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Pioen is the second album by Elisabeth Klinck & Nils Vermeulen, released on blickwinkel. It was recorded in a small chapel of a monastery in the city center of Ghent. A chapel by nature is a place of contemplation and meditation, which automatically had influence on the music. Movements slow down, attention is sharpened and the overwhelming silence of the space becomes part of the music. Sound and silence are meticulously woven into each other. Even when the music grows at times dense and heavy, there is an ever-present sense of closeness and intimacy. This is reinforced by the use of the voice, which naturally appears throughout the album, not as a separate layer but as an extension of the instruments.

The pieces – this time more curated than on their previous album Pair, Paire – arose from hours-long improvisations where sound became space and space became sound. Bringing together violin, double bass and voice, Pioen unfolds as a serene and honest journey, inviting the listener into a state of contemplation.

Elisabeth Klinck is a contemporary violinist, composer and performer based in Brussels, known or her timeless, deep-listening sound worlds. Her album Picture a Frame (2023) and Chronotopia - selected by The Quietus as one of the best albums of 2025 - were released on the Swiss label Hallow Ground. A big part of her work revolves around tactility, fragility, and a very physical approaches to sound.

Nils Vermeulen is a Belgian double bass player active in all varieties of adventurous music. He has played with Paul Lytton, Martin Küchen, Seppe Gebruers, William Parker, John Dikeman, Luis Vicente, among others. He works across many scenes, from free improv to jazz to contemporary classical music, and in many distinct constellations, such as his own groups Kabas and Jukwaa, a Norwegian free jazz trio with Tollef Østvang and Heidi Kvelvane, a string duo with Elisabeth Klinck, and as the double bassplayer of Nemo ensemble. In 2023, he released his debut solo album on Aspen Edities.

There’s an alternate reality where everyone makes a living wage and the cleanest buses you’ve ever seen arrive every other minute. Where the most intense songs are about confessing your love to a crush at the apple orchard, and where gentle feelings and chaotic energy are inseparable best friends. This is the timeline where Cootie Catcher is right at home. This Toronto based four-piece exudes both vulnerability and unbridled excitement, creating a sound that hypercharges the open-hearted tenderness of twee pop with spiraling synths and giddy electronics. New album Something We All Got is the clearest and most vibrant reading of Cootie Catcher’s vision yet, with songs of sweetness, nervousness, and expectancy that beam out unguarded.
After releasing music made primarily in basement recording environments, Something We All Got is the band’s first flirtation with studio recording. The edges are still sharp, however, with some parts assembled from time-honored lo-fi methods and fun, personally-sourced samples seeping into the production. The sound is explosive and upbeat, with euphoric guitars, bubbly synth lines, speedy drums both played and programmed, and all other manner of sound constantly colliding. Cootie Catcher has three songwriters, Sophia Chavez, Anita Fowl, and Nolan Jakupovski, all of whom have distinctive voices but still manage to overlap in their writing on shared concerns like navigating the lines of romantic and platonic relationships, their city’s social scenes, and struggles in both the microcosmic experience of playing in a band and the zoomed-out challenges of living through late-stage capitalism.
Joy still touches every surface of Something We All Got. “Quarter Note Rock” bounces around the room in a fit of jangling guitar chords, scratched samples, and interplay between breakbeat loops and somersaulting live drums. It’s a blast of positivity even with lyrics about how disappointing it can be to meet your heroes. A smiling electro pop instrumental supports lyrics about having to step painfully away from an almost realized love on “Gingham Dress,” a song that subverts themes of domesticity as a backdrop for the dashed wilt of hopeless devotion.
Cootie Catcher rolls down hills and jumps through flaming hoops throughout Something We All Got without ever dumbing down the visceral emotions that drive these songs. There’s a palpable tension between the band’s exhilarating sonics and the raw, often uneasy sentiments expressed, but it’s an integral part of what makes them unique. Rather than hide behind the kind of calculated vagueness that plagues so much of the indie rock landscape in the time of cursed algorithms, Cootie Catcher runs full-speed toward every confusion and excitement, fearlessly direct and embracing the reality they’re in.

Aspen Edities is pleased to present Aerial, the third album of the experimental quartet Oker.

Whereas their album debut Husene våre er museer (2018) and its follow-up Susurrus (2021) focused on collective and individual compositions, Aerial features two longform pieces of fully improvised music, sculpted from the recognizable acoustic sound palette that the quartet has developed across a decade of extensive touring. The titles, Aerial, Equinoctial Tide and Crepuscular Rays refer to meteorological and planetary phenomena, and in Oker’s interplay we hear light, wind, clouds, and tidal cycles transpire as shimmering, roaring, rubbing, coalescing and diverging environments of sound. The sonic stoicism and minimalism in their expression is challenged by frictioning micro-chaoses, combining to create calm, winding paths of musical detail and form. Echoing our planet and its meteorological reality, Aerial yields both consistency and perpetual change.

Bringing together some of the most compelling musicians from the Norwegian improvised music scene, Oker operates as an acoustic experimental quartet devoted to the amalgamation of improvised and composed modes of expression. Their music combines fine-tuned tonalities, deconstructed grooves, acoustic noise and other sonic events, taking their rather conventional instrumentation as a point of departure. Textures in gradual change coexisting with responsive and spontaneous gestures create a varied but coherent musical ecosystem which can be airy or dense, dry or blooming. A certain minimalist or stoic approach to sound production is an overarching and recurring element in all of Oker’s music, differentiating their sound from the majority of music in the field of improvised music or free jazz.

Synthpop, minimal wave, post-punk, goth, new romantic - fans and critics alike have dug deeply into their vintage thesauruses to describe the beguiling work of Nation of Language. And if you can't precisely define the band, that's the point. Frontman Ian Richard Devaney has become prodigious in expanding what synthesizer-driven music can evoke, such that his output is as much an extrasensory journey as it is an all-too-human destination. With that experience in mind, he wrote the band's fourth album - the spectral, spacious Dance Called Memory - in the most humble of ways: chipping away at melancholia by sitting around and strumming his guitar. Nation of Language's first two albums, Introduction, Presence (2020), and A Way Forward (2021), came as pandemic godsends: gorgeous, relatable soundtracks to our collective doldrums. But it was their last LP, Strange Disciple (2023), that catapulted the group from cultural standouts to critical darlings, with the album being named Rough Trade's Album of the Year. With that release, Pitchfork wrote that the band "are learning what it means to get bigger and better." This is Devaney's calling: soulfully translating individual despair into a comforting, collective mourning. The single "Now That You're Gone," which radiates and reverberates with a devastating wistfulness, was inspired by witnessing his godfather's tragic death from ALS, and his parents' role as caretakers for this ailing friend. At its heart, the song is a reflection of how friends can be there for each other, and also highlights a theme throughout the record: the pain and lost promise of friendships that fall apart. On Dance Called Memory, the band once again collaborated with friend and Strange Disciple producer Nick Millhiser (LCD Soundsystem, Holy Ghost!). "What's so great about Nick is his ability to make us feel like we don't need to do what might be expected of us," says synth player Aidan Noell, who, along with bassist Alex MacKay, rounds out the Nation of Language lineup. They imbued Dance Called Memory with a shifted palette - sampling chopped-up drum breaks on "I'm Not Ready for the Change" for a touch of Loveless-era My Bloody Valentine or smashing all of the percussion of "In Another Life" through a synthesizer to cast a shade of early-2000s electronic music. Ultimately, the hope was to weave raw vulnerability and humanity into a synth-heavy album. "There is a dichotomy between the Kraftwerk school of thought and the Brian Eno school of thought, each of which I've been drawn to at different points. I've read about how Kraftwerk wanted to remove all the humanity from their music, but Eno often spoke about wanting to make synthesized music that felt distinctly human," Devaney says. "As much as Kraftwerk is a sonically foundational influence, with this record I leaned much more towards the Eno school of thought. In this era quickly being defined by the rise of AI supplanting human creators I'm focusing more on the human condition, and I need the underlying music to support that_ Instead of hopelessness, I want to leave the listener with a feeling of us really seeing one another, that our individual struggles can actually unite us in empathy."

Experimental musician Greg Stasiw presents his debut album of radiant, free-flowing electronics ‘Guesswork’. Music for psychoactive exploration made over a four year period, incorporating ambient, minimalism, intricate sound design & Japanese environmental music. An exceptional listening experience of wonder, tranquility, melancholy & discovery, contemplating the relationship between sound & space.

Greg Stasiw is an experimental musician, visual artist and writer from New England, Northeastern USA. An itinerant polymath, Stasiw has spent time living, working and traveling in New York, Tokyo, Toronto, Paris, Boston, and Bratislava. As well as studying anthropology, animation and illustration, Stasiw has always had a close connection with music.

