least a moment to zone out on a drive through North Carolina Highway 54.

You have one pocket of life that you must do whatever you want to inside of. Secret Boyfriend does it affectionately, in a variety of forms, and always with deep sentimentality. These recordings are a wonderful set of songs to begin further investigation from. Thank you Ryan for allowing as many avenues as possible to continue a broad cultural exchange and conversation that intersect and refract while being the kind of artist that is brave enough to not phone in the effort.”

- Nick Klein , May 2024

IT DEEL is the multi-year project of the Kleefstra Bros together with Popfabryk; production house for Frisian pop culture.

For IT DEEL III the Kleefstra Bros have entered into a collaboration with the Belgian multi-instrumentalist Karen Willems. Together they worked in the Thomaskerk in Katlijk on new material that was released on vinyl by Moving Furniture Records.

The Kleefstra Bros are poet Jan Kleefstra and guitarist Romke Kleefstra, both also members of Piiptsjilling, The Alvaret Ensemble, CMKK, Tsjinlûd and Kleefstra|Bakker|Kleefstra. Based on a deeply felt mission, the makers want to create awareness of the universal connection between people and nature and use the means available to them to this end: poetry and music.

The Belgian multi-instrumentalist Karen Willems is active in various fields. Started as a drummer in rock and pop groups such as Zita Swoon Group, Jan Swerts, Pascal Deweze, Yuko, Novastar, Mauro Pawlowski and others. With a number of musicians she built a tradition in improvised music and sound art. Just like the Kleefstra Bros, Karen Willems is intrigued by the forests, landscapes and nature that can be heard in her work.

Berlin bassist, composer, studio musician and sought-after sideman Thomas Stieger releases his solo debut album 'Choices'. Stieger's first album as a bandleader features guest appearances by well-known musicians such as trumpeter Randy Brecker, bassists Will Lee and Tim Lefebvre, drummer Wolfgang Haffner, as well as rising stars singer Alma Naidu and keyboardist Simon Oslender.
With his ambitious solo debut, Thomas Stieger, who has already played on over 100 recordings in various styles and released two albums as a member of the prog-fusion-cinematic-jazz band Marriage Material, shows his creative, very personal side.

'Choices' combines melodic groove tracks such as "Noemi's Song" and "Hissing the Flag" with the African-influenced "Chez Aly". The ballad "Resistance", the ode "Glimmer of Hope", the march "The Night You Changed Your Mind" and the title track are provided with string quartet arrangements. Stieger also jams to electro-dance grooves in "Night Ride", creates an atmospheric mood in "Lavender Skies" and closes with the beautiful "Ocean", sung by Alma Naidu.

Thomas started playing guitar at the age of ten and switched to bass at 15. He played in numerous bands and started his own jazz fusion projects. In addition to his work with the band Marriage Material, which he co-founded in 2018, Stieger played in various groups led by drummer Wolfgang Haffner and worked with many well-known artists and orchestras, including Gregory Porter, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Thomas Quasthoff and Sarah Connor.

Written and recorded in a firestorm of creativity during the mastering phase of Lukah's upcoming double LP with Real Bad Man, Permanent Blackface is a monstrous vignette displaying the true power of Lukah's songwriting and the technical brilliance of his team. The album flashes before you like a lightning strike illuminating a barren cityscape.

