Charles Webster was one of the architects of the early UK house scene but has never got the flowers he deserves. Maybe this first win a new series of reissues from his incredible vaults, will change it. Unreleased Stuff comes on Remote and opens with a louche tech house sound that's deep and emotionally dialled in. 'Don't Work' is great advice for anyone as well as being a humid house roller for the backroom. 'How To Live' brings more of a steamy energy that encourages you to get up on your toes and then 'Bad Year' slows it down and layers in some lovely liquid West Coast chords. Two more brilliantly vibey cuts close an EP that must not be sniffed at.
Hidden Sounds Record store – with the help of Emotional Recordings – launches the Dark Times label with the first of two club orientated EPs from Canadian brother-production duo Lex and Rew MacCrimmon and their project Alkahest.
Released on their own Post Contemporary label between 1994 – 1996, Alkahest contrasted with the spacious electronica of their influential and still on-going project, Legion Of Green Men.
Growing up in suburban city life in Burlington, Ontario, the MacCrimmon brothers’ interest in music and collecting records started early, always looking for interesting sounds in new places. With a limited local music scene or record stores, the alternative and college radio stations were the only way to discover new music or the type of music they sought.
The German electronic sounds of Kraftwerk, Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream were early obsessions, alongside Neu, Cluster (& Eno) and the post punk and synth pop emanating from Britain. The Flying Lizards, John Foxx / Ultravox, Gary Numan and The Normal were favourites, before diving into the 80s industrial experiments of Cabaret Voltaire, Severed Heads, Nurse With Wound and Throbbing Gristle.
Making their own music soon followed, first experimenting with 4 track cassette and digital delay, drum machines and synths soon followed, steadily building their own studio. All these influences merged in the early 90s with the dawn of house and techno and the progression to start the Post Contemporary label launched in 1992.
With the project Legion Of Green Men achieving early success, their diversion with Alkahest explored a post-industrial techno hybrid. Unsubtle, night music, the rhythm and sonic textures are more prominent over melody.
Contact High covers this Alkahest sound, from the 133 bpm trippy, psychedelics of opener Black Tabs, the acid breaks of Ground Zero or the charging nature of closing Séance 333, where all bets are off – together this 4 track EP perfectly captures the early spirit of Canada’s electronic music scene finding its place in dance culture, from the raves of the Toronto’s outer rim to the beaches of Anjuna.
However, in the title cut Contact High, there is something else happening, as electronic dub is explored, where the space in the music, between the beats, is as important at what happens on the surface. A love of this ethereal feeling would lead the brothers to head further in this direction and here is a perfect example of that early journey.
Step into the backroom of the Bordello, the lights dim and the soundtrack adopts a different tone. L.F.T. leans against the wall. Nestled under his arm, Sonic Boom: four tracks of acid-inflected electro disruption. Love, Fist, Tears is no stranger to the more gnarled side of the machines, and that unadulterated rawness is evident from the needle drop of “Locked in My Head.” From its bent and buckled intro, the track launches a beat that punches before drawing the listener in for more. Vocoder lyrics are mangled with distortion, static soaked chords blighted by corrosive chemicals and industrial decay as the knives are drawn from the outset (and this is only the beginning). Blistered and cracked beats are doused in a pestilent haze for “Las Plagas” and a message of intent is firmly stated: there will be no let up on Sonic Boom, no reprieve. “Ningen” opens the flip. Grisly, petrol smeared beats splutter below a juddering synthline that coils and twists with serpentine menace. A probing tom is lanced before being set alight in the finale. Sinister and unsettling, “Schmutzig Personality” is as physically powerful as it is psychologically gripping. Barrages of drums rain down, barbed snares and sharpened claps, as an assault of acid is further weaponised by machined vocals. L.F.T. doing what he does with an EP that will leave bodies and speakers broken.
Yes, yes funky people, another super sexy, soul, classic dancer makes it onto the DYNAMITE CUTS 7” series. This all-time soul gem “That what friends are for” by the amazing Madeline Bell and Alan Parker. This version is taken from her solo album, uplifting, with a touch of Latin hip movement, is the fresh, must-have 45 everyone is waiting for. On the flip “That’s the way I like it” is a banging version club mover. When you get the best British Library musicians with one of the hottest American soul singers, the magic happens. The band is made up of some of the biggest library legends; Alan Parker, Alan Hawkshaw, Chris Karan and Duncan Lamont to name a few.
Part celebration, part reflection, THE TIME OF OUR LIVES arrives as both the final release of Lancey’s twenties and the closing chapter of a creative world he has spent the last decade constructing. The most expansive statement of his career to date, moving freely between trap, alternative R&B, dance music, Afro-influenced rhythms and more, Lancey explores triumphant highs and lows of stark vulnerability across the album, interrogating ideas of success, freedom, loneliness and what it truly means to have the time of your life. Lancey Foux stands at the forefront of UK rap’s evolution, blending elements of hip-hop, cloud rap, trap, Jersey club, drill, and more into a sound that’s uniquely his own. Since emerging from Newham, East London in 2015 with a clutch of freestyles and SoundCloud singles, Lancey has occupied a lane entirely of his own making. As he closes out his twenties, Lancey looks ahead to the next decade full of more unpredictable artistry as he continues to break the rules and change the game.
On Chuck Strangers’ latest opus, Glory Of The King’s Hand, he raps, “I still rap from the perspective of my government name…” The stage name “Chuck Strangers” is, of course, an alias but it’s not necessarily an alter ego. For the man born Che Jessamy, his rap moniker isn’t some over-the-top rock star persona contrived for public consumption, it’s just a name. What you hear on his records is really who he is - a heavy-tongued griot from East Flatbush, Brooklyn with a gift for vivid stream-of-consciousness storytelling. His bars are imbued with the wisdom he’s gained in his lifetime - especially in the 14 years since he first made his debut with the Pro Era collective.
The elaborate title of his new album, Glory Of The King’s Hand, speaks to his gratitude for the hand that life’s dealt him, which is a pretty good one. At age 34, he does what he loves professionally and does it on his own terms. That’s something to be thankful for.
Glory Of The King’s Hand, not only represents Chuck’s matured attiGlory attitude but also his matured sound. Key to this refined approach was tude collaboration. Chuck is a proficient beatmaker in his own right as evidenced by his production for himself and artists like Joey Baevidenced Badass, and Boldy James. But this time around Chuck chose to be a dass, producer in the Quincy Jones sense of the word, bringing together vocalists, producers, and musicians instead of handling all of the beats and rhymes himself. d Up Reprise
The list of contributing producers is a who’s who of underground sound scientists including The Alchemist, Animoss, Theravada, Kensound Kenny Segal, Preservation, Child Actor, and Morriarchi.
Though Scratch may have at times seemed crazy, it is worth noting that creative
genius appears so because geniuses see things others do not see and inhabit
realities unseen. As the music on this album reveals, Lee Perry's Black Ark creations
re-arrange the familiar into something new and magical.
Lee spent his early days working with legendary producers Coxsone Dodd, Duke Reid,
Joe Gibbs, Clancy Eccles and Prince Buster, and by 1968 he was an independent
producer, naming his studio musicians The Upsetters and scoring instrumental hits
with innovative rhythms that helped forge the new reggae style. In 1970-1971 he
produced what many consider the greatest works by the Wailers; in 1968 one of his
Upsetters productions hit #5 on the UK pop chart and more hits followed. That gave
him the funds to build his own studio and in 1973 the legendary Black Ark was born.
Among the many landmark classics cut at Black Ark are such incisive political
commentaries as Max Romeo's "War Ina Babylon," and Junior Murvin's "Police and
Thieves" (covered by the Clash). The Congos' "Heart of the Congos" album is a roots
classic and there are many wonderful obscure singles such as Carlton and the Shoes'
"Better Days." Many dub creations made innovative use of Scratch's sonic wizardry via
echo, phasing, reverb, fanging, wah-wah and various sound effects.
It all came to an end in 1978 as Lee, besieged by extortionists, freeloaders, religious
fanatics and assorted pilgrims, let the studio lapse. And then he set it on fre, some
say due to frustration, others say from mental collapse. He left Jamaica, collaborated
with musicians around the world, toured as a sort of mystic trickster/ shaman and
prospered. But his work at Black Ark will always stand as his ultimate creative
achievement.
Fans and headz worldwide have been clamoring for a follow- up, but all Emapea wanted to do was just 'zone out.' And that's what happened, with the release of Emapea's twenty song album Zoning Out, Volume 1. Emapea's cuts are meant for the listener to get lost in - but they're not only for chilling, or when deep in thought, but also for getting in that crucial head-nod zone, like when the DJ drops the dopest beat. Expertly crafted and sequenced, the album presents a boom-bap journey that's dreamy and spacey while remaining tough and jazzy. "Check It Out" exemplifies the mood with its smooth drums, chiming keys, subtle sax riffs, and hip hop shout-outs. The vibe expands on "Motion", adding an exotic, worldly flavor to the seductively loping rhythm. And "Classy" features a smokey saloon piano melody that cruises smugly out of jeep-beat speakers.
Australia's Dancing in Space crew have thus far kept their vinyl releases to a minimum, reappearing every so often with a fresh batch of their own excellent disco edits. Here they try something different, delivering a typically assured two tracker from one of the most talented and productive scalpel fiends in the business, Chicago scene stalwart Rahaan. A-side 'Allright' is a typical Rahaan rub, with the talented re-editor skilfully rearranging and lightly dubbing out what sounds like a turn-of-the-80s fusion of classic disco, synth-splattered boogie and soaring jazz-funk. On 'My Strategy', he successfully breathes new life into an old Philadelphia International favourite, opting for a largely instrumental extension that subtly pitches the track up, tempo wise, for greater dancefloor pleasure.
On edit imprint Disco Mind's tenth release, they hand over the reins to iconic Italian DJ, producer and remixer Beppe Loda, once resident DJ at influential rural club Typhoon during the 1980s - and it's that period that inspired the four scalpel jobs on show. 'Mr Rocket' is a chugging chunk of oddball early 80s headiness, while 'Tu Sei' sees Loda rework what sounds like a synth-laden fusion of space rock and intergalactic jazz-funk. On side B, he does a great job on spiralling, big hair-sporting disco-rock number 'Falling', before showcasing more spacey synths and chugging rock riffs on 'Marzio'.
Phwoar! TD go four for the floor on Volume 9, letting loose with a set of sure-shot hits from all corners of their sonic spectrum.
A tag team match up, this action spectacular trades peak-time pump, Balearic cool, Italo thrust and dance-punk theatrics on its way to snatch the championship.
Obviously TD ooze subtlety and taste, so as we sat sipping Schnapps from our Stanley cups, we couldn't help but take a little inspo from our kitchen decor. 'Live Love Pump' - what a mantra. In musical form, this philosophy takes the shape of a capital D-isco delight, equal Pats Cowley & Adams, EQ-freaked and filtered into something dafter than a pair of chrome clad millionaires. Big room mirrorball magic if ever we've heard it.
The A2 sees the drunk AOR funk of 'Sure Line' take a leisurely stroll down the coast, a Gauloises in the gob and tattered Baldwin in the back pocket, flipping and flopping along the prom to buoyant bass, melting brass and more than a little melancholy.
Booting off the B-side, 'Un America' is a massive mid-tempo chugger replete with laser fire, synth scree and nipple high guitar. Powering along on a serious bass sequence armed with hooks-a-plenty, mostly incomprehensible lyrics and a groove which won't quit, this has all the ingredients required for an Italo all-timer.
The finale finds us in the company of some punk pioneers at their absolute silliest, bringing the kind of whacky vocal vibe, surf-centric style and off kilter groove the B-52s made a career of. Add in animal chatter and scratchy guitars and you've got the sort of secret weapon the Idjuts unleash waaaay post peak.
Limited Press - Numbered Insert - Drum Fun Guaranteed
Cristina Camargo broke onto the Brazilian boogie scene in 1980 with the single "Moral Tem Hora", penned by the by then already famous brothers Marcos and Paulo Valle. They were soon joined by the arranger/producer/musician powerhouse Robson Jorge and Lincoln Olivetti, who worked with practically all the big MPB stars from Jorge Ben and Gal Costa to Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil. Armed with the endless possibilities that the burgeoning Brazilian music scene provided, the group went into the studio and produced the eponymous debut album Cristina Camargo.
The result is a very special record built around that successful single that does what Brazil does best: blending their own musical heritage with sounds in vogue in the rest of the world, in this case the boogie disco that was all the rage in the USA in the first half of the 1980s. Expect endearing choirs, tight grooves, and a killer production value on par with the big-budget studios up north.
Cristina Camargo is available as a limited edition on yellow vinyl and includes an insert with lyrics.
Repressed LP on Neon Orange Vinyl. Come Away With ESG - 35-year anniversary release of the classic genre-busting debut album by the Bronx sisters ESG. The sample-friendly opus that’s the inspiration for hip-hop, house and post punk. Music that falls outside of the no wave, new wave and post punk library, it’s for the dance floor but it’s not funk, there’s no horns, no driving organ; it’s the opposite of Sly And The Family Stone but no less cool and no less groovy. “A lasting document of their unique brand of minimal funk that would influence subsequent post-punk, hip-hop, and dance music acts. Stripped down to the most basic of drumbeats and rudimentary bass lines, ‘Come Away’ confirms the notion that the real rhythm is what happens between the beats. AllMusic // “This is dub disco with a punk edge.” Paste // “Uncut punk-funk straight off the streets of the South Bronx.” Record Collector // “ESG are that rare thing” Guardian // “Come Away with ESG sounds so shockingly current.” Paste // “A musical snapshot of New York City at the beginning of the '80s.” Allmusic
Dark Entries is ecstatic to announce Terminal Fascination, a retrospective release of the music of Camille O’Grady, subversive artist, leather witch, punk poet, and gender saboteur. O’Grady cut her teeth in New York’s burgeoning punk scene at clubs like CBGB’s, where her band Leather Secrets would share the stage with acts like Television. She became one of the few women to be welcomed into the Mineshaft, Wally Wallace’s legendary Manhattan gay BDSM club. Towards the end of the 70s, she would trek west to San Francisco to be with her partner, performance artist and gallerist Robert Opel, who was tragically killed in 1979. O’Grady would pass away from COVID in 2020, with her voluminous works across various media - text, image, and sound - having been unpublished during her lifetime.
