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Following Parnell March’s Back Bar Grooves EP in February and November’s release of the Dust Tears (lead song from Sarah/Shaun’s debut) remixes, Edinburgh’s Hobbes Music label returns with a second EP of dream pop from husband-and-wife duo Sarah/Shaun (pronounced simply Sarah Shaun), alias Sarah and Shaun McLachlan (pronounced McLochlun), who wooed hearts and wowed critics with debut EP ‘It’s True What They Say?’ last year.

‘It’s True What They Say?’ attracted fans across the board: Artist Of The Week in The Scotsman, rapturous reviews from The Skinny and Tokyo's Ban Ban Ton Ton blog, BBC 6Music airplay courtesy of Nemone (Mary Anne Hobbs' Morning Show), more radio play from Radio Scotland's Roddy Hart & Vic Galloway, plus Simone Butler (Primal Scream) and Jim Sclavunos (Bad Seeds) via their respective Soho Radio shows, not forgetting ringing endorsements from the likes of David Holmes, Youth, Kevin Bales (Spiritualized), Brent Rademaker (Beachwood Sparks) and Julian Corrie (Franz Ferdinand).

They played gigs supporting Glasgow's huge Glasvegas, at festivals (Kendall Calling, Dunbar Music, Hidden Door), plus a slew of venues across the Scottish capital, ending the year with a trio of shows supporting Glaswegian 80s pop legends The Bluebells at Aberdeen’s Tunnels, Dunfermline’s PJ Molloys and Edinburgh’s Liquid Rooms, while The List magazine tipped them among their Ones To Watch For 2025, with journalist Fiona Shepherd suggesting they were “blending the starry-eyed pop of Sonny & Cher with the electronic experimentation of Chris & Cosey.”

Very much the companion piece to the debut EP but arriving a full twelve months later, Someone’s Ghost is emblematic of the duo’s desire not to rush things or release anything half-baked.

“I’ve always wanted to create the perfect pop record and I do really feel that we’ve achieved that with this one,” says Shaun. And he’s clearly not the only person who thinks so.

REVIEWS, FEEDBACK ETC:

"I LOVE that! Dreamy dreamy pop." ROY MOLLOY (Marvellous Crane/Alex Cameron) on BLAST RADIO, Sydney
“the Scottish music scene’s cream of the cool... buzzy drum beats, high, distant chimes, and heavenly electronics…. very ethereal.” THE SKINNY

"Listening to Sarah/Shaun is like eavesdropping on a noir dreampop, long-distance phone call between them both, across two separate sonic locations. On this stunning 4-song EP, Sarah’s voice, effortlessly mesmerising, draws you into these big beautiful and haunting passages of perfect dream-pop. All beautifully produced in a multi-layered-scape of low-fi analogue textures, epic cinematic crescendos, intense electro-pulse grooves and warped psycho-pop guitar riffs. Within the songs lurk a sense of unresolved emotions, longing and pathos. There are shades of classic Lee Hazelwood & Nancy Sinatra but also Post-Punk Electronica and Beach House. But what a unique sound they’ve created of their own. I love it" DAVID MCCLUSKEY (The Bluebells)
"Absolutely beautiful" SEAN JOHNSTON (A Love From Outer Space)
"Lovely stuff here! Total quality." MARTYN 'MASH' HENDERSON
"Ooooh. Everything the last record promised is here. Well done" GEORGE T aka George Demure (Accident Machine)
"Vince clark Era Depeche Mode in places" KEVIN BALES (Spiritualized)
"Sounds cool. Well done" PETE KEMBER (Sonic Boom, Spacemen 3)
"Glorious, it (Debbie Harry) grabs hold of you and doesn't let go." IAIN DAWSON aka RAVECHILD (Everyone Wants To Play The Hits Podcast)

SOMEONE’S GHOST

Born out of an incredibly anxious, stressful time, the songwriting process for these recordings has been something of a personal tonic for Shaun…

“There was a period when I was having nightmares,” he reveals. “Apparently I was saying there was someone in the room, I was talking to that person and Sarah was seeing all this while I was still asleep.

So, I was thinking that this was my ghost. I started writing songs because I was going through something and I was dealing with something and writing songs was a comfort. My ghost was a comfort, whether it was real or not. The idea of it was a comfort.”

“I firmly believe that everyone has someone who watches over them but all of the songs are essentially about being there for someone,” he says. “Everybody needs someone but also everyone needs to stay real and keep what you have, keep it close, never let it go. If you don’t have it, continue to tell people you’re there for them. It’s about loving and hoping people will be good to you in return.”

While Shaun took the songwriting lead on Filter Of Love and EP closer The Sound Which Stresses The Sound Of My Ears, Debbie Harry was originally instrumentally conceived by producer Jaguar Eyes, alias Ali Chisholm, later lyrically completed by Shaun, and the EP’s lead track, Anhedonia, and one of its stand-outs (much like Starbed on the debut) was conceived by Sarah, as a result of experiencing a bit of a spiritual epiphany of her own.

“When I first heard the word Anhedonia, I didn't know what it meant but when I found out I thought about it quite a bit. How sad it would be to have no enjoyment in anything,” she explains. “This song is really about my own personal beliefs. When I have been down, that's one of the things that helps me the most. It talks about trying to make amends but realising, for some things, you can't. But I think with any kind of faith comes hope… which is always a good thing.”

A record about hope, truth, honesty, a belief in something bigger than oneself… and all set to a soundtrack that wouldn’t feel out of place in a David Lynch or Eighties feature film. What more could anyone ask for, really?

There’s equally a desire to offer something universal and positive to anyone who tunes in. The labels for the 12” edition reveal the dual mantras “Who just wants to survive?” and “It’s about time to live a little”, with both messages also engraved in each record’s run-out grooves. T-shirts accompanying debut EP It’s True What They Say? bore the slogan “Kill Them With Kindness” - leading caps intentional. Shaun carries the acronym KTWK everywhere he plays, as a reminder: it’s stitched into his guitar strap. And this particular wee pebble has already caused a few ripples: people have been approaching him at gigs to acknowledge their appreciation and respect for it.

"We feel we have made an honest, open, colourful, body of work,” say the duo. “We hope to go out and play the songs with the guys (our band) and then potentially make more records. We are taking things as they come. Everything has been organic so far, after all. We are looking forward to whatever this brings."

Through his tracks, Jumo explores nostalgia and memory, from phili to memory, blending memories of youth and fleeting sensations. Tgthr encourages living the moment, while lula unfolds like a raw, cinematic road movie. The synthetic voices of sirens create a hypnotic theme, reflecting free souls suspended between a desire to escape and the fear of falling back. Euphoria tackles the madness of man's race to innovate and his indifference to the world, mixing mechanical urgency and emerging awareness. Each track plays with contrasts; melancholy and euphoria, darkness and light; combining synthesizers, persistent bass, and saturated textures. Together, they form a sonic journey where dancing becomes an act of memory and emotional survival.

From the heart of Tamanrasset in South Algeria, Imarhan transcend Tuareg tradition, weaving hypnotic synths into desert blues. The result is a timeless work—deeply respectful of their roots, yet alive with a stirring sense of modernity.

ESSAM is the band’s fourth album, recorded with the same core lineup, but marks a significant shift in their sound and approach. Musically, it marks a departure from the rocky, bluesy, psychedelic Tuareg guitar-driven sound influenced by Tinariwen’s heritage — moving toward something more open, modern, and exploratory.
For the first time, their long-time sound engineer Maxime Kosinetz stepped in as producer. He travelled to Tamanrasset with Emile Papandreou (of the French duo UTO), a multi-instrumentalist who introduced electronic elements by sampling live instruments and reprocessing them in real time with a modular synthesizer — subtly reshaping the band's sonic identity.
The album was recorded mostly live, in one big room at Aboogi Studio — the band’s own rehearsal and recording space in Tamanrasset. The studio, a converted concert hall, has become a kind of cultural hub for the local youth. Friends dropped by during the sessions to contribute handclaps, vocals, and just be part of the energy. It’s a space where people gather, hang out, play dominoes, smoke chicha — a rare communal spot in a city that doesn’t offer many for young people, somewhat like a youth and community center.
This context — the creative shift, the live recording process, the atmosphere around Aboogi — might be interesting threads to explore in the conversation.

Tre Turner bounces back on Belters4u with two unashamedly old-school Scottish club cuts alongside two remixes from London prog trance upstarts Close Proximity.

With shared spiritual roots in the West of Scotland early 90s rave scene, Belters4U and Tre Turner realise their adolescent dream in releasing this love letter to a decadent lost reality. Title track ”Scottish Piano” amalgamates a million shared moments on Scottish dance-floors and living room afterparties. On the flip, Ultra-Free samples the vocal hook from the ultimate Scottish old skool rave anthem ”Obsession” by legends ‘Ultra-Sonic.’ Hardcore pianos meet gated synths and thumping solid bass, the sound of many a misspent youth.

