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Mit Secret Love legt die Londoner Band Dry Cleaning ihr bislang reifstes Werk vor. Das dritte Studioalbum, produziert von Cate Le Bon, ist eine konzentrierte Momentaufnahme der besonderen Chemie zwischen Florence Shaw, Tom Dowse, Nick Buxton und Lewis Maynard. Aus intensiven Sessions in Peckham, Chicago, Dublin und schließlich im Black Box Studio in Frankreich entstand ein Werk, das Vertrauen und Verletzlichkeit ins Zentrum stellt - die Bande zwischen den vier Musiker*innen ebenso wie das fragile Verhältnis zwischen Nähe und Manipulation in der Gesellschaft. Musikalisch schlägt Secret Love eine Brücke zwischen den paranoiden Untertönen des frühen US-Punks, dem coolen Strut der Stones, Stoner-Rock, No-Wave-Experimenten und zarten, fast pastoralen Gitarrenfiguren. Die Stücke atmen gleichermaßen Schärfe und Verspieltheit, immer getragen von Shaws unverwechselbarem Sprechgesang, der präzise auf die dynamischen Soundlandschaften ihrer Band reagiert. Damit knüpft sie an eine Tradition von Spoken-Word-Künstlerinnen wie Laurie Anderson an, erweitert sie aber um eine ganz eigene Mischung aus Absurdität, Empfindsamkeit und lakonischem Humor. Die erste Single "Hit My Head All Day" zeigt exemplarisch, wie Secret Love gesellschaftliche Themen - etwa Desinformation und Einflussnahme - mit persönlicher Unsicherheit und existenzieller Fragilität verknüpft. Doch trotz aller Schwere bleibt das Album von einer spielerischen Offenheit geprägt: Ideen wurden ausprobiert, verworfen, neu zusammengesetzt - bis ein Sound entstand, der gleichzeitig roh, elegant und unerwartet warm klingt. Secret Love ist ein Album über das Vertrauen - in Freundschaften, in Musik, in sich selbst - und über die Risiken, die damit verbunden sind. Es markiert für Dry Cleaning den Schritt zu einer Band, die ihre avantgardistische Energie zu einem unverwechselbaren Ausdruck verdichtet hat.

Trouble’s absolute classic: the legendary album from 1990 and the pinnacle of Trouble’s impressive career. Heavy Metal was never better than this! Includes a live bonus CD recorded in Dallas, Taxas (USA)! Trouble’s debut album did great things for Metal and remains one of the darkest, thrashiest Doom albums to date. A lot of things can change in six years, especially when you’re talking Metal and the dates are 1984 and 1990. The decade may have changed them, but not in a way that suggests decay or a decline in the quality of their resolve or their skill as musicians and performers. On the contrary, Trouble’s 1990 self-titled release is arguably their most mature, boasting a fleshed out sound with unparalleled songwriting, a great production, and the time-crafted vocals of Eric Wagner which had improved major in the years since their previous efforts. All of this culminates in what is my mind the most “complete” thing Trouble ever created. From the mid-paced chug of a killer opener in “At the End of My Daze” to the last notes of “All Is Forgiven”, I can’t see filler or anything resembling a weak link. The riffs here are some of the best ever written, by Trouble or anyone else; every song has a manically awesome main riff that demands a display of headbanging. Riffs are undoubtedly the point of focus here; they make the songs, and they’re a timeless variety of great. Also, the interplay between guitarists Bruce Franklin and Rick Wartell is some of the best lead work you will ever hear in Metal. Trouble basically reinvented themselves with this release, and while I think it was a fantastic rebirth, those who aren’t so keen on the laid back stoner vibe they chose to adopt may not see it as a rejuvenation, but a step back (they did go from doom and gloom to collectively embracing their inner acid dropping free love hippie, after all). But the Metal remained fully intact! And as I’ve said, I think this is Trouble at their best. This is originality and innovation at its best, it is supreme quality. A leader of bands paves the way and then steps aside to create something that will serve as an example of how to improve upon an established formula: that is, by doing it really damn well.

Black vinyl repress. Wie in het voorjaar van 2025 het voorrecht had om de theatertour van Het Zesde Metaal bij te wonen, kon daar op de koop toe genieten van een handvol gloednieuwe songs. Het resultaat is de EP Randgevallen: vijf songs, vijf vertellingen uit het persoonlijke en wereldse leven die andermaal bewijzen dat Het Zesde Metaal als geen ander kan beschrijven, beklijven en betoveren.

Wie in het voorjaar van 2025 het voorrecht had om de theatertour van Het Zesde Metaal bij te wonen, kon daar op de koop toe genieten van een handvol gloednieuwe songs. En daarna vaststellen dat die helaas nergens te (her)beluisteren waren. Tot nu, want de goesting om de songs vast te leggen voor de eeuwigheid werd op den duur wel heel groot. En dus kampeerden Wannes Cappelle en co afgelopen zomer enkele dagen in Waimes (DAFT Music Studios), voor het eerst in de nieuwe bezetting met Kasper Cornelus op gitaar/toetsen en Sander Verstraete op bas.

Het resultaat is de EP Randgevallen: vijf songs, vijf vertellingen uit het persoonlijke en wereldse leven die andermaal bewijzen dat Het Zesde Metaal als geen ander kan beschrijven, beklijven en betoveren. Een staalkaart bovendien van de muzikale en tekstuele veelzijdigheid die de band al jaren kenmerkt. Opener Service is een opgewekte popsong waarin Cappelle sappig de drang naar reviews en hartjes in het dagelijkse en economische leven fileert: 'wa' vind je van onze service? / zou j'ons geen tiene willen geven? / asteblieft, want anders is den directeur vies.' In Traagskes Groeien verstilt het tempo en keert de blik naar binnen, het persoonlijke leven in, mijmerend over kinderen die stilaan het nest ontgroeien. 'ge moet u zo nie' spoeien / ge moet traagskes groeien / ge moe' laagske per laagske groeien', probeert Cappelle het loslaten nog even uit te stellen.

Wie dacht dat Oud En Nieuw daarna gaat over feestvieren in de donkerste dagen van december, is op het verkeerde feestje beland. Wiegend op hypnotiserende bas, drum en pedal steel passeert opnieuw de vergankelijkheid van het leven, dit keer met een bredere maatschappelijke blik. 'alles da' oud is, was ooit nieuw / en groot is ooit kleine begonnen / veel komt van weinig / glad was eerst ruw / zelfs de waarheid wierd ooit verzonnen'. Wanneer naar het einde toe pulserende synths het tempo opheffen en de song licht euforisch uitwaaiert in een instrumentale coda, kun je alleen maar de ogen sluiten en stilstaan bij wat was en nog komen zal.