His earliest musical involvements started with ambient music on Sunday drives, microcassettes, the Windows 98 Sound Recorder and free play with Casio keyboards. Then came a formative procession of piano lessons, orchestras, choirs, taiko, metal, indie rock, tinnitus, and ultimately; the acquisition of music production software.

With his debut album ‘Guesswork’, the aural and visual inspirations that underpin Stasiw's creative life intersect, in a pure, radiant soundworld of space, depth and immaculate clarity. Futuristic, pellucid soundscapes incorporating ambient, minimalism, intricate sound design, and Japanese environmental music are deftly arranged with evanescent chimes, serene tone float, suspended organ notes and curious sci-fi resonances.

Like stepping into some space age meditation garden, if soundtracked by the likes of Hiroshi Yoshimura, Harold Budd, Norman McLaren, and Pauline Anna Strom, the thirteen tracks of ‘Guesswork’ create an exceptional listening experience of wide-eyed wonder, sleek tranquility, gentle melancholy, and singular discovery.

"Western Massachusetts band Landowner play abrasively-clean minimalist punk. Singer Dan Shaw started Landowner in 2016, writing and recording the project's debut Impressive Almanac with a practice amp and a laptop drum machine. Shaw's initial concept was a made-up genre called “weak d-beat”, meant to sound intentionally absurd “as if Antelope were reading the sheet music of Discharge”. When Shaw joined with his current bandmates in 2017, they translated these early experiments in restraint, minimalism, and caricatured hardcore as a live band. This provided Landowner with its own unique set of blueprints: the guitars “slap hard” without using any distortion or effects, the rhythm section is tight, fast, and repetitious, and the song structures make space for lyrics that reflect on the global systems and dark absurdities our lives are tangled in. Comparisons could be made to The Fall, Lungfish, or Uranium Club, but across their five albums, they make it clear: Landowner just sound like Landowner.

Assumption is the band's fifth album. Sonically, it captures the vibrancy and intensity of their live performances. The album title “Assumption” encapsulates the album's multi-layered themes. We make assumptions, taking in information online through an overload of decontextualized snippets and headlines, and then quickly form conclusions, or we allow artificial intelligence to do the thinking for us. Assumption is the sound of a band that established its own musical identity and has reached a place of tightness with an ease gained from years of playing together, sounding mechanically precise and at the same time fully human. It may be the band's most cohesive and fully realized work to date."

Rick James Blends Brazen Attitude, Fearless Sexuality, and Shrewd Charisma on Street Songs:

Punk-Funk Album Aims for the Hips and Head, Includes the Timeless Hit “Super Freak”
Sourced from the Original Master Tapes and Strictly Limited to 4,000 Numbered Copies:

Mobile Fidelity’s 180g 45RPM 2LP Set Presents 1981 Smash in Audiophile Sound for the First Time
1/4” / 30 IPS analogue master to DSD 256 to analogue console to lathe


“Punk funk” was a relatively unknown concept before 1981. But once Street Songs took the charts by storm that year, the world soon knew about what became Rick James’ signature style. And how. True to its name, Street Songs blends outspoken sexuality, brazen attitude, and edgy commentary amid contagious R&B-fueled arrangements that simultaneously aim for the hips, head, and various nether regions. And it’s never sounded better.

Sourced from the original master tapes, strictly limited to 4,000 numbered copies, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, and housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, Mobile Fidelity’s 180g 45RPM 2LP set presents James’ platinum-certified effort in audiophile quality for the first time. Playing with crisp dynamics, lively textures, airy headroom, and revealing clarity, this collectible edition of the record that stayed at the No. 1 spot on the R&B Album Charts for 20 weeks invites you to get closer to music that beckons you to turn your space into a private dance floor.

Then again, you’ll likely be so taken by how the taut bass lines, snappy rhythms, and four-on-the-floor beats — all rendered in stunning detail and with full-bodied architecture — come across with such accuracy and presence, you might stay pinned to your seat. On this pressing, the soundstaging, imaging, and lit-fuse energy of Street Songs reach new heights. Everything from the rubbery feel of the guitar lines to the depth of James’ temperature-raising vocals to the scale of the horn charts emerges as if James and his ace session crew set up in your room.

The Buffalo native and his ensemble waste no time getting their message across. On the album-opening “Give It to Me Baby,” James and company lay down a mix of sleek funk and pulsing disco that practically activates the bright lights of a discotheque and stimulates the libido of anyone within earshot. Having reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Soul charts, the song is pure sex — and just one of the carnal delights on a record that embraces the subject as fearlessly as James does his identity.

Of course, the most famous of James’ erotic excursions — the timeless “Super Freak” — hit No. 1 on Hot Dance Club Play charts, No. 16 on the Hot 100, and, later, No. 153 on Rolling Stone’s list of the Top 500 Songs of All Time. Bolstered by a quavering keyboard theme and electro riffs, the much-sampled track worms itself inside your muscles with smile-inducing subject matter, gliding vocals, nimble movements, a hot tenor-saxophone solo, and backing vocals by the Temptations.

The iconic Motown group isn’t the only celebrated guest artist on the Grammy-nominated Street Songs. James’ then-labelmate, Stevie Wonder, lends harmonica to the frank sociopolitical narrative on “Mr. Policeman,” a protest tune that also manages to stroll ’n’ strut via simmering organ, staggering brass accents, and James’ gritty vocal performance. In addition to contributing backing vocals on several cuts, Teena Marie turns in one of the album’s signature moments on “Fire and Desire,” a romantic old-school duet with James that impresses with smoothness, sensitivity, and smokiness.

High-profile colleagues aside, James remains the undisputed star, a figure whose leather-and-latex attire, braided hair, and natural swagger made him misunderstood by some in the mainstream and embraced by everyone in the know as a true original. As a testament to his magnetism and skills, his charisma and rawness seemingly seep through every note, whether on the balladic sweep of the risqué “Make Love to Me” or strident, poke-and-prod persuasion of the moonwalking “Call Me Up.”

On the closing “Below the Funk (Pass the J),” an uptempo autobiographical tale that addresses the visionary musician’s second-favorite love, the singer acknowledges his upbringing and inseparable connection with his roots — an homage to where he began and a toast to where he’s gone.

Rick James, keepin’ it real on Street Songs, still as real as it gets.

French artist Trypheme debuts on Impatience with “Odd Balade”, a darkly-hued collection of songs drawn from human delicacy and dreamworld mythology.

“Odd Balade” is Trypheme’s most ambitious and boldest record to date - both lyrically and musically. The album’s thirteen tracks resist rigid genre boundaries and flutter from medieval folk realms, sprawling synths, gothic 80s wave, leftfield pop, haunted vocals, mutant electronica to reverbed guitars - all reflected through her own shadowy prism. Especially album closer “A Walk In The Vercors” evokes a soothing serenity that echoes the sonic balm of Julee Cruise.

Trypheme’s musical repertoire trends heavily electronic and somewhat abstracted, but on “Odd Balade”, the artist slips into the role of the modern troubadour with a shift to a more poetically and personal songwriting that is infused with symbolism and dreamlike fantasies. The connective tissue of the album is the audacity to love and the vulnerability that ensues. As intimate and introspective as the lyrics are, the themes remain universal and human to the core: the fear of losing a loved one, the melancholia of leaving places and t“the fear of losing a loved one, the melancholia of leaving places and the cycles of life. The record was largely composed in Chars, stirred by the French village’s eerie atmosphere and frequent trips to the seaside in Brittany, where Trypheme resides. Drawing inspiration from the rugged terrain of the seaside landscapes, the writings of Allen Ginsberg and Mark Fisher and the hyperrealist art of Scott Prior, Trypheme uses her songs to depict life with broad strokes of rhythm.

On “Odd Balade” Trypheme consolidates herself as a gifted, nimble songwriter, masterly producer and subtly powerful vocalist. The record combines her skill for crafting lush, alien sound worlds and efficient, alluring arrangements with stealthily devastating songs. Belin’s voice becomes a key ingredient, appearing on eleven of Odd Balade’s thirteen tracks, by turns heavily manipulated, sampled and replayed as a form of percussion, or basically bare.

“Odd Balade” is the manifestation of Trypheme’s roving artistic practice, a ceremonial-grade sacrament cast in a rich nocturnal glow. Pairing the mundane with the mythic, the album stays true to its core: odd and strangely familiar.

RIYL - Riding off into the sunset to an unknown destination, hauntology, present, tales told by the fireside, hot summer rain, adventures, to feel a warm presence when you are walking in the forest or in the mountain, coastal landscapes, sailor’s stories, slow motion, vitesse, heavy blossoms, colors, the warmth of the sun, the tenderness of the moon, getting lost in unfamiliar streets, city’s lights, motorway rest area by night, magic numbers, rendez-vous, picnic, serendipity, poetry, the smell of old records and old books.