Through the haze of smoke and strobes, the Close Proximity Trance Mix recalls the wildest, most ecstatic, face-melting moments from the legendary Metro and Hangar 13 clubs. Close Proximity round things off by taking you further into euphoric dreamland with their ever-evolving Paradise Mix of Ultra-Free.

Gradually, the latest album by Julien Mier, is a sonic journey that delves into the transitions of life, identity, and the blurred boundaries between art and personal growth. With a trilingual brain, Mier reflects on how language shifts have shaped his sense of self throughout his life and the music that he writes. Gradually is his exploration of shapelessness—an urge to break free from rigid musical genres and get closer to his most fundamental expression. The album is composed of nine tracks, each representing a distinct cultural and linguistic influence, all tied together by the theme of gradual evolution.

The first section, Ciel, Soleil, and Espace (French for Sky, Sun, and Space), draws on Mier’s French heritage, evoking the feeling of childhood memories bathed in a warm, nostalgic glow. This fluid, atmospheric section mirrors the soft, ever-changing air, symbolising a time of pure, untainted intention. It feels like a hazy, sepia-toned dream, as fleeting and elusive as the scent of an old friend. The gentle flow of the music mirrors the flow of wind, effortlessly shifting from one element to the next, a reflection of the innocence and clarity of youth.

The second section, Steen, Zee, and Zand (Dutch for Stone, Sea, and Sand), channels the influence of Mier’s childhood in a small Dutch dune village. These tracks are grounded in the hard-edged textures of electronic dance music, a genre that introduced him to a world of rhythm and movement. With a sonic palette of blues, greys, and more defined shapes, this section captures the solid, enduring forces of nature—earth, water, and stone. It’s a sonic landscape rooted in stability, a foundation from which everything can grow. The tracks build from the fluidity of the first section into more structured, rhythmic territories, mirroring the natural transition from childhood innocence to the discovery of deeper, more grounded musical influences.

The final section, Scrap (a collaborative track with the Japanese producer Daisuke Tanabe), Soil, and Spark, dives into the exploration of the world beyond familiar borders. Mier’s relocation from the Netherlands to Australia in 2016 is reflected in these pieces, which grapple with the contrast and complexity of different cultures and environments. These tracks are tinged with rust-red hues and a sense of eroded beauty, evoking a more fragmented, distorted view of the world. The music here is marked by tension, conflict, and the erosion of once-solid forms—symbolic of the digital and ecological storms that shape our modern existence. The closing piece, Spark, signals a new beginning, a hopeful initiation into the cycle of renewal.

The album artwork for Gradually is a conclusive visual representation of this journey, captured in the final frame of an analog film roll that began in the Netherlands and concluded with an image of the streets of Sydney, Australia—a perfect metaphor for the album’s narrative of gradual transition and discovery.

Getting You Back to the Game of Life Records’ opening release, ‘Comme des mots’ LP is a journey through diverse sonic textures and energies from label-founder Lil Ronin.

Getting you back to the game of life is the headline of a physical and mental health therapy center. Casually popped in your conscience from an advertising board and let you in a strange place. But what is the game of life?
This label could be that space to get you back, to forget and perhaps find a form of youthful innocence again.

As a first solo project Lil Ronin freely experimented between different influences and genres that present his intimate universes, juggling with abstract, ballad and more dancefloor music, mostly recorded in Parisian suburb Alfortville between 2022 and 2024.

‘Comme des mots’ means ‘like words’ and evokes the ambiguous presence of his voice in the album, hidden in different characters, sometimes raving other times being conscious. Finally becoming a schizophrenic presence guiding you for the trip.

The cover follows the same ambivalence showing a typography with a distinct message that loses its readability in abstraction. The record also includes an insert with a childhood photo of Lil Ronin.

The LP was mastered in Paris by artist and engineer Krikor KOUCHIAN,
(past works for Simo Cell, Maoupa Mazzocchetti, Tolouse Low Trax…);
The design was created by sculptor artist and designer Marie-Mam-Sai BELLIER,
(past works for Erwan Sene’s JUnQ LP - PAN record, Zulu’s Hear The Sound Of My Feet - Association fatale etc.); The handmade drawings are by Vincent BENTOLILA (associated with the ‘Isengard’ label and parties in Brussels) ; The cover was handmade through silk-screen printing by the Lyon-based printer Olivier BRAL (whose past projects include Brigade Cynophile, Ateliers Dénudés, and Megabasse).

Follow-up album to cult-classic debut, Mantra Moderne.

‘Melodi’ is the second album from captivating duo Kit Sebastian (aka Kit Martin and Merve Erdem). Those familiar with the band's cult classic 2019 debut record 'Mantra Moderne' will instantly recognise their unique sound that blurs boundaries of world music, jazz and psychedelia. Not to be content replicating the same album, sonically the feel of ‘Melodi’ is a maturation. It is more diverse and provides glimpses into many different worlds from the Italian Riviera to the mountains of the Caucasus, the beaches of Bahia to the city streets of Istanbul and Paris. This joyous merging of soundscapes evokes a borderless planet with music as an international language, belonging everywhere and nowhere.

‘Melodi’ is imbued with Kit Sebastian's love of vintage records and world cinema, but it is not a retro homage. It celebrates its influences but is very much a modern record, being simultaneously brand new and retro. This is a credit to the duo's craft as musicians and songwriters, presenting their influences as a circular interaction between the present and the past rather than a linear one.

The music was written during the first UK lockdown and recorded that summer, a time of opening up that only briefly existed. In a world with a slower pace than before the Covid crisis, the band were able to spend more time experimenting in the studio. The album’s range of instrumentation has expanded from the previous record to include zithers, harpsichords, congas, bongos, bulbul tarang, and a mock-up choir on top of the synthesizers, balalaikas, organs, and saxophones. Session musicians and friends were also booked to introduce trumpet and string sections giving the album an added depth and orchestral texture. Despite the added complexity, the album was recorded using the same techniques employed for the previous album with various tape machines, bouncing back between cassette and ¼” tape for practicality and sonic abstraction. To pierce through this abstraction, the vocals are intentionally more expressive. Merve took cues from the Turkish singers of her youth, adding a slightly more melancholic, darker and more reflective style than 'Mantra Moderne’. Rooted in observations from everyday life, they speak often about the worlds and thoughts that arise from the end of the night.

Like with many of the best albums, the record seems over all too soon and has you instantly wanting to play it again. On each listen you decide on a track that you think is your favourite from the album only for it to be replaced with a different one on the next listen. The songs and production have hidden depths that seem to evolve and morph the more you devour them. Moments of pure pop, moments to fall in love, moments to contemplate. This journey is rich in musical vitamins and nourishment, but like all the best things still leaves you wanting more.

Rag’n’Bone Man is ready to accept joy into his life. Born Rory Charles Graham, the Sussex-born singer known for his gravelly blues vocals, took the world by storm with his debut album ‘Human’ in 2016. Now multi award-winning, the British vocalist is embracing newfound balance, returning to his creative foundations while building anew.

It’s the most vital chapter to date in one of British music’s defining stories. A truth-telling voice that has framed an era, Rag’n’Bone Man’s success speaks for itself: his debut album ‘Human’ went platinum four times over in the UK and multi-platinum in a further twenty-seven countries - becoming the fastest selling male debut album that decade. While his latest release ‘Life By Misadventure’ debuted at #1 and spent seven weeks in the Top 10, making it the fastest-selling album by a solo artist in 2021. With over nine-billion worldwide streams (and counting) over his entire catalogue, Rag’n’Bone Man is a voice that can be heard across the globe. Now he’s ready to eclipse this: assured, and built with love, his uplifting new album “What Do You Believe In?” finds the multi award-winning British artist (with three BRITs, two MTV Europe awards, and an Ivor Novello to his name) facing the future with passionate excitement.

‘What Do You Believe In?’ is anchored in the blossoming of confidence and the enduring support network he finds in family life. It’s taken time, but Rag’n’Bone Man is in a secure, loving place - and he wants to share that feeling. The period surrounding second album, 2021’s ‘Life By Misadventure’, was marked by self-doubt, with troubles weighing down on the singer’s shoulders – but then things changed - As a result, new album ‘What Do You Believe In?’ has a bold, yet radiant touch.

With the pairing of the poignant and ubiquitous themes and the sonic brightness of both 00s hip-hop and the youthful memories they prompt, the release of the albums title track ‘What Do You Believe In?’ sets the tone for the for the thrilling musical journey Rag’s is preparing to take fans on.

Debut LP from House On The Strand whose production sensibilities fall somewhere akin to Boards of Canada, Toxe, Fourtet, Khotin & Croatian Amor.