Label is het enige nummer dat speciaal voor de EP werd geschreven en baadt net als Service in meer dartele klanken, terwijl Cappelle met trefzekere oneliners een beeld van zichzelf schetst. 'de meeste middens mijd ik, ik hore bie de randgevallen thuis / misschien verdiene 'kik ook een label'. Moeten we altijd proberen de ander in een vakje te duwen? Kan iedereen niet 'gewoon' anders zijn? En ironisch draait Cappelle de rollen om: 'atypisch is de norm / ge moogt buiten de lijntjes kleuren / gewoon is niet verboden / normaal zijn doet geen zeer / as ze mor hunder plekke kennen / de rare zijn met meer.'

Het slotakkoord is voor het beklijvende Duizend Soldaten van Willem Vermandere, dat Cappelle en Filip Wauters begin dit jaar brachten voor het tv-programma Ik Vraag Het Aan. Nu zet het een pakkend punt achter een EP die nogmaals de tijdloze klasse van de band onderstreept. Meeslepend, verhalend, herkenbaar, grappig, ontroerend, scherp. Het Zesde Metaal is het allemaal en heeft daar slechts vijf songs voor nodig.

Randgevallen werd opgenomen met Frederik Segers (productie) en Jasper Maekelberg (mix) aan de knoppen, en komt uit op 4 oktober. Met de plaat onder de arm én aan de merchandisetafel herneemt de band zijn theatertour, maar dan in het groot, langs fantastische zalen in onder meer Brugge (Concertgebouw), Gent (Capitole) en Nederland.

Belgian sitar player Nicolas Mortelmans will release his second album, titled "SPACE". For these recordings, he went into the studio with Roland van Campenhout, Stef Kamil Carlens, Tim Vanhamel and Simon Segers. The result of this encounter is a raw and honest record in which all the music is improvised. With this album, Nicolas returns to his roots and experiments with psychedelic rock, ambient, funk, and jazz. Expect an intense meditative and explosive listening experience.

HOUSE BY THE CEMETARY, the 'supergroup' led by former MONSTROSITY and VILE frontman and current artwork artist Mike Hrubovcak and Rogga Johansson from PAGANIZER and RIBSPREADER are releasing their third full-length, "Disturbing The Cenotaph". Since the duo, completed by former THE PROJECT HATE drummer Thomas Ohlsson, originally picked up their moniker as an homage to the 1981 cult horror flick of the same name, it shouldn't come as a surprise they've once again paying tribute to director Lucio Fulci (1927-1996) in one of this album most lethal salvo, 'New York Ripper'. Elsewhere on this third album, other tracks like 'Undead Apocalypse' or 'Burial Disturbance' were inspired by other famous horror classics like "Night Of The Living Dead" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", Hrubovcak has come up in his lyrics with his own tales of terror. Some are totally fictional like, 'Coffin Colony' about a "diseased homeless living in underground coffins who gets infected with rabies after eating sewer rats". Others, like 'Lunatic Butcher' are inspired by real-life events or, in that case, by the antics and vicious killings of Paul John Knowles, dubbed 'the Casanova killer'. Musically speaking, Johansson jokes about "every band saying that their new album is their best but that's actually true here eh eh! This album is HOUSE BY THE CEMETARY on steroids. The sound is broad and impious, the vocals are awesome and the heavy riffing interlaced with occasional melody makes an overall varied, fun and GORY listen!" Completed, like on 2024's "The Mortuary Hauntings", by a gruesome artwork courtesy Felipe Mora (whose nightmarish visions can already be seen on albums by CONSUMPTION, ACHERON or WOMBBATH) and mixed by Håkan Stuvemark from WOMBBATH, Disturbing The Cenotaph is one raw, in-your-face and eight songs packed death-metal-to-the-core album ready to chill you to the bone!

Mit "Convex" öffnet Conrad Schnitzler ein Fenster in seine experimentelle Klangwelt der 1980er Jahre - und bleibt dabei geheimnisvoll. Die LP kommt nahezu ohne Informationen aus, der Titel dominiert das Cover, die Musik spricht für sich. Schnitzler nutzt hier einen Sample-and-Hold-Generator, um zufällige Tonfolgen zu erzeugen - gesteuerter Zufall als künstlerisches Prinzip. Besonders auffällig ist das langsame Tempo der Stücke, das sich deutlich von seinen sonst dynamischeren Arbeiten abhebt. Obwohl Schnitzler nie Ambient im Sinn hatte, erinnert "Convex" in seiner Unaufgeregtheit und Gleichförmigkeit an die "musique d"ameublement" von Satie oder die Ambient-Ideen von Brian Eno. Doch Schnitzler bleibt eigenständig: Die Musik fordert keine Aufmerksamkeit, sondern lädt zur freien Interpretation ein. Ein Album, das Fragen stellt, ohne Antworten zu geben - und gerade deshalb fasziniert.

Auf seinem Debütalbum stellte sich der aus Newark/New Jersey stammende Tenorsaxofonist Tyrone Washington 1968 als neue, vitale Stimme des Jazz vor. Daraus, dass er vor allem von John Coltrane, aber
auch ein wenig von Albert Ayler und Archie Shepp beeinflusst war, machte der damals 23-Jährige keinen
Hehl. Dabei präsentierte er mit einem exzellenten Sextett überwiegend gleichaltriger Musiker eine durchaus
eigene Mischung aus Post-Bop mit avantgardistischem Einschlag und groove-basiertem Soul-Jazz.

Dieser 1959 veröffentlichte Album-Bestseller markierte einen Wendepunkt in der Karriere der legendären
Sängerin, er brachte ihr einen Grammy-Award ein und steht für ihren erfolgreichen Crossover vom Bluesgeprägten Jazz-Stil hin in die Welt des Pop. Der Titel-Evergreen avancierte zu Washingtons Signature-Song.

Step into The Colors Within, where Totsuko sees emotions as colors and discovers real connections through music with Kimi and Rui. kensuke ushio’s score brings their world to life with glowing melodies and intimate textures.

This vinyl edition pairs the soundtrack with special artwork from the film and a translucent milky-clear LP inspired by its soft, dreamlike palette.

A must-have for fans who felt every hue of this beautiful story.