Tiphaine Belin has been releasing music as Trypheme since 2016. Odd Balade was written and produced by Belin, and mixed by Belin and Abel Roux. It was mastered by Amir Shoat. Cover art photography is by Ariane Kiks, with art direction by Ariane Kiks in collaboration with Mathilde Chaize.

This is that absolute stank-face filth: hard, espionage drama-soul and tough, jazzy street-funk. Hogan, The Hawk & Dirty John Crown sounds like the soundtrack of a blaxploitation movie from the early 70s and, packed with funky fusion and smoother orchestral numbers, it is basically that.

Featuring a veritable who's who of killer library break snakes - Alan Parker, Alan Hawkshaw (under sneaky alias William Parrish), Simon Haseley, Reg Tilsley and Gordon Grant - it's not hard to see how this commands over £350 on secondary markets.

This beautifully presented reissue, part of Be With's fresh campaign with the legendary library label Music De Wolfe, is well overdue.

Recorded for De Wolfe in 1972, Hogan, The Hawk, Dirty John Crown is a fantastic start-to-finish listen. The flute-funk of Hawkshaw and Parker's opener "The Hawk" comprises driving, fuzzy, wah-wah-drizzled bell-laced breaks with synths and basslines to murder for. Up next, Haseley's "The Happening" is a carefree, rhythmic builder with strings and horns. Let's face it, it doesn't prepare us for the monster that follows...

Hawkshaw and Parker's amazing "Main Chance" is likely the reason you're here; it's a moody, beaty proto-hip-hop banger; all rolling drums and flute-laced, organ-drenched, synth-funk breaks. Just sensational - you'll want to play it again and again and again.

The cool AF "Hogan Baby" has a soft, rounded, bluesy feel - it's a lighter number and Haseley's work here sounds more than a little indebted to Burt Bacharach. It's melancholic, reflective and contains ace breaks with beautiful flutes and wistful horns. It's just gorgeous. Grant's pounding "Dirty John Crown" brilliantly conjures swirling string-swept serenity atop driving, incisive drama-funk breaks. Sublime. Hawkshaw and Parker come roaring back with the murky, creeping crime-funk of "Swarf" with killer basslines underpinning slow-mo high-class flute-funk.

Reg Tilsley enters the fray with the bright, snappy, carefree "Turnover". It's lightweight but still retains some nice orchestral movements. The brief “Tarantula” gets us back on track - from the pen and chops of Hawkshaw and Parker, are we surprised? - with the driving crime funk breaks, super clean yet brooding. Synths, sax and 'nuff guitars. YES.

Side 2 opens with the car chase swag of Haseley's dramatic, driving "Precinct". Jazzy, instrumental flute funk over great percussive breaks. We love this. Haseley's rolling "Sidewinder Version 1" is robust and exuberant with bouncy horns before a cracking Parker-Hawkshaw one-two featuring the tense "Pressure" and the deeply soulful "Call Me", a relaxed, medium-tempo organ feature. With building piano and strings Gordon Grant's excellently titled "Scorch" is as aggressive and dramatic as you'd hope. Hawkshaw and Parker's furtive flute-funk of "Digger" precede the light, melodic and romantic themes of Tilsley's "Marianne" whilst "Sidewinder Version 2", a faster iteration of Track B2 sees Haseley close out this remarkable set in bouncy, bright fashion.

The audio for Hogan, The Hawk, Dirty John Crown has been meticulously remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring this release sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at Record Industry in Holland. The original, iconic sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

Sundays is the debut full length from Oakland-based Tanukichan, aka multi-instrumentalist Hannah van Loon. At surface level, the album sounds just how the title describes: hazy, dreamy, reflective, just like a lazy Sunday afternoon. Upon second and third listens, the dreamy music unveils a deeper world: an ever present sense of longing, an endless state of summer and a period of instability that plagues us all at one point or another in our lives.
Raised in San Francisco, van Loon started out making classical, bluegrass and jazz music as well as playing in numerous bands in the area before deciding to make something more personal. What started with a few unfocused demos, with van Loon playing all the instruments herself in her house, became a studio experience and viable collection of music after her friend Anthony Ferraro of Astronauts, Etc. introduced her to Company Records founder Chaz Bear (Toro Y Moi, Les Sins). After collaborating on her 2016 EP Radiolove, van Loon and Bear set out to make a much more sonically cohesive release, with both the producer and artist playing all the instruments on the record. The result is a slice of dream pop that could only come from the combination of the laid back atmosphere of California and the nostalgic and often difficult memories that are generally associated with coming of age.
To van Loon, the tracks of Sundays are a form of contemplation and approaching life’s issues from a different and less complicated perspective. “Sometimes for me, it feels easier to write songs about things than to talk. A lot of things in life are layered and paradoxical, but with songs it always seems simpler.”
Opening track “Lazy Love” sets the stage, sonically and lyrically, for the rest of the album, combining vulnerable lyrics with gorgeous, fuzzy tones. Above pummeling synths and guitar tones, van Loon sings “you know I'd do anything/don't you know I try my best/if I could wake up when the sun is rising” showing the album’s constant theme of balancing always wanting to be the best person you can be, while also feeling a low level joy at letting life play out as it wants to. “Natural” is a track that feels perfect for a road trip, a track that hums away with a driving beat, culminating in the sheer excitement of finally having a night alone with someone you’ve loved for a while, among many highs and lows: “a window too bright/it's natural sunlight/grey fades to white lie/kiss you tonight/it's natural delight/help me feel right.” The tracks collectively address a deep rooted sense of yearning for someone, something new, while also feeling content with your life; a realization that maybe the places you’ve always belonged aren’t where you should be anymore, that suddenly you might be looking for something completely different.
“I settled on the name Sundays as the title of the record because it encapsulated how the record felt to me,“ van Loon says. “I was thinking about the laziness, and dreamy clarity that you can feel after a late night, waking up having to face the world with a new perspective.” Sundays encapsulates this feeling, a nostalgic way of looking at the world, waking up feeling like a slightly different person than before, looking back on life, not sure if you can tackle what’s next, but doing your best, day in and day out

Mia Zapata was the greatest rock singer of her time. She may have likely been the greatest blues singer in punk rock history, the woman who married the 78 and the '78. Tragedy did not make this true. Mia Zapata made this true, and the ferocious, spring-loaded shrapnel frame that was built around her by Andy Kessler (guitar: metronomic and furious), Matt Dresdner (bass: fluid, punching, beat-addicted and melodic), and Steve Moriarty (drums: martial and explosive) - who, with Mia, combined to form The Gits - made it true. The Gits were formed at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio in mid-1986, grabbing and swapping pieces of art, thrash, noise, punk rock, classic rock, and all the sorts of magical silly and bookish jingle bells that an old-school liberal arts education handed you; for the next few years they worked on turning it all into something tough, sensitive, both brutal and kind. Andy, Matt, Mia, and Steve moved to Seattle in middish 1989, landing in a house on Capitol Hill where they (and fellow travelers) wood-shedded and rehearsed for the next few years. The Gits put out three EPs in 1990 and '91 before signing with C/Z Records and releasing their first full-length album, Frenching the Bully. Seattle quickly claimed the quartet as their own and embraced the Gits blend of ferocious fangs and soft heart, the slug/slap of the guitars, and the gorgeous, soft underbelly of the poetic emotions. These qualities not only fit in with the doe-eyed/sharp-clawed grunge ethos but earned the Gits the respect of their peers, including Nirvana, who tapped them to open a major local show in 1990. Then other stuff happened, and their frantic, confessional barbed-heart snowball began rolling up hill very, very fast; the Gits "quickly" (hah! After half a decade learning to implode and explode hearts and stomping their boots on manifold beer-softened, Marlboro-weeded wood stages!) inspired rapture, awe, and the levitation that happened when peak emotion meets peak grindage in front of amps spitting out something that sounded like the mad marriage of Bolan swagger and Dischord tension_ all fronted by a genuinely incomparable woman who held her heart in her mouth and shared it, in all its celebration and fear, without hesitation. The Gits were an angry, inflamed slinky fully in tune with and tuned by the Bessie Patti Smith of her time, truly the only singer who could summon Joplin, Poly Styrene, Sam Cooke, Iggy Pop and Ian MacKaye all in the same goddamn song. In 1993, less than four weeks after accepting an offer from Atlantic Records, Mia died. I leave it at that, because this is not about death; it's about an extraordinary life. I do not say, "You should have been there," I say, "We are lucky so many of us were, and I am so glad we have this extraordinary evidence of the power and gifts of Mia and the Gits that you now can hold in your hands." And I note that Frenching the Bully, this extraordinary testament to the soul, shock, fury and feeling of the Gits, has been long out of print on vinyl and CD, and this new edition - remastered by legendary Seattle engineer Jack Endino - joyfully rectifies that. -Tim Sommer

The dreamy harmonising of Everything But The Girl. The propulsive urgency of The Strokes. The lilting folk-pop of The Coral. The introspective songcraft of Belle and Sebastian. The bittersweet, lyrical side-eyes of The Beautiful South. Vona Vella have all these elements and so many more, all weaving together to form a contemporary sound both gossamer delicate and fiercely robust. Since their eponymous debut album in 2023 (released on Strap Originals, Pete Doherty’s label), the seed of their signature sound – wistful indie-pop harmonies, exquisitely blended male/female vocals – has not so much grown as erupted through the dream-pop meadow into a towering, flowering beanstalk.