House on the Strand’s debut full length release is a playful, wide eyed and vivid collection of songs that echo the simplicity and nostalgia of 00’s childhood. A collection of colourful and vivid synth tones, fragmented beats and samples across 35mins dance like shapes and colours behind closed eye lids or like imperfect early digital camera footage of summers lost to memory. Sonically, 'Heroine’'s tones and production sensibilities fall somewhere akin to Boards of Canada, Toxe, Fourtet, Khotin & Croatian Amor.

Before MF DOOM donned his mask and became one of the most prolific MC-producers of modern Hip-Hop, he was a member of KMD, an early ‘90s rap group whose work still goes criminally under-appreciated to this day.

Following their 1991 debut album, Mr. Hood, the former trio shed one member leaving only two remaining – Subroc and his brother, Zev Love X (better known today as MF DOOM). Originally scheduled for release in 1994, their sophomore album Black Bastards showed clear progression from their debut. It was a truly amazing record, both sonically and lyrically, full of youthful creativity and tinged with the stresses of growing up as Black men in urban America. Songs like the lead single “What A N*gga Know”, the slippery, bass-driven “Get U Now”, and the album’s title track explore Black consciousness viewed through young-but-experienced eyes. Musically alternating between bouncy and raw – many times both, concurrently – the tracks gave the MC’s the springboard they needed to express themselves clearly.

Sadly, Subroc would face a sudden and untimely death in 1993, just as the duo were finishing the album. Grief-stricken, his brother Zev Love X – now the sole remaining member of the group – was determined to carry the legacy of KMD onward, but Elektra Records unceremoniously shelved the project in the eleventh hour, due to controversy surrounding the album’s provocative cover art. Following the fallout with Elektra, Zev tried for years to release the album on other labels, but he was continually met with dead ends. Struggling through the pain of losing his brother, coupled with the inability to release their final project together, a discouraged Zev Love X quietly withdrew from the scene and began quietly plotting his revenge on an industry that had broken him spiritually. Thus, in order to understand the true origin story of the super-villain, MF DOOM, one must recognize and appreciate the evolution of his former group, KMD, and the backstory of their pivotal album, Black Bastards.

Suns of Arqa is a sonic mission created by luminary Michael Wadada, who began in 1979 after receiving higher guidance in Jamaica while working with roots reggae chanter Prince Far-I. It is a prolific traveling music collective that has seen over 200 collaborators, meant to connect people from all cultures and walks of life through a “deeply spiritual vibration that merges cultures, faiths and musical genres”. Wadada combines ancient Hindustani raga systems with Piobaireachd and Nyabinghi roots drumming, creating ritualistic world music infused with dub and reggae.

The lyrics combine both mystical and sensory elements, often including prayer and referencing a higher power but finding root in experiences common to all people- memory, sight, and physical sensation.

Their first album, Revenge of the Mozabites, was a collaboration between Wadada and On-U Sound creator Adrian Sherwood. Following its 1980 release,Peter Gabriel invited them to perform at the first WOMAD festival. Today, the record is regarded by some as a cult classic. Over the years they have played at many major music festivals including Glastonbury, Big Chill, Telerama Dub Festival, and Transmusicales, and released over 40 albums on Virgin, EMI, Interchill Records, Antler Subway, Red Rhino, and their own label, Arka Sound.

Suns of Arqa has had a seminal influence on the World Beat sound, and continued to make appearances at seasonal festivals and sacred ritual spaces all over the world until 2021. Michael Wadada passed away in the midst of planning their U.S. tour for this release. The record is a compilation of some of Wadada’s and Sleepers Record’s favorite old Sun of Arqa tracks, mixed by Youth and Adrian Sherwood, and mastered by Eroc (drummer of Grobshnitt).

Notable collaborating artists include: Guy Called Gerald, UK producers Youth and John Leckie, Greg Hunter, 808 State's Graham Massey, Finley Quaye, Sounds From the Ground, Bryn Jones aka MuslimGauze, Adrian Sherwood, John Cooper-Clarke, The late great Professor Stanley Unwin, Eric Random, New age guru Tim Wheater, Astralasia, Prince Far-I, The Orb's Alex Patterson, Zion Train, and Gaudi.

"And although the Great Spiritual being Michael Wadada has returned to source and his body to earth at our time, his music is alive and will continue to be a great force for higher spiritual realms and raising vibration through occult frequencies...Suns of Arqa will continue to raise the vibration of the hearts and minds of humanity" – Angela aka Angel-Eye (Wadada's wife and bandmate)

Japanese acid pop outfit Cho Co Pa Co Cho Co Quin Quin channel the globe-trotting spirit of Haruomi Hosono’s 1970s tropical boogie on their debut album, Tradition.

Named after one of the basic rhythms of Cuban folk music and drawing on influences from across the globe, Cho Co Pa Co Cho Co Quin Quin are quite simply a world unto itself.

Comprised of three childhood friends, Daido, Yuta and So, who reconnected during the coronavirus pandemic, Cho Co Pa initially emerged as a playful way for the three 23-year-olds to pass the time. Tapping into their youthful connection, they created a sound that exudes confidence and curiosity, a homage to the masterful world of YMO’s and Happy End’s Haruomi Hosono, rooted in the trio’s own idiosyncratic experience of the present.

Recorded at home and promoted on hugely popular DIY TikTok videos, their debut album Tradition is a technicolour exercise in armchair travelling – a kind of lockdown exotica for the housebound whose nostalgic flights of fancy are laced with a sense of whimsical melancholy for the lost freedoms of youth.

Referencing everything from Afro-Cuban percussion to lo-fi beats, Buddhist spirituality to trap, each member of the band brings different musical inspirations to the table. Latin American and Middle Eastern styles sit adjacent to a fascination for the electronic music of Aphex Twin, Dorian Concept, Underworld and Daft Punk. At times, the music verges on acid pop bliss, at others, it grooves with the instrumental funk sensibility of BADBADNOTGOOD.

“In the first place, when I create a song, my goal is to transport the listener to a mysterious place,” vocalist Daido explained in a recent magazine interview. Using lyrics as another sonic texture in the composition of ideas, Cho Co Pa paint beguiling sonic postcards of far-flung moods across 12 highly original tracks.

Marrying the organic and the electronic on rhythmically sophisticated compositions like ‘Chichibu’ and ‘Watatsumi’, it is on the album’s standout track ‘Gandhara’ that the experimental sound of Cho Co Pa comes to the fore. Referencing the ancient city of Gandhara through which Buddhism made its way from India to China, the track is a vocoder-trap-inspired, Udu drum-driven pop jam that lilts with unmistakable Balearic flair. If that’s difficult to imagine, then know simply that ‘Gandhara’ sounds like nothing else on this side of Saturn. Even Daido seemed surprised by the outcome: “I feel like we were able to create something that exceeded our abilities. That was huge!”

Hugely popular in Japan, with festival appearances lined up alongside BADBADNOTGOOD at Asagiri Jam in October, it's safe to say the success of Tradition has taken Cho Co Pa by surprise. You won’t have heard anything like it."

Sibling duo Wasia Project chart a new sonic hinterland with their debut album Nocturne. Across 12 tracks, Olivia Hardy and Will Gao alchemise their classical training with kinetic club-adjacent dance music, soulful electronica, and cinematic piano-pop. Nocturne arrives as a bold evolution, scaling the success of their early EPs and a string of dewy-eyed singles that has built them a global following of 1.2M+ and 200M+ streams to date. A definitive Gen-Z narrative, it captures the friction and frisson of youth today, turning coming-of-age angst into a cathartic journey represented within the hours of dusk until dawn, from heady twilight introspection to the euphoric commune of the dancefloor.

Brighton’s Moon Attendant team up with Go! Team's leader and drummer Ian Parton for new LP ‘Dum Evol’. Following their debut ‘One Last Summer’ with this incendiary, heart-pounding, drum-led masterwork full of untutored surf-guitar, Scarlet Rivera style fiddle, psychedelic orchestration and sharp-playful lyrics, all within just over 30 thrilling minutes.Since their debut, Paul Blewett and Nick Holton had been knee-deep in experimental music and needed something or someone to smash the shit out of the new songs. Instead of making heavier music, the result left lofty but wobbly structures teetering on fractured Giacometti-like frames, exposed, more arresting. Paring back the Musical palette from previous wash of synths and reverb to surf guitars, Moog, and violin, leaving Blewett's vocal (often compared to Colin Bunstone) leaning into an unvarnished, direct sound like Jimmy Campbell. Thematically, Dum Evol turns inward. Where their debut asked questions, this record sits with the answers, exploring love, conflict, and growth as experiences that must be lived first hand - “It’s such dumb evolution, you still have to learn the hard way”. Their lyrics get under the skin and under The Establishment in a wistful worm like way. Nudging at the truths. Smiling but always ready to bare some fangs.The fantastic instinctive violinist, Roger Proctor, joined as fourth member, bringing raw fragile beauty to ‘Look The Other Way’ & ‘Difficult Ifficult’, blending swooping string lines with the monster-surfing-Sonic Youth racket elsewhere. They explain - “We kept to a first take policy generally as it keeps everything just fresh and daisy like.” Dum Evol’s restraint allows the band’s more experimental instincts to land with greater weight. Musically, the record occupies a space somewhere between the slacker-rock nonchalance of Pavement and the gypsy swagger of Dylan - 'Desire' through a lens that is consciously, almost defiantly, English. It’s a sound that channels the 60's pastoral folk tradition alongside the sharp-edge of The Auteurs, an honest version of England, one to be proud of, existing in stark contrast to the hollow jingoistic nationalism of flag-shaggers climbing lamp posts. Jagged, lived-in, and entirely vital, Dum Evol is a record that feels fully realised, yet remains dangerously built to unravel in a hair's breadth.“Psychelelic grungy synth-pop - Moon Attendant marry analogue electronics to a lovely burbling pop sound, like Felt exploring the recesses of krautrock. Trippy, ramshackle and a cult in waiting.” Shindig!