Introducing himself as Mr. Blackface, Lukah identifies the true artist's responsibility to hold a mirror to the listener in order to confront and disarm taboos. In both content and music, the record balances vulgarity and introspection, the horror of silence, and the comfort of colossal, discordant sound. Over 12 songs the celestial, often blood-soaked color palette of soul and R&B that gave emotional weight to Why Look Up and Raw Extractions has been scraped away like a charred skeleton. With a small cast of voices consisting entirely of Lukah's immediate family, and production duties handled in-house by WALZ, Deener, Hollow Sol, Cities Aviv, SB11, and Lukah himself, the record has the intimacy of a theater production. The only voices present are Lukah, joined by his mother providing scat vocals, and his grandfather discussing the Jungian self-hatred of the colonial project and its terrifying repercussions for contemporary Black Amer-icans, with a fitting invocation of Dr. Frankenstein's monster. The beats here are reminiscent of noir, 78rpm swing and big band, evoking the underlying horror of a pre-Civil Rights movement America, where segregational binaries invert-ed folk tales through the white terror of ghosts, the black "spook", and mythic themes of fate and free will. The whip-lash of shifting perspectives keeps your head on a swivel in way only Lukah's superior pen can elucidate. Will it trigger anger that first voice you hear on Permanent Blackface is Judy Garland singing "Sweet Chariot"? But isn't this just Lukah speaking through her, announcing he's got "The Southin his mouth"? As the internet endlessly debates intention and appropriation in our artistic history, the insignificance of this small sample is put into perspective: another white pebble in a black ocean of Lukah's creation. "If the sun don't shine today / pray the sun come out tomorrow...pray the sun pierce through the sorrow"

The album introduces an unnamed character beset by disposition. As the story's scope increases, the gaze of the mir-ror shifts. How would white society feel if historical roles were reversed? How does a presumed white listener experi-ence the trauma of interacting with police?

The collective has completed many tours together, & its debut album Escape From New York comes across as a collection of high level cyphers from Joey Bada$$, Nyck Caution, Kirk Knight, CJ Fly, Flatbush Zombies & more. Not surprising as the Brooklyn natives, a lot of them friends since childhood, have never shied away from the lyrics-centered tradition of New York hip-hop. Their distinctive voices and skills on the mic, as well as NY-centric storytelling drive the album, & the chemistry is undeniable. The production is tight, but this is also where the supergroup shifts away from musically, perhaps what the title of the project is alluding to. Erick Arc Elliott, Power Pleasant, Sam Wish, and Tyler Dopps lay down slick, bouncy instrumentals as opposed to boom bap, & it's refreshing and fun to hear the group expand its sound. Check out "Distance," "Left Hand," "Snow In The Stadium," "Far Away," and "Coast/Clear." The RSD Black Friday edition features 2LPs on translucent orange color and a Beast Coast Sticker.

Ni A Nhw (‘Us And Them’) is a new collection of songs by Carwyn Ellis, sung mostly in his native Welsh. Drawn from his catalogue under four different guises - Colorama, Rio 18, Bendith and solo as Carwyn Ellis - it features songs spanning over a decade, most of which have not been available to stream before. Or on vinyl for that matter!

The music itself is mostly in a folk-pop / singer-songwriter vein so although it spans a number of years and projects, it holds together well. There are seasoned favourites - ‘Llythr Y Glowr’, ‘Gall Pethau Gymryd Sbel’ and ‘Ti’ have been staples on BBC Radio Cymru over the last 5 years or so. Covers include’Gorffennaf’ (‘Luglio’ in it’s original Italian) which was released with Rio 18 this Summer, and ‘Cân Am Gariad’ (Lesley Duncan’s ‘Love Song’) and ‘Hwiangerdd Takeda’ (‘Takeda no Moriuta’ in it’s original Japanese), both recorded with Bendith for their long-sold out 12” EP on Manchester’s legendary Aficionado label in 2017. Some of the songs on the album were previously only released digitally via Bandcamp as fund raisers during the Covid era - ‘Gair O Gysur’ as Rio 18 and ‘Drudwen’, ‘Cardigan Bay’ and ‘Ti’ as Carwyn Ellis himself.

As the album draws to its close, the tunes take a slightly more electronic turn, beginning with ‘Kerro’, from the Colorama mini album ‘Llyfr Lliwio’ originally released in 2011. The CD and streaming versions of the album close with the Begin remix of ‘Hapus?’ By Colorama, an epic Balearic chill out tune if ever there was one!