"Sunshine and Balance Beams", das neunte Album von Pile, ist eine Sisyphus-Parabel über Arbeit und Leben. Um es zu schreiben, begab sich Sänger Rick Maguire an ,einen dunklen Ort" und rang mit dem Konzept, dass es keine Erleuchtung und kein Ende des Leidens gibt. Maguire erforscht den Workaholismus, den Mythos der Leistungsgesellschaft und die Akzeptanz der Sterblichkeit - und das alles in einer teuflischen Allegorie, in der es darum geht, durch einen schattigen Wald zu stapfen und dem ungewissen Traum einer hellen Lichtung entgegenzugehen. Pile ringt mit existenziellen und sozialen Widersprüchen, indem sie klangliche Zwischenräume heraufbeschwören. Die Musik existiert irgendwo im temporären Gleichgewicht von Licht und Schatten, Chaos und Ordnung. Heiße, regenähnliche Gitarren, sich verschiebende Drums, die gewundene Wege in Klang und Tempo ebnen, unheimliche Synthesizer und wässrige Streicher fügen sich zu einem Panorama aus Laut-Leise-Dynamik zusammen, das der Emotionalität der donnernden Auftritte der Band entspricht. Die Gruppe engagierte eine Streichergruppe (Geigen, Bratsche, Cello), die glühende, durchkomponierte Arrangements spielten, die von der Cellistin Eden Rayz und Pile mitgeschrieben wurden. Sie ließen sich von Kino- und Opernpartituren von Chopin, Bernard Herrmann und Ralph Vaughan Williams inspirieren, was "Sunshine and Balance Beams" einen überlebensgroßen Sound verleiht, der Piles blitzschnelle Umsetzungen einiger ihrer bisher zugänglichsten Songtexte noch verstärkt. Die Aufnahme ist ein deutlicher Sprung im Produktionswert und stellt Maguires Gesang auf neue und aufregende Weise in den Mittelpunkt. Pile reisten nach Pawtucket, RI, um zwei Wochen lang bei Machines with Magnets mit ihrer langjährigen Tontechnikerin Miranda Serra (Kal Marks, Kira McSpice) aufzunehmen. Das Album wurde von Seth Manchester (Lightning Bolt, Mdou Moctar) gemischt und von Matt Colton (Aphex Twin, Swans, Muse) gemastert. "Sunshine and Balance Beams" ist das erste Album von Pile für das Chicagoer Label Sooper Records.

Auch nach sieben Jahren stehen WIDOWSPEAK immer noch für Atmosphäre. Ihre Musik ist eine Überlappung von Indie Rock, Dreampop, Shoegaze, Slow-Core und "Cowboy Grunge". Die Band aus Brooklyn hat mit dem vierten Album "Expect The Best" die Balance zwischen gegenseitigen Kräften wie hell/dunkel, leise/laut, Stress/Entspannung gefunden. Nachdem er mit der Band viel umhergezogen war, kehrte Hamilton in seine Heimat zurück, an den Ort seiner Kindheit. Dort fand er Halt und neue Energie, was ihm half ein Album zu schreiben, dessen roter Faden die Selbsterkenntnis ist. Die selbstreflektierenden Texte thematisieren die Furcht vor Antriebslosigkeit ("Dog") oder Ängste im digitalen Zeitalter ("Expect The Best") oder Motivationslosigkeit ("When I Tried"). WIDOWSPEAK haben es mit ihrem neuen Album geschafft, die dynamischen Veränderungen ihrer Musik zu steuern und sind dabei feinfühlig und zurückhaltend. Die neun Songs sind geprägt von einer Melancholie, aber auch weiterhin getragen von dem für WIDOWSPEAK typischen Twang-Gitarrensound. "Expect The Best" ist eine abstrakte Hommage an die 90er Jahre und bringt zugleich die gewohnte WIDOWSPEAK Intimität mit sich, für die sie geliebt werden.

Das neue Album "The Jacket" von WIDOWSPEAK wurde vor und nach der Veröffentlichung ihres letzten gefeierten Albums "Plum" geschrieben. Für das Duo, das aus der Singer/Songwriterin Molly Hamilton und dem Gitarristen Earl Thomas besteht, fühlt es sich an, als ob sich mit dem neuen Album ein Kreis schließt. Thematisch beschäftigen sie sich weiter mit der eigenen Zeit und Arbeit, und mit dem, was sie umgibt. Dies ist teilweise darauf zurückzuführen, dass das Duo kürzlich wieder zurück nach New York City gezogen ist. Dort wo für sie als Band alles begann, haben sie ihr neues Album zusammen mit Homer Steinweiss von Daptone Records aufgenommen. Doch Wiedervereinigungen führen immer zur Reflexion und Hamilton gibt zu, dass ein Großteil der Themen des Albums mit ihren prägenden Erfahrungen in den frühen Jahren der Band zu tun hat. So behandeln einige Songs den Prozess des Weitermachens ("Unwind", "Salt"), während andere das Bedauern behandeln ("True Blue", "Forget It"). Der namensgebende Track des Albums befasst sich mit den buchstäblichen und bildlichen Verkleidungen. Diese Verkleidungen bekommen mit der Zeit eine große Bedeutung, bis man sich dazu entschließt diese abzulegen. Durch vage Erinnerungen an Arbeit, Musik und Nachtleben formt man eine neue eigene Vergangenheit. Klanglich zeigen sich WIDOWSPEAK auf "The Jacket" in gewohnter und bester Form: Die Dynamik wechselt nahtlos zwischen sanften, treibenden Balladen und energievollen Jams, die aus dichten Gitarren, fokussierten Perkussions und kraftvollen Basslines bestehen. An anderen Stellen hört man skurrile Flöten, chorale Texturen und Heimorgeln. Thomas' Gitarrenspiel ist so ausdrucksstark und gefühlvoll wie eh und je und Hamiltons betörender Gesang ist ohnehin eine Klasse für sich. Diese Dynamik wird im Mix von Chris Coady (YEAH YEAH YEAHS, BEACH HOUSE) noch verstärkt. WIDOWSPEAK vermischen ihren Americana-inspirierten Indie-Folk gekonnt mit Slow-Core und Dream-Pop, der sowohl an die 60er als auch an die 90er Jahre erinnert. Dieser Sinn für klangliche Nostalgie fügt ihren Texten eine weitere Ebene hinzu, die über alte, erfundene und wahre Persönlichkeiten reflektieren.