Brighton’s Moon Attendant team up with Go! Team's leader and drummer Ian Parton for new LP ‘Dum Evol’. Following their debut ‘One Last Summer’ with this incendiary, heart-pounding, drum-led masterwork full of untutored surf-guitar, Scarlet Rivera style fiddle, psychedelic orchestration and sharp-playful lyrics, all within just over 30 thrilling minutes.Since their debut, Paul Blewett and Nick Holton had been knee-deep in experimental music and needed something or someone to smash the shit out of the new songs. Instead of making heavier music, the result left lofty but wobbly structures teetering on fractured Giacometti-like frames, exposed, more arresting. Paring back the Musical palette from previous wash of synths and reverb to surf guitars, Moog, and violin, leaving Blewett's vocal (often compared to Colin Bunstone) leaning into an unvarnished, direct sound like Jimmy Campbell. Thematically, Dum Evol turns inward. Where their debut asked questions, this record sits with the answers, exploring love, conflict, and growth as experiences that must be lived first hand - “It’s such dumb evolution, you still have to learn the hard way”. Their lyrics get under the skin and under The Establishment in a wistful worm like way. Nudging at the truths. Smiling but always ready to bare some fangs.The fantastic instinctive violinist, Roger Proctor, joined as fourth member, bringing raw fragile beauty to ‘Look The Other Way’ & ‘Difficult Ifficult’, blending swooping string lines with the monster-surfing-Sonic Youth racket elsewhere. They explain - “We kept to a first take policy generally as it keeps everything just fresh and daisy like.” Dum Evol’s restraint allows the band’s more experimental instincts to land with greater weight. Musically, the record occupies a space somewhere between the slacker-rock nonchalance of Pavement and the gypsy swagger of Dylan - 'Desire' through a lens that is consciously, almost defiantly, English. It’s a sound that channels the 60's pastoral folk tradition alongside the sharp-edge of The Auteurs, an honest version of England, one to be proud of, existing in stark contrast to the hollow jingoistic nationalism of flag-shaggers climbing lamp posts. Jagged, lived-in, and entirely vital, Dum Evol is a record that feels fully realised, yet remains dangerously built to unravel in a hair's breadth.“Psychelelic grungy synth-pop - Moon Attendant marry analogue electronics to a lovely burbling pop sound, like Felt exploring the recesses of krautrock. Trippy, ramshackle and a cult in waiting.” Shindig!

Born from the Perpignan garage scene in the South of France - built on self-production, independent labels, and a strong international network - Ghost Twist bring together musicians active for decades in Perpignan"s most iconic line-ups. Its members have evolved within key bands (Beach Bitches, Sonic Chicken 4, Crank) and collaborated with Pascal Comelade, Harlan T. Bobo, and the Limiñanas, with releases on acclaimed labels like In The Red, Born Bad, Goner and Trouble In Mind. Formed in 2018, Ghost Twist developed a raw rock sound rooted in the 1960s, shaped by oriental and tropical atmospheres inspired by compilations like "Jungle Exotica" or "Las Vegas Grind". Over time, the band has broadened its sonic palette and incorporated a wide range of influences: from cumbia to the hip-hop of Cypress Hill, from Sonic Youth-style dissonances to Fela Kuti"s afro grooves, all the way to country accents.

CULK um Sängerin und Songwriterin Sophie Löw (alias Sophia Blenda) sind zurück. Und wieder versucht die Wiener Band auf ihre ganz eigene Weise unsere Gegenwart in all ihren Ambivalenzen einzukreisen. Wie fühlt es sich an, heute als Mensch in dieser Welt mit den grenzenlosen Möglichkeiten, den Existenz- und Zukunftsängsten, Sinnsuchen und Identitätsfragen? Auf ihrem neuen, vierten Album tauchen CULK in einen Schwebezustand zwischen Euphorie und Überforderung ein. "smogstar" erzählt von dem pulsierenden Gefühl im Dazwischen. Alles so aufregend. Alles zu viel. Alles zugleich. Es geht um die endlosen Möglichkeiten, sich vermeintlich ständig neu erfinden zu können. Auch wenn man vielleicht immer noch nicht ganz genau weiß, wer man ist. "Ich wollte, dass die Texte leichtfüßiger sind und diesen speziellen Vibe ausstrahlen: zwischen Freiheit fühlen und lost sein", eine Stimmung, die sich auch in den urbanen Collagen und Zeichnungen des Artworks wiederfindet, die Sophie Löw im Stil einer Graphic Novel selbst gestaltet hat: die schwarzhaarige Protagonistin mit dem dunkel verschmierten Eyeliner auf dem Cover ist dabei so etwas wie die fiktive Titelheldin des Albums, die sich durch den Dunst und das schimmernde Versprechen der Großstadt schlägt. Denn wie der Albumtitel schon verrät: Der Smog und die Sterne liegen hier nah beieinander. Und überhaupt ist "smogstar" ein ausgesprochenes Stadt-Album geworden. CULK spielen hier freier auf als je zuvor. Die markante Stimme von Sophie steht immer noch im Mittelpunkt der hypnostischen Songs, aber diesmal klingen sie offener, reduzierter und weniger dark. Zu den musikalischen Referenzen gehört dieses Mal die kompromisslosere Soundästhetik von Noise-Rock-Bands der 80er und 90er, wie Swirlies, Sonic Youth und Unwound, oder auch aktuellere Bands wie Julie oder Blue Smiley. "Wir wollten, dass alles eher bare bones und roh und in your face klingt. Was können wir aus uns Vieren herausholen, in dem Moment, in dem wir gemeinsam spielen?" fragen (sich) Culk. Was wir darüber hinaus bereits wissen: So konsequent ausformuliert war der Popentwurf von CULK noch nie. "smogstar" ist ein wunderbar nervös flimmerndes Schlaglicht auf unsere Gegenwart.

CULK um Sängerin und Songwriterin Sophie Löw (alias Sophia Blenda) sind zurück. Und wieder versucht die Wiener Band auf ihre ganz eigene Weise unsere Gegenwart in all ihren Ambivalenzen einzukreisen. Wie fühlt es sich an, heute als Mensch in dieser Welt mit den grenzenlosen Möglichkeiten, den Existenz- und Zukunftsängsten, Sinnsuchen und Identitätsfragen? Auf ihrem neuen, vierten Album tauchen CULK in einen Schwebezustand zwischen Euphorie und Überforderung ein. "smogstar" erzählt von dem pulsierenden Gefühl im Dazwischen. Alles so aufregend. Alles zu viel. Alles zugleich. Es geht um die endlosen Möglichkeiten, sich vermeintlich ständig neu erfinden zu können. Auch wenn man vielleicht immer noch nicht ganz genau weiß, wer man ist. "Ich wollte, dass die Texte leichtfüßiger sind und diesen speziellen Vibe ausstrahlen: zwischen Freiheit fühlen und lost sein", eine Stimmung, die sich auch in den urbanen Collagen und Zeichnungen des Artworks wiederfindet, die Sophie Löw im Stil einer Graphic Novel selbst gestaltet hat: die schwarzhaarige Protagonistin mit dem dunkel verschmierten Eyeliner auf dem Cover ist dabei so etwas wie die fiktive Titelheldin des Albums, die sich durch den Dunst und das schimmernde Versprechen der Großstadt schlägt. Denn wie der Albumtitel schon verrät: Der Smog und die Sterne liegen hier nah beieinander. Und überhaupt ist "smogstar" ein ausgesprochenes Stadt-Album geworden. CULK spielen hier freier auf als je zuvor. Die markante Stimme von Sophie steht immer noch im Mittelpunkt der hypnostischen Songs, aber diesmal klingen sie offener, reduzierter und weniger dark. Zu den musikalischen Referenzen gehört dieses Mal die kompromisslosere Soundästhetik von Noise-Rock-Bands der 80er und 90er, wie Swirlies, Sonic Youth und Unwound, oder auch aktuellere Bands wie Julie oder Blue Smiley. "Wir wollten, dass alles eher bare bones und roh und in your face klingt. Was können wir aus uns Vieren herausholen, in dem Moment, in dem wir gemeinsam spielen?" fragen (sich) Culk. Was wir darüber hinaus bereits wissen: So konsequent ausformuliert war der Popentwurf von CULK noch nie. "smogstar" ist ein wunderbar nervös flimmerndes Schlaglicht auf unsere Gegenwart.