Today, with their second album Carnival, the former indie-pop duo have spectacularly evolved into a dynamic five-piece band, with key musical contributions from the musicians they’ve so successfully toured with over the last two years, drummer Jake Bott (who they’ve known since they were 17), bassist Claud J Melton (who they found on TikTok through a search for a female bassist), and guitarist Dexter Howell (a friend of a friend). As a five-piece, their innate pop sensibilities are now newly bolstered by a confident, thrilling propulsion, izzy and Dan, still the main songwriters and vocalists, are thrilled with the sound, where the possibilities are endless. Vona Vella may be names after two flowers, but there’s nothing twee happening here.

The analog LP reissue of the original soundtrack album from the anime Mr. Ajikko, which aired in 1987. The original LP catalog number is K28G-7379, and the original
CD catalog number is K32X-7125, released on June 21, 1988 (the tracklist differs from the CD released in 2004, which included eight newly added tracks).
The original manga, created by Daisuke Terasawa, was serialized in Weekly Shonen Magazine from autumn 1986 to the end of 1989, and was adapted into an anime
series that aired on TV Tokyo from October 1987 to September 1989.

This is the only soundtrack album for the anime series. It features the opening theme “Renaissance Jounetsu” and the ending theme “Kokoro no Photograph”, both
composed and sung by singer songwriter Wataru Kuniyasu, who is also known for composing Akina Nakamori’s “Gypsy Queen”. Lyrics were written by Ikki Matsumoto,
and arrangements were done by Tatsumi Yano.

The album includes image songs, eyecatch music, and preview tracks, with contributions from renowned comedy song artists Masayuki Yamamoto (Side A tracks 4 and 6)
and Tatsuo Kamon (Side B tracks 1 and 7). The album was structured, scripted, and directed by the anime’s director Yasuhiro Imagawa, making it a variety style album.
The main background music (BGM) was composed and arranged by Daito Fujita (Side A tracks 1, 3, 5, 7; Side B tracks 3, 5). The original manga author Daisuke
Terasawa also contributed lyrics for two songs (Side B tracks 3 and 5). Voice actor Tomohiro Nishimura participated both as a singer (Side A track 8; Side B track 7)
and as an arranger (Side B track 7).

Voice actors Minami Takayama, Yoko Kawanami, Miki Narahashi, Hirotaka Suzuoki, and Kenyu Horiuchi also participated in min dramas and chorus segments.
This album, which comically and dramatically portrays cooking battles, is a “Bravo!” anime soundtrack that closes out the Showa era in style. After 37 years, it is finally
being reissued as an analog LP a long-awaited release for anime connoisseurs!

It's an anthemic sound that's taken the group from their hometown of Los Angeles -- where frontman Paul Givant formed the band as a bluegrass- inspired act, making room for punky tempos and fiddle solos -- to venues across the country, where their sound grew to encompass the sweep of rock & roll, the sonics of folk music, and the storytelling of country. With American Seams, the band's fifth studio release, Rose's Pawn Shop nod to the wide range of those influences with also doubling down on their folky roots. Produced by Grammy nominee Eric Corne during a series of live-inthe-studio performances, it's a raw, reflective album about stepping into a new stage of life, reflecting upon all the lessons learned and mistakes made along the way.

For Givant -- a journeyman songwriter who's weathered the twists and turns of the music industry, unwaveringly dedicating himself to a project that's earned high marks from Rolling Stone (who called the band's work "a blast of 21st century pickin'-party music") and GQ (who praised their "knee-slapping bluegrass-y twang") -- it's also a showcase of the the band's staying power. This is resilient roots music, grounded in sharp songwriting and the hard-won experience of a band that's dedicated itself to the long haul.

Don’t believe your ears - Pepper’s Ghost is the latest offering from NYC project Nuke Watch.

Whatever you think it is - it is not. By the same token it really can be whatever you want - electronica, jazz, improv, noise, new age, ambient - it’s none and all of these. Like the primitive visual illusion it’s named for - Pepper’s Ghost is a projection of a thing, it’s not the thing.

The Nuke Watch method - like that of Aaron Anderson and Chris Hontos’ other primary project Beat Detectives - leans almost entirely on live improvisation, with some advanced studio alchemy in post. Where the Beat Detectives palette draws from club music tropes, Nuke Watch blends recognizable tones (hand drums, woodwinds, keys, fretless bass) with sounds of providence unknown, the line between organic and synthesized instrumentation unintelligibly smudged. What is real and what is projection? It’s hard to say. What do our ears tell us? This is where we arrive at Pepper’s Ghost.

Warped as the sounds may be, the playing belies a crew of deeply expressive, learned improvisers who have their craft honed. Their friendship and psychic connection enhances the ritualistic rhythms, mutant modular synthesis, nimble keyboard runs, absurdist sampling and unidentified skronk. They’re wonderfully complemented across several tracks on this set by Cole Pulice’s levitational, sublime saxophone.

As unhinged as this might all appear, once the mind and music meet on the same wavelength this is profoundly moving, energizing and uplifting Alive Music that recalibrates the sense of what music can be.

Nuke Watch is Aaron Anderson and Chris Hontos, with an array of friendly guests. They’ve released records as Nuke Watch on The Trilogy Tapes, Commend and Moon Glyph. As Beat Detectives they’ve released records on Not Not Fun, 100% Silk and their own studio imprint NYPD Records.

Pepper's Ghost was written and produced by Aaron Anderson and Chris Hontos. Additional instrumentation on these recordings by Cole Police, Leonard King, Eric Timothy Carlson, Chris Farstad and William Statler. It was mixed by Chris Hontos and mastered by Jack Callahan. Painting on the cover is “The Unity Of Being” (2020), by Ry Fyan. Design and layout by Aaron Anderson.

RIYL - Musical illusions, puzzles and magic tricks, downtempo, music of the spheres, good journey, Eddie Harris, Ketron, "world building", orange sunshine, suspension of disbelief.

"And what about you? What are you looking for?" - René Daumal

This musical journey pays tribute to René Daumal and his enchanting world of mysteries and magic. The album shares its title with Daumal's novel, Mount Analogue: A Novel of Symbolically Authentic Non-Euclidean Adventures in Mountain Climbing, published posthumously in 1952, eight years after the author's untimely death.

Mount Analogue is a classic allegorical adventure novel. The novel describes an expedition undertaken by a group of mountaineers to travel to and climb the titular Mount Analogue an enormous mountain on a surreal continent, that is invisible and inaccessible to the outside world and can be perceived only by the application of obscure knowledge. The central theme of mountaineering is extensively explored through literary and philosophical lenses. Daumal died before the novel was completed, providing an uncanny one-way quality to the story, which ends abruptly in the middle of a sentence.

The first disc features a fifty-minute composition divided into six chapters: Introduction, Meeting, Supposition, Crossing, Arrival, and Conclusion. This album weavestogether a rich tapestry of diverse instruments, sounds, and voices that collectively tell the story of this conceptual work, loaded with a synesthetic multitude of colors, aromas, meanings, textures, and moods.

Contributors to this musical poem include Bill Laswell (bass), Henry Kaiser (guitar), Anna Clementi (vocals), Percy Howard (voice), Hideo Yamaki (percussion), Graham Haynes (cornet), Dorian Cheah (violin), Nils Petter Molvaer (trumpet), Peter Apfelbaum (keyboard), and P.ST (concept, electronics), who all lend their talents to a series of excerpts from Daumal's text.

A truly global project, the recordings took place across various locations in Europe, North America, and South America, culminating at Orange Music Studio in New York, thanks to the collaborative efforts of Bill Laswell, James Dellatacoma, and Michael Fossenkemper.

The second disc presents five improvisations for solo electric guitar by Henry Kaiser. The first solo, Jodorowsky's Peradam, draws its inspiration from Alejandro Jodorowsky's 1973 film The Holy Mountain, which was inspired by the Daumal novel. Kaiser's initial forty-eight-minute guitar solo serves as a foundational guide for his four subsequent, Rashomon-esque, solo musical interpretations of Mount Analogue, as seen through the psychedelic labyrinth of Jorodrowsky's cinematic masterpiece.

"And what about you? What are you looking for?" - René Daumal

This musical journey pays tribute to René Daumal and his enchanting world of mysteries and magic. The album shares its title with Daumal's novel, Mount Analogue: A Novel of Symbolically Authentic Non-Euclidean Adventures in Mountain Climbing, published posthumously in 1952, eight years after the author's untimely death.