Working with O’Grady’s estate, Dark Entries has assembled thirteen of her finest recordings, including instant classics like “James Dean to the Rescue,” “Tourniquet,” and, of course, “Toilet Kiss.” Two songs, “Angel with a Key” and “Love Comes Like a Cutthroat,” were recorded at a studio in Los Angeles for a 7” release that never materialized, while the rest of the material was recorded live in 1979 at The Ambush, a San Francisco leather club. O’Grady’s songs, often written from the perspective of a gay man, explode like a genderfuck version of Patti Smith, like Buffy St. Marie in leather, like the hedonic utopianism of the 1960s dragged (blissfully) through the broken glass of the 1970s. The release of Terminal Fascination coincides with the publication of ‘A Cross-Worlds Angel,’ a 300-page book of O’Grady’s work by Phillip Zimmerman. The record includes an insert featuring liner notes, lyrics, and photographs. Celebrate Camille O’Grady, the artist Jack Fritscher described as an “earth mother, a leather lioness of the arts.”
Subject Sue is an Amsterdam-based artist creating dystopian nightclub music at the intersection of darkwave and ethereal techno. Inspired by queer club culture and the fragile edge between euphoria and estrangement, her music unfolds into a cinematic nocturnal haze.
Music has always been part of her life. As a vocalist and keyboard player, she performed in various projects and studied Visual Arts, where she explored themes of alter egos, personal realities, and the tension between subjectivity and objectivity in storytelling. Over time, she shifted from being an observer of these themes to embodying them herself. What began as an alter ego gradually evolved into something more personal.
Through Subject Sue, she explores desire, identity, and the strange beauty of the night, transforming fragments of her subjective inner world into cinematic club music. Drawing inspiration from Amsterdam’s queer nightlife and fleeting moments of intimacy, she creates music that inhabits the space between desire and isolation.
Debut EP Details In The Dark explores the blurred boundaries between lust and romance, intimacy and alienation through six tracks rich with pulsating synthesizers, textured soundscapes, and haunting vocal harmonies.
Dark Entries is Elbow Deep in the Hoopla thanks to J.D. Slater. Legendary actor, director, and composer J.D. Slater is sometimes known as “the Lou Reed of gay porn.” Slater cut his teeth in the New York punk scene, even opening for the Talking Heads and Blondie at CBGB with his project Frenzy. A true polymath of the erotic, he co-founded Raging Stallion Studios with Chris Ward in 1999, which has remained a prolific outlet in the world of gay pornography. Elbow Deep collects the scores from three late 1990s fisting-focused Club Inferno films: At Arm’s Length, Hand Over Fist, and Heads or Tails. Never before released, these works show Slater digging deeper into the electronic music production techniques that were blossoming in that era, like loop-based sampling. Says Slater, “Suddenly I could have access to every instrument in the world. My whole concept of sound and structure evolved with the technology.” The works here are trance-inducing groovers, laced with acid and dosed with brooding ambience. Check out the Gregorian vibes on “Grand Fuck,” the legato lurch of “Stallion Funk,” or the frosty atmospheres of “At Arm’s Length.” Elbow Deep in the Hoopla comes with an insert featuring an interview with J.D. Slater. Starkly sexy, these tracks remind us of Slater’s creed: “The main rule for writing a porn score is to remember what you are writing for.”
“What Robot Says L” on What Robot Says Records is a deeply immersive Dub Techno journey crafted for demanding listeners who seek atmosphere, precision, and emotional depth beyond conventional dancefloor music. Across four carefully sculpted tracks, the release moves through shifting moods and textures, balancing raw energy with subtle elegance while exploring the deeper and more hypnotic side of techno.
A1. Nicolas Barnes – Dusted Maze opens the EP with a smooth and introspective approach, combining delicate textures, refined grooves, and floating harmonic layers that capture the timeless spirit of classic Dub Techno through a modern lens.
A2. Continuing the journey with TM Shuffle, Monoder – Vihreesametti delivers a warmer and more fluid interpretation of the genre, blending rolling grooves, dub-driven chords, and sophisticated sound design into a deeply immersive experience.
On the B-side, B1. Denizo – Versus follows with dark dub pressure, stripped-back rhythmic architecture, and evolving ambient detail, creating a hypnotic late-night atmosphere filled with tension and movement.
B2. Closing the EP, The Open Circle – Shinkai dives into deeper and more mysterious territory, emphasizing submerged atmospheres, minimal rhythmic tension, and profound spatial depth that slowly unfolds with every listen.
WRSL1 – “What Robot Says L” is not designed for casual listening, but for those who appreciate Dub Techno as an evolving exploration of mood, space, and sonic detail — a refined and highly immersive statement from some of the genre’s most skilled contemporary artists.
but wait a minute.. Does anybody know What Robot Says?
For the third release on Earthbound, Mihail P steps into a slightly different frame of mind with Silent Mirrors — an EP that pulls his atmospheric, emotive sound toward the rougher edges of 90s tech house, breakbeat and electro.
While Mihail P has become known for spacious productions, warm pads and mellow melodic detail, Silent Mirrors is about merging that side of his sound with something more direct and club-focused. There is a clear nod here to the halcyon days of UK tech house and labels and artists such as Primitive Urges and Pure Science, but filtered through Mihail P’s own sensibility rather than treated as an exercise in nostalgia.
At the foot of the mountain. Our gaze is inclined toward the summit.
Toward the ascent. The destination that awaits us.
From the valley, we look up at the summit: our destination. But also the path: the true destination.
We can already trace our route, and we are already imagining ourselves walking up there. Along the small ridge, just above the tree line. There, we take a short break and look for the exact spot in the valley where we were standing earlier. It is strange to grasp that we have actually climbed this mountain. To look down from up here at the place where we were just moments ago – the same place we looked up from, toward the place where we are standing now.
And now, knowing what it is like to be up here, we remember what we imagined it would be like back then. What we believed it would mean to stand here.
Along the way, our gaze wanders back and forth. Up toward the mountain, down into the valley, sometimes only at our shoes. We keep walking, one step after another. Our thoughts detached. Our body functioning purely mechanically.
Step left. Step right. Step left. Step right.
Our mind has completely detached itself, and our thoughts race at an immense speed. They summon the most different moments. Moments from our lives. Moments that shaped us, that made us who we are. Or are we perhaps simply trying to understand who we are and how we got here?
It is strange that reaching the summit and looking down could make us believe that we have finally reached, or are striving toward, some superior, triumphant position. When in fact, it is really only about looking at the path we inevitably have to take. Processing impressions from a certain distance. Reconsidering what we have experienced, without losing sight of what lies ahead.
Our gaze turns back toward the summit.
Is there a destination?
An ascent? A summit? A descent? The return?
Or is it only about the insights we encounter along the way?
Am Fuß des Berges. Unser Blick ist zum Gipfel geneigt.
Auf den Aufstieg. Das Ziel, das uns erwartet.
Vom Tal aus blicken wir auf den Gipfel: unser Ziel. Aber auch den Weg: das wahre Ziel. Unsere Route kann man jetzt schon abstecken, und wir stellen uns bereits vor, wie wir dort oben laufen. Über den kleinen Grat, leicht oberhalb der Baumgrenze. Dort machen wir eine kleine Pause und suchen genau die Stelle im Tal, an der wir vorhin noch standen. Es ist verrückt, zu begreifen, dass wir diesen Berg tatsächlich hinaufgestiegen sind. Von hier oben auf den Ort hinunterzusehen, an dem wir eben noch waren – an denselben Ort, zu dem wir hinaufgeblickt haben, als wir noch dort unten standen. Und jetzt, da wir wissen, wie es ist, hier oben zu sein, erinnern wir uns daran, was wir uns damals darunter vorgestellt haben. Was wir geglaubt haben, es würde bedeuten, hier zu stehen.
Unterwegs wandert unser Blick hin und her. Hinauf zum Berg, hinunter ins Tal, manchmal nur auf unsere Schuhe. Wir gehen weiter, einen Schritt nach dem anderen. Unsere Gedanken losgelöst. Unser Körper funktioniert rein mechanisch. Schritt links. Schritt rechts. Schritt links. Schritt rechts.
Unser Geist hat sich völlig losgelöst, und unsere Gedanken rasen mit einer ungeheuren Geschwindigkeit. Sie rufen die verschiedensten Momente herauf. Momente aus unserem Leben. Momente, die uns geprägt haben, aus denen wir geworden sind, wer wir sind. Oder versuchen wir vielleicht einfach nur zu verstehen, wer wir sind und wie wir hierhergekommen sind?
Es ist schon seltsam, dass das Erreichen des Gipfels und der Blick nach unten uns glauben lassen könnten, dass wir endlich eine überragende, triumphale Position erreicht haben oder anstreben würden. Dabei geht es doch eigentlich nur um den Blick auf den Weg, den wir zwangsläufig beschreiten müssen. Eindrücke mit etwas Abstand zu verarbeiten. Erlebtes noch einmal Revue passieren zu lassen, ohne den Blick nach vorne zu verlieren.
Unser Blick wendet sich wieder dem Gipfel zu. Gibt es ein Ziel? Einen Aufstieg? Einen Gipfel? Einen Abstieg? Die Rückkehr? Oder geht es nur um die Erkenntnisse, die uns unterwegs begegnen?
‘Unfindable Ring', out October 23 on Bayonet Records, is an adventurer’s epic. The arc of the journey, like any good Spirited Away or Neverending Story, lands its wide-traveled protagonist right back at home before bedtime. Grumpy, like many great hero tricksters before him, has always been a project of juxtaposition: upbeat radio-ready hits whose buoyant, goofy hooks belie the dark thoughts they describe. Much of this, Schmitt acknowledges, owes its due to the matter-of-fact morbidity of the trans experience in America. It’s from these experiences—personal, romantic, political, and existential—that the tale of ‘Unfindable Ring’ unfolds.
Ambition and play have always defined the Grumpy sound. Late last year, the Fader praised their “demented, hooky” EP, “Piebald,” whose innovative fuzz-pop confections earned them coverage in NPR and the New York Times. Stereogum heralded them as “wonderfully weird,” and Paste designated them “the best of what’s next.”” Through boisterous collaborations with the likes of Sidney Gish and Claire Rousay, they’ve effortlessly ingratiated themselves with the titans of DIY, and, more recently, Schmitt has become an unlikely favored collaborator of chart-topping country giant Zach Bryan, who named his new record––which prominently features Schmitt’s harmonies–– conspicuously, ‘With Heaven On Top.’
In Grumpy, Heaven Schmitt is joined by Anya Good, Ellie Long (Kid Lake), Austin Arnold, Diego Clare (D.A. Crimson), and Lane Rodgers, who each contribute to every step of the process—engineering and recording, mixing, drafting artwork, producing, and making music videos. A kind of interdisciplinary thieves’ guild, the project, while once Schmitt’s solo eponym, is a labor of communal love.
“We are living these happy lives, and there are people we come across who don’t know us at all who want us to die,” Schmitt, explains. Often the visibility of the joy itself is what prompts the vitriol––“I’m so happy I could die,” Schmitt belts over and over on the chorus (a familiar figure of speech, sure, but one which, upon any scrutiny, shows Schmitt’s hand in the macabre.) A middle finger to fate, Good started asking, “What are you going to do with your One Beautiful Life?” Grumpy is going to keep playing, touring, searching, finding.
Nine-time GRAMMY® winner Anderson .Paak and GRAMMY®-nominated rapper Cordae have been operating on the same wavelength for years. What started as pure chemical reaction on 2019’s “RNP” slowly turned into one of hip-hop’s most natural, low-ego partnerships, fueled by back-and-forth gems like “Two Tens” and “Summer Drop” and a series of dynamic TV performances that felt more like two best friends hanging out than a polished routine. On their debut collaborative album, Heavy Is The Crown, that organic bond gets the full-length treatment it’s always deserved.
At its core, the project is a tightrope walk between serious real-life stakes and uncompromising fun. The title isn't just bravado—it speaks directly to the shared weight both artists carry as the primary providers and anchors for their families. But instead of letting that pressure crush the vibe, .Paak and Cordae lean into each other. Meeting as total equals, .Paak’s elastic, soul-drenched musicality anchors Cordae’s razor-sharp lyricism, allowing both to unpack the heavy reality of success and family responsibility without ever losing their spark.
That balance is what makes the album tick. To drive the point home, the album art pays homage to the cult comedy Step Brothers—a nod to the silly, irreverent friendship that birthed the music in the first place. Heavy Is The Crown doesn't feel like a forced corporate crossover or a calculated career move. It’s a record about brotherhood, family, and what happens when two masters of their craft step into the studio simply because nobody makes them laugh, rap, or create quite like the other.
Nine-time GRAMMY® winner Anderson .Paak and GRAMMY®-nominated rapper Cordae have been operating on the same wavelength for years. What started as pure chemical reaction on 2019’s “RNP” slowly turned into one of hip-hop’s most natural, low-ego partnerships, fueled by back-and-forth gems like “Two Tens” and “Summer Drop” and a series of dynamic TV performances that felt more like two best friends hanging out than a polished routine. On their debut collaborative album, Heavy Is The Crown, that organic bond gets the full-length treatment it’s always deserved.
At its core, the project is a tightrope walk between serious real-life stakes and uncompromising fun. The title isn't just bravado—it speaks directly to the shared weight both artists carry as the primary providers and anchors for their families. But instead of letting that pressure crush the vibe, .Paak and Cordae lean into each other. Meeting as total equals, .Paak’s elastic, soul-drenched musicality anchors Cordae’s razor-sharp lyricism, allowing both to unpack the heavy reality of success and family responsibility without ever losing their spark.