Writing and recording the majority of Nocturnes at their home studio in Los Angeles, Leisha and Camila drew inspiration from '70s vinyl — and each other’s company. After finishing the demos, their friend Wendy Melvoin (of Prince and the Revolution) invited Uh Huh Her to continue the production at her treehouse studio in Henson Recording Studios (now Chaplin Studios). "We would just drink wine and record for hours and hours," Camila says of this time. "It was amazing. It was total freedom."

When it came time to mix Nocturnes, Melvoin suggested her friend and super producer Tchad Blake (The Bangles, Arctic Monkeys, Sheryl Crow, Cibo Matto), who put the finishing touches on the record from his studio in the English countryside. “It meant the world that our fans directly supported the mixing of the album through online eBay auctions of memorabilia, vinyl, art, and even a couple private dinners, because that enabled us to enlist the powers of the incredible Tchad Blake,” Cam says. The entirety of those original mixes have never seen the light of day until now, on this 2026.

As they contemplated rereleasing Nocturnes with Kill Rock Stars, Cam started digging around to find the album’s original mixes. “I chose Tchad’s first and second mix attempts because I wanted to preserve his first instincts before we gave him a million notes,” she says. This is truly how he heard it on one or two tries. The songs are longer, they're more rocked out, they're a little more raucous.”

Cam also surfaced a hypnotic song she’d written in 2020 called “Shook” to include on the rerelease, and they also put their own, electrified spin on Sonic Youth’s timeless and gritty “Kool Thing.”

Auckland-based indie-pop outfit Borderline officially plant their flag in the New Zealand music scene with their self-titled project, Borderline. Seamlessly blending the nostalgic warmth of classic indie-rock with the polished, infectious hooks of modern pop, the band delivers a sonic snapshot of youth, ambition, and navigating the fine line between late-night euphoria and introspective vulnerability. Driven by shimmering guitar lines, driving bass rhythms, and anthemic vocals, the project feels both intimately local and ready for a global stage.

Borderline serves as a definitive introduction to the band’s signature sound, trading in sun-drenched, feel-good anthems built for summer road trips alongside high-energy tracks that tackle the fast-paced nature of modern relationships. By balancing cinematic storytelling with irresistible hooks, the up-and-coming band crafts a listening experience that is both fresh and deeply relatable, securing their place as a compelling new voice to watch out of New Zealand.

Anlässlich des 45. Jahrestags seiner Veröffentlichung bringt Secretly Canadian Yoko Onos bahnbrechendes Album ,Season of Glass" aus dem Jahr 1981 in einer erweiterten CD-Version sowie erstmals seit mehr als 45 Jahren wieder auf Vinyl heraus, ergänzt durch ein erweitertes und überarbeitetes Coverdesign. ,Season of Glass", das zu den Top 200 Alben der 1980er Jahre von Pitchfork zählt, erschien im Juni 1981, nur sieben Monate nach dem sinnlosen Mord an Onos Ehemann und kreativem Partner John Lennon. Voller Songs über Liebe, Verlust, Wut und Angst spiegelte das Album Onos Erfahrungen in aller Deutlichkeit wider und schuf so fast ein Pendant zu den ,Primal Scream"-Alben der Plastic Ono Band von Ono und Lennon aus dem Jahr 1970. ,Season of Glass war eigentlich einfach nur ich selbst, denke ich", sagte Ono 1982 gegenüber Newsweek. ,Irgendwie war es in gewisser Weise wie ein Urschrei; weißt du, etwas ist in meinem Leben passiert, und ich musste es einfach sagen. Und ich glaube, es war für mich mehr als alles andere therapeutisch. Und ich war ziemlich ehrlich, nehme ich an." Onos fünftes Studioalbum, ,Season of Glass", war auch das bis dahin kommerziell erfolgreichste der Künstlerin und schaffte es in die Top 50 der Billboard-Albumcharts, war jedoch nicht ohne Kontroversen. Das Cover des Albums zeigte ein Foto von Lennons blutgetränkter Brille, so wie sie Ono vom Roosevelt Hospital nach seiner Ermordung zurückgegeben worden war. Obwohl David Geffen, der Chef von Geffen Records, der im November 1980 Onos und Lennons ,Double Fantasy" veröffentlicht hatte und auch die Originalversion von ,Season of Glass" herausbrachte, Ono eindringlich bat, das Cover zu ändern, blieb Ono standhaft. ,Ich werde das Cover nicht ändern", erinnerte sich Ono, Geffen gesagt zu haben. ,Das ist es, was John jetzt ist." Begleitet von derselben Band, die bereits auf ,Double Fantasy" gespielt hatte, reiht sich der Sound von ,Season of Glass" nahtlos an dieses Album an, das zu dieser Zeit bereits als künstlerischer Triumph für Ono galt, die junge Künstler wie die B-52s und Sonic Youth inspirierte. In den Jahren seit seiner Veröffentlichung hat das Album ,Season of Glass" aufgrund der ehrlichen, liebevollen und manchmal erschütternden Natur seiner Songs nur noch an Bedeutung gewonnen. Heute wird es allgemein als kraftvolles künstlerisches Statement über Trauer und Verlust gewürdigt und gilt als Meilenstein sowie als eines von Onos besten Werken - ein vollendetes künstlerisches Statement.

Everything I Ever Saw finds THE MENZINGERS entering a new era in what"s already been a storied career. The Philadelphia punk legends" eighth album chronicles moments of significant change-the personal, the political, and the universal-while returning to the core creative principles that first put them on the map with listeners the world over. Twenty years in, the Menzingers have discovered that the wisdom gained with time"s passing is even stronger than the emotional armor they once wore in their youth, and Everything I Ever Saw captures the quartet embracing the here and now while strengthening the bonds that have held them together. THE MENZINGERS have always created as a four-headed unit, with all members (vocalist/ guitarist Greg Barnett, vocalist/guitarist Tom May, bassist Eric Keen, drummer Joe Godino) throwing in their respective talents as part of the craft-but for Everything I Ever Saw, the group worked in creative symbiosis more than ever before. "The way we made this record feels the most like how the band was in the very beginning: Me and Tom coming to the band with the most basic element of a song, and the four of us shaping that," Barnett says. Instrumental in building that excitement was locally centered and nationally renowned production legend Will Yip, who threw in with the Menzingers on 2017"s After the Party and their sonically expansive 2019 record Hello Exile. This time around, Yip once again became an unofficial Menzinger while the band crafted these 11 songs in their South Philly space. "Working with Will was like a homecoming," May beams while talking about Yip"s contributions. "We"ve grown up together over these years, and we"re still incredibly close friends. He"s the best at gassing you up and making sure everybody"s on the right page, but he"s also so good at pointing out stuff that might not fit the vision without being a fucking prick. He"s the hardest working person that we"ve come across in the music industry, and he"s incredibly inspiring."

Everything I Ever Saw finds THE MENZINGERS entering a new era in what"s already been a storied career. The Philadelphia punk legends" eighth album chronicles moments of significant change-the personal, the political, and the universal-while returning to the core creative principles that first put them on the map with listeners the world over. Twenty years in, the Menzingers have discovered that the wisdom gained with time"s passing is even stronger than the emotional armor they once wore in their youth, and Everything I Ever Saw captures the quartet embracing the here and now while strengthening the bonds that have held them together. THE MENZINGERS have always created as a four-headed unit, with all members (vocalist/ guitarist Greg Barnett, vocalist/guitarist Tom May, bassist Eric Keen, drummer Joe Godino) throwing in their respective talents as part of the craft-but for Everything I Ever Saw, the group worked in creative symbiosis more than ever before. "The way we made this record feels the most like how the band was in the very beginning: Me and Tom coming to the band with the most basic element of a song, and the four of us shaping that," Barnett says. Instrumental in building that excitement was locally centered and nationally renowned production legend Will Yip, who threw in with the Menzingers on 2017"s After the Party and their sonically expansive 2019 record Hello Exile. This time around, Yip once again became an unofficial Menzinger while the band crafted these 11 songs in their South Philly space. "Working with Will was like a homecoming," May beams while talking about Yip"s contributions. "We"ve grown up together over these years, and we"re still incredibly close friends. He"s the best at gassing you up and making sure everybody"s on the right page, but he"s also so good at pointing out stuff that might not fit the vision without being a fucking prick. He"s the hardest working person that we"ve come across in the music industry, and he"s incredibly inspiring."