Stephen Murray, for fans of CAAMP, Mt. Joy, and Houndmouth. Stephen Murray is back with another 7" after the success of his first two singles with Soul Step Records. Expanding on those Americana and Folk flavored tracks, Stephen explores R&B and Hazy Indie Rock on these new tunes. ODAAT is where the haze sets in with an introspective indie jam while Darkest Night is a torch ballad that has one of the biggest musical crescendos to wrap up the B-side. Stephen is backed by some of Nashville's best musicians to gather these sounds. Drop the needle on this 45 and soak up this genre-bending artist.

Es ist Zeit sich mit den Teen-Punks von Quick Romance bekannt zu machen. Ja, Quick Romance ist die Band, die im Vorprogramm von Jon Spencer, The Briefs, Deaf Devils und anderen in verschiedenen kleinen Trollhöhlen im Westen Englands für Stimmung sorgt. Hayden James an der Leadgitarre und Gabe Bonner am Bass sind die Rock'n'Roll-Größen Wayne Kramer und Fred ,Sonic" Smith, neu interpretiert für die Gegenwart. Die Jungs sehen sich selbst als ,zwei Strohhalme in derselben Cola" (andere magenverderbende, durstlöschende, scheißfarbene Getränke sind ebenfalls erhältlich). Die Sängerin von Quick Romance, Matilda Scotland, hat Ian Hunter in der ersten Runde niedergeschlagen, um ihm seine Sonnenbrille abzunehmen, die sie nun stolz trägt, während sie uns vor den Gefahren des Erwachsenwerdens in einer großen, bösen Welt warnt. Sie mag Kleidung, Musik und Brian Jones' Haare. Schlagzeuger Oliver Bull-Lifely bewegt sich wie ein Windspiel in einem tropischen Sturm, er ist der Zeitnehmer der Zeitnehmer. Anders als beim Weißen Kaninchen kann man seine Uhr nicht nach ihm stellen, aber wer trägt heutzutage schon eine Uhr? Wenn du wissen willst, was dich erwartet, stell dir doch einfach vor, wie Poly Styrene sich mit The Sick Things für den Refrain von ,Bondage Boy" vereint. Wenn du es nicht wissen willst, warum probierst du es nicht einfach aus ...

Es ist Zeit sich mit den Teen-Punks von Quick Romance bekannt zu machen. Ja, Quick Romance ist die Band, die im Vorprogramm von Jon Spencer, The Briefs, Deaf Devils und anderen in verschiedenen kleinen Trollhöhlen im Westen Englands für Stimmung sorgt. Hayden James an der Leadgitarre und Gabe Bonner am Bass sind die Rock'n'Roll-Größen Wayne Kramer und Fred ,Sonic" Smith, neu interpretiert für die Gegenwart. Die Jungs sehen sich selbst als ,zwei Strohhalme in derselben Cola" (andere magenverderbende, durstlöschende, scheißfarbene Getränke sind ebenfalls erhältlich). Die Sängerin von Quick Romance, Matilda Scotland, hat Ian Hunter in der ersten Runde niedergeschlagen, um ihm seine Sonnenbrille abzunehmen, die sie nun stolz trägt, während sie uns vor den Gefahren des Erwachsenwerdens in einer großen, bösen Welt warnt. Sie mag Kleidung, Musik und Brian Jones' Haare. Schlagzeuger Oliver Bull-Lifely bewegt sich wie ein Windspiel in einem tropischen Sturm, er ist der Zeitnehmer der Zeitnehmer. Anders als beim Weißen Kaninchen kann man seine Uhr nicht nach ihm stellen, aber wer trägt heutzutage schon eine Uhr? Wenn du wissen willst, was dich erwartet, stell dir doch einfach vor, wie Poly Styrene sich mit The Sick Things für den Refrain von ,Bondage Boy" vereint. Wenn du es nicht wissen willst, warum probierst du es nicht einfach aus ...

Es ist Zeit sich mit den Teen-Punks von Quick Romance bekannt zu machen. Ja, Quick Romance ist die Band, die im Vorprogramm von Jon Spencer, The Briefs, Deaf Devils und anderen in verschiedenen kleinen Trollhöhlen im Westen Englands für Stimmung sorgt. Hayden James an der Leadgitarre und Gabe Bonner am Bass sind die Rock'n'Roll-Größen Wayne Kramer und Fred ,Sonic" Smith, neu interpretiert für die Gegenwart. Die Jungs sehen sich selbst als ,zwei Strohhalme in derselben Cola" (andere magenverderbende, durstlöschende, scheißfarbene Getränke sind ebenfalls erhältlich). Die Sängerin von Quick Romance, Matilda Scotland, hat Ian Hunter in der ersten Runde niedergeschlagen, um ihm seine Sonnenbrille abzunehmen, die sie nun stolz trägt, während sie uns vor den Gefahren des Erwachsenwerdens in einer großen, bösen Welt warnt. Sie mag Kleidung, Musik und Brian Jones' Haare. Schlagzeuger Oliver Bull-Lifely bewegt sich wie ein Windspiel in einem tropischen Sturm, er ist der Zeitnehmer der Zeitnehmer. Anders als beim Weißen Kaninchen kann man seine Uhr nicht nach ihm stellen, aber wer trägt heutzutage schon eine Uhr? Wenn du wissen willst, was dich erwartet, stell dir doch einfach vor, wie Poly Styrene sich mit The Sick Things für den Refrain von ,Bondage Boy" vereint. Wenn du es nicht wissen willst, warum probierst du es nicht einfach aus ...

Elegante Popmusik. Gewaltige Hooks. Voller Streichersound. Das L.A. Musikerkollektiv Storefront Church um den Phoebe Bridgers-Schlagzeuger Lukas Frank nahm sein 2024er Album ""Ink & Oil"", das erstmals flächendeckend erhältlich wird, mit einem kompletten Live-Orchester auf. Textlich bewegt sich Lukas auf der Schattenseite der Straße. Musikalisch ist er der Hammer. Erinnerungen an Scott Walker, Nick Cave, Brian Wilson und den frühen John Grant werden wach. Die Mitglieder treten - ähnlich Broken Social Scene oder Black Country, New Road - in wechselnder Besetzung auf, darunter Laetitia Sadier, Phoebe Bridgers, Zachary Cole Smith (DIIV), George Clarke (Deafheaven), Circuit Des Yeux, Lauren Auder, Cassidy Turbin (Beck), Sam Wilkes und ein Dutzend weitere. Storefront Church steuerten den Song ""The Gift"" zur Netflix-Serie ""The Queen’s Gambit"" bei und nahmen den Roxy Music-Klassiker ""More Than This"" als melancholische Gothic-Version auf.