That balance is what makes the album tick. To drive the point home, the album art pays homage to the cult comedy Step Brothers—a nod to the silly, irreverent friendship that birthed the music in the first place. Heavy Is The Crown doesn't feel like a forced corporate crossover or a calculated career move. It’s a record about brotherhood, family, and what happens when two masters of their craft step into the studio simply because nobody makes them laugh, rap, or create quite like the other.
“Negative Music / The Poorest! If they still know silence at all, then only as holes in the continuum of noise…” — Günther Anders, 1965
Editions Mego presents GETGETGET, a new release by Thomas Brinkmann which serves as an inquiry into silence, code, and the limits of perception.
The title GETGETGET references the trilogy of ‘Get’ lp’s made by Rehberg under his PITA moniker; Get Out, Get In and Get On. The music is based on material by Rehberg and Brinkmann morphing these two identities into a third colour, a disappearing color.
Emerging from a live performance at the label’s 30th anniversary in Berlin, the work unfolds as both sonic artifact and conceptual system: a study in what remains when sound is reduced, extracted, and reconstituted.
Taking inspiration from Günther Anders’ notion of “negative music”—composition through absence—Brinkmann’s approach aligns with Heinrich Böll’s idea of “collected silence”: silence not as void, but as a material framed against the constant pressure of noise. In GETGETGET, pauses are not gaps but structural elements, cut from a continuum and reinserted as signals.
The two side long tracks weave a dark abstract and ‘twisted’ presence where the ghosts of the machines and their operators fuse into a fantastical whole. One can hear traces of both Brinkmann and Rehberg logic which seems to fuse in a hallucinatory manner.
Brinkmann’s work reflects a broader condition: the translation of material processes into informational ones. As images detach from bodies and code separates from matter, sound too loses its fixed resonance. What remains is circulation—of signals, of data, of meaning—within systems that increasingly define perception itself.
GETGETGET is an album where absence is equal to presence, a metaphor with suggestive tones of the influence Rehberg had and continues to have in the world of the radical experimental electronic avant garde. The “zero” is not empty; it is what makes everything else work.
The songs of Jules de Corte are condensed, folky gems with an almost effortless charm. Poised between the intimate and the universal, between lightness and darkness, they touch on religion, love, loss, and the small dramas of everyday life. Yet they resist easy translation. Packed with wordplay, de Corte’s signature alliterations, humor, and local cultural references, the songs inevitably lose something in another language. Still, when a Belgian quartet of improvisers takes them on, joined by American songwriter Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, the songs are reborn rather than merely transposed: literal fidelity gives way to interpretation, and what is lost in words is often gained in spirit.
Even without tracing every change, their overall effect is fascinating. Songs are slowed down, often doubled in length, and filled with unexpected musical intrusions. They gain fuller arrangements and are placed in an entirely new context. Replacing de Corte’s piano with guitar can create a radically different vibe, as in “Mariska.” An added solo can heighten the contrast between childlike perspective and the almost matter- of-fact brutality of “Little Anita.” In “The Stranger,” another use of contrast unsettles the everyday harmony, transforming it with a subtle, disorienting twist.
Ultimately, these performances show that interpretation is not successful simply because it is literal. With the groundwork laid by Linus, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy further liberated the songs from their original versions. Lyrics and melodies become malleable, shaped by his recognizable cadences, timbre, and personal quirks. Like his collaborators, he allows himself the freedom to bend the material to his own approach. There is no radical break between this performance and his other records. Listeners familiar with the originals may be puzzled at first; for those new to de Corte, it is a wholly different experience.
Does it really matter that the original “Little Jesus, Mighty God” is a 100-second nugget combining playful naivete with biblical fervor? In the hands of these five explorers, the song becomes an intriguing contemplation, with subtle musical shades and a recitation in which every syllable carries a maturity that offers a new perspective. Then there is “The Outsider,” which feels as genuine as any original American folk song. The musicians’ process is more than reinterpretation—it is reimagination, bringing new musical compatibility and emotional depth. Whether that depth was there from the start, waiting to be uncovered, or created in the process is beside the point. What matters is that Linus and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy have made the essence of these songs their own, paying homage yet dancing to their own tune.
Linus is the Belgian duo of guitarist and banjo player Ruben Machtelinckx and reedist and synthesiser player Thomas Jillings. Across five previous albums — Onland (2014), Linus + Skarbø / Leroux (2015), Felt Like Old language at the crossroads of folk, jazz, minimalism, chamber music and free improvisation. Their music is adventurous, shaped by a particular sensitivity to texture, timbre and the subtle interaction between musicians.
What began as a duo gradually grew into a flexible musical world, bringing Linus together with musicians such as Nils Økland, Ingar Zach, Niels Van Heertum, Øyvind Skarbø and Frederik Leroux. Yet each new constellation has remained recognisably Linus: music in which carefully considered forms leave space for intuition, interaction and the unexpected.
For their sixth album, Linus takes a new step by moving into the world of song and text. Inspired by a shared love for the late Dutch songwriter Jules De Corte, the album is a reimagining of De Corte’s unique repertoire. More than simply interpreting De Corte’s songs, they absorb and reshape them, bringing them into dialogue with their own musical language. In keeping with this open approach, they are joined by celebrated vocalist Bonnie “Prince” Billy. With albums such as 1999’s I See a Darkness appearing on several greatest album lists, Bonnie “Prince” Billy is a cult figure in the alternative folk scene, and his highly intuitive way of singing seamlessly matches the subtle interplay Linus has developed over more than a decade.
Melissa Weikart and her piano have proceeded through life in step, from her early classical
training to the experimental practice that defines her work today, a blending of sounds and forms that has never been so clear—and so fully realized—as on her new album, Contact. Across twelve shifting and evocative tracks that examine the connective tissue binding us to ourselves and others, the Franco-American musician’s voice and piano navigate personal and emotional terrain with clarity and nuance, forging a rich dialogue between artist and instrument, artist and self, and artist and listener.
Winner of the 2022 Nancy Jazz Pulsations emerging artist award and the instrumentalist prize at the 2023 La Défense National Jazz Competition, Weikart has released two EPs and an album as a solo artist, and one EP and an album—Surprise and Secret—with her electronic duo Beatrice Melissa. A student of jazz and ’70s folk-pop, and a keen lover of improvisation since her time at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Weikart has always conjured the confessional candor of the singer- songwriter in her music, even as she dispenses her lyrics across rich, shifting, dreamlike tableaux.
On Contact, written and arranged entirely by Weikart (aside from “New angles”), she pushes her sound further than ever before. The album is animated by a pressing need for connection, observing what brings us together and what drives us apart, and the life-saving revelations that emerge along the way. The album’s opener, “Crash,” is a dreamy telephone-hour ode, a message in a bottle, to connections new and old. On the wistful “Mesurer le vent,” Weikart conjures Debussy or Ravel, layering contrasting sounds like an Impressionist painting. The title track begins as a showcase of Weikart’s frank lyricism, a splice-reel of missed connections and wasted time, then glides into a hazy, euphoric galaxy of pleas, circling around her thesis—“I wanted to make contact”—that ushers us into “The Intersection,” a song that recalls her the beginning of her career, when it was just Weikart and her keys. “Appétit.e” is built around a sample of her down-the-hall neighbor’s drumming—another subtle, affecting gesture toward proximity and connection—while pulsating synths reminiscent of Air lend the track an unsteady atmosphere. On the Carpenters-inspired “Expectations,” Weikart muses on the relationship patterns, universal and specific, that have always been a hallmark of her songwriting.
The psychedelic “L’amour de construit” is a slow-motion fall down the rabbit hole, as Weikart
considers the way her own emotions are captured and commodified by the confining ways we think about love. The interlude—“L’amour pt. 2”—finds her near the end of that trip, shouting into the void as a last-ditch effort to rescue herself from the fall. The drums near the end of the interlude warn us that there may be no cushion for, until she is saved, again, by the power of revelation, on the confident, resilient “Not Right”—on which a show-stopping, frenetic conversation between singer and piano is gracefully interrupted by a rush of transcendent strings, lifting her back up.
On solid ground anew, “New angles,” featuring Manu Delta, creates a percussion-less groove that relies on experimental synth sounds. The 11-o’clock stunner “Catching up”—composed in a church—meets the singer in a state of ecstatic confession, bringing her to the formative memory that propels “Bicycle,” the album’s closer. Younger, more wide-eyed, she reflects on her move from Boston to Strasbourg, those early days, when Weikart had no other companion than that loyal hunk of scrap metal that took her to the shores of her own soul. She seems to suggest, on “Bicycle,” that a backward-glance is not always troublesome, not always anxiety-producing, but can be grounding: a reminder of where we come from, so that we can keep moving forward.
Skarra Mucci, the globally acclaimed Jamaican MC known as the "Dancehall President", partners with Manudigital, one of Europe's top producers, to bring us the full-length album Ragga Blasta.
Following the success of their self-titled EP, the duo doubles down by expanding the concept into a complete 10-track album, delivering a varied, multi-inspired showcase where hybrid beats meet core sound system culture. This project retains the essence of their initial release: the energy of title track Ragga Blasta blending reggae and boom-bap hip-hop, Angel’s ragga beat and intoxicating Likkle Devon sample, alongside the heavy basslines of Freedom Fighter. It also features the more introspective rub-a-dub vibe of Inna Mi Brain, the explosive ska collaboration with Queen Omega on Feel It, and the atmospheric dub of Natty, where Skarra delivers razor-sharp rap flows.
This long-form edition packs an even bigger punch with four brand-new tracks built to shake sound systems and dancefloors alike. Skarra Mucci showcases his technical mastery on Lyrics Machine, a hard-hitting, hip-hop-infused track, while delivering a powerful, anthemic dancehall tune with Nah Fraid No Police. The tracklist further elevates with a legendary feature from Johnny Osbourne on What A La La, before broadening its musical horizons through the festive, hybrid sounds of Rock This Cumbia.
The Disco Express presents Best of 2026 - a deluxe, special edition 12" pink vinyl celebrating six of our favourite records from another landmark year on the label.
Showcasing the breadth of The Disco Express sound, the compilation journeys through funk-fuelled disco, jackin’ house, soulful grooves and peak-time dancefloor energy, bringing together some of the standout moments from our 2026 catalogue.
Featuring music from Make It Disco, Bustin’ Loose, MGR Mike, Ayce & Spirit of House, LEFTI, La Felix and more, Best of 2026 captures a label continuing to push forward while staying firmly rooted in the spirit of disco.
From the feel-good vocal energy of “What You Gonna Say” and the funk-driven swagger of “Less Struggle, More Hustle”, through to the 70's inspired “The Movers”, the soulful lift of “Stronger” and the irresistible drum rhythms of “Muchacho” and “Run It Up”, this is music made first and foremost for the dancefloor.
The music featured on Best of 2026 has already picked up support from some of the world’s most respected selectors, including Roger Sanchez, Danny Rampling, Marco Carola, Jamie Jones, Joseph Capriati, Paco Osuna, Claptone, Danny Krivit, Sam Divine and Arthur Baker, alongside many more.
Pressed on limited edition pink vinyl, Best of 2026 is a snapshot of The Disco Express in full motion.
Seven years after the haunting resonance of Voids, electronic pioneer Martyn returns to the album format with Music For Existing. Arriving on 15 May 2026, the record is more than a collection of tracks; it is a profound exploration of what it means to remain devoted to a craft in an era of relentless noise.
The album’s announcement is heralded by the lead single "Heavy Sound." The track serves as the perfect bridge between Martyn’s past and present - a masterclass in tension and release that previews the album’s dialogue between the producer, the musicians, and the audience. We live inside a culture that has prioritised and monetised restlessness. The modern apparatus runs on the continuous production of "next," driven by algorithms that value novelty over depth.
Music For Existing serves as a love letter to the communal act of making music - something that is both healing and inherently defiant. For Martyn, a musician often finds solace in musical conversation with others; in the moment we press record, we simply exist together. This record is an invitation to build human infrastructure around what we love, leaning into the fluid nature of community and seeing exactly where the music takes us when we choose to listen.
The album is a sprawling, "off-the-grid" tapestry that echoes Martyn’s profound appreciation for jazz - free, instinctive, and bursting in every sonic direction. This collection features an expansive cast of collaborators, including Duval Timothy, Dan Only, Lucinda Chua, and Mark Cisneros. The record is further elevated by the contributions of jazz talents Mischa Porte and Cees Bruinsma, alongside the evocative words of writer and poet Musa Okwonga.
While the acoustic textures and improvisational spirit of this record may feel like a departure, they represent a homecoming. Jazz has always been ingrained in Martyn’s work; even in his most stripped-back club tracks, the DNA of swing, syncopation, and free-form structure was always present, if not always visible.
Music For Existing marks the beginning of an exciting journey that will continue from the studio to the stage, celebrating the radical act of existing in the moment.
No Home is the new album by Lane Hartley, releasing October 23rd 2026 on Royal Oakie Records. Produced in collaboration with David Hartley of The War On Drugs & Adam McDaniel (Animal Collective, Angel Olsen, Geologist), the album was recorded at Drop of Sun Studios in Asheville and features contributions from North Carolina’s tight knit music community–including Mary Lattimore, Seth Kaufman of Floating Action & Dream Sitch, David Hartley, Jack Victor Johnson, and more.
After recording his debut album Naming Horses, Lane left Los Angeles and returned home to the Carolinas, eventually landing in Asheville. It wasn’t too long until the songs started flowing and Lane found himself reaching out to Adam McDaniel at Drop of Sun Studios–a vaunted space that’s been at the heart of indie-rock the past few years, bringing to life recent albums from MJ Lenderman, Wednesday, Fust, and more. McDaniel introduced Lane to David Hartley, and what originally started with discussions to record one song quickly turned into a plan to track a whole album live with a six piece band. Once in the studio, co-producer McDaniel encouraged the group to lean on intuition–“All of the players on this record really brought it to life in such a cosmic way. They instilled so much childlike wonder and fun into the making of the album. It inspired me to keep going” says Lane.