Mount Analogue is a classic allegorical adventure novel. The novel describes an expedition undertaken by a group of mountaineers to travel to and climb the titular Mount Analogue an enormous mountain on a surreal continent, that is invisible and inaccessible to the outside world and can be perceived only by the application of obscure knowledge. The central theme of mountaineering is extensively explored through literary and philosophical lenses. Daumal died before the novel was completed, providing an uncanny one-way quality to the story, which ends abruptly in the middle of a sentence.

The first disc features a fifty-minute composition divided into six chapters: Introduction, Meeting, Supposition, Crossing, Arrival, and Conclusion. This album weavestogether a rich tapestry of diverse instruments, sounds, and voices that collectively tell the story of this conceptual work, loaded with a synesthetic multitude of colors, aromas, meanings, textures, and moods.

Contributors to this musical poem include Bill Laswell (bass), Henry Kaiser (guitar), Anna Clementi (vocals), Percy Howard (voice), Hideo Yamaki (percussion), Graham Haynes (cornet), Dorian Cheah (violin), Nils Petter Molvaer (trumpet), Peter Apfelbaum (keyboard), and P.ST (concept, electronics), who all lend their talents to a series of excerpts from Daumal's text.

A truly global project, the recordings took place across various locations in Europe, North America, and South America, culminating at Orange Music Studio in New York, thanks to the collaborative efforts of Bill Laswell, James Dellatacoma, and Michael Fossenkemper.

The second disc presents five improvisations for solo electric guitar by Henry Kaiser. The first solo, Jodorowsky's Peradam, draws its inspiration from Alejandro Jodorowsky's 1973 film The Holy Mountain, which was inspired by the Daumal novel. Kaiser's initial forty-eight-minute guitar solo serves as a foundational guide for his four subsequent, Rashomon-esque, solo musical interpretations of Mount Analogue, as seen through the psychedelic labyrinth of Jorodrowsky's cinematic masterpiece.

Finally, finally, FINALLY! After many years of fruitless praying, a true collector grail can finally grace every turntable the world over. Bright And Shining is a miraculous leftfield library classic from the genius mind of Barbara Moore. It's Highly Addictive Happiness Music TM and one of the coolest records to come out of anywhere...ever! With originals almost impossible to find - and, when they do, going for over £300 - you already know how crucial this beautiful reissue is.

Recorded in 1981 for Sylvester Music Company, Bright And Shining is breezy, dreamy and funky in a perfectly smooth jazzy-soul-groove fashion, with Moore's patented celestial male-female vocal harmonies this time benefitting from the addition of Fender Rhodes and pumping bass lines.

As one particularly enthusiastic Discogs user put it: "If Eno is responsible for Music for Airports, Moore is responsible for Music for Holidays." Indeed, this is brilliantly unique, "maximum happiness music". If you miss the sun-dappled soft-psych soul of Koushik, the heavenly vocal arrangements of the great Library Music doyenne Barbara Moore - her depth, richness, sophistication and warmth - will see you just right.

The gigantic title track, "Bright And Shining", gallops out the gate, all sophisticated, jazzy leisure-soul with sax and guitars backing Moore's effortless vocal swag in this relaxed, mid-tempo head-nod strut. Worth the price of admission alone. Up next, the sunny, vibey "Fly Me High" features strolling, "unworded" vocals (aside from the refrain of the title) alongside breezy alto sax and electric guitar. Pastoral and perfect. The slow'n'sultry "Affluence" presents a moody elegance, a classical "downlifting" gem. Another crucial highlight is the breezy "Going On Holiday". It's happy. It's sunny. It's lively. It's cool and happy. Did we say happy? A mid-tempo, romantic sax workout, "Alto Sex"presents smooth jazzy funk before the first side closes out with the soaring, jazzy "Stay With Me". Seriously uplifting.

Side B opens with "Feel Fine", an excellent uptempo and bright jazz groove. Up next, "Canon" is wracked with refinement, a peaceful, smooth vocal harmony over repeating bass making for an elegant, late-night classic. It's followed by the laconic "Smooth And Soft", a laidback, casual sophisticated soul and easy-feeling jazz gem. The jazzy "Real Thing" is another exercise in strolling sophistication, complete with wordless vocal harmonies. The fairly self-explanatory "Voice Over Sax" sounds precisely how you would expect; a relaxed sax number with heavenly vocal support! To close, the carefree "Feeling Free" is a pleasant, light and breezy mid-tempo groove.

The audio for Bright And Shining has been meticulously remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring this release sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at Record Industry in Holland. The original, iconic sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue. We'll grant the final word to MillionDollars. on discogs from about 10 years ago: "If you listen to the record on a sunny day you feel like going out surfing in a white linen suit with a blunt on your lips, catching a cool breeze."

If you know your death metal history, you are then well aware that 'Hating Life' stands for one of GRAVE earliest and gnarliest demo days classics, later on rerecorded on their immortal debut 'Into The Grave', later on once again used as the title of their fourth full-length, back in 1996. So when a brand new entity proudly waving an old-school death metal flag and bearing the same name seemingly creeps out of nowhere, you're entitled to except the same kind of HM-2 drenched, tribute-in-disguise and downtuned death metal innit? Well, for the time being, the answer would be yes. And no at the same time. Not so hidden behind the whole thing is Santi, guitar player and founding member of ATARAXY, one of Spain most respected and relentless old-school death metal outfit since 2008. "The whole process was very spontaneous, the result of me jamming with a Gibson Les Paul and a HM-2 pedal and ending up soon with great riffs, melodies and plenty of ideas. With ATARAXY having now a very specific personality, it felt great to rediscover primitive death metal roots." Describing HATING LIFE overall sound as "putrid and raw", he doesn't deny the obvious GRAVE nod, especially since the opening track/intro of their debut recording is simply called 'Into The Grave'. "You can call it a tribute or a declaration of intent. The first GRAVE material was and remains a clear exponent, among many others, of the kind of death metal that truly motivated me to compose the tracks for this."

Rikk Agnew's All by Myself is one of those records that feels like a secret you're lucky to stumble upon -- a raw, weird, totally personal snapshot of a restless artist at a pivotal moment. Originally released in 1982 on Frontier Records, the album stands apart from most of what was coming out of Southern California at the time, even though it was born right in the middle of the exploding hardcore punk scene. By 1982, Rikk Agnew was already a big deal underground. As the guitarist for Adolescents, he helped shape the sound of Orange County hardcore with sharp riffs, surf-inflected melodies, and a sense of urgency that became hugely influential. He also played in bands like D.I. and later Christian Death, moving fluidly between hardcore punk, post-punk, and darker, more experimental territory. Agnew wasn't just a fast, aggressive guitarist -- he was a songwriter with range, curiosity, and a strong DIY instinct. All by Myself lives up to its title in the most literal way. Agnew recorded the album largely on his own, playing all the instruments and handling vocals himself. Instead of delivering another straight-up hardcore record, he went inward. The result is a lo-fi, home-recorded collection of songs that blend punk energy with new wave, post-punk, psychedelic touches, and even moments of pop sensitivity. It's rough around the edges, but that's exactly the point -- the album feels intimate, unfiltered, and honest. In the early '80s, Southern California punk was loud, fast, and often confrontational. Bands were pushing against the mainstream and even against each other, racing toward more extreme sounds. While All by Myself shares that DIY spirit, it doesn't fully play by hardcore rules. The tempos shift, the moods wander, and the songs feel more like personal experiments than scene anthems. That made the record a bit of an outlier at the time -- but also what gives it lasting appeal. Frontier Records was the perfect home for a release like this. The label was known for supporting artists who didn't quite fit into neat categories, and All by Myself captured that ethos perfectly. Today, All by Myself is often seen as a cult classic. For fans of early punk, post-punk, or anyone interested in the roots of DIY recording culture, this album is essential listening

Samurai Music offshoot SAIBAI welcomes legendary producer ASC to expand upon the label's widescreen strain of electronic music plumbing the depths between techno, electronica and broken beat.

ASC is the flagship project for James Clements, a prolific veteran of the scene who started releasing his distinctive twist on drum & bass back in the late 90s. Across a variety of aliases and many different label projects and collaborations, Clements has retained a strong artistic identity defined by steely atmospherics, rhythmic intrigue and precisely sculpted sound design. He brings those qualities to SAIBAI3.

On 'Raijin' the tempo prowls at 90 BPM, all the better to carry the bass snarls and haunted melodies hovering in the middle distance. 'Rasetsu' meanwhile hides its much sprightlier 150 pace behind a half time construction punctuated by a tactile, almost organic set of percussion. 'Kyubi' sinks into a deep, inky well of spatial sound design with just a light smattering of percussion and a weighty kick for guidance. 'Shigure' completes the picture with a mesmeric tapestry of shifting textures and brooding melancholy.