The Mexican band The Survival created a blend of blues and acid rock influenced by the U.S. West Coast movement and British blues, captured on this 1971 album-the only one they recorded. They are often described as a combination of Country Joe and the Fish, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Moby Grape, and Ten Years After. One of the rarest records ever released in Mexico, it stands as a significant testament to the "onda chicana," a historical moment when Mexican youth took up instruments to express their reality. The group formed in August 1970 and recorded a single album, "La onda de The Survival" (1971), which combined laid-back blues with distortion. One distinctive feature was that lead vocals were handled by drummer Andrés Lusher-an unusual choice that gave the band a unique sonic identity. The album captured the spirit of the time, portraying generational shifts, repression of youth, fraternity, pacifism, and the influence of drugs. Despite their brief existence, The Survival and their sole album remain a significant testament to the "onda chicana", a lasting mark on the history of Mexican rock. Includes an insert with liner notes.

Mannequin Records presents Electronic Corporation 1998–2006, a compilation bringing together rare and long unavailable recordings by the German electronic projects H.E.I.M. Elektronik and MAS 2008.

Active around the turn of the millennium, both projects share the involvement of producer Ive Müller while developing distinct collaborations and approaches to electronic music. H.E.I.M. Elektronik was founded in 1996 by Holger Erlenwein and Ive Müller (after the two artists split in 1999, Müller continued using the name), while MAS 2008 is the project of Ive Müller together with René Kirchner. Though separate entities, the two projects explored a similar sonic territory: stripped-down electro, minimal electronics and machine-driven body music shaped by analog hardware and a raw DIY production ethos.

The roots of Müller’s work go back to the final years of the DDR. As a teenager he worked as a licensed DJ — officially known as a “Schallplattenunterhalter” — operating a travelling disco across Saxony. With limited access to official Western releases, music circulated through cassette recordings taped from West German radio stations such as RIAS Berlin, NDR2 and Bayern3. Together with friends he travelled between youth clubs and discos around Leipzig with a “rolling discotheque”: a Russian Wolga pulling a trailer loaded with Electro-Voice sound systems sourced through the black market.

At the turn of the 2000s this background in underground electronic culture resurfaced in a series of recordings rooted in electro, EBM and minimal machine music. The tracks collected on Electronic Corporation 2000–2002 capture this moment: cold sequences, driving rhythms and stark synthetic textures produced with a direct and uncompromising approach.

Compiled and remastered by Rude 66 from the original sources, Electronic Corporation 2000–2002 documents a small but fascinating chapter of German underground electronics from the early digital era.

‘They went beyond punk before punk had properly started…the entire album is a controlled explosion of ideas. Nearly fifty years on, This Heat’s debut is something the world has still not completely caught up with.’ - Simon Reynolds

‘Over the years, there have been bands to play as aggressively, or even as strangely, but very few have been able to rise from their collective influences and histories to create music so singularly distinctive and inspiring.’ – Pitchfork 9/10

‘This Heat sounded like the future then ... and still do now.’ - Dan Snaith (Caribou)

Although widely considered to be Post-Punk’s finest, This Heat actually began performing and recording their music in 1976, the early days of London’s punk era. Within their two albums and an EP they perfected a strange and volatile new strain of avant-garde rock that time has proved to be massively influential, a blueprint for much that would follow: post-rock, math rock, homemade musique concrète, experimental electronica.

Numerous critics have recognised the band's influence on the music of Sonic Youth, Glenn Branca, Steven Wilson, Public Image Ltd., Radiohead, Swans, Shellac, Young Knives, Black Dice, Lightning Bolt and numerous other experimental and post-rock bands. Disbanding in 1982 they have left an undeniable legacy that has only continued to grow in stature and relevance.

The album This Heat, also known to fans and critics as the ‘Blue and Yellow’, was their eponymous debut release, recorded in sessions between February 1976 and September 1978 in a variety of studios including their own Cold Storage, a converted cold storage room in the Acme Studios complex. Innovating throughout, they combined loops and tape manipulation (producing for example the proto-drum and bass ‘24 Track Loop’) with live performance and haunting vocals to a complex, dissonant whole. The band recorded everything they ever did – including gigs – and tracks such as “Water” were entirely improvised in the studio.

Having recently passed the 50 year anniversary of their first gig, and the recording of material that appears on their debut album, the group’s surviving members Charles Bullen and Charles Hayward, true to their DIY roots, have set up an imprint to release their recordings for their growing fan base that is increasingly recognising their influential place in music history. 


Never Sleep charity tape series focuses on the North East's Valenican musical obsession with the man who started it all.

Trendsetter DJ Scott commands respect with a blend of Makina, Hardcore and Bounce. A trance laced session filled with the resonating compere styles from MC Stompin, MC Jet and MC Natz.

Bringing the energy, heart on the sleeve lyricism and maximal Mackem love for the late night surreptitiously crew. Lacing the backdrop with rapid fire crossfade technique, jump up tonal flair and high pace anthemic signals. Scott brings authenticity alongside the finest MC's in the land.

MC Stompin shows the naysayers who owns the night, MC Jet streamlines quality on the mic and MC Natz brings his own signature tones to the prestigious event.

Literally bringing the first ever Makina records back from Spain (8 of them) and starting Hangar13, this mix showcases an incredible time for the localised sonica and the rise of a cultural defining era in the North East.

DJ Scott is known for his huge cultural contribution, youth work and working class pioneership. A true UK legend and local hero.

All proceeds go to The Macmillan Cancer Support who help people across the UK and and provides specialist health care.

For their third album As You Please, Citizen is looking inward. Pairing up again with longtime producer Will Yip, the band presents twelve songs that fuse aspects of their entire catalog into one neoteric whole. While the cathartic melancholy of their debut Youth and the jarring intensity of 2015's Everybody is Going to Heaven are both present, the most welcome addition to Citizen's arsenal on As You Please is the range of auxiliary instrumentation and sonic experimentation on the album. This is most notable on "In the Middle of it All," where vocalist Mat Kerekes is sampled singing the song title in a modulated, haunting chorus that echoes throughout the song. The addition of organs and unconventional drum effects on songs like "You Are A Star" and "Medicine" create shifting emphases on tension and frailty, while the huge choruses of songs like opener "Jet" and "I Forgive No One" are reminders that while Citizen dove headfirst into uncharted territory with their new album, the band is still as good as ever at writing emotionally-charged anthems. As You Please presents Citizen's vision at the most focused it has ever been - it is delicately crafted to provoke at every moment.

Maqom Soul Launches Its Reissue Series with a Cult Classic from Uyghur Ensemble “Yashlik”.
Maqom Soul, a newly founded Uzbek label dedicated to reviving rare and overlooked music from Central Asia, proudly announces its debut release: a vinyl reissue of the seminal album by the Uyghur vocal-instrumental ensemble Yashlik, originally recorded and released in 1978.
Founded in 1973 as part of the Uyghur Music and Drama Theater in Almaty, Yashlik (which translates from Uyghur as Youth) quickly emerged as a groundbreaking force in the regional music scene. Though born out of a theatrical setting, the group transcended those boundaries with a unique blend of Uyghur folk melodies, jazz influences, Soviet estrada, and traces of psychedelic rock.

The ensemble’s founder and artistic director was Murat Akhmadiev, a prominent figure in both the musical and cultural-political life of Kazakhstan. The album being reissued is one of the rare recordings where synthesizers, electric guitars, and drums appear side by side with traditional Uyghur instruments. More than a musical experiment, it stands as a cultural document of its era a creative attempt to preserve identity through the language of modern sound. Originally recorded at the Melodiya studios in the late 1970s, the album’s initial pressing was distributed only within the Soviet Union. Now, over four decades later, listeners finally have the opportunity to experience this music in a lovingly remastered and reimagined edition.
According to the team at Maqom Soul, beginning the label’s journey with Yashlik was a conscious and symbolic choice: “This was a group that embodied youthful energy, deep respect for tradition, and a genuine thirst for innovation. Their music once played at festivals and on television, and then quietly disappeared. We’re bringing it back — not out of nostalgia, but as a living piece of art.”

Maqom Soul is committed not just to reissuing rare records but to restoring the presence of culturally significant music that helped shape the sonic identity of Central Asia. Forgotten music is also part of the future. Maqom Soul brings it back to the stage.