Lyrically the album is a collection of vignettes about people who’ve become alienated from their deepest desires of connection, belonging, intimacy, and autonomy–inspired both by Lane’s own life and the lives of people he’s loved. The unique character of the album emerged when Lane made the decision to pair the dark lyrical content with bright & lush arrangements, inspired by Gene Clark’s No Other, Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush, and Amen Dunes’ Love. In Lane’s words, “The content of the songs got way darker, and my reaction was to make the songs catchier, and to lean harder into the music that influenced me. I wanted each song to feel like a room in a haunted house, with a beautiful garden growing outside”.
Album opener “I Am Not Ashamed” was inspired by the anti-memoir of actress Barbara Peyton, a 1950’s Hollywood starlet who met an untimely end; “It’s about knowing that whatever you’ve done to survive, you still deserve love” says Lane. “Mother” pairs lyrics about ancestral trauma with the sunshine-pop influence of Colin Blunstone, featuring backing vocals from Lane’s sister Barrett Hartley. “It's about coming to terms with the fact that the people meant to protect us are dealing with their own trauma…”
Meanwhile, “All Of This Is Yours” and “Tone Poem” form the spiritual center of the album, an attempt to transmute anger & pain to bittersweet acceptance in the wake of a breakup. “I feel like on the surface this is essentially a breakup album, a lot of these songs are about mourning the end of a relationship and reflecting on what went down. I was falling in love and getting my heart broken, then waking up and driving across the country and doing it all over again.” “Love Is Not A Song” was inspired by Margo Guryan’s Love Songs, pairing bright piano with playful lyrics about an old man who’s been beaten down by life but still believes his greatest love is yet to come. Last but not least, title track “No Home” sums up the album’s key theme of alienation, “It all goes back to this feeling of wanting to belong to someone or somewhere, wanting to belong in your own body.”
Phenomena begins with two artistic voices that seem to speak different languages. Barcelona-based producer R-010 (Lucas Rojo) approaches composition through rhythm, space and electronic transformation; Madrid-born vocalist and multidisciplinary artist Venerandi through texture, breath and the expressive possibilities of the human voice. By the time the album reaches its final moments, that distinction has quietly disappeared.
Rather than functioning as a meeting point between two individual practices, Phenomena gradually
becomes a third language—one that belongs to neither artist alone. Voice no longer sits above the music
but moves inside it, dissolving into layers of synthesis, percussion and guitar until performance itself
becomes another malleable sound source. Likewise, electronic production never behaves as a fixed
environment; it constantly adapts, absorbs and responds, allowing acoustic gestures and digital
manipulation to reshape one another in real time.
This continuous transformation defines the record more than any particular genre ever could. Echoes of trip hop, bass music, psychedelia and experimental electronics drift across its surface, yet they are never
presented as stylistic markers. Instead, they appear as temporary states within an ecosystem that remains
in constant motion, where dense rhythmic passages collapse into suspended atmospheres and moments
of stillness carry as much weight as those driven by pulse.
The presence of Matteo Caro (guitar and percussion), Pablo Gorostiaga (guitar) and Alessio Rodolico
(percussion) further expands this dialogue. Their contributions are not decorative additions but structural
ones, gradually dissolving the distinction between composition, improvisation and production. Instruments
emerge, mutate and disappear inside the same sonic fabric, making it increasingly difficult to distinguish
what was performed from what was transformed.
With Phenomena, Lapsus Records presents a work that feels less interested in crossing genres than in
questioning the borders between artistic identities themselves. The album never asks the listener to decide
where the human ends and the machine begins. Instead, it quietly suggests that, after enough careful
listening, the question itself may no longer matter.
For more than two decades, Vidmantas ?epkauskas has occupied a singular position within European underground culture. As the driving force behind Opium Club and gallery 1986 in Vilnius, founder of Ant Bangos, Alfavilnius and OLE festivals, curator, label owner, promoter, DJ and artist, he has spent much of his life creating the conditions for other people's music to be heard.
It makes sense then that he has no shortage of friends and collaborators in play. Across ten tracks, V presents shades of Italo, krautrock, post-punk, minimal synth, industrial pop and neon-noir romanticism, arriving somewhere between the dancefloor and a dream-state. The cast of collaborators both contextualize and help sharpen the vision.
First and foremost, much of the album was crafted alongside Frankfurt's Philipp Lauer, whose friendship with V grew through marathon studio sessions. Curses lends his unmistakable blend of dark romance and theatrical energy to "Is This What You Want?", Australian cosmic journeyman Dreems joins for the kaleidoscopic "Blitz Disc," Domenique Dumont brings their unmistakable emotive touch to "Avventura," while Lithuanian artists Noyus and Ruta MUR, both distinctive voices from the country's queer scene, whose vocals add another dimension to the record's emotional palette. As V puts it, "These are the people I've been vibing with."
That he finally delivers a full-length LP with such elusive qualities is more than a clue to his character. The title itself, a nod to Magritte's famous paradox and his years living in Brussels, suggests that any attempt to define V through a single image is destined to fail. At once playful and philosophical, 12:55 (Ceci n'est pas une V) questions ideas of identity and artistic value while marking the closing chapter of the musical persona that followed ?epkauskas' earlier success as Vidis. Neither retrospective nor statement of intent, it feels like a connected set of reflections spanning a lifetime of influences.
Fudge is Michael Kiwanuka’s most free and instinctive album to date. A vibrant, deeply human record shaped by spontaneity, emotion, and creative joy. It’s loose, soulful, and alive with the kind of magic that only happens when the process leads the way. The album was inspired by the encouraging words of the late Chick Corea, whose interview Michael stumbled upon during the pandemic lockdown, urging him to embrace what he loved without worrying about what others might think.
Each physical edition brings you into that world. The artwork, created by Michael’s friend and visual collaborator Stevie Gee, bursts with colour and character. It’s a psychedelic cartoon-inspired piece that perfectly mirrors the album’s warmth and wonder
Dis Fig, producer and vocalist Felicia Chen, embraces every facet of heaviness. Chen is driven by a desire to express deeper emotions through meticulously crafted, innovative production and expressive vocals. On acclaimed collaborations with The Bug, The Body, and Asian Dope Boys, Chen"s sound is indelible. Her solo work utilizes electronic, industrial, and bass-forward music as filters for sonic plentitudes, unbounded and wholly her own. Every granule of sound is in service of alchemizing intense emotion and vulnerability. What To Make Of These Mortal Hands is an ambitious widening of Dis Fig"s scope, traversing tectonic dynamic shifts and heartrending arrangements in a filmic study of humanity"s capacity to create both beauty and devastation. Dis Fig has a preternatural ability to ground massive sounds with tactile rhythms and her instinctually connective voice. The album is a staggering display of innovative songcraft and unfathomable emotion-a musical world like no other.
Dis Fig, producer and vocalist Felicia Chen, embraces every facet of heaviness. Chen is driven by a desire to express deeper emotions through meticulously crafted, innovative production and expressive vocals. On acclaimed collaborations with The Bug, The Body, and Asian Dope Boys, Chen"s sound is indelible. Her solo work utilizes electronic, industrial, and bass-forward music as filters for sonic plentitudes, unbounded and wholly her own. Every granule of sound is in service of alchemizing intense emotion and vulnerability. What To Make Of These Mortal Hands is an ambitious widening of Dis Fig"s scope, traversing tectonic dynamic shifts and heartrending arrangements in a filmic study of humanity"s capacity to create both beauty and devastation. Dis Fig has a preternatural ability to ground massive sounds with tactile rhythms and her instinctually connective voice. The album is a staggering display of innovative songcraft and unfathomable emotion-a musical world like no other.
Fudge is Michael Kiwanuka’s most free and instinctive album to date. A vibrant, deeply human record shaped by spontaneity, emotion, and creative joy. It’s loose, soulful, and alive with the kind of magic that only happens when the process leads the way. The album was inspired by the encouraging words of the late Chick Corea, whose interview Michael stumbled upon during the pandemic lockdown, urging him to embrace what he loved without worrying about what others might think.
Each physical edition brings you into that world. The artwork, created by Michael’s friend and visual collaborator Stevie Gee, bursts with colour and character. It’s a psychedelic cartoon-inspired piece that perfectly mirrors the album’s warmth and wonder
Put your hands together and please welcome Linda Lo to Shall Not Fade's Time is Now imprint. The LA producer/DJ's new 12" EP "Masa" drops 23rd Oct 2026 and f**k is it sick.
Linda Lo fuses* mambo, samba, and salsa with UK garage, dubstep, and club rhythms to make guaranteed rewind material that is gonna light up the dance…
* imma talk about this fuses sh*t in a minute.. First we need to get a bit philosophical. Cos rewinds and fusions aside, this EP is alive. It's part of something bigger and cyclical, without a start or an end. It is music. It was part of someone else's music before and it will be part of other people's music in the future. Right now though, it's Linda Lo's music.
Too esoteric? Let me elaborate and, let's talk about fusion. There is the fusion that is – steal a bit of genre X and culture Y, chuck it on the grid and strut about professing fusion – and then there's actual fusion: Music that is something "new" and real and genuine. Music that you end up describing excitedly as a "fusion of" things (even if it inevitably ends up doing it a disservice). Music that is simultaneously one thing and not that thing, and also something else and not that something else too. Music that is just "music" to the creator but is also part of the progression and evolution of music for others. Mala wasn't making "dubstep". Skream & Benga ended up not making Garage. Like many before and after they were making their music and Linda Lo is making her music so let's hear from her about it. Big up Linda. This is real.
Notes from Linda:
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“Like Croydon by way of Havana”
“Masa, or corn-based dough used to make tortillas and tamales, is a traditional staple food for many in Mexico and throughout LatAm. In the Maya worldview, people's flesh is made out of masa. In order to make masa, corn must be dried, nixtamalized, ground, and mixed (often by hand) to create the right textured dough. I find much of my music work is a collision and a mixing of many elements, all worked into one product. In this way, I've worked these songs, transforming raw rhythms and sub bass into hand-mixed tunes. ‘Masa - EP' presents four delicious heaters. The title track explodes with a fiery double-time dubstep groove. Mambo horn stabs bite through a bass inferno. ‘Cenote' looks down upon a subterranean pool of sound—still on the surface but impossibly deep. ‘Minifalda', pure flirt and gyration, calls in cuica and other voices from a samba bateria. Finally, claves stitch across ‘Mestiza', a fusion of blooming lush orchestration and jagged 2step rhythm.
Around 1960, my grandparents were regular dancers at the Palladium in Los Angeles: young, Mexican, and falling in love to dance music, specifically big band mambo. My mom, consequently, is a fantastic dancer, and her mambo collection along with my dad's exotica records formed the base of my own vinyl collection. When I first discovered garage and dubstep, there was something indescribably familiar to me, something mambo-like about the syncopated offbeat hits and drama. Later, as I began stitching together mambo claves and 2step drums, I assumed I was trying out something totally new. The farther I go, the more I see that I was wrong.
Dubstep, garage and jungle share a parental lineage back to dub reggae, originating from Jamaica. Mambo hails from Cuba, and sister genres of salsa to NYC & PR, and bachata and meringue to the Dominican Republic. Yet, these musical genres of the Caribbean have not developed in isolation. Reggae, mambo, dancehall, salsa, even son jarocho from Veracrúz, Mexico (where my family is from), all developed together, influencing each other fundamentally. Ultimately, all musics of the Caribbean have come from West African polyrhythmic musical heritages. Garage, mambo, dubstep, and salsa are points in time along one musical continuum.
I feel very honored to be a selector working in Los Angeles (and elsewhere!). I hope I can share some music for the next generation of young people to fall in love to. "
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I'm moved by what Linda writes here. #1 Doing what you love, and finding you are part of something bigger. Creating for yourself freely and hoping to inspire others with healthy amounts of care, humility, freedom, self awareness and enjoyment. (It is inspiring and I'm honoured we are now a part of sharing Linda's music). #2 There's something wonderful about finding connection and a sense of place. A place physical, spiritual and in time. Music can help us all find connection and be part of a place. Wheel it up wherever you are.
For their eagerly awaited third album, the Parisian trio Howlin' Jaws have teamed up with Swedish producer Kalle Gustafsson Jerneholm (bassist with The Soundtrack Of Our Lives and producer for Foals, The Hives, Jose Gonzalez and Junip) and have taken a major step forward, affirmingthe universal appeal of their explosive yet elegant psych-rock. This new album, Living The Dream, crystallises just about everything we'd ever dreamt of hearing from Howlin' Jaws. Here, more than ever, their dreams take the form of unifying choruses, transforming grief ("Troubled Mind") or separation ("Do What You Gonna Do", "So Sorry") into genuine bursts of hope. Rich in texture (with the Omnichord and Mellotron featuring on the spellbinding "Miss You" and the twilight-tinged "Up On The Roof" respectively) and in wit (led by the biting "Living The Dream"), the eleven-track album is equally diverse in its range of influences. Disco looms large on "Terminal Buzz", country creeps in on "Sunset Laundromat", whilst the fiery "Maximum Speed" is a joyful reminder of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard's trippy flights of fancy. The trio are stunning when they're in full swing, but just as impressive when they slow the tempo down. Behind its layers of cosmic keyboards, "Time Has Come" immediately sets the scene and subtly invites introspection. Like an echo at the end of the journey, "That Kind of Pain" rubs shoulders with the stars of the French Touch (the Air school), letting the strings of the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra burst forth amidst its melancholic swells. All in all, whether he simmers his albums like an omelette or a beef bourguignon, Howlin' Jaws proves he's never short of imagination.