Clements has devoted much time recently to his ambient output, and it shows in the richness of the space he shapes around his needlepoint patterns, while his roots in more propulsive club music show their hand in subtle, understated ways. It's this balance that makes the release the perfect addition to SAIBAI's evolving story.

Limited to 200 copies

Scupltures is composer and pianist Derek Hunter Wilson’s third solo album, an ode to the ancient and contested shorelines of the Pacific Northwest. Deeply embedded in place, the six longform pieces that make up the album reflect the artist’s journey through grief (including losing his father) and the passage of time, each one built upon loops created from extended sessions with harpist Joshua Ward. Like the foggy, moss-encrusted locations that inspired the album, Sculptures has a timeless feel to it, shadowed by the rumblings of a colonial system in decay.

Award-winning poet Mathias Svalina composed a poem for the album, entitled “A Dream for Sculptures”. It is reproduced on an insert that accompanies each LP.

Derek Hunter Wilson is a composer and multi-instrumentalist based in Portland. He has released two solo albums on Beacon Sound (Travelogue, 2017; Steel, Wood, & Air, 2019), as well as a collaborative album with Location Services entitled Wake (2022). In 2018 he collaborated with visual artist Gregory Euclide for his Thesis Project label, resulting in a split 10" with Spanish musician Rauelsson. He has additionally worked with poets Zachary Schomburg and Brandi Katherine Herrera for several sound and performance pieces, and has performed live on the West Coast and in Berlin, sharing the stage with artists such as Colleen, Amulets, Patricia Wolf, Pulse Emitter, and Liima.

Vic Bang's "Oda" arrives quietly - it was waiting for the right moment. The eight tracks are shaped by listening, by circling around sound instead of chasing it... you can definitely hear patience in the pacing, a willingness to let ideas linger, to let all the small motifs breathe.

The album moves with a softer and more deliberate rhythm than much of Vic's earlier work, as the sound world here feels concentrated and cohesive, built from a limited set of elements that gradually reveal themselves. Melodies unfold without too much fuss, textures repeat and mutate very subtly and the whole record holds together like a single extended thought.

The title Oda - or "ode" in English - hints at devotion, but not in any grand or ceremonial way. These pieces seem devoted to sound itself: to tone, to gesture, to fragile and simple musical forms. There's a gentle melancholy running through the album, but also clarity, even tenderness. Each track is dedicated to something - a timbre, a rhythm, a resonance - living up to the title's etymology.

All Music composed by Victoria Barca in Buenos Aires, Argentina, between 2024 and 2025.

Saxophone (3) by Camila Nebbia
Vocal samples by Catu Hardoy and Nicolás Said
Cello samples by Gabriela Areal

Mastered by Adam Badi Donoval

Front cover relief "Endulzando el oído" by Victoria Barca
Back cover photo by Indira Seoane
Design and layout by Paulina Ufnal and Janek Ufnal

"Nearly two decades after their 2007 debut and a 2010–2022 hiatus, Austin, TX’s Voxtrot return with Dreamers in Exile, a new LP that turns an underdog story into a true second act.

The band who quietly became cult heroes in the streaming era deliver a record that carries the electric rush longtime fans remember while speaking directly to the new era of youth who discovered them through playlists and word of mouth.

Musically, Dreamers in Exile folds Voxtrot’s classic DNA—C86 sparkle, Sarah Records romanticism, the pulse of The Velvet Underground, the elegance of Felt—into a sharper, more confident sound.

Guitars chime and sprint, rhythms push forward, and Ramesh Srivastava’s literate, heart-forward lyrics trace the distance between youth and maturity, exile and home, regret and renewal. Mixed by Dean Reid (Lana Del Rey, James Blake), it reads as both reintroduction and redemption.

For a band born of the 2000s blog wave alongside Vampire Weekend, The National, and Grizzly Bear, Dreamers in Exile is less nostalgia than proof of life. It’s the sound of a beloved group returning on their own terms and finding their songs resonating more widely than ever."

Blu:sh on the remix, Tifra on the originals. Out 27/02.

Storming into 2026 with Tifra’s debut solo ep on our main label.
A collection of rapturous club trax, showcasing his incredible time withstanding progressive sound—along side the high-intensity, wormhole bending remix on b2 by Blu:sh. Supported worldwide by DJ Seinfeld, Aurora Halal, Mama Snake, Or:la, and many others. This release is a full dose of propulsive club sounds, fully focused on club dynamics with a punch.

From outright no-nonsense prog house made for peak-time on the title track “Caledonia”, to a bumper tech-house leaning cut on A2, “Bliss Monastery”, proving his undeniable talent for making a groove. On the other side we go more direct— we’ve got a fast, trippy, mind-bending beat with “Aquas Calientes,” plus a remix by Blu:sh that pushes up the intensity with his signature fierce, psychedelic sound—ready to put any sound system to the test.

With `The devil's door' And Also The Trees, one true original Post-Punk/New Wave band, presents a quiet storm of an album. At times filmic, poetic and intense with an undercurrent of dark psychedelia. It completes a trilogy of works `The Bone Carver', `Mother-of-pearl Moon' and now `The devil's door' created by the current line-up. Here there are signature `And also the trees' poetic lyrics, orchestral guitar and soundtrack influenced songs inspired by newsreel, oil paintings and folklore. But with this work we have the addition of some surprising instruments that skew the album towards a world where John Barry meets Bela Bartok. And also the trees (AATT) formed during the original post-punk era in rural Worcestershire, an environment that has provided a constant inspiration to a group whose music has often explored the dark underbelly as well as the beauty of the British countryside. They are renowned for their captivating live performances, a unique style of mandolin-like electric guitar, evocative lyrics and dark jazz rhythms - not to mention a creative independence fiercely preserved for over four decades. Back then AATT immediately caught the attention of Robert Smith of The Cure, who invited them to tour with his group on several occasions. Smith was also involved with their early recordings alongside his bandmate Lol Tolhurst, who produced their first records. This longterm friendship and mutual respect was further solidified when AATT were invited to perform at the Robert Smith curated 2018 Meltdown festival in London. This July AATT appear as The Cure's special guests at the Nimes festival. Founded by singer Simon Jones and his guitarist brother Justin, AATT have maintained a continuous presence on the post-punk, and alternative rock scenes worldwide, with a solid fanbase e.g. in Germany.

Uw energieboost in plaatvorm: zo klinkt de nieuwe Admiral Freebee. Geboren uit een oerdrive om samen met zijn vrienden slash helden muziek te maken en de studio in te duiken. Openingstrack Seeking A Friend zet meteen de toon: drums zwellen aan, een snedige riff valt in en Tom Van Laere giet er een rauw ‘Armageddooon’ over uit. De wereld staat in brand en Admiral Freebee is er niet blind voor, maar het spelplezier staat voorop. Uptempo, groovy, dansbaar zelfs, met synths en welgemikte opzwepende HEY’s: negen songs lang spatten good times uit de muziek, van eerste single Q&A With Myself over knallers als Future Fathers Of Utopia en The Hunger. Zoals we van Admiral Freebee gewend zijn, is er ook ruimte voor humor en een introspectieve blik. Maar vergis je niet, een schoothondje is hij niet (No One’s Puppy). In slottrack Dog That Never Dies gaat de voet van het gaspedaal en legt het enige ingetogen nummer het album neer, als een synthese van alle thema’s die aan bod komen. En we mogen gerust zijn: met Admiral Freebee gaat het goed, en zowel hij als zijn muziek lopen over van het plezier. Even alle zorgen vergeten en genieten van pure fun.

——————————————————

Your energy boost in record form: that’s how the new Admiral Freebee album sounds. Born from a primal desire to make music with his friends aka heroes and dive into the studio. Opening track Seeking A Friend sets the tone: drums swell, a sharp riff takes centre stage and Van Laere lets out a raw ‘Armageddooon’. The world is on fire and Admiral Freebee does not turn a blind eye, but first we have some fun. Uptempo, groovy, danceable even, with funky synths and a bunch of infectious HEYs: for nine songs good times are all over the place, from first single Q&A With Myself to bangers like Future Fathers Of Utopia and The Hunger. As always with Admiral Freebee, there’s also room for humor and he doesn’t shy away from introspection either. And make no mistake: Tom Van Laere is no lapdog (No One’s Puppy). Closing track Dog That Never Dies is the only intimate song on the album and sounds like a synthesis of all the album’s themes. And rest assured: Admiral Freebee is doing fine, and both him and his music are bursting with joy. So leave your worries behind for a moment and have some raw fun.

Picture by Ed Templeton/ Courtesy Tim Van Laere Gallery

Artwork by Jelle Jespers

Admiral Freebee is Tom Van Laere – Tim Coene, Senne Guns en Laurens Billiet. Recorded in summer 2025.