Non-sensical, un-user friendly, at times half finished. Camper Van Beethoven"s second album II & III saw the folk-punk of the band"s debut LP morphing into an even wider melting pot of stylistic influences and (un)ironic contradictions, all rolled up into a coherently incoherent collection of some of the band"s most defining songs. Originally released in 1986, the follow up to Telephone Free Landslide Victory did much to develop an already iconoclastic Camper Van Beethoven idiom. II & III ranges from alt-country ballads ("Sad Lovers" Waltz") to call-backs to the European folk instrumentals of the debut ("No Krugerrands For David", "4 Year Plan"). Also featured is the band"s bluegrass-Americana take on Sonic Youth"s "I Love Her All the Time", feeding their appetite for cover songs. This deluxe double CD set brings together the original II & III album with a 17 track live album of material from Camper Van Beethoven shows supporting REM on their Life"s Rich Pageant tour. This audio was mostly recorded at the Lincoln, Nebraska show from October 10th, 1986, but is supplemented with audio from other shows of the tour. The Teal Vinyl re-issue features a newly revisited collage version of the artwork, plus a reproduced 11"x11" insert, designed by Victor Krummenacher using original photos, lithograph prints, lyrics and leaflets.

BABY BLUE COLOUR VINYL

The Beths occupy a warm, energetic sonic space between joyful hooks, sun-soaked harmonies, and acerbic lyrics. Their debut album Future Me Hates Me, forthcoming on Carpark Records, delivers an astonishment of roadtrip-ready pleasures, each song hitting your ears with an exhilarating endorphin rush like the first time you heard Slanted and Enchanted or 'Cannonball.'

Front and center on these ten infectious tracks is lead singer and primary songwriter Elizabeth Stokes. Stokes has previously worked in other genres within Auckland's rich and varied music scene, recently playing in a folk outfit, but it was in exploring the angst-ridden sounds of her youth that she found her place. 'Fronting this kind of band was a new experience for me,' says Stokes. 'I never thought I had the right voice for it.'

From the irresistible title track to future singles 'Happy Unhappy' and 'You Wouldn't Like Me,' Stokes commands a vocal range that spans from the brash confidence of Joan Jett to the disarming vulnerability of Jenny Lewis. Further honeying Future Me Hates Me's dark lyrics that explore complex topics like being newly alone and the self-defeating anticipation of impending regret, ecstatic vocal harmonies bubble up like in the greatest pop and R+B of the '60s, while inverting the trope of the 'sad dude singer accompanied by a homogenous girl-sound.'

All four members of The Beths studied jazz at university, resulting in a toolkit of deft instrumental chops and tricked-out arrangements that operate on a level rarely found in guitar-pop. Beths guitarist and studio guru Jonathan Pearce (whose other acts as producer include recent Captured Tracks signing Wax Chattels) brings it all home with an approach that's equal parts seasoned perfectionist and D.I.Y.

'There's a lot of sad sincerity in the lyrics,' she continues, 'that relies on the music having a light heart and sense of humor to keep it from being too earnest.' Channeling their stew of personal-canon heroes while drawing inspiration from contemporaries like Alvvays and Courtney Barnett, The Beths serve up deeply emotional lyrics packaged within heavenly sounds that delight in probing the limits of the pop form. 'That's another New Zealand thing,' Stokes concludes with a laugh. 'We're putting our hearts on our sleeves—and then apologizing for it.'

Persistence of Sound releases a new work by Brunhild Ferrari called »L’oreille Voleuse« (The Thieving Ear). The LP features an extraordinary live reinterpretation by Eiko Ishibashi and Jim O’Rourke, recorded in October 2025 in Paris.

»No, without listening at doors, the ear captures noises here and there and unexpected sounds without choice, but remains attentive to the messages of each one picked up over the years. It gathers surprises and impressions, bringing them together in a simple mix. In waking up these ear memories again, which were mostly recorded on magnetic tapes, I am very happy about the collaboration of Eiko Ishibashi and Jim O'Rourke in playing on this mix tape.« Brunhild Ferrari

Eiko Ishibashi is a Japanese composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist who has developed a unique body of work blending experimental pop, improvisation, and film music. Her work, praised for its expressive intensity and sensitivity to sonic textures, has led her to collaborate with numerous musicians on the international scene, including Jim O'Rourke, with whom she forms a long-standing duo. She is also the composer of several film scores, notably for the films of Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car, Evil Does Not Exist), which have helped to bring her work to a wider audience beyond experimental music circles.

Jim O'Rourke is an American composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, and has been a major figure in experimental and independent music since the 1990s. His work spans rock, improvised music, electronic music, and contemporary music. A former member of Sonic Youth and a collaborator with Wilco, Gastr del Sol, and Merce Cunningham, he has released numerous solo albums and film scores. Based in Japan since the early 2000s, he continues to pursue a rich and multifaceted musical practice, where formal rigor and freedom of invention coexist.

Persistence of Sound was founded in 2019 by Iain Chambers (Langham Research Centre, Rubbish Music). The label explores the world of electroacoustic music, contemporary global field recordings, and the unclassifiable music spanning these genres.

Irish drone-doom-folk act One Leg One Eye, the project of founding Lankum member Ian Lynch and veteran noise monger George Brennan, announce their new album, CRONE, out on 1 May on AD 93.

Today the group share the first track on the album, ‘Many are my Names Besides’, on which they are joined by the elemental force that is legendary actor, performer, writer and director Olwen Fouéré (Operating Theatre) contributing vocals.

Olwen Fouéré comments:

“When Ian and George first approached me to work with them, they were already creating the Crone album as a sonic invocation of the ‘sovereignty goddess’, who personifies the land and the legitimacy to rule it, in her darkest and most terrifying form. As we spoke, the triple goddess figure of the Morrigan entered my mind, reinforced by a marked presence of crows every time we met. The Morrigan is essentially a war goddess, frequently appearing as a crow in a battlefield, a death prophet, a guardian of sovereignty, and a very powerful figure in Irish Mythology.

So I invoked her energy as a starting point, using text extracts that Ian sent me from the Ulster Cycle and other sources. The voice recording was done in one day, improvising the source material while the already composed music occupied my psyche through headphones.

Listening back, at this time in our world, I can only wonder at how much blood and war the Crone/ Crow of sovereignty is preparing to unleash now. Watch out.”

CRONE is the second album from Lynch and Brennan, following on from 2022’s slowburn slab of ambient grit, …And Take The Black Worm With Me. Bewildering, psychedelic and ultimately transcendental, the four tracks of One Leg One Eye’s CRONE shapeshift and morph endlessly in a coarse miasma. Traditional song structures and vocal melody are eschewed, instead the trio directly channel energies from the rich seams of mythological significance submerged below the Irish psyche. The anger, rage and beauty of the sovereignty goddess burn a consistent and deliberate line through the album in the form of obscure incantations and dire pronouncements, the gnarled sinews that bind it all together.

Just as the subject matter of the tracks delve deeper into Irish myth and the remote past, the temporal reality of the album reaches back into the bands prehistory, with the majority of it the material being recorded by Lynch and Brennan in 2021 before One Leg One Eye was conceived of as an entity with Brennan working on the CRONE project while Lynch worked on …And Take The Black Worm With Me.

When they were there they saw a lone woman coming to the door of the Hostel, after sunset, and seeking to be let in. As long as a weaver’s beam was each of her two shins, and they were as dark as the back of a stag-beetle. A greyish, wooly mantle she wore. Her lower hair used to reach as far as her knee. Her lips were on one side of her head.

She came and put one of her shoulders against the door-post of the house, casting the evil eye on the king and the youths who surrounded him in the Hostel. He himself addressed her from within.

"Well, O woman," says Conaire, "if thou art a wizard, what seest thou for us?"

"Truly I see for thee," she answers, "that neither fell nor flesh of thine shall escape from the place into which thou hast come, save what birds will bear away in their claws."

"It was not an evil omen we foreboded, O woman," saith he: "it is not thou that always augurs for us. What is thy name, O woman?"

"Calib," she answers.

"That is not much of a name," says Conaire.

"Lo, many are my names besides."

"Which be they?" asks Conaire.

"Easy to say," quoth she. "Samon, Sinand, Seisclend, Sodb, Caill, Coll, Díchóem, Dichiúil, Díthím, Díchuimne, Dichruidne, Dairne, Dáríne, Déruaine, Egem, Agam, Ethamne, Gním, Cluiche, Cethardam, Níth, Némain, Nóennen, Badb, Blosc, Bloár, Huae, óe Aife la Sruth, Mache, Médé, Mod."

On one foot, and holding up one hand, and breathing one breath she sang all that to them from the door of the house.