For their eagerly awaited third album, the Parisian trio Howlin' Jaws have teamed up with Swedish producer Kalle Gustafsson Jerneholm (bassist with The Soundtrack Of Our Lives and producer for Foals, The Hives, Jose Gonzalez and Junip) and have taken a major step forward, affirmingthe universal appeal of their explosive yet elegant psych-rock. This new album, Living The Dream, crystallises just about everything we'd ever dreamt of hearing from Howlin' Jaws. Here, more than ever, their dreams take the form of unifying choruses, transforming grief ("Troubled Mind") or separation ("Do What You Gonna Do", "So Sorry") into genuine bursts of hope. Rich in texture (with the Omnichord and Mellotron featuring on the spellbinding "Miss You" and the twilight-tinged "Up On The Roof" respectively) and in wit (led by the biting "Living The Dream"), the eleven-track album is equally diverse in its range of influences. Disco looms large on "Terminal Buzz", country creeps in on "Sunset Laundromat", whilst the fiery "Maximum Speed" is a joyful reminder of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard's trippy flights of fancy. The trio are stunning when they're in full swing, but just as impressive when they slow the tempo down. Behind its layers of cosmic keyboards, "Time Has Come" immediately sets the scene and subtly invites introspection. Like an echo at the end of the journey, "That Kind of Pain" rubs shoulders with the stars of the French Touch (the Air school), letting the strings of the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra burst forth amidst its melancholic swells. All in all, whether he simmers his albums like an omelette or a beef bourguignon, Howlin' Jaws proves he's never short of imagination.
Third time’s a charm, or possibly an anomaly. Johannes Volk returns to Running Back for another five exercises in perception, memory and dance-floor physics.
Following Extra Dimensions and Lightweave, this third instalment finds Volk continuing his particular way of making machine music feel strangely human and vice versa.
Shining Force starts somewhere above ground. Gliding across an unfamiliar planetary surface, optical illusions and physical anomalies slowly interfere with the senses. Unknown landscapes,
peculiar vegetation, nature behaving unnaturally: techno as field research. Switching From Bicycle to Spaceship does exactly what it says on the tin, more or less: trading pedal power for propulsion as a deceptively simple groove gathers speed, sheds gravity and quietly leaves the atmosphere behind.
Hidden In Dark belongs to a more immediate kind of archaeology: fog, strobes, bodies and those inexplicably intense emotions that only seem to exist on a dance floor at the right (or wrong) hour.
Back Alley Dancers turns the telescope around and looks backwards. Vocal fragments, pitched, delayed, reversed and removed from their original meaning trigger half-memories of youth, and of
encountering music and culture before you quite understood what any of it meant. Familiar feelings in unfamiliar shapes.
Finally, Drumatury dispenses with introspection and gets down to elementary forces. Morphing bass drums meet a Chicago jacking snare-roll massacre. Drama becomes drumaturgy. Or the other way around.
Five tracks, several states of consciousness, one Johannes Volk. No protective equipment supplied.
Earlier this year, Blue Hour released his debut album Selva, a record steeped in the imagery of lost and forgotten worlds. Now, rather than let that world stand still, Blue Hour opens it up, inviting a handpicked crew of fresh talent to step inside and make it their own.
The result is a remix companion that reimagines Selva through fresh eyes and ears. Each remix artist brings their own sonic fingerprint to the source material, some peeling back the original's dense atmospherics to expose skeletal rhythms underneath, others pushing further into the album's dreamlike haze. What emerges isn't a simple tribute, but a genuine dialogue: new talents in conversation with an album that was already asking questions about memory, erosion, and what gets left behind when a world disappears.
It's a fitting extension of Selva's original premise: if the debut album conjured ruins and jungles swallowed by time, this remix project treats those same soundscapes as living, mutable spaces, ready to be excavated, reinterpreted, and given new life by a new generation of voices.
LUCIANO LAMANNA — A CARLO Blackwater Label — 2026 Distributed by Triple Vision More than ten years in the making, A CARLO is a single-sided EP by Luciano Lamanna for Blackwater Label, dedicated to Carlo Giuliani and to the memory of the events that unfolded during the G8 protests in Genoa in 2001. This record is the result of a long process, one that began more than a decade ago and has remained unfinished until now. Two tracks, both carrying the name and memory of Carlo, finally complete a circle that has been open for years. The first track, “Il Giorno del Sole”, was previously released on physical CD through Blackwater Label. The second, “Amore Infinito”, arrives more than ten years later, completing the dialogue between the two pieces and giving the project its long-awaited counterpart. Together, the tracks form a deeply emotional and personal statement: melancholic, haunting and at the same time driving and hopeful. Lamanna moves through the industrial language that has always characterised his work, while “Amore Infinito” explores a darker, more intimate territory, evoking the emotional intensity of Coil. A CARLO is not intended as a historical reconstruction or a conventional political statement. It is an act of memory.
With his last three records all landing within a calendar year (2024-25), enigmatic Swedish producer Civilistjävel! (aka Tomas Bodén) is on a hot streak of releases, his singular vision increasingly ambitious and expansive. There are few artists working at this level so consistently right now, reinventing, revising and continually developing their language. Following on from 2025’s radically re-worked ‘Versions’ (of Mayssa Jallad’s ‘Marjaa…’), Bodén returns to break further fresh ground with his new album, ‘Älvgång’. Featuring contributions from Soccer Committee, Carrier and guest (aka Jabu’s Jasmine Butt), ‘Älvgång’ foregrounds a more brittle and insistent rhythm-based sound, whilst comprising his most broad-ranging collection of material to date.
‘Älvgång’ grew out of a series of sketches made from late ‘24 and throughout the whole of ‘25 at Stockholm’s renowned EMS Studios, which gave Boden free rein to its extensive collection of vintage analogue equipment and rare modular synthesizers such as the Serge and Buchla systems. As a loose framework of tracks began to take shape, so did a reflection of sorts, on family and foundations, underpinned or influenced by sounds that drifted into Tomas consciousness around this time - ancient Swedish pastoral music, Georgian lithurgical chants, gongs, chimes. An idea settled into place, a dedication to his Grandfather, as the earlier release Fyra Platser (tr. ‘Four Places’) was to his Grandmother. Älvgång is grounded with the sense of time and place of an old family photograph, with the tracks over each side bearing one of two names that are more or less the same location - Strinne was the old name for a this loose collection of villages. These days it is more commonly known as Bjärtrå. Metaphorically speaking, the river runs through both.
Civilistjävel! conjures so many adjectives and descriptors, ‘glacial’ and ‘ambient’ frequently among them - but while not altogether untrue, such terms belie the tension and drama so often present in Tomas’ music. Listening to ‘Älvgång’ is not a passive experience. The eight tracks here feel like a patchwork of memories that bathe in the same ethereal, otherworldly glow of Tarkovsky’s polaroids’.
The machine pulses that dominate this landscape are reigned in and tempered by a human hand; lithe, untethered coils, breathing in and out. ‘Strinne Ett’ sets out with purpose, sensing awe and wonder through the murk, but as the final tone unfurls like a question mark, another chapter begins, unfolding/building like a Tarjei Vesaas novel. These lyrical, abstract miniatures combine to reveal a wider context, fragile humanity standing alone against nature.
Guest appearances on Civilistjävel! records have become a regular occurrence (including recent collaborations with Mayssa Jallad, Laila Sakini, Cucina Povera, Thomas Bush, Eldon + Withdrawn), but are used sparingly and with increasing precision. On ‘Strinne Tre’ Mariska Baars’ (Soccer Committee) voice feels like a balm, a clearing. But as her simple, three-word incantation drifts further into fog, the meaning changes, and her words seem to curdle. Carrier’s beats widen the parameters on ‘Strinne Fyra’, a skittering promise that builds tension then refuses to release it; all false starts, Photek gongs, and trinkling modulars. Jabu’s Jasmine Butt pulls all the threads together for the final track, Thomas Tallis’ ghost walking over offset machine impulses, that work against their own symmetry.
Side two begins inquisitively, scanning bleached, alien surroundings, its sparse pads recalling Aphex Twin’s ‘Selected Ambient works Vol 2’. 'Bjärtrå Två’ picks up the baton from ' Strinne Fyra’ with a ruptured Simmons SDS200 analogue drum synth set free from its shackles, the rhythm eventually slotting into the spaces that were hiding in plain sight. What follows seems like an epiphany; ‘Bjärtrå Tre’ is achingly beautiful, a euphoric, winding ascent that leads to devotional plainsong. ‘Bjärtrå Fyra‘s final unheralded shift feels both tragic and haunting.
The Malian virtuoso, indisputably one of the most creative talents of his country, deserved his solo career decades ago. In May 2026, we released his debut solo album SOBRA DANCE featuring his wife Mariam Kouyate on vocals. The groovy and variated electric album, went straight to the top lists of World Music Charts Europe and Transglobal World Music Chart as well as selected for TOP OF THE WORLD by SONGLINES. Gaoussou's solo debut got several 5 star reviews.DJANGO BLUES is a tribute to Gaoussou's father and childhood teacher, who's nickname is Django. On this album the talented guitarist and composer goes deeper into the roots of Malian Dessert Blues, with the variations from the Arabic soundscapes from the north.In Senegal, Gaoussou is nick named "The new Ali Farka Toure". But even though Ali Farka was one of Gaoussou's greatest inspirations, Gaoussou has developed an unmistakable style of his own. He breathes music and goes to his studio every day to work. He uses his composing to reflect, and as a ventilator when things are hard -they often are in his country of contrasts- and as a love declaration to life itself. He is a true Mandingue, a Griot, peaceful and kind, as the philosophy preaches.Accompanying such legends like Toumani Diabate and Kasse Mady Diabate, Gaoussou Kouyate, with his beloved village 'Sobra' as his middle name, has long proven his level. Yet his name has been relatively undiscovered. The trio performed a memorable concert at Dakar Music Expo, led by their producers, Dudu Saar and Lucy Duran. What started being noticed internationally through this exceptional trio was Gaoussou's composing skills.The electric SOBRA DANCE album was released first, to contrast and give space to the acoustic GUITARI BARO album. Now comes the time for DJANGO BLUES. This great album features Gaoussou's band as well as an exceptional Moroccan Ribab- Amazigh violin master and singer, Aziz Ozouss.
Pronounced Zero (ay ay) RIOT
Shit and Shine go fully CAN on their eleventh album release for Riot Season since their debut way back in 2004.
DEEP SOLID GROOVE REPETITION !!
Fully CAN in the sense that the rhythms are VERY CAN LIKE, but with a modern sharper edge and less flowery decoration. If CAN had a Roland TR-1000 drum machine it might sound a lot like this!
Basically all your favourite bits of krautrock, but sharpened up with modern tools, and it works perfectly! Say it again … DEEP SOLID GROOVE REPETITION !!
It’s definitely danceable, if that’s your thing, but also definitely deeply listenable. Something to put on and fill the space with infectious groove while you wash the dishes or drive your car, have your workout (I’ve heard from several sources $&$ makes excellent workout music) or whatever.
Two long songs on each side of the record. It’s an absolute beauty and actually sounds like shit and shine might be taking things a bit more seriously for a fuckin’ change! BRAVO !!!
Do you know what time it is? It’s Prime Time, the new EP on Punctuality from mischievous French duo Pureblast . Marking the label’s twelfth release, the record serves as a bold statement of intent from the Parisian pair and demonstrates why they’re quickly earning a reputation as one of France’s most exciting live acts.
Across the EP’s five tracks, Pureblast weave together a broad spectrum of influences while remaining deeply rooted in the duo’s singular vision. Every cut is fat, pumping, gritty and playful, ready to turn heads and hips on the dancefloor.
Side-stepping easy genre classifications, Prime Time is modern rolling prog at its most energetic. Tightly wound low-end, pummelling drums and restless basslines drive each track forward with purpose, while sa+ga’s vocals are manipulated and distorted to humanoid perfection. The result is something distinctly personal beneath the machine funk: robotic yet seductive, gritty yet playful.
Deep listeners will spot nods to tranced up breakbeats, Ray of Light-era big beat, Detroit electro and contemporary UK techno with psy-fluenced synth swirls and texture. Far from pastiche, these influences are absorbed into the Pureblast machine and transformed into something entirely their own.
Gritty, pumping, sexy and playful. It’s Pureblast, it’s Prime Time.
credits
Following the international praise for their 2024 debut album Where Did You Go?, Sandman Project return with Hearts Forever, the first album entirely composed, arranged and produced by guitarist, composer and bandleader Tal Sandman. Rooted in psychedelic groove, Middle Eastern musicality, funk, jazz and desert rock, it is a record driven above all by a wider spiritual belief in music as a force for connection.
If Where Did You Go? introduced Sandman Project as a borderless, brass-heavy outfit with a cinematic sound, Hearts Forever takes that vision somewhere more intimate and self-assured. Written following Tal's move from Jaffa to Leipzig, the album reflects a period of personal and creative transformation. Arriving in Germany without knowing whether she would find the right collaborators, she gradually assembled a new band through recommendations from fellow musicians, discovering a group capable of bringing her musical vision to life. For Tal, the music is not about drawing neat lines between styles or traditions. It is about taking inspiration from wherever it appears and reshaping it into something honest and alive. "If music touches my heart, it inspires me", she says. "So much music already exists, but what we are doing is creating something new out of inspiration. You take the ingredients and make a new thing".
This is the quiet force behind Hearts Forever. Almost entirely instrumental, the album deliberately leaves space for listeners to find their own stories within it. Without lyrics, the music is never confined to one language, nationality or identity.
Following support for Where Did You Go? from All About Jazz, DJ Magazine, Bayern Radio, Greedy For Best, Pipelines Magazine, Ban Ban Ton Ton and Laurent Garnier, Hearts Forever finds Sandman Project entering a new chapter: more confident, broader in vision and more deeply rooted in Tal Sandman's own creative voice. Rich, restless and full of feeling, Hearts Forever is music for uncertain times; a record about holding on to innocence, choosing compassion and believing, however quietly, that connection is still possible.