“So, how did this band even happen?” That’s the question most often asked of Winged Wheel, a creatively and geographically scattered collective who have somehow congregated to make a noise that’s unexpected but undeniable. The band includes Whitney Johnson (Matchess, Circuit des Yeux), Cory Plump (Spray Paint, co-owner of the dream venue Tubby’s), Matthew J. Rolin (solo guitar wizard and half of the Powers/Rolin Duo), Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth), Lonnie Slack, and Fred Thomas (Idle Ray, Tyvek), each player living in a different city and bringing their own unique element to the group’s chain reactions. Early long distance file-trading between a few members yielded 2022’s No Island, a debut album that was accidentally really good. Good enough for the band to expand their membership and meet in person for the sessions that became 2024’s Big Hotel, a surgically-assembled murk of high energy kosmische rock with jammed-out tendencies.

Fast forward just a little and all of a sudden the band that started out as a passing idea has completed multiple tours, become a taper’s dream with sets that drift through structure and improvisation, and ridden the momentum to places unforeseen on their third album, Desert So Green. After a run of shows across the Midwest in the spring of 2025, the group settled into a studio on the outskirts of Chicago to track their next record. Though the full lineup had only been solidified for a little over a year at this point, time together on stage led to a quickly-expanding sound and a unified vision of always going somewhere new. To this end, Winged Wheel abandoned the play-now-sort-it-out-later approach of Big Hotel and instead spent hours refining flashes of inspiration into coherent songs.

Released in 1975, Another Live captures Todd Rundgren's Utopia during their live performances on tour. The album includes live renditions of songs like Another Life, The Wheel, and Do Ya. It showcases Utopia's progressive rock style and their ability to engage live audiences. This 50th anniversary edition is the first worldwide vinyl reissue since original release. The album is mastered directly from the stereo analog tapes at Sterling Mastering and will feature the alternate UK cover artwork.

Mesh-mainstay Jinjé teams up with A. Montane for a collaborative EP born out of live improvised sessions, and composed over the period of a year.

Taking a slowed approach to the production of Neon Garden EP, the two hardware aficionados met sporadically for live jam sessions - an homage to the importance of not rushing the process, and letting ideas build over time. Each session consisted of an intense burst of musical propositions followed by a careful editing framework, giving space for each moment to flourish. Oscillating between moments of catharsis and intense rhythmic play, the EP merges disparate musical sources into exciting new structures.

‘Ikeya Seki’ launches with glistening arpeggiations and subaquatic frequencies that interact over UKG-adjacent drums. ‘Vrem’ marches to a slow-stepping half time beat, building through yearning vocals before breaking down into a storm of pointillistic percussion. On ‘Yū’, rich melodies and bouncy, bass-led rhythms dance below chopped up vocals. Closing things off, ‘Velvet People’ builds a spatial setting with bells ricocheting through malfunctioning flutters.

A nod to the joys of improvisation, Neon Garden EP takes the spirit of spontaneity and lays out new structures for its ideas to grow.

Iconic hip-hop duo The High & Mighty, composed of rapper Mr. Eon and producer DJ Mighty Mi, make their long-awaited return with Sound of Market, their first studio album in over twenty years. The release marks a powerful comeback for one of underground hip-hop’s most celebrated duos — a project steeped in nostalgia, boom-bap grit, and the timeless energy of East Coast rap.

Named in honor of Sound of Market Street, the legendary Philadelphia record store that served as a hub for crate diggers, DJs, and hip-hop heads for decades, the album pays homage to the culture that shaped The High & Mighty’s sound and identity. Much like the store itself, the record celebrates deep cuts, rare finds, and the shared love of vinyl that connects generations of hip-hop fans.

Across 17 tracks, Sound of Market revives the duo’s trademark wit and sharp lyricism while showcasing an impressive lineup of collaborators, including Kool Keith, The Alchemist, Your Old Droog, Large Professor, O.C., Chubb Rock, King T, Skillz, and many more. The result is a cohesive, sample-driven experience that bridges the classic and contemporary — reaffirming The High & Mighty’s status as true architects of independent hip-hop.

From the opening anthem “Two Man Crew” and the surreal swagger of “Pinky Tuskadero” with Kool Keith, to the cinematic boom of “Mighty’s Big 5 (Live from The Palestra)”, the record moves effortlessly through sharp lyricism, layered production, and a shared reverence for the foundations of the genre. Sound of Market is both a return and a reminder — a record that feels timeless in its authenticity.

DJ Support: Danny Krivit, Michael Gray, Dr Packer, The Shapeshifters, Tedd Patterson, Seamus Haji, Terry Hunter, Brian Tappert, Hector Romero, Danny Rampling and many others

Groove Culture's ongoing 'Jams' series continues to deliver disco-house excellence with its fifth edition. This high-quality compilation features standout tracks from Micky More & Andy Tee, Reverendos Of Soul, Soulista and Serge Funk.

Highlights include: Reverendos Of Soul Feat Sheree Hicks - ‘Wasted Time'(Micky More & Andy Tee mix): An all-night disco spirit track verging on Hi-NRG style, bringing big energy and a lively atmosphere to any dance floor. Another great one is Soulista, Micky More & Andy Tee ‘Like I want You" (feat.Anduze): A perfect blend of disco and house, featuring a heavy beat and great guitar sounds that create an infectious groove. Closing things out on a classic leeven is Serge Funk's heater ‘Just Disco’ and Micky More & Andy Tee’s “Soul Education”. These fantastic edits of the classic disco tracks are a filtered gems that is sure to knock the roof off the discotech. Groove Culture once again proves its reliability as a source of top- tier disco-house with this stellar collection.