As Carwyn finishes work on the next Rio 18 album (due in 2024) this is a welcome reminder of his varied skills as a singer, songwriter, arranger, producer and collaborator - a colourful chameleon, comfortable working in any number of musical styles, and never prepared to sit still. This collection, following on from 2014’s ‘Dere Mewn’ CD, brings together all of Carwyn’s remaining Welsh rarities, whether solo, as a bandleader or as a collaborator. Ni a Nhw. Us and Them.

Scions are a new innovative experimental ensemble. The group features members from the award-winning minimalist chamber-jazz quartet New Hermitage, the Polaris-nominated drone-hymn duo Joyful Joyful, and the acclaimed producer and composer Michael Cloud Duguay. Their collaboration began at the Sappyfest music festival in Sackville, New Brunswick, in August 2022. During this event, New Hermitage and Joyful Joyful connected for the first time and teamed up with Duguay for a spontaneous improvisational performance based on his song writing. The enthusiastic response, capped by a standing ovation, solidified the ensemble's decision to pursue the project further, with Duguay deftly shifting from front-person to producer and musical director. After being awarded a Canada Council project grant in early 2023 the group took residence in Hotel Wolfe Island on Wolfe Island. Over a week the seven core members lived and worked together, culling material from sunrise improv sessions and collaboratively shaping it into a unique body of work that would later become To Cry Out In The Wilderness. In June 2023, the ensemble, now joined by double bassist Gabriella Ciurcovich, recorded their debut album in Halifax’s north end. Led by Duguay’s distinctive approach to site-specific production, the recording took place in the sanctuary of St. George’s Round Church, with engineering by Jake Nicoll, known for his sustainable recording methods using a solar-powered, mobile control room. The resulting album, To Cry Out In The Wilderness, finds the ensemble expertly exploring and powerfully combining their skills in jazz, devotional, classical, drone, folk, ambient, metal, improvisational, minimalist and avant-garde music. The project culminated in a week of production, with contributions from numerous artists from Halifax’s creative music community. Scions then presented their work live, performing on the opening night of Halifax’s Everyseeker festival of experimental music, where they shared the spotlight with the renowned Sun Ra Arkestra. Speaking on the narrative of To Cry Out In The Wilderness vocalist and lyricist Cormac Culkeen said: "When we came together to make this body of work, we started from a narrative seed; a post-apocalyptic humanity relearning and recreating itself, after a total ecological collapse." Speaking on "Fight Song" they add, "“Fight Song” became the song we thought the last of us might need. It is sung for an imagined last stand. It is a rallying cry to wholeheartedly fight a losing battle. So it is for us now, in this time of great dismay and unease. The axe must be disobeyed.

Skylla is the debut solo recording of Italian-born and London-based composer, bassist, and vocalist Ruth Goller. This
album of otherworldly detuned bass harmonics and dense vocal arrangements was initially released in 2021 by longtime collaborator Bex Burch's Vula Viel Records, and quickly went out of print. Since then Goller's notoriety has only grown, and her follow-up record, SKYLLUMINA, was released by International Anthem in early 2024 and met with high praise.

Skylla is the genesis of her sound, and it is a sound that is hard to place. Listeners could be convinced that these recordings came out of contexts as disparate as 80s Downtown NYC or some mysterious Bjork-adjacent project of the Icelandic 2010s. It's hard to imagine a person making this music despite the fact that its elements are instantly recognizable.

2LP, 180g clear vinyl. Stephan Thelen's music has grown beyond the Swiss Minimalist movement, as seen in his work over the past decade. His Fractal Sextet project exemplifies this evolution, deepening his original concepts while embracing new influences. Their second album, Sky Full of Hope, builds on the promise of their debut, showcasing a confident and cohesive group dynamic. The album features intricate polyrhythms and complex time signatures, but despite its mathematical foundations, the music remains accessible and engaging. Thelen credits the group's ability to blend technical precision with musicality, creating a sound that feels both refined and compelling.