DJ Support: Harvey, Balearic Mike, K Andrews, Apiento, Joe Morris, Idjuts, Piers Harrision, Flo Dill, James Holroyd, Andy Wilson, Kenneth Bager, Phil Mison, Colleen Murphy.
Following the success of the Lovehandles ‘Reworks’ EP, Oswego Music returns with a second volume of reinterpretations via the mysterious ‘Love from the Archipelago’ the alter ego of a renowned European digger, dj and producer.
First up here ‘Endless Ocean’ sees our island hopping hero reimagining an underrated antipodean 80’s track. Its pulsing synths and wistful vocal working as equally on a dancefloor as at the after party, or indeed the morning after the night before.
Track Two on side A ‘Carica’ takes us to South America recalling to some extent the west coast fusion of mid eighties artists like Pat Metheny. Brilliant percussion, vocals and synths combining into a heady, hazy workout- permed hair and tiny shorts optional.
First on the flip ‘En Route’ continues our journey (via the local library) with a gritty, synth heavy piece of post disco experimentalism extended here for your listening pleasure
Lastly, ‘A Grain of Sand’ reinterprets a folky aor number- long overdue in making it to vinyl- remaining (until now) a favourite digital secret weapon for the more ‘horizontally inclined’ dj.
Rounding out the EP, 1900-Isla provides a brief meditation on what it is to be free. A beautiful island in the middle of nowhere, with friends, as the sun sets…
80 g vinyl + 60 x 60 cm poster of original Big city life artwork)
Stirring the cauldron of sound. From the acclaimed album Big City Life, artists that Smerz admire put those songs through themselves, to become a friendly mirror and or an alternative documentation.
With Yrdloop, Astrid Sonne, NEW YORK, Haloplus+, Molina, Erika de Casier, Fine, They Are Gutting a Body of Water, MIKE, Zack Sekoff, Elias Rønnenfelt, Fousheé, ML Buch, Clarissa Connelly, Cezinando, Toxe, VVTZJ and Clairo.
WRWTFWW Records proudly announces the release of sfs/in vain (selected tracks) by UK jungle heavyweight and Future Retro London founder Tim Reaper, a limited-edition 3LP bringing together selected tracks from two previously digital-only albums, sfs and in vain.
An insane collection of slower 140 BPM wonders, sfs/in vain explores jungle, dubstep, UK garage, R'n'B, grime, liquid D&B and broken beats through Tim Reaper's fresh and informed approach. Deconstructed and reconstructed club music, rooted in tradition but looking forward, these tracks reveal another side of one of the key figures in the modern jungle revival.
The selection comes from 2 albums. sfs collects a body of slower material Tim Reaper worked on throughout 2025, stretching across various genres of UK electronic music. in vain comes from a much more personal place. Written during a period of instability, heartbreak, financial and professional uncertainty, the album became a way for Tim Reaper to process what was happening around him and find some kind of escape. The tracks were made at a point when the effort he had put into rebuilding his life felt as though it had all been "in vain" - hence the title. The result is warm, melancholic, soulful, simply very human.
Together, these selected tracks highlight the incredible range of Tim Reaper's production, proving that his understanding of jungle extends far beyond the traditional boundaries of the genre. From heavyweight bass music to delicate melodic passages, sfs/in vain (selected tracks) is a beautifully varied snapshot of an artist constantly pushing UK club music into new territories.
Tim Reaper has been leading the resurgence of jungle for years, with releases on AKO, Skeleton Recordings, 7th Storey Projects, Green Bay Wax, Dalston Chillies, Parallax, Myor Massiv, V Recordings, Deep Jungle and many more. He is also the founder of Future Retro London, one of the most respected labels and platforms in the contemporary jungle scene.
Surprise Chef’s album Frogs In A Pond is an examination into, and an expression of, a shared human experience. Based in Australia, the quintet found inspiration from European film composers working in the late 60s and early 70s. The music expresses musical themes with a cinematic landscape of moods and feelings that evoke emotion without the listener having watched the film for which the music was composed, pushing boundaries that dictate a unique perspective to their music.
Surprise Chef’s album Frogs In A Pond is an examination into, and an expression of, a shared human experience. Based in Australia, the quintet found inspiration from European film composers working in the late 60s and early 70s. The music expresses musical themes with a cinematic landscape of moods and feelings that evoke emotion without the listener having watched the film for which the music was composed, pushing boundaries that dictate a unique perspective to their music.
Among the most influential hip-hop artists to emerge in the rapid creative expansion of the early 1990s, Queens duo Organized Konfusion helped reshape rap's aesthetic horizons with the 1991 release of a groundbreaking self-titled album. A dizzying display of lyrical dexterity and forward-thinking production, Organized Konfusion helped lay the foundation for what would become underground hip-hop, with intricate wordplay and cerebral rhyme structures. Both Pharoahe Monch and Prince Po shine throughout the album, revealing
the immense talent that would later establish Monch as one of hip-hop's most revered voices and spark Po's collaborations with producers like Danger Mouse, Madlib, Large Professor, Oh No, and more. From playful nostalgia to sharp social commentary to surreal linguistic explorations, the duo navigates chaotic drum breaks with dense rhyme patterns, vivid imagery, and ever-shifting narratives. After decades of limited availability and unofficial bootlegs, this is the first official vinyl reissue of Organized Konfusion since its1991 release. Featuring three rare bonus tracks, this 35th anniversary edition is available on 2LP and CD, giving a long overdue spotlight to one of hip-hop's most important albums.
If you dig deep enough into the internet's lower depths, you'll find a shaky video shot on a camcorder. In 43 seconds, we see a makeshift drum kit built out of backyard Ostbahnhof trash, hear distorted vocals, and feel the anarchic energy of band and ravers dissolving into each other. It's now been twenty years since Bonaparte played their very first show at the legendary Bar25 on Berlin's Spree river. The ringmaster of this unhinged musical theater was Tobias Jundt then, and it's Jundt again now bringing the Bonaparte extravaganza back to the stage. New and nostalgic sit close together when the party's been going this long. Or, as they put it: "PARADISE IF YOU CAN STAND IT."
From late October through mid-November, Bonaparte will tour Germany, Austria, and Jundt's native Switzerland at full intensity, the full lineup - band to burlesque. Since their 2006 debut through their supposed farewell in 2019, Bonaparte played over 800 shows in 28 countries. Bottom line: "Too Much" isn't enough to properly celebrate a body of work like this. And the new songs from "PARADISE IF YOU CAN STAND IT" are far too significant not to bring to the stage. The lo-fi trash-punk of Bonaparte's earliest records has been built out with added layers, in production (largely alongside British avant-garde electronic artist HELiX) and in the songwriting itself.
The world certainly hasn't gotten any simpler since 2006. Tracks like "EVERYBODY PRESiDENT," loosely riffing on Zoe Leonard's poem "I Want A Dyke For President," and the corrosive "BRAiN ROT" mirror the social chaos we find ourselves in 2026. "OBEY (THERE iS STiLL A RiOT GOiNG ON)" is just as furious, though here the principle of hope still holds, as a multigenerational choir concludes "everything will be okay." Jundt speaks across generations again on "i LOVE YOU (MORE LATER)," dedicated in equal measure to his parents and his daughters: "Let the echo chamber bleed - from here into eternity."
The reconciliation and hope Bonaparte allows for and tends to, amid violence and all that noise, make "PARADISE IF YOU CAN STAND IT" a singular document of an artist grown wiser. Separation and grief don't cancel out love and vitality - they depend on each other. Ultimately, the album is a record of searching for and finding a home. To arrive, you have to let go.
And what better place to let go than in step with Bonaparte's wild, hedonistic party circus, finally back to gently terrorize our cities?
We worked closely with surviving members of The Nerves, Paul Collins and Peter Case along with Jack Lee's daughter Cynthia to bring The Nerves - Best Collection to you.
Unlike previous releases that often relied on secondary copies or rips from vinyl and CDs, we were able to locate the original source recordings and have Warren Defever master/remaster them at Third Man Mastering in Detroit for this release. This is what makes this record so special—it features the definitive versions of these tracks as they were originally intended, some have not been heard since the day they were recorded. We hope you enjoy it.
We worked closely with surviving members of The Nerves, Paul Collins and Peter Case along with Jack Lee's daughter Cynthia to bring The Nerves - Best Collection to you.
Unlike previous releases that often relied on secondary copies or rips from vinyl and CDs, we were able to locate the original source recordings and have Warren Defever master/remaster them at Third Man Mastering in Detroit for this release. This is what makes this record so special—it features the definitive versions of these tracks as they were originally intended, some have not been heard since the day they were recorded. We hope you enjoy it.
It was in the year 2008 when Too Much came out: a 15-track debut that turned Berlin's underground upside down and made excess into a musical principle.
The album sounds like a party that has already gone off the rails - and is getting better because of it. Tobias Jundt's deadpan, heavily accented delivery collides with jagged guitars, rattling bass, vintage synths and restless dance grooves. Rock'n'roll, electroclash and dance-punk blur into something that never quite sits comfortably in any genre.
The songs are deliberately ridiculous, catchy and hedonistic. Too Much is full of party anthems, absurd one-liners and hooks that get stuck in your head whether you want them to or not. The title track itself became one of Bonaparte's signature songs - one of the early Myspace-era tracks that helped turn the band into a genuine underground sensation.
But Too Much was never just a record. Bonaparte's world extended into circus costumes, provocative performances, striptease, queer aesthetics and wildly excessive live shows. What began with illegal gigs under Alexanderplatz quickly moved to the Montreux Jazz Festival, international tours and legendary parties - with the band becoming one of the most distinctive acts to emerge from Berlin in the late 2000s.
Now Too Much returns on vinyl. A document of a particular Berlin moment - chaotic, funny, sweaty and impossible to ignore.
15 songs. Zero restraint. Still too much.
“The Hollowing of Godflesh is the most complete representation of Crown Magnetar we've ever put together. We pushed every aspect of our songwriting further without losing the intensity and rawness that defines the band. We wanted to take what people expect from us and push it further by adding more atmosphere, bigger moments, and even more aggression without sacrificing anything. You’ll hear it in the insane riffing of new guitarist Rob Maramonte, who has spent time as a member of Fallujah and The Zenith Passage, as well as performed live with Thy Art Is Murder and All Shall Perish.” “The Hollowing of Godflesh is a highly sharpened version of Crown Magnetar. It delivers unrelenting brutality and is sure to please old and new fans alike.”
If the name The Midnight Hour isn't immediately familiar, the music almost certainly is. Ali Shaheed Muhammad is a founding member of A Tribe Called Quest, one of the most beloved groups in hip hop history. Adrian Younge is the Los Angeles-based composer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer who has shaped the sound of some of the most critically admired records of the past two decades. Together, they have been architects of the sound that serious listeners point to when they try to describe what great music feels like.
The music they had been making together had a life of its own. By 2018, it had become The Midnight Hour: their self-titled debut album, recorded to tape with a live rhythm section and a full orchestra, and released to widespread acclaim. In 2020, the duo were deep into sessions for a second album. But then the world shut down, the recordings were shelved. The album never came and remained unfinished and unheard. But now, via their Jazz Is Dead label, The Lost Tapes have been unearthed
If the name The Midnight Hour isn't immediately familiar, the music almost certainly is. Ali Shaheed Muhammad is a founding member of A Tribe Called Quest, one of the most beloved groups in hip hop history. Adrian Younge is the Los Angeles-based composer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer who has shaped the sound of some of the most critically admired records of the past two decades. Together, they have been architects of the sound that serious listeners point to when they try to describe what great music feels like.
The music they had been making together had a life of its own. By 2018, it had become The Midnight Hour: their self-titled debut album, recorded to tape with a live rhythm section and a full orchestra, and released to widespread acclaim. In 2020, the duo were deep into sessions for a second album. But then the world shut down, the recordings were shelved. The album never came and remained unfinished and unheard. But now, via their Jazz Is Dead label, The Lost Tapes have been unearthed
On their third album, FANGS, London collective HMLTD have created an entirely new genre: Götherdammerüng (or ÜberGöth). Predictably unpredictable, it could not be further away from their last outing, 2023 rock opera The Worm. The sixteen-piece orchestra has been traded in for Ableton, the timpani and violins replaced with side-chained four-to-the-floor and rave synths, and the gospel choir swapped for guttural gothic howling and black metal screams. The result is both unique and terrifying: a total reinvention and rehabilitation of the goth genre, through the looking glass of modern electronic and doomscroll-era dance music.
This new beginning was accompanied by a change in personnel, with Theo Spark and Andrei Martynchyk joining the fray alongside original members Henry Spychalski and Duc Peterman. Decamping to a ruined château in the Loire Valley, the quartet became obsessed with vampire lore, and the EBM and goth sound that inspired their early work: Fad Gadget, DAF, Nitzer Ebb, Suicide and Bauhaus. FANGS also points to more contemporary influences like Crystal Castles, German hardcore, 2000s blog-house a la Justice, and 2020s sleazepop.
The world crafted in FANGS is full of cosmic pessimism, glowing horror, imperceptible evil and digital dismemberment, ancient curses and ruined castles, Vampires. But it is also a thoroughly fun, and funny, record, as danceable as it is deep. Born of the club, some tracks would not sound out of place on Brat. Like a Smiths song which sounds happy and carefree until your brain tunes in to the misery of the lyrics, it can be listened to - and enjoyed - on two levels. One can get lost in the throb of bass and ludic synths, or tune into the horror of the lyrics which overlay them.
FANGS attempts to offer up a reflection to a culture that - like a Vampire - has lost its own. The result is something not only thoroughly modern, original, and inventive - but that feels genuinely dangerous and potent. FANGS delights in this ambiguity: simultaneously indicting decadence, decay, and moral rot, while luxuriating in its intoxication by it. Cacophonous sub-bass becomes a chthonic call of the void; seraphic rave synths become the screech of Valkyries; four-to-the-floor becomes a deathly funeral march. Vampire apocalypse.