Throughout a professional career defined by early pop successes, every single one of Andy Fairweather Low's performances has been shaped by his blues, gospel and soul influences, and although the many hits he has enjoyed have to some extent overshadowed his undeniable credentials as a great bluesman - his talent for the blues hasn't escaped the notice of some of the world's finest artists who have drawn on his skills as a guitarist and singer Eric Clapton of course leads this impressive list of Andy's discerning employers and collaborators which includes, BB King, Benmont Tench, Bill Wyman, Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Guy, Charlie Dore, Charlie Watts, Chris Barber, Chris Rea, Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown, Dave Edmunds, David Crosby, David Gilmour, David Sanborn, Donald 'Duck' Dunn, Edie Brickell, Elton John, Emmylou Harris, Garth Hudson, George Harrison, Georgie Fame, Gerry Rafferty, Helen Watson, Jackson Browne, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Joe Cocker, Joe Satriani, John Mayall, Kate Bush, Levon Helm, Linda Ronstadt, Lonnie Donegan, Mary J. Blige, Mick Hucknall, Otis Rush, Paul Weller, Paul Young, Pete Townshend, Phil Collins, Richard and Linda Thompson, Rick Danko, Ringo Starr, Roger Waters, Ronnie Lane, Sheryl Crow, Steve Gadd, Steve Winwood, Stevie Nicks, The Impressions, The Who, Van Morrison, Warren Zevon, and hundreds more. But, despite the blues having become such a hugely popular genre internationally these days, and Andy having been in the thick of it for most of his professional life, he has largely missed the recognition he deserves in that field because up until now, he has never released a blues album. That's why I wanted to make a record that reveals the identity of the Invisible Bluesman to the world beyond his existing loyal fans. Meet Andy Fairweather Lowdown!

This is the gloriously remastered version of an all time classic: Dj Excel's "Just When You Thought It Was Safe".

Originally releases in the very early 90's, it has been beautifully remastered and recut, alongside some absolutely devastating remixes from the likes of The Criminal Minds, Stu Keating, Abyss, and Dj Stephano, and it also includes the four bonus beats from the original pressing.

This version is the extensive Move-E Series 2 Double Pack, which comes on coloured vinyl, and with a ridiculously cool sleeve and label design plus poster!

Another innovative and pounding release from Dj Stephano, who is rapidly becoming a force to be reconned with. Huge support from Jay Cunning and various others in the old skool and jungle scene has resulted in this being one of the top sellers on Dark Knite!

The song titles on Van Halen's aptly titled Fair Warning don't lie. The likes of "Unchained," "Mean Street," "Push Comes to Shove," "One Foot Out the Door," and more indicate the mood the band channels on its double-platinum 1981 record — the nastiest, darkest, and fiercest album of the group's storied career. For the fourth time in four years, Van Halen throws down the gauntlet to all challengers and emerges victorious.


Sourced from the original analog tapes, pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl at Fidelity Record Pressing, and strictly limited to 5,000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity's UltraDisc One-Step 180g 45RPM 2LP set plays with unfettered clarity, dynamics, and immediacy. Benefitting from superb groove definition, an ultra-low noise floor, and dead-quiet surfaces, this vinyl edition captures what went down in the studio with tremendous realism and involving presence.

Taking a more controlled approach in the studio and still completing everything in less than two weeks, Van Halen and producer Ted Templeman relied on studio amplifiers to direct the sound. Further diverging from the live-on-the-floor approach of its earlier albums, the ensemble also employed overdubs to great effect. The result: Dense, stacked architecture that underlines the hard-hitting tenor of the songs — and which comes alive like never before on this reference edition that looks as good as it sounds.

The premium packaging and gorgeous presentation befit the reissue's select status. Housed in a deluxe slipcase, it features special foil-stamped jackets and faithful-to-the-original graphics that illuminate the splendor of the recording. Aurally and visually, it is made for listeners who want to immerse themselves in everything involved with the album, including the iconic cover art adopted from William Kurelek's haunting painting, "The Maze."

Isolated frames from Kurelek's childhood-inspired work — including a man bashing his head into a brick wall, a guy pinning down an adversary as he delivers bare-fist blows to his face and others watch with apparent glee, a boy tied down on a conveyer belt and being sent through the equivalent of a meat saw — adorn the front and back covers. The sunnier visual disposition of Van Halen's prior efforts gives way to something sinister and tortured, traits reflective of the music within. The band members, too, are visually depicted not in glamorous shots but in a serious black-and-white portrait in which the quartet is clad in black leather jackets.

Tough, aggressive, stark: Fair Warning comes on like a series of bare-knuckled punches to the solar plexus and boasts lyrical narratives to match. Though not a concept record, the concise album revolves around themes of roughing it on the streets and struggling to survive amid dim prospects. Singer David Lee Roth reportedly penned many of the initial lyrics after traveling to Haiti and observing extreme poverty. The characters and situations populating Fair Warning reflect hardscrabble existence, last-chance desperation, and underlying danger.

Witness the crazies, poor folks, and hunters of “Mean Street”; the former prom queen turned pornographic actress on “Dirty Movies”; the menace and vice of “Sinners Swing!”; the streetwise hustle of “Unchained”; the isolation and alienation of “Push Comes to Shove”; the desire for escape on “One Foot Out the Door”: A carefree California beach party Fair Warning is not.

Having said he felt angry and frustrated during the sessions, guitarist Eddie Van Halen uses the forceful arrangements as a playground for his seemingly unlimited arsenal. Supported by a crack rhythm section and a hyped-up Roth, he performs with an almost impossible combination of punk-like intensity, technical finesse, lyrical fluidity, and unbridled emotion. The virtuoso was increasingly butting heads with Templeton and seeking a freedom in the studio he believed denied him.

No wonder he plays like a bat out of hell. Listen to the rapid-fire manner in which he slaps the high and low E strings on the 12th fret of his instrument on “Mean Street,” instilling the tune with funk flair and metal-spiked sharpness. For the pouty strut of “Dirty Movies,” Eddie Van Halen contributes slide guitar magic made possible after he sawed off the lower portion of a Gibson SG so he could reach further down the fretboard.

Related intensity, urgency, and daredevil momentum punctuate the surging “Sinner’s Swing!” A heavily flanged, delicately melodic introduction frames the attitudinal “Hear About It Later,” among the most creative arrangements of Van Halen’s career. And do riffs come any bigger or magnetic than those on the high-wire kick of “Unchained”? As for the out-of-left-field “Sunday in the Park,” an instrumental composed on an Electro-Harmonix micro-synthesizer: Who but Eddie Van Halen to supply creep factor in such an ingenious way?

Despite selling fewer quantities than Van Halen’s prior efforts, Fair Warning remains for many diehards the record that epitomizes all of the band’s immense strengths —Roth’s manic energy and tongue-wagging humor, Alex Van Halen’s rhythmic heartbeat-in-your-chest bombast, and Michael Anthony’s lucid bass lines included. Arriving when the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and new-wave movements were taking flight, it signaled a shot across the bow from a band determined to stay a step ahead and provide proof nobody could touch what it delivered.

More than four decades later, Fair Warning still sounds that alarm.