The 1975 veröffentlichten am 26. Februar 2016 ihr zweites Studioalbum „I Like It When You Sleep, for You
Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It”. Es führte sowohl die britischen (BPI Platinum) als auch die USamerikanischen (RIAA Gold) Albumcharts an und brachte sieben Singles hervor: „Love Me”, „Ugh!”, „A
Change of Heart”, „She’s American”, „Somebody Else”, „Loving Someone” und „The Sound”. Pitchfork,
Rolling Stone und The Guardian führten es als eines der besten Alben des Jahres 2016 auf. Die BoxsetVersion wurde bei den Grammy Awards 2017 für die Kategorie „Best Boxed or Special Limited-Edition
Package” nominiert.
2026 ist das 10-jährige Jubiläum dieses viel beachteten Albums. Um dies zu feiern, wird das Album
auf farbigem Vinyl (Farbe noch zu bestätigen) in einer 6-seitigen Dreifach-Gatefold-Verpackung mit alternativem Artwork und 17 12”x12”-Kunstkarten veröffentlicht, wobei jedes Kartenbild einen Song mit dem
Text auf der Rückseite darstellt.

Uw energieboost in plaatvorm: zo klinkt de nieuwe Admiral Freebee. Geboren uit een oerdrive om samen met zijn vrienden slash helden muziek te maken en de studio in te duiken. Openingstrack Seeking A Friend zet meteen de toon: drums zwellen aan, een snedige riff valt in en Tom Van Laere giet er een rauw ‘Armageddooon’ over uit. De wereld staat in brand en Admiral Freebee is er niet blind voor, maar het spelplezier staat voorop. Uptempo, groovy, dansbaar zelfs, met synths en welgemikte opzwepende HEY’s: negen songs lang spatten good times uit de muziek, van eerste single Q&A With Myself over knallers als Future Fathers Of Utopia en The Hunger. Zoals we van Admiral Freebee gewend zijn, is er ook ruimte voor humor en een introspectieve blik. Maar vergis je niet, een schoothondje is hij niet (No One’s Puppy). In slottrack Dog That Never Dies gaat de voet van het gaspedaal en legt het enige ingetogen nummer het album neer, als een synthese van alle thema’s die aan bod komen. En we mogen gerust zijn: met Admiral Freebee gaat het goed, en zowel hij als zijn muziek lopen over van het plezier. Even alle zorgen vergeten en genieten van pure fun.

——————————————————

Your energy boost in record form: that’s how the new Admiral Freebee album sounds. Born from a primal desire to make music with his friends aka heroes and dive into the studio. Opening track Seeking A Friend sets the tone: drums swell, a sharp riff takes centre stage and Van Laere lets out a raw ‘Armageddooon’. The world is on fire and Admiral Freebee does not turn a blind eye, but first we have some fun. Uptempo, groovy, danceable even, with funky synths and a bunch of infectious HEYs: for nine songs good times are all over the place, from first single Q&A With Myself to bangers like Future Fathers Of Utopia and The Hunger. As always with Admiral Freebee, there’s also room for humor and he doesn’t shy away from introspection either. And make no mistake: Tom Van Laere is no lapdog (No One’s Puppy). Closing track Dog That Never Dies is the only intimate song on the album and sounds like a synthesis of all the album’s themes. And rest assured: Admiral Freebee is doing fine, and both him and his music are bursting with joy. So leave your worries behind for a moment and have some raw fun.

Picture by Ed Templeton/ Courtesy Tim Van Laere Gallery

Artwork by Jelle Jespers

Admiral Freebee is Tom Van Laere – Tim Coene, Senne Guns en Laurens Billiet. Recorded in summer 2025.

Impatience is thrilled to present Leaving Memory, the latest album-length work by Piper Spray and Lena Tsibizova. Leaving Memory is a searing distillation of the duo’s ouevre - it’s eleven prismatic electronic seances combining for a mind warping wormhole with it’s own internal (il)llogic, where pop, ambient, and industrial music convene beneath a rugged HD of digital processing and brain fog. Equally rosy with nostalgia as it is ominously forward looking, Leaving Memory defies easy categorization and makes for an astounding, confounding listen.

By turns violently abrasive and disarmingly touching, Piper and Lena deploy sounds that fracture and disintegrate, burn up and explode, synthetic supernovas that give the record an unmistakable, inimitable texture. Song structures often abide by their own blueprint - heading in one direction before making an abrupt dive elsewhere. Bursts of vibrant colour lurk below layers of grayscale noise. Unidentifiable voices deliver secret messages from the murk. When rhythm’s emerge they ground the tracks to some unknown terrain and invigorate.

Lame Line veers towards the sweeter end of their spectrum, a hazy plaintive repetition increasingly lashed with friction, before Exit erupts with clanging rhythm and shards of distortion. Diagnosis is an almost sweet alt-pop song, Lena’s vocals yearning beneath a dubby shuffle, while Keeper Of The Void’s possessed incantations open up to a ripping, fried climax. Beryl Grey releases the pressure gauge, a gently lilting drift arpeggiating as the sun sets, and Lost Cars sweats through claustrophobic drones and bird song before the clouds part on a serene scene. Leaving Memory closes with Shin, offering a genuinely sweet resolution and a gentle landing back down to earth of either footsteps or fireworks, swelling synthesized horns and woodwinds, a kiss on the cheek for making it out the other side.

On Leaving Memory, Piper Spray & Lena Tsibizova share their uniquely discordant take on freaky music for unsettled minds, an intensely energized set that offers a deeply evocative, unimaginable otherworld for adventurous ears.

Piper Spray and Lena Tsibizova have been producing music together since 2020. Leaving Memory is the first to be presented in the LP format. Piper has previously released music via Orange Milk, Hausu Mountain and Gost Zvuk, as well as his own Singapore Sling Tapes label. Lena works predominantly as a photographer, and together Piper and Lena have released music via radio.syg.ma and Kartaskvazhin. Both make music as part of Air Krew, who have released music on the Echotourist and Motion Ward labels. They’re both currently based nowhere.

Leaving Memory was written, produced and mixed by Piper Spray and Lena Tsibizova, and mastered by Sergey Podluzhniy. Cover photo by Lena Tsibizova, design and layout by Justin Sloane.

A great name. A great cover. And - of course - outstanding library music.

Soul City Orchestra's Meal Ticket houses titanic funk, mellow groove and symphonic disco-soul.

Released in 1977 on Rouge, a subsidiary of the prestigious and long-established British library label Music De Wolfe, Meal Ticket was crafted by the studio band Soul City Orchestra (a pseudonym for the De Wolfe in-house composers Chris Rae & Franck McDonald).

The driving instrumental funk-rock of the A Side is enhanced with strings and no little drama. However, it's undoubtedly the peerless flipside that makes this record an essential part of any collection.

Head straight to highlight "Chamber Maid"; insistent, conga-driven funky rock with lashings of string-heightened drama. It's sophisticated, classical and deeply classy.

The majestic, powerfully emotive "Sore Head" contains an excellent intro drum break and sultry slo-mo disco breaks throughout. It's low-key stunning. With a few melodic switch-ups, it's symphonic soul heaven and is comfortably the best and most beautifully crucial track on Side A.

The breezy, Philly soul-tinged "Short Change", its intense strings reminiscent of the Salsoul Orchestra and TSOP, presents an easy-glide funk that's just irresistible.

The funky, cool and slick AF "Wheeling And Dealing" is laconic flute and string-propelled sophisticated mid-tempo disco soul. It's worth the price of admission alone.

The breezy, mellowed out disco-funk workout "The Jam" is a deliciously slinky and sophisticated soul strut. Try not swaggering into the club with this in your head next time you venture into the murky world of "the night". Just ace.

The crowning glory is the sweeping, sublime symphonic disco breaks of horn-infused "Soul City Drive", an absolute monster of radiant heavy soul-funk à la Barry White with great string & brass arrangement.

Basically, this is essential for all groove-aficionados.

The audio for Meal Ticket has been meticulously remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring this release sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at Record Industry in Holland. The original, iconic sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

After decades spent shaping the sound of southern Madagascar and becoming one of the defining voices of tsapiky, Damily returns with Fanjiry, his most intimate and focused record to date. Known for electrifying village ceremonies and carrying the fever of Toliara across continents, he takes a sharp turn — not away from trance, but deeper into its core.

Recorded in just three days at Studio Black Box with analog wizard Peter Deimel, Fanjiry strips the tsapiky band down to a single guitar and a single heartbeat. Damily plays alone, yet fills the space completely — bass, rhythm, melody, pulse, and breath merging into a dense and vibrating sound. Every riff is architecture, every harmonic a door opening onto memory, childhood landscapes, and nights where music heals, binds, and exhausts the dark.

There is no nostalgia here, no museum of tradition. Fanjiry is a new frontier for tsapiky: raw, precise, suspended between earth and sky, born from craft and necessity. The title — the last star before dawn — captures its essence: a quiet moment before the world awakens, where a single guitar can hold an entire history and still point forward.