2LP, 180g, magenta marble vinyl, limited to 200 copies. Stephan Thelen's music has grown beyond the Swiss Minimalist movement, as seen in his work over the past decade. His Fractal Sextet project exemplifies this evolution, deepening his original concepts while embracing new influences. Their second album, Sky Full of Hope, builds on the promise of their debut, showcasing a confident and cohesive group dynamic. The album features intricate polyrhythms and complex time signatures, but despite its mathematical foundations, the music remains accessible and engaging. Thelen credits the group's ability to blend technical precision with musicality, creating a sound that feels both refined and compelling.

Da Beatminerz defined the dark, gritty sound of underground Hip-Hop in the '90s. Formed in 1992 by brothers Walter “Mr. Walt” and Ewart “DJ Evil Dee” Dewgarde, the production duo pioneered Hip-Hop's brooding vibes, a tonal shift that came with the release of Black Moon's classic debut album Enta Da Stage. As producers of the seminal 1993 project in its entirety, Da Beatminerz set a precedent for hardcore Hip-Hop.

Their sample-heavy, gutter tracks laced with heavy basslines, and hard kicks and snares helped reshape the music genre. Da Beatminerz continued to refine their distinct sound and identity with countless classic records for other artists and two albums of their own (2001’s Brace 4 Impak and 2004’s Fully Loaded w/ Statik) over the course of their illustrious 30-year career.

Stifled Creativity is the duo’s first full-length album in 20 years.

“We started working on this album in 2009... We had one focus and the focus was to stick to our core sound. We just wanted to bring back our traditional way of attempting a classic album. Everybody has their own type of hip hop that they love. Well, this is ours.” - Mr. Walt













m Adore HER (feat. Keith Murray)



q It’s All 4 U [REPRISE] (feat. Halley Hiatt & AZ)













[m] Adore [HER] (feat. Keith Murray)



[q] It’s All 4 U [REPRISE] (feat. Halley Hiatt & AZ)













[m] Adore [HER] (feat. Keith Murray)



[q] It’s All 4 U [REPRISE] (feat. Halley Hiatt & AZ)

Since ever great fans of DJ Ralf's music, both Marcellino and I decided of dedicang a tribute to him... a record that could
always feature him in his DJ sets!

There was a video on YouTube with an interview with the "uncle from Italy" who told a li$le about his career... with
various anecdotes...

We therefore thought of "building" him a musical ou&it specifically so that he could play it himself...
Groove, great rhythmic bass, and a very Old Skool sound that recalled the Chicago and Detroit periods... we therefore
gave life to the project (ino)2 (Walterino & Marcellino and Keller)
We took the most interesng phrases from the interview, and looped the phrase... Ralf, Ciao Ralf, thus giving the song the
tle!

Steven Wilson is no stranger to composing music that appears to counter everything else before it in his catalogue. Bass Communion, his long running solo electronic project, is no exception to this perverse streak that apparently likes to turn all expectations upside down. The Itself of Itself, Bass Communion's first album for 12 years, skilfully pays testament to this. Long established as a purveyor of mostly atmospheric or ambient textures, the seven cuts that represent The Itself of Itself take detours from this approach in order draw as much from musique concrete, noise music, abstract electronics and uneasy listening. Whilst still rippled with the same shades of light and dark that can be found throughout all of Bass Communion's work, The Itself of Itself reveals a fascination with analogue sounds and, more importantly perhaps, 'unwanted' analogue artefacts like tape hiss, wow and flutter, static noise, and sonic break-up, taking the music into a space at once different yet familiar. 'Apparition 3' presents a stark nod to Wilson's established command of shifting textures steeped in penumbral gauze, while 'Bruise' is akin to a space probe adrift and headed towards a white dwarf as all communication is reduced to a disturbing and indecipherable crackle. Between the other five cuts we witness fragmented, garbled and buried voices, vast vacillating banks of grainy hum, what sounds like the dying gasps of an oboe, spooky swirls from an indiscernible source, swathes of tape hiss, moody drones, and spiralling slivers of noise. Meanwhile on the title track, a mellotron flute rusts and collapses in on itself in a way that renders it the very antithesis of the one deployed on 'Strawberry Fields Forever'. Everything adds up to a dynamic listening experience where unease, dread and comparatively claustrophobic torrents of sound make (un)natural bedfellows to moments of enchantment and serenity. Above all, The Itself of Itself sees Steven Wilson cutting his teeth on an album that's at once cinematic and moody whilst proving him to be a master in electronic music craftsmanship. It's an album that might surprise some of those who have thus far been paying attention to his work as Bass Communion, but setting out to please everyone was never part of his raison d'etre. The Itself of Itself catches Bass Communion spreading its weatherbeaten wings to embrace new strategies and a strong desire to journey elsewhere. Arriving in a wonderful Carl Glover designed deluxe cover also comprising a 24pp. booklet of his photographs and an obi strip, this version of The Itself of Itself arrives in December on Lumberton Trading Company as a 2LP pressed in an initial run of 1000 copies.