The roots of African music are always open to new possibilities. This is revealed in the music of this unprecedented quartet. Alongside the Malian singer Rokia Traore', Mamah Diabate, Malian griot and djeli ngoni player, has been playing for several years with Stefano Pilia (Afterhours, Massimo Volume). Now, their path intertwines with the artistic and human partnership between Jabel Kanuteh, Gambian griot and kora virtuoso, and percussionist Marco Zanotti(Classical Afrobeat Orchestra, Cucoma Combo). The union of these two pairs develops unusual geographies and architectures, where dual African and Italian identities merge into one universal sensibility. The predominant Malian and Gambian modes chase each other, but all is fused into a broader rhythm factory or embellished by more abstract and liquid experimental digressions. The curiosity and pliability of the individual musicians search for a language that is both current and contemporary, always poised between ancient and modern, landscape and narrative, with jazz, rock and folk influences.

The capstone of Miles Davis’ electric period, Agharta reigns as a funk-rock fireball — a blazing comet streaked energy and elan, a fearless organism feasting on adventure and freedom, a seven-headed Godzilla stomping its way through Osaka, Japan. Recorded on February 1, 1975 at Osaka Festival Hall at the first of a two-show stand, the double album offers an endless abundance of surprises and shifts — as well as a road-proven ensemble whose chemistry and abilities equal that of any of Davis’ celebrated bands. If the true measure of jazz is the capacity to adapt to the moment and challenge perception, Agharta is consummate.

Sourced from the original master tapes, housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, and pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing in California, Mobile Fidelity’s numbered-edition 180g 33RPM 2LP set of this epic live release presents it in audiophile sound on a domestic pressing for the first time. Offering greater degrees of separation, detail, and richness than the compressed CD editions and more clarity, openness, and presence than older vinyl copies, this version of the 1975 release helps bring the concert stage to your home. Just make sure your turntable and speakers are up to the challenge of Davis and Co.’s explosive performances — and producing the decibels they demand.

Teeming with vibrant colors, tones, and pace, Mobile Fidelity’s reissue captures the hear-it-to-believe-it flow, sweep, and moodiness of the music. Though the group honors looseness and freedom with religious verve, the specificity and scale rendered by this remaster allows you to detect methods behind the alleged madness that are often otherwise harder to discern. This insight extends to the understated changes in volume, harmonics, and phrasings. In many ways, you can listen as Davis himself did that early February evening as he helped coordinate the overall direction and decided on whether to blow his wah-wah-wired trumpet or take a turn on the organ.

Tellingly, Agharta would likely never have been made if not for Davis’ ventures overseas and, specifically, to the Land of the Rising Sun. Having for years faced a backlash on his native soil for his choices to experiment and blow past all known borders, Davis was welcomed with open arms in Japan. The concert documented on Agharta — as well as the day’s later show, captured on the equally exciting Pangea — stemmed from a sold-out three-week tour that would ultimately mark Davis’ final public appearances for years, as he soon settled into semi-retirement and nursed the wounds connected to an unprecedented stretch of restless and relentless output.

For all the band-fueled merit of Agharta — and there’s plenty, given the cast of saxophonist Sonny Fortune, bassist Michael Henderson, drummer Al Foster, percussionist James Mtume, and guitarists Reggie Lucas and Pete Cosey seemingly blasts off to outer space and travels distant galaxies by the time this minimally edited record runs its course — Davis’ own playing often remains overlooked. As critics Richard Cook and Brian Morton observed, it is “often fantastically subtle, creating surges and ebbs in a harmonically static line, allowing him to build huge melismatic variations on a single note.” He attacks like a man on a mission, out to prove naysayers wrong and bent on trailblazing another new path forward. Convention and skeptics be damned.

Noisy and furious, dark and discordant, abstract and off-balance, radical and intense, abrasive and atmospheric, strangely beautiful and hypnotically eccentric: Agharta evades simple description, and refuses to be pinned down in any established category — rock, jazz, punk, ambient, prog, avante-garde, or otherwise. Shot through with trench-deep grooves, screaming riffs, scalding solos, and free-improv leads, its cosmic thrust comes on as the equivalent of an animated pointillist painting comprised of millions of textured dots, dashes, and dabs that hold your attention so raptly you want to revisit the ideas again and again.

Always steps ahead of everyone else, Davis knew what he was doing even when Agharta debuted in Japan before later hitting U.S. markets. Though “Maiysha” and “Theme from Jack Johnson” are identified in the track listing, the record contains a number of uncredited references to other Davis works, including a nod to “So What.” This decision to bypass labels only adds to the art of the reveal — the rare black magic in which Agharta expertly deals.

Analogue Productions (Atlantic 75 Series) Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of Atlantic Records! Platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated album featuring the No. 1 smash title track! Tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jacket by Stoughton Printing Female R&B singers were expected to be forceful, big-voiced divas (like Aretha Franklin) or come-hither seductresses (like Diana Ross), but, as AllMusic says, Roberta Flack had her own unique approach. Flack's voice is vast, deep, and stately — where some singers confuse frenzy with passion, she is confident, majestic, and unhurried, intense in a profound yet reserved manner.

The title song of this 1973 masterful eight track album, "Killing Me Softly," was her second No. 1 hit, establishing her as a major modern R&B stylist. Killing Me Softly reached No. 3 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape and No. 2 on the Soul LPs chart. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the album gold on August 27, 1973, and double platinum on January 30, 2006, denoting shipments of 2 million copies in the United States. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year, which it lost to Stevie Wonder's 1973 album Innervisions. The album's title track was released as a single and topped the Billboard Hot 100. The title track won the 1974 Grammy Award for Record of the Year. This deluxe 180-gram 45 RPM 2LP Analogue Productions (Atlantic Series) reissue of Killing Me Softly is a true audiophile gem and a worthy addition to your music collection.

Analogue Productions (Atlantic 75 Series) Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of Atlantic Records! Coltrane playing with his former Miles Davis bandmates Featuring originals "Harmonique" and "Like Sonny" 180-gram 45 RPM double LP Pressed at Quality Record Pressings Tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jacket by Stoughton Printing The first album to hit the shelves after Giant Steps, Coltrane Jazz was recorded in November and December 1959, although one of the eight tracks ("Villiage Blues") was recorded in late 1960.