Max Cooper delivers the latest instalment in the acclaimed fabric presents series, marking a landmark release as the first tracks to be presented in Spatial Audio. Fusing his signature blend of emotive electronica, immersive sound design and club-focused energy, the project captures Max’s ability to bridge the gap between cutting-edge technology and deeply human storytelling. Featuring exclusive material alongside carefully curated selections, the mix places him alongside previous fabric presents contributors including Daniel Avery, Overmono, Helena Hauff and Mount Kimbie, while pushing the series into new sonic territory.
Leading the accompanying EP is Flecks, a collaboration with LSB that pairs fast drum & bass breaks with Max Cooper’s unmistakable immersive production. Referencing the iconic Hurt You So break, the track fuses old-school jungle influences with a modern, spatial mix, hypnotic synth lines and subtle vocal fragments draw the listener deeper into its expansive soundscape. Also featured is Bredren’s Hash (Max Cooper Remix), a tension-filled drum & bass track built around distorting basslines and constantly evolving movement.
The EP's focus track, AO, sees Max Cooper reunite with Rival Consoles for a more introspective moment. Swapping high-tempo breaks for a slower electronica and house framework, the track unfolds through beautifully detailed percussion, organic rhythmic textures and sweeping synth melodies, culminating in a soaring central passage that showcases the pair's shared gift for emotionally resonant electronic composition.
Released via fabric Records, fabric presents: Max Cooper represents another evolution of the long-running series, a release that is equally at home on immersive listening systems and the dancefloor.
Trixie Whitley returns with 'Folded Time', her first full-length album in seven years and one of her most adventurous and rhythmically driven records to date. Written largely at the kitchen table of her Brooklyn apartment and recorded between Brussels, New York and Montréal, the nine-track album finds Whitley moving freely between rock, soul, R&B and more experimental territory.
Rhythm sits at the heart of 'Folded Time'. Whitley plays drums, bass, guitar and piano herself, with her love of polyrhythms running throughout the record. Heavy, slow-moving drums turn opener 'Carry' into a mantra, 'Fascinating and Fun' grew out of studio improvisation, while on 'Carnaval' Whitley and Cem Misirlioglu face each other behind two drum kits for what she calls a "drum rave". Her unmistakable voice remains at the centre, moving just as easily between restraint and raw power.
Across the album, Whitley looks at motherhood, womanhood, heartbreak, desire and forgiveness, and at how the past continues to shape who we become. It is a record about taking stock without standing still: instinctive and physical, but full of detail.
‘Finally’, the forthcoming new record from Catz ’n Dogz, belongs to the latter.
There are albums you listen to, and there are albums you live with. ‘Finally’, the forthcoming new record from Catz ’n Dogz, belongs to the latter.
Across sixteen tracks, Voitek and Greg have created their most creatively ambitious and emotionally open work to date. An album about relationships, friendship and the people and places that shape us. At its heart is a simple idea: music should make you feel something, and sometimes the most meaningful moments are the quiet ones when you finally have time to yourself.
Finally is rooted in the emotional contradictions that make memories so powerful. Inspired by classic American Folk and Soul, its songs are happy and nostalgic; hopeful without pretending that the past doesn’t exist. There is melancholy inside the euphoria and warmth inside the sadness, a constant interplay between looking back and moving forward.
The album begins with the soulful breakbeat glow of 'We’re Gonna Be Alright' featuring Ajii, before moving through the smoky jazz and piano-led intimacy of 'Dance For You' with Miller Blue and the bass-driven energy of 'Sun Goes Down' featuring Charlotte Haining. Closing with the reflective 'Miss You' featuring Mateusz Krautwurst, the record takes in a rich cast of vocalists, musicians and producers, alongside a series of deeply personal Catz ’n Dogz solo productions.
Those collaborations are central to Finally. The album is, in many ways, a celebration of the creative friendships Voitek and Greg have built throughout their journey. Relationships that have allowed them to step outside their comfort zone and rethink what their music can be.
Written and recorded between Madrid, New York, Warsaw and the road, the album finds the duo placing renewed emphasis on songwriting, chord progressions and musical craft. Rather than simply chasing the next track, they took the time to learn, experiment and create something with a sense of permanence.
This is an album for driving without a destination. For watching the sun go down. For remembering somebody you haven’t thought about in years. For those rare stretches of time when there is nowhere else you need to be.
It’s rare for a hardcore punk band to make four full-length albums, and rarer still for the fourth album to be the band’s masterpiece. Yet Paratiisi, the fourth album from Helsinki punks Kohti Tuhoa, stands as the undeniable coup de grâce of a catalog overflowing with classic hardcore punk. If you’re already a fan, it’ll comfort you to know Paratiisi leans heavily on the strengths Kohti Tuhoa has possessed since their earliest releases: a timeless sound that combines UK82 drive and hooks with dramatic metal flourishes; a captivating vocalist with the perfect balance of grit and clarity, who can both howl like a banshee and carry a tune; and a particularly Finnish way with a driving, medium-fast tempo. But for all the continuities with Kohti Tuhoa’s excellent previous records, Paratiisi almost feels like the work of a new band. The riffs and choruses that anchor the album are impossibly catchy; Paratiisi bulges with huge moments that practically force you to air guitar and sing along (even if you don’t speak a word of Finnish), the band’s peerless chops and the rich and clear recording driving these climaxes to dizzying highs. But while the hooks are memorable, there isn’t a moment on Paratiisi that feels dumbed-down or overly familiar.
In fact, the album feels notably ambitious, pulling influences from across punk’s historical and aesthetic breadth and digesting them seamlessly into Kohti Tuhoa’s distinctive sound. The lyrics (don’t worry: English translations are included!) meet the same high bar as the music. They’re direct, assertive, and punk, but they’re also subtle and insightful, whether they’re tackling huge issues like microplastics or sharing a very personal account of a sexual assault and its aftermath. And then there’s Paratiisi’s most unexpected moment, “Eliitin Psykopatia,” a free punk freakout in the tradition of “Why (Reprise)” and “L.A. Blues.” If Kohti Tuhoa’s brief foray into free jazz tries your patience, though, don’t worry, because after three minutes of building tension, they reward you with what is bound to be the best riff of 2026, a clash of chords potent enough to blow holes through walls the world over. Paratiisi is the sound of one hardcore punk’s most exciting bands at the height of their powers.
On their third album, FANGS, London collective HMLTD have created an entirely new genre: Götherdammerüng (or ÜberGöth). Predictably unpredictable, it could not be further away from their last outing, 2023 rock opera The Worm. The sixteen-piece orchestra has been traded in for Ableton, the timpani and violins replaced with side-chained four-to-the-floor and rave synths, and the gospel choir swapped for guttural gothic howling and black metal screams. The result is both unique and terrifying: a total reinvention and rehabilitation of the goth genre, through the looking glass of modern electronic and doomscroll-era dance music.
This new beginning was accompanied by a change in personnel, with Theo Spark and Andrei Martynchyk joining the fray alongside original members Henry Spychalski and Duc Peterman. Decamping to a ruined château in the Loire Valley, the quartet became obsessed with vampire lore, and the EBM and goth sound that inspired their early work: Fad Gadget, DAF, Nitzer Ebb, Suicide and Bauhaus. FANGS also points to more contemporary influences like Crystal Castles, German hardcore, 2000s blog-house a la Justice, and 2020s sleazepop.
The world crafted in FANGS is full of cosmic pessimism, glowing horror, imperceptible evil and digital dismemberment, ancient curses and ruined castles, Vampires. But it is also a thoroughly fun, and funny, record, as danceable as it is deep. Born of the club, some tracks would not sound out of place on Brat. Like a Smiths song which sounds happy and carefree until your brain tunes in to the misery of the lyrics, it can be listened to - and enjoyed - on two levels. One can get lost in the throb of bass and ludic synths, or tune into the horror of the lyrics which overlay them.
FANGS attempts to offer up a reflection to a culture that - like a Vampire - has lost its own. The result is something not only thoroughly modern, original, and inventive - but that feels genuinely dangerous and potent. FANGS delights in this ambiguity: simultaneously indicting decadence, decay, and moral rot, while luxuriating in its intoxication by it. Cacophonous sub-bass becomes a chthonic call of the void; seraphic rave synths become the screech of Valkyries; four-to-the-floor becomes a deathly funeral march. Vampire apocalypse.
This is more a relic than a record. A token of respect to the music that made me who I am. Everything I do starts here — the urge to pull songs I love into the club shape I play today, for one reason only: to make someone else feel what I feel when I hear them. Two techno improvisations, ANG and OSC, built on two songs that mattered enormously to me and to electronic music — bands that started their own revolutions, in their own time, mostly off to the side of the mainstream.
These came out too good to keep to myself. Vinyl only. 300 copies. No repress, ever. First come, first served. Bandcamp and selected stores. No digital, no promos — this one stays sealed.
A Portal To The Unknown – 7 Rotations of Neptune Discs brings together 12 producers across a double LP. Tifra and Match Box return following their own ep’s on the label this year, joined by familiar contributors Wigs, Aiden Francis, Jeku, Cybernet and Mahkina. COZi, Dive Crew and Thurlow Joyce make their first appearances, with Milès Borghese and Biodive completing the four sides.
Run independently by Astro from Edinburgh, Neptune Discs treats the exploratory ideas of ’90s and early-’00s club music as unfinished business. Prog, trance, tech house and dub techno remain reference points rather than templates, with more than 50 releases—and the arrival of Jupiter’s Depth and Pyramid Fields—allowing that identity to keep developing.
Wigs’ “Strangers” and Aiden Francis’ “Uno” bring warped, driving prog. COZi makes his Neptune debut with “Ride The Snake”, a lean, stripped-back tech-house roller that brings early-2000s economy into the present. Jeku follows with “Droop”, a trippy, ozone-soaked slow roller, while Thurlow Joyce closes with the warm, deeply submerged dub techno of “Sundowner”.
Beyond the vinyl, three digital exclusives expand the release: Bert Vesper’s “Babbel Truc”, Azzecca’s “Home” and Foley’s “What Could’ve Been”.
Featuring artwork by theAJM, the release is pressed across two 12-inches, distributed by One Eye Witness and arrives on 23 October 2026.
Composed over a period of twenty years, these four electroacoustic pieces by Ivo Malec reflect the richness of his sonic universe and reveal the unique power of his musical writing. His strength lies in an ability to harness emerging sounds and techniques (ranging from complex editing to early computer music and electronic synthesis) and develop them through an exploratory approach, giving rise to musical ideas of rare clarity. This sense of determination, not only in terms of the future of sounds but also of musical forms, is what makes Ivo Malec an essential composer on the contemporary music scene and a key figure in the GRM’s repertoire.
François Bonnet, Paris, 2025
The first wave of British punk was overrun with smart kids from upper-class backgrounds playacting at being working-class yobs. Sham 69 was different; every bit as thick-headed and provincial as the band sounded, they took a perversely populist pride in its lack of musical or intellectual sophistication, just like The Exploited and Anti-Nowhere League.
Side one of Tell Us The Truth was recorded live, and it perfectly captured the Cockney vibe, complete with football chants and a spontaneous chorus of "Knees Up, Mother Brown." Frontman Jimmy Pursey's banter with the audience is impressive, and all the songs are brimmed with straight-ahead live energy. The studio side is a template for brash UK punk rock: snotty, in-your-face, fast and loud.
Tell Us The Truth is now available on black vinyl.
Built with the immediacy that comes from limitation, iPhone Grime is almost exactly what it says on the tape case. Pulled directly from the portable communication device of Front Left Life's Louis Payne, iPhone Grime is the perfect distillation of raw ideas through a simple medium. When producers can drown in the infinite possibilities of the DAW vortex, a simple phone app can steer you swiftly to the sharpest results. Snippets of real world sound captured on the mic ground these quick-fire beats in a time and place, dynamic and street-level like grime and early dubstep was when it was being imagined on PlayStation games and filmed on ropey phone cameras.
Payne is undoubtedly bringing perspective to his sketches, having forged a connection with London's club scene through his part in the widely hailed Front Left Life parties in Catford, at Venue MOT and elsewhere. With a roll call of guests that cuts a sharp line through the best of bassweight club music right now, his taste and knowledge precedes his first steps into the production arena. Rather than puzzling out the path to a thousand likes for a hardware jam reel, he's opted for a direct line between his brain and the beat at the end of it.
You can hear the naivety behind vocal loops like the one nagging away on 'Follow That', calling to mind the first time you ever tried making a Fruity Loops beat. But these are no amateur throwaways — the technology has moved on and Payne's instincts guide him towards legit constructions that could easily do damage in the club. Sometimes they exist as no more than an eight bar loop, while others like 'Wind It Up (Dream Dealers Version)' or 'Extra Dimensional Being' stretch an idea out. Throughout it all, the looming throb of square wave bass glues the record together and anchors the grime dimension of Payne's job lot of phone jams.
Payne's work is all his own, and the snatches of real life around the beats anchor this music in his own London life. But, like previous shifts in technology and accessibility, iPhone Grime also raises an important prospect—that anyone with one of these apps, a Bluetooth speaker and an idea can bring music out of studios and into the world. History has already proven, when that happens the possibilities become thrillingly unpredictable.
Pablo Volt and J.G.G. make dub-folktronica the unpolished way: guitar, horns, drums and synths, recorded loose, drenched in echoes and tape saturation. They met in Barcelona over a shared love of experimental beers and even more experimental sessions, determined to see how far their musical chemistry could take them. "Mordida", their 2023 tape, spent months on repeat at the Pingipung office. Now comes the debut LP: Aqui me quedo. It's a record built on the gap between two childhoods. Pablo Volt (aka Pope, as producer) grew up in Mendoza, Argentina; Jordi Gege aka J.G.G. in a suburb of Barcelona. What they share is a language and a curiosity about each other's memories and musical roots - the studio is where they embrace their different origins in improvisations. A ditch from Pablo's childhood becomes "Zanjon". A mountain Jordi used to roam becomes "Emisora". An ice cream shop, a Sunday market, a football club: small doors into a past the other never lived, but somehow recognises. Aqui me quedo, "I'm staying here", is also the name of the Barcelona bar where they toast after a good session. Two friends, tracing their way back through the past, decide the present is where they'd rather be. Handmade, melodic, unashamed of a smile as they greet from the LP sleeve: this is the spirit in which Pingipung was founded 24 years ago and these two guys, muy simpatico, are living proof of it.