Denovali presents the new album of the prestigious Swedish pianist and composer Matti Bye. Matti is well-known for his regular performances at various silent film festivals and screenings worldwide, where you can see him perform solo and with artists such as Lau Nau. Bye has been involved in several collaborations, including Hydras Dream, where he recorded and released an album with Anna von Hausswolff. Additionally, Matti is recognized for his scores in projects like ”Young Royals," ”Tove," „The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared,“ and "A Traves de tu Mirada” among many others.

Matti Bye's third album, "Capri Clouds", moves through the element of the air and further into space. A lone piano sounds, echoes - sometimes like a waltz. We have the sound of the wind with us and the sound of the sea below us as we fly, and above we hear the stars and planets spinning. A piano from the past, as if Satie met space - as if Spiritualized and Satie talked to each other across timeand space.These songs go straight to the heart and to the senses, and create images in your head. Stories from your own memory bank, as well as new visions – music to lean into, meditatively and hopefully longing. But there is also an undertone of something dark and desolate. Musically, Matti Bye moves within the realm of neo-classicism, but he is also approaching romanticism. References to composers suchas Schubert and Beethoven are to be found here, as well as to post-romantic bands such as Kraftwerk and The Cure. In this third album of a trilogy – the first was "Bethanien", the second "The Forgotten Land" – Bye continues his musical journey. Here we encounter a brighter and lighter production. Anders af Klintberg has brought "Capri Clouds" up from the underworld and the dreamscape, towards clouds and skies.

Bruno Sanchioni unveils "Capture EP 3" on Art Max Records

Bruno Sanchioni, an icon of electronic music and creator of legendary projects such as Age Of Love and BBE, returns with Capture EP 3. This new EP continues the journey of its predecessors, promising a fresh immersion into his rich and innovative soundscape.

Capture EP 3 stands out with tracks that skillfully blend punchy acid lines with catchy melodies. Each piece maintains a hypnotic atmosphere while delivering surprises that captivate and enrich this work, showcasing Sanchioni's boundless creativity and mastery of electronic nuances.

This EP is a must-have for fans of authentic and innovative sounds, proving once again that the artist remains a cornerstone of the scene.


Bruno Sanchioni présente "Capture EP 3" sur Art Max Records

Bruno Sanchioni, icône de la musique électronique et créateur de projets emblématiques tels qu'Age Of Love et BBE, revient avec Capture EP 3. Ce nouvel EP s'inscrit dans la continuité des précédents, promettant une nouvelle immersion dans son univers sonore riche et innovant.

Capture EP 3 se distingue par ses morceaux qui fusionnent habilement des lignes acid percutantes avec des mélodies entraînantes. Chaque piste, tout en maintenant une ambiance hypnotique, offre des surprises qui captivent et enrichissent cette œuvre, témoignant de la créativité sans bornes de Sanchioni et de sa maîtrise des nuances électroniques.

Cet EP est un incontournable pour les amateurs de sonorités authentiques et novatrices, prouvant une fois de plus que l’artiste reste un pilier de la scène