After decades spent shaping the sound of southern Madagascar and becoming one of the defining voices of tsapiky, Damily returns with Fanjiry, his most intimate and focused record to date. Known for electrifying village ceremonies and carrying the fever of Toliara across continents, he takes a sharp turn - not away from trance, but deeper into its core. Recorded in just three days at Studio Black Box with analog wizard Peter Deimel, Fanjiry strips the tsapiky band down to a single guitar and a single heartbeat. Damily plays alone, yet fills the space completely - bass, rhythm, melody, pulse, and breath merging into a dense and vibrating sound. Every riff is architecture, every harmonic a door opening onto memory, childhood landscapes, and nights where music heals, binds, and exhausts the dark. There is no nostalgia here, no museum of tradition. Fanjiry is a new frontier for tsapiky: raw, precise, suspended between earth and sky, born from craft and necessity. The title - the last star before dawn - captures its essence: a quiet moment before the world awakens, where a single guitar can hold an entire history and still point forward.

Bettye Swann possessed one of the most emotive voices in soul music’s cannon but her recording career was that of a shooting-star; it blazed at the start, then illumined brightly before abruptly dissipating, all in just eleven years. In 1975 she ceased recording, moved to Las Vegas and retired her Bettye Swann persona.
The Louisianan Betty Jean Champion had relocated to Los Angeles as a young woman where in around 1964 she was introduced to Al Scott, owner of Money Records. It was her fourth Money 45 “Make Me Yours” that propelled Swann into the stratosphere. One of the defining songs of the era, it was her pathway to Capitol Records with whom she signed in 1968.
By 1972 Bettye was at Atlantic Records. The initial Atlantic 45 “Victim Of A Foolish Heart” b/w “Cold Day In Hell” recorded at Fame with Mickey Buckins and Rick Hall, made for a promising debut reaching #16 on the Billboard chart. It was followed by Bettye’s version of Merle Haggard’s “Today I Started Loving You Again” and “Til I Get It Right”, a gentle country-soul labour. “I’m Not That Easy To Lose” also dates from those sessions.
In an attempt to broaden her appeal Atlantic sent Swann to Sigma Sound in Philadelphia where she cut Phil Hurtt’s’ and Tony Bell’s “Kiss My Love Goodbye”, “Time To Say Goodbye” and “When The Game is Played On You”. Her fortunes continued to wane so Swann was next placed with Nashville producer Brad Shapiro. The results were artistically stellar and included three unissued gemstones in The Isley’s “This Old Heart of Mine”, a definitive version of Maxine Weldon’s “I Want Sunday Back Again”, and “Either You Love Me Or Leave Me”.

Figure Study is the Manhattan-based duo of Nathan Antolik and April Chalpara. They formed in 2009, after meeting through the Wierd Records weekly party, where they would play their first concert soon after. While their debut 7" contained two songs recorded in 2009, this full length contains all new material recorded throughout the past year.

For their debut self-titled album, Figure Study utilizes a carefully tailored set up of vintage analog synthesizers and drum machines. Figure Study creates a lush sound where haunting vocals echo over dark melodies that reflect an isolated and disintegrating world. Songs flux between dissonant dance numbers and more sparse, somber compositions, each carrying a sense of urgency and modernism. Figure Study's sound includes influences from such early underground artists as Kirlian Camera, Nine Circles, and The Actor.

The album was recorded in their small Chinatown studio using a sparse set-up of analog synthesizers, drum machines and sequencers. It was mixed at The Wave Lab in Brooklyn by AJ Tissian and mastered for vinyl at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley by George Horn. Each LP is packaged in a specially designed jacket and includes an insert with lyrics. Figure Study draw their own model using shapes and forms from the synthetic landscape.

MariMari’s debut album “Mimitomesoshiteecho”, originally released in 1997, is finally getting its long awaited analog reissue.

Known for being fully backed by members of Fishmans, this work centers on MariMari’s vocals, which combine transparency and fragility, layered with
the floating, organic ensemble reminiscent of the Fishmans sound a truly unique album that deserves recognition across generations.
For this reissue, UK cutting engineer Dave Turner, who also handled the latest Fishmans reissues, took charge of the cutting process.
The original master’s charm has been maximized while optimizing the sound for today’s listening environments, bringing the album back to life with a
fresh sonic image.

Im Jahr 2005 war Andrew Bird eine bis dahin unvorstellbare Kombination aus virtuosem Violinisten, Singer-Songwriter, Gitarristen und Pfeifer. Mit seinem Album ,The Mysterious Production of Eggs" aus diesem Jahr schuf Bird einen neuen Sound, der bis heute nachgeahmt wird. Anlässlich des 20-jährigen Jubiläums von ,The Mysterious Production of Eggs" veröffentlicht Andrew Bird ein ganz besonderes Boxset mit einem 54-seitigen Buch mit Fotos, besonderen Überraschungen und zwei Essays: einen von Andrew selbst und einen von Anders Lindall, der den verschlungenen und faszinierenden Prozess untersucht, den Andrew und seine Mitstreiter bei der Aufnahme des Albums durchlaufen haben. Das Boxset enthält außerdem die Originalveröffentlichung des Albums sowie zwei LPs mit bisher unveröffentlichtem Material auf schwarzem Vinyl. Auf einer LP befindet sich eine vollständige Wiedergabe des Albums, jedoch mit Demos, Live-Aufnahmen und alternativen Versionen. Die dritte LP enthält weitere unveröffentlichte Raritäten auf Seite A und eine Auswahl von Songs aus dem Originalalbum, die von Andrew mit dem Nu Deco Ensemble gespielt werden. Der ursprüngliche Cover-Künstler hat ein völlig neues Artwork für das Jubiläumswerk geschaffen.

I started writing the songs for V at the beginning of 2023, and the demos were finished by the end of that year. While creating this material, I kept returning to one thought: everything we take for granted - everything that feels stable and permanent - is, in reality, incredibly fragile. Nothing lasts forever, and the sense of things slipping away can hit much sooner than we expect. I tried to translate those feelings into sound. At that time, a lot of difficult things were happening in my life, things I didn't know how to cope with. Music became a form of therapy - a way to process emotions I couldn't express in any other way. In early 2024, we began working through the songs together as a full band. After finalizing the arrangements, we spent the rest of the year recording them. The process stretched over many months, split into several sessions across different studios. I didn't want to rush anything. I wanted, as always, to refine every detail the best we possibly could. Soon you'll be able to hear the result for yourselves. For me, this album is something deeply personal. It's an act of opening up to anyone who chooses to listen - a glimpse into things I can't fully describe with words, into what I felt and who I became during that period. I'm incredibly happy that together with my friends from the band, we've created another record. What comes next_ time will tell.

Magenta Vinyl, limited to 450 copies. I started writing the songs for V at the beginning of 2023, and the demos were finished by the end of that year. While creating this material, I kept returning to one thought: everything we take for granted - everything that feels stable and permanent - is, in reality, incredibly fragile. Nothing lasts forever, and the sense of things slipping away can hit much sooner than we expect. I tried to translate those feelings into sound. At that time, a lot of difficult things were happening in my life, things I didn't know how to cope with. Music became a form of therapy - a way to process emotions I couldn't express in any other way. In early 2024, we began working through the songs together as a full band. After finalizing the arrangements, we spent the rest of the year recording them. The process stretched over many months, split into several sessions across different studios. I didn't want to rush anything. I wanted, as always, to refine every detail the best we possibly could. Soon you'll be able to hear the result for yourselves. For me, this album is something deeply personal. It's an act of opening up to anyone who chooses to listen - a glimpse into things I can't fully describe with words, into what I felt and who I became during that period. I'm incredibly happy that together with my friends from the band, we've created another record. What comes next_ time will tell.

Joel Hoekstra’s 13 returns with its fourth studio album, “From the Fade” — a dynamic collection of 10 brand-new tracks that combine soaring melodies, thunderous riffs, and the high-level musicianship fans have come to expect. Once again, guitarist and composer Joel Hoekstra (Whitesnake, Cher, Trans-Siberian Orchestra) is joined by an elite cast of rock veterans: powerhouse drummer Vinny Appice (Black Sabbath, Dio), legendary bassist Tony Franklin (The Firm, Blue Murder), virtuoso keyboardist Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater, Sons of Apollo), and rising vocal sensation Girish Pradhan (Girish and The Chronicles, The Nail). “From the Fade” delivers a blend of classic hard rock and modern melodic metal, characterized by tight arrangements, technical precision, and emotionally charged performances. Each track reflects Hoekstra’s signature songwriting — rooted in tradition but pushing the genre forward with a fresh and contemporary sound. This is more than just a studio project; it’s a statement of intent from one of rock’s most respected guitarists and his band of world-class collaborators.