Italian percussionist Umberto Vitiello takes us on a journey into a vanished world. Mixed by Italian techno master Donato Dozzy, the album draws on memories spanning decades, including Vitiello's years living on Yarakh Beach on the outskirts of Dakar, Senegal. There, the rhythms of daily life flowed with the tides: fishermen launching their pirogues at dawn, griots and vendors gathering beneath three towering palm trees, and the Atlantic Ocean providing a serene soundtrack.
Named after the Lébou people whose fishing culture has shaped the coastline around Dakar for centuries, the record is both a tribute to a community that welcomed Vitiello as one of their own and a reflection on what has been lost.
Those years left a profound mark on both his life and his music. Yet this is not simply a work of remembrance. It is also a meditation on change.
Today, the beach that inspired these recordings has been transformed by pollution and environmental decline. Where fishing boats and palm trees once stood, a sculpture by Senegalese artist Serigne Gorgui Mbaye now depicts two giant ears facing the sea-a reminder of the need to listen: to one another, to nature, and to our own conscience.
Blending percussion, atmosphere and storytelling, the album revisits formative experiences from the 1980s through the perspective of the present day. Featuring vocal contributions from Olympia Ndiaye, Anna Caragnano and Mariangela Morais, and guided by Dozzy's spacious, immersive mix, it unfolds as a deeply personal journey through memory, place and transformation.
Following the acclaimed Milano Undiscovered, Italia Undiscovered and Italia Synthetica series comes Italo International: a new collection celebrating the enduring legacy of Italo Disco. Eight exclusive tracks by established European artists reimagining one of Italy's most influential musical movements with originality, respect, and a contemporary vision.
Italo International is a journey through the many shades of elegant and visionary electronic music, moving between Italo Disco, Synth Pop and dancefloor-oriented sounds. The talented and steadily rising Polish producer Rafał Lachmirowicz, aka Also Playable Mono; Hungarian artist Gianni Durante, aka Electro Potato, who for years has been bringing back the sound of early-Eighties Italo Disco with passion and a contemporary sensibility; Norwegian Tommy Holsen, aka DJ TinTin, who together with the Eighties band Go explores the classic sounds of Nordic Synth Pop; British producer Mark Wilkinson, aka Kid Machine, who for over fifteen years has been creating productions made for the dancefloor; Tyrell Corporation, the alias of Dutch producer Alden Tyrell, who joins forces with Italian duo Italoconnection to rework a track destined to set the dancefloor on fire; Swedish multidisciplinary artist Tobias Bernstrup, who for three decades has been reinventing the more sophisticated side of Italo Disco with elegance and a distinctive vision; the Dutch project Sfera Celeste Project, which blends Moroder-inspired sounds with a hypnotic minimalism reminiscent of Jeff Mills; and, closing the journey, British artists Heartbreak, Ali Renault and Sebastian Muravchik, with a poignant and slow-burning excursion into the melancholic world of Synth Pop.
“Slide in the party like three monkeys wearing a trench,” GDP says in the opening seconds of Cross Off Matthew, his first solo album in over a decade. The line is indicative of the New Jersey emcee/ producer’s relationship with music, one that’s ebbed and flowed throughout his career and eclectic discography. Entirely self-produced, Cross Off Matthew feels like a reintroduction as well as an expansion of what makes the cult rapper so beloved. GDP came up in the respective punk, hardcore, and skateboarding scenes of New Jersey, roots that inspired his DIY approach to making hip-hop. He applied a decidedly punk ethos to his brand of neo- boom bap on early releases like 2009’s Realistic Expectations and 2011’s Useless Eaters, albums that celebrated his youthful indiscretions but also signaled an old soul lying beneath the surface.
He opted to release them on punk/indie labels (including Run For Cover and Ride The Fury Records) instead of more traditional hip-hop outlets, and along with an ambitious touring schedule, he carved out a dedicated fanbase throughout the early 2010’s. Cross Off Matthew is a slow-cooked labor of love, born out of taking enough time away from something to understand the journey with greater perspective and appreciation.“I’m older, arguably wiser, but that creative fire stayed with me,” he says. “I wanted to make something that felt nuanced, something that I could feel proud of.” Throughout the album, the production toggles between foreboding and facetious just as deftly as his bars. Tracks like “Island In The Sky” and “Location Therapy” make rap confetti out of caustic guitars and glaring distortion, while “Seroquel” and “Rock For Light,” (the latter a nod to NJ rap royalty, The Outsidaz) embrace GDP’s signature blend of East Coast hip-hop and punk sensibilities, with lyrics that highlight the sharp wit and heady philosophizing that he made his name on. GDP examines vices, interpersonal relationships, the collective dread of late-stage capitalism as well as the pitfalls and rewards of trying to lead a creative life throughout it all. The wiseman that peaked out from beneath the shield of debauchery on his early releases has now come to the forefront, as GDP’s trademark humor and commentary feel refined by years of life lived experience
Revisiting the sound and spirit of Jazzy Sport, rooted in Japan and carried forward by a new generation. Compiled by Nina Yamada, featuring Cro-Magnon and Grooveman Spot, with remixes by DJ Mitsu the Beats and Idjut Boys.
Founded in 2002, Jazzy Sport emerged at a particularly fertile moment in Japanese music. Beginning as an independent label and record shop, with its first store in Morioka and Jazzy Sport Music Shop Tokyo opening in Shibuya the following year, it became a home for artists including GAGLE, DJ Mitsu the Beats, Cro-Magnon and Grooveman Spot. Its releases moved freely between hip-hop, house, jazz, broken beat and live musicianship, helping define a distinctly Japanese strain of open-minded club culture.
But the music was only the beginning. Jazzy Sport developed into a network of record shops across Japan, alongside its label and distribution work, apparel and design, dance studios, and a Morioka record shop joined to a bouldering gym. These were not unrelated side projects. They expressed the same founding idea: that music, sport and everyday life could come together to create community.
PAST FORWARD: SILVER marks the first release on the Jazzy Sport London label, distributed by Time Capsule. Established in 2022, the London project first took shape through parties, radio shows and community collaborations connecting Japan and the UK. This compilation carries the Jazzy Sport archive and its values forward through a new generation.
At the centre is Nina Yamada, the daughter of one of Jazzy Sport’s core members. She grew up within the community that shaped the collective, and her selection is not a conventional greatest-hits survey, but an inside view of the catalogue and an intergenerational handover made audible.
The music moves naturally between hip-hop and house, electronic production and live performance. That openness has always been central to Jazzy Sport, where club music, musicianship and community are part of the same conversation rather than separate scenes.
DJ Mitsu the Beats’ remix of Cro-Magnon’s “Eclipse” brings the refined, soulful depth that makes him such an important figure in Japanese beat music. Idjut Boys’ deep, dubwise Cro-Magnon rework reflects the long exchange between Japan and the UK, while Grooveman Spot’s “Do The Dance” finds a sweet spot between acid-tinged 808 groove and warm soulfulness.
Elsewhere, Nubian Lady’s “In☆Flu☆Enza” draws on Detroit techno and Chicago house but sharpens those influences into something lean and distinctive. Physical Sound Sport’s “Magical Kalimba” captures the communal energy and openness of a live session. Bottom Fly’s “Rhyme Or Reason,” rooted in Morioka, pairs rough-edged beats with mellow samples and a quiet sense of nostalgia.
What comes through is not only the strength of the individual tracks, but the sensibility that connects them. That keeps PAST FORWARD: SILVER from feeling like a nostalgic best-of. For longtime followers, it offers rediscovery; for new listeners, a way into the breadth of Jazzy Sport; and for DJs, a selection made for the record bag, not just the archive.
Riding the least likely commercial success of the 90s with Modern Rock chart topper "Pepper," Austin odd rockers Butthole Surfers returned to the studio in 1998 for the followup, After The Astronaut. Leaning further into experiments with electronics, hip-hop, acid grooves, and the otherwise unusual, the result is a dizzying orbital trip expanding the idea of what's possible in rock music.
Disputes between the Butthole Surfers and Capitol Records left the album unreleased, while the band regrouped and re-recorded some of the material for 2001's Weird Revolution, released through Hollywood Records. After The Astronaut collected dust, eventually developing a mythic status.
A quarter century later, Butthole Surfers are realizing their vision for After The Astronaut. Newly mixed by guitarist/producer Paul Leary, After The Astronaut corrects the record on the band's activity in the late 90s with a bold, idiosyncratic evolution of their sun-fried psychedelia.
Originally released in 2014, Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles is now being reissued on limited-edition gold vinyl.
The album tells a story of the intersection of the material world and the world of the spirit. Includes fan favorites "I Never Wear White" and "Crack in the Wall,” plus "Song of the Stoic" and “Don't Uncork What You Can’t Contain,” and "Horizon", written for Vaclav Havel.
Produced and arranged by Gerry Leonard, the album features an illustrious group of musicians including longtime Vega bass player Mike Visceglia and drummer Doug Yowell, bass player Gail Ann Dorsey and drummer Zachary Alford (David Bowie), bass player Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel), drummer Jay Bellerose (T-Bone Burnett), and Larry Campbell (Bob Dylan) who plays banjo, mandolin, and cymbal throughout the album. Additional contributions feature drummer Sterling Campbell (David Bowie, B52s) and Alison Balsom, the virtuoso principal trumpet for the London Chamber Orchestra. Catherine Russell, known for her work with David Bowie and Paul Simon, adds background vocals.
The strings were recorded in the Czech Republic with the Smichov Chamber Orchestra. The album was mixed by Grammy Award-winning engineer Kevin Killen.
Tauchen Sie ein in eine faszinierende Welt voller mystischer Klänge, sphärischer Melodien und geheimnisvoller Atmosphären. „Mystic Spirits“ entführt den Hörer auf eine musikalische Reise zwischen Meditation, Mystik und entrückten Klanglandschaften.
Sanfte elektronische Sounds, eindrucksvolle Arrangements und geheimnisvolle Stimmen verbinden sich zu einer außergewöhnlichen Klangwelt, die zum Träumen, Entspannen und Abschalten einlädt. Die Compilation vereint
stimmungsvolle Titel, die eine ganz besondere Atmosphäre zwischen Spiritualität, Fantasy und New Age schaffen.
Mit dabei sind hochkarätige Künstler wie Mike Oldfield, Lesiem und Angelzoom, deren charakteristische Sounds perfekt in das mystische Konzept dieser Zusammenstellung passen. „Mystic Spirits“ – eine musikalische Reise in geheimnisvolle Klangwelten für alle, die außergewöhnliche Musik mit Tiefe und Atmosphäre lieben.
Following the success of the inaugural all-Jiri Jiri edition, Batov Records returns with the second instalment of its Give Me Disco series, once again curated by label co-founder and globe-trotting selector DJ Kobayashi. Rather than revisiting familiar disco classics, Give Me Disco Vol. 02 digs deeper, bringing together four dancefloor discoveries from across Europe and Asia, including two previously unreleased tracks available here for the first time.
Spanning Portuguese jazz-funk, Norwegian cosmic oddities, Japanese-inspired psychedelic disco and cinematic groove, the EP reflects the breadth of Kobayashi's record bag - a carefully assembled selection of tracks that have soundtracked his DJ sets for years alongside exclusive material rescued from the vaults.
Opening the record is The Bam Jam Band's brilliantly understated "Theme", a soaring slice of jazz-infused disco from Portuguese musicians Sérgio Alves and Pedro Tenreiro. Originally released only as a now long-sold-out 7 inch on Mad About Records, the track has become one of Kobayashi's trusted secret weapons, championed by discerning selectors including Darryn Jones and Red Greg. Built around Alves' dazzling synthesiser work, "Theme" finally gets the wider audience it deserves. The EP's first exclusive arrives courtesy of D. Apal, instrumentalist and member of Norway's Flammer Dance Band. His only solo release, issued on the band's Lysketrekk Records, has become a cult favourite among adventurous record collectors. Batov now unveils the previously unreleased "60 Meter'n (Rytme)", an extended instrumental dub that strips away the vocals to let the handclaps, cavernous bassline, dub effects and wonderfully eccentric synthesisers breathe, transforming an underground favourite into an irresistible dancefloor weapon.
Side B opens with YĪN YĪN's "Tokyo Disco", taken from the band's acclaimed third album Mount Matsu on Glitterbeat Records. Long-time admirers of the Dutch quartet, Kobayashi has championed them since first hearing the breakthrough pairing of "Dis ̄ kô Dis ̄ kô" and "Dion Ysiusk" on Bongo Joe. Since then, he has hosted the band twice on Soho Radio and supported them live in London. "Tokyo Disco" perfectly captures YĪN YĪN's distinctive blend of Japanese-inspired psychedelia, Southeast Asian influences, post-punk funk and shimmering disco grooves, making it a natural fit for the Give Me Disco series.
Closing the EP is another exclusive from Jiri Jiri, whose contribution helped launch the series on Vol. 01. Ahead of their forthcoming album later this year, the duo unveil the previously unreleased "Spaghetti Western", a wonderfully off-kilter fusion of Morricone-esque cinematic atmosphere, taut funk rhythms and the soulful modern groove of SAULT. Equal parts soundtrack and dancefloor curveball, it provides a fitting finale while offering another tantalising glimpse of what's still to come. With two exclusive cuts sitting alongside two carefully chosen modern classics, Give Me Disco Vol. 02 is another lovingly curated snapshot of DJ Kobayashi's musical universe: borderless, groove-driven and unapologetically built for adventurous DJs, discerning collectors and open minded dancefloors alike.