Genre Is Death is an uncompromising noise duo made up of Ty V (guitar, vox) and Tayler Lee (bass, vox). Their sound is abrasive yet melodic, using heavy distortion, dissonant riffs, and reverberating vocals to create a wave of boldly hypnotic noise. The duo have been compared to the likes of Sonic Youth and Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, yet have managed to create a sound that is distinctly their own, avoiding mimicking the zeitgeist of decades before. Beyond the integrity of their music, Tayler’s intimidating glare, or Ty’s staggering gait, the duo share something truly inimitable— the overwhelming feeling that their music is a byproduct of the high esteem they hold of each other. The duo moved to NYC in August of 2023 looking for something more than their mundane suburban lifestyle of day drinking and playing doom metal in friends' basements…their move to NYC coupled with their desire to express something, anything, led to the inception of Genre is Death. The pair hit the ground running, playing anywhere and everywhere they could… however, it was only after a chance encounter with 80s noise forerunners Live Skull that the pair was introduced to the strange underbelly of NYC noise and began playing regular gigs with The Art Gray Noizz Quintet and Lydia Lunch. In 2025 the pair played New Colossus Festival, toured with Gogol Bordello, embarked on their first East Coast tour, and played gigs with Cherubs, Bush Tetras, and Jon Spencer. Their upcoming record was recorded with legendary sound engineer Martin Bisi (Sonic Youth, Swans).

They Came Like Swallows is the first album-length collaboration between Thurston Moore and Kramer (now officially Bonner Kramer), two giants of alternative/ experimental music. The accomplishments and influence of these two artists in the world of independent music cannot be overstated and the result of their artistic union is a startlingly cohesive statement that burns through landscapes of primitive outsider rock, avant-garde composition, progressive ambient and further locales boldly and beautifully unnamable. “Kramer and I reconnected in Miami, Florida, a few years back, many many years after each of us had departed NYC on separate life adventures. It was only a matter of time before Kramer and I started making plans to record together and with his irrepressible due diligence he quickly set up a mobile recording contraption in the pad I was decamped in, the Florida sunshine flowing through the palm leaves, lithe lizards skittering across the windowsills, and we just went for it.

Kramer had the idea to cover a Joy Division tune, a left turn from the improvisations we had been tracking, though wholly in keeping with both our sensibilities of light and dark unifying in transcendent songwriting, both of us devotees of 'the song' as well as 'the freedom.’ What transpired is They Came Like Swallows, a session we immediately felt should exist as a prayer to the war-torn souls of the families of Palestine continually decimated by the brutality of genocide. We agreed beyond words to offer our music as a sonic activism and as a beneficent energy. This album is our duo exchange for human dignity, it is our soul music for any semblance of a peaceful planet.” ~ Thurston Moore “For the first time in our nearly 45 years of friendship, we had identical time windows open to make a record together,” recounts Kramer. After all this time not a moment is wasted as the duo immediately taps into the heightened core of improvisational tension across these seven offerings. Volcanic opener “Urn Burial” notches a similar historic union (John Cale and Terry Riley) to meet the circumstances of the moment, with swirling mists of organ and pounding toms over guitar that thickens the atmosphere with jagged, grimy dissonance.

Solemn strings open the second track, “The Redness In The West,” with Kramer’s cello and viola in dueling bow beneath the high tension drive and sustain of Thurston’s electric guitar, tapping out a Morse code of tension that mounts endlessly into a fog of inevitable war by the end. Moore and Kramer’s sense of experimentalism is in free and full grandeur throughout They Came Like Swallows, though the duo keep a strong and constant sideways eye on melody, composition and architecture, to the ends that any strict lines between song and improvisation are blurred beyond qualification.

As if to punctuate this point, Swallows closes with a nightwork cover of Joy Division’s “Insight,” a doleful coda that breathes out with a solemn inner grace under Thurston’s instantly stylistically recognizable guitar melodies as they weave into he and Kramer’s unison voices. As the lone vocal piece and only traditional ‘song’ form on the album, “Insight” is unique to this set and as a closing statement draws connective lines back to the kind of dynamic, electrified melodicism that wove deep, melancholy patterns into the untamed fire of Sonic Youth’s Sister and Daydream Nation. In the album’s final moments, the two voices repeat the lyric “I’m not afraid anymore” as mantra, underscoring the heavy, unsettled themes and methods that preceded it. Kramer describes the creative process of They Came Like Swallows: “I had composed and recorded a few pieces at my home studio over the course of a couple weeks. Thurston was spending the winter in South Florida, so I flew down and spent a few days recording his guitar parts in his home there. Watching him spontaneously compose his parts was pretty astonishing, to say the least. Once we'd finished working on those pieces, we began improvising and following wherever the music pointed us, and another few pieces were born. We got straight to it, without anything driving us other than the joy of finally working together.

My personal goal was to remain present and catch as many surprises as I could from Thurston's guitar work, and there were plenty during those few days. We had a fucking blast.” Thurston’s contributions here will be readily familiar to any acolytes of his other works, the through-line between his inspired playing, cradled in Kramer’s meticulous, solid arrangements. “If I had to make this record again, I'd do it all exactly the same way,” Kramer says. “It’s like jazz, you don't think about it. You just do it. It was miraculous, and you don't fuck with a miracle.”

They Came Like Swallows is the first album-length collaboration between Thurston Moore and Kramer (now officially Bonner Kramer), two giants of alternative/ experimental music. The accomplishments and influence of these two artists in the world of independent music cannot be overstated and the result of their artistic union is a startlingly cohesive statement that burns through landscapes of primitive outsider rock, avant-garde composition, progressive ambient and further locales boldly and beautifully unnamable. “Kramer and I reconnected in Miami, Florida, a few years back, many many years after each of us had departed NYC on separate life adventures. It was only a matter of time before Kramer and I started making plans to record together and with his irrepressible due diligence he quickly set up a mobile recording contraption in the pad I was decamped in, the Florida sunshine flowing through the palm leaves, lithe lizards skittering across the windowsills, and we just went for it.

Kramer had the idea to cover a Joy Division tune, a left turn from the improvisations we had been tracking, though wholly in keeping with both our sensibilities of light and dark unifying in transcendent songwriting, both of us devotees of 'the song' as well as 'the freedom.’ What transpired is They Came Like Swallows, a session we immediately felt should exist as a prayer to the war-torn souls of the families of Palestine continually decimated by the brutality of genocide. We agreed beyond words to offer our music as a sonic activism and as a beneficent energy. This album is our duo exchange for human dignity, it is our soul music for any semblance of a peaceful planet.” ~ Thurston Moore “For the first time in our nearly 45 years of friendship, we had identical time windows open to make a record together,” recounts Kramer. After all this time not a moment is wasted as the duo immediately taps into the heightened core of improvisational tension across these seven offerings. Volcanic opener “Urn Burial” notches a similar historic union (John Cale and Terry Riley) to meet the circumstances of the moment, with swirling mists of organ and pounding toms over guitar that thickens the atmosphere with jagged, grimy dissonance.

Solemn strings open the second track, “The Redness In The West,” with Kramer’s cello and viola in dueling bow beneath the high tension drive and sustain of Thurston’s electric guitar, tapping out a Morse code of tension that mounts endlessly into a fog of inevitable war by the end. Moore and Kramer’s sense of experimentalism is in free and full grandeur throughout They Came Like Swallows, though the duo keep a strong and constant sideways eye on melody, composition and architecture, to the ends that any strict lines between song and improvisation are blurred beyond qualification.

As if to punctuate this point, Swallows closes with a nightwork cover of Joy Division’s “Insight,” a doleful coda that breathes out with a solemn inner grace under Thurston’s instantly stylistically recognizable guitar melodies as they weave into he and Kramer’s unison voices. As the lone vocal piece and only traditional ‘song’ form on the album, “Insight” is unique to this set and as a closing statement draws connective lines back to the kind of dynamic, electrified melodicism that wove deep, melancholy patterns into the untamed fire of Sonic Youth’s Sister and Daydream Nation. In the album’s final moments, the two voices repeat the lyric “I’m not afraid anymore” as mantra, underscoring the heavy, unsettled themes and methods that preceded it. Kramer describes the creative process of They Came Like Swallows: “I had composed and recorded a few pieces at my home studio over the course of a couple weeks. Thurston was spending the winter in South Florida, so I flew down and spent a few days recording his guitar parts in his home there. Watching him spontaneously compose his parts was pretty astonishing, to say the least. Once we'd finished working on those pieces, we began improvising and following wherever the music pointed us, and another few pieces were born. We got straight to it, without anything driving us other than the joy of finally working together.

My personal goal was to remain present and catch as many surprises as I could from Thurston's guitar work, and there were plenty during those few days. We had a fucking blast.” Thurston’s contributions here will be readily familiar to any acolytes of his other works, the through-line between his inspired playing, cradled in Kramer’s meticulous, solid arrangements. “If I had to make this record again, I'd do it all exactly the same way,” Kramer says. “It’s like jazz, you don't think about it. You just do it. It was miraculous, and you don't fuck with a miracle.”

An album Maximum Rock 'N' Roll deemed not punk enough to review, Unwound's 1994 sophomore effort was a lethal depth charge aimed at major label grunge and independent hardcore alike. From the off-kilter, vertiginous rhythm of "Entirely Different Matters" to the neck-snapping velocity of "What Was Wound" to the relentless pounding at the end of "All Souls Day," New Plastic Ideas is the Sonic Youth-loving older sister to Fake Train's postpunk- obsessed little brother.