On everything save the aforementioned "Village Blues," Coltrane used the Miles Davis rhythm section of pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb AllMusic describes Coltrane Jazz as the saxophone legend's preparation for his launch into his peak years of the 1960s. There are three standards aboard, but the group reaches their peak on Coltrane's original material, particularly "Harmonique" with its melodic leaps and upper-register saxophone strains and the winding, slightly Eastern-flavored principal riffs of "Like Sonny," dedicated to Sonny Rollins. The moody "Village Blues" features the lineup of McCoy Tyner on piano, Elvin Jones on drums, and Steve Davis on bass; with the substitution of Jimmy Garrison on bass, that personnel would play on Coltrane's most influential and beloved 1960s albums. Sound excellence can be found on this definitive deluxe 180-gram 45 RPM 2LP Analogue Productions (Atlantic 75 Series) reissue of Coltrane Jazz.

Supergroups existed before Emerson, Lake & Palmer formed in 1970. And, as we all know well, many came after. But few, if any, matched the English trio’s chemistry and its elevated combination of virtuosity, vision, and verve. Having influenced a multitude of followers, ELP’s prowess was obvious from the start. The band’s self-titled debut stands as a towering statement of creative imagination, execution, and discipline more than five decades after its original release.

Mastered at MoFi’s California studio, housed in a Stoughton jacket, and pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, Mobile Fidelity’s numbered-edition 180g 33RPM LP of Emerson, Lake & Palmer presents the benchmark album in audiophile sound. Clear, dynamic, and balanced, this collectible edition honors the perfectionist approaches that both informed the playing and recording of the record.

Distinguished with black backgrounds, this reissue brings to light the epic scope, tonal depth, and mind-bending degrees of musicianship on display. Aspects — textures, nuances, effects, melodies, tempo changes — that go hand-in-hand with the trio’s compositions and interplay are rendered amid broad soundstages and delivered with pinpoint detail. Whether you’ve owned multiple copies of this touchstone or seeking out your first version, you’ll relish the presence, separation, imaging, and crispness that help make every song come across as if the group has set up shop in your listening space.

Opening the door to the seemingly infinite possibilities of progressive rock while steering clear of excess, Emerson, Lake & Palmer achieved a rare feat in that its complex, cerebral music didn’t prevent it from attaining mainstream success. The gold-certified effort launched the career of a band that would sell tens of millions of records. It also landed a Top 50 single in the form of the ballad “Lucky Man,” whose vocal harmonies, folksy strumming, multi-tracked instrumentation, and breakthrough Moog solo almost feel quaint in the face of the other fare on the album.

Comprised of genre-defying originals and hybrid arrangements of two classical pieces, the album Rolling Stone originally and rightly said is “best heard as a whole” matches outrageous ambition with the otherworldly skills of three musicians who remain among the finest to ever pick up their respective instruments. While Emerson soon drew the lion’s share of headlines for his ability on keys — clavinet, Moog, piano, Hammond organ, and pipe organ included — Greg Lake’s aptitude on guitar and bass, along with well as Carl Palmer’s monster talents behind the kit, created a three-headed hydra that devoured everything in front of it.

That extends to the radical reinterpretation of Bela Bartok’s “The Barbarian” that begins the LP, a performance that in less than four-and-a-half minutes runs the gamut from distorted to churchy to angular and blustery. More classical flourishes, keyboard wizardry, hard-rock heaviness, and gothic signatures emerge throughout “Knife-Edge,” which reimagines music by Leos Janacek and J.S. Bach — and ultimately invites you to explore a cathedral of sound teeming with separate bursts of keys and percussion.

And did someone say “drumming”? Check out Palmer’s monster salvo on “Tank,” a rhythmic showcase that marches out with knee-bent notes and mirror-reflected passages. Or dive into the mythological suite “The Three Fates.” Replete with three parts and Emerson playing the pipe organ at Royal Festival Hall, it shoots off sonic fireworks via sophisticated arpeggios, jazz improvisations, dancing counter-meters, sizzling chords, and a few explosions. Please don’t hold anyone at MoFi responsible if your system cannot handle it; this is heady stuff.

Indeed, everything on Emerson, Lake & Palmer is there for a purpose. Whether you aim to attempt to dissect all of the notes, shifts, and polyrhythmic bluster or just want to absorb this album as one living, breathing organism, this version invites you to do both as many times as you desire.

The notion of home isn’t precise, even a dictionary will offer multiple definitions. A home can be a place where you live, a place where you belong, where you originate from or a place where you’re given care; it can be a physical space, a land, a people or even a person. The concept isn’t completely universal, but everyone possesses a unique idea of what home means to them. On her fifth album, Ziúr considers not just what home symbolizes from her perspective, but the word’s resonance to the diverse community that surrounds her, and how their stories have impacted her over the years. Indeed, it’s the first time she’s felt it necessary to examine her own nationality. In the past, she’s deliberately avoided labelling herself as German, feeling disconnected from her country’s politics, culture and even the German language itself. In 2025, the idea of Germanness is in flux and progressives are under attack from all sides. The country’s politics aren’t only being turned inward by the growing throng of far-right voices, but by scared moderates, opportunists and those blinded by comfort, willing to ignore hatred to maintain their privilege. Stepping up to provide a different narrative, Ziúr scours her soul, writing and singing in German for the first time and proposing growth and evolution, not fear and regression. “I never considered being part of Germany,” she explains. “But I am.”

A solemn mood permeates the album’s opening track ‘Brown is the Color’, and Ziúr sings in measured, slow-motion breaths over noisy synth oscillations and doomed piano flourishes. Already, it’s a significant departure from her last run of releases, veering away from the frenetic, satirical chaos of 2023’s Hakuna Kulala-released ‘Eyeroll’ or its fantastical, dubby predecessor ‘Antifate’. Ziúr pulls on real world insights here, tracing her oldest, dearest musical inspirations to present her origins to anybody who might be listening. “Cold world is holding up,” she laments with a metallic crunch. “To let go of your heart, let me go.” And her voice emerges from the shadows completely on ‘Tame’; unprocessed, Ziúr sounds naked and vulnerable on ‘Tame’, curving her precise words around broken, lopsided rhythms and jangling new wave guitars. It’s pop music in its own way, inverted and reconstructed to fit snugly into her well-established sonic landscape. On ‘No Yawn’, brittle, downsampled hi-hats and industrial scrapes ping-pong around distorted riffs, provided by James Ó Ceallaigh aka WIFE; “You fail to sugarcoat your half-ass attempt,” she deadpans, “to build your promised wonderland on quicksand.” Even the beatless ‘All Odds No Chants’, a collaboration with Elvin Brandhi and Sara Persico, reveals another room in Ziúr’s autobiographical suite, mirroring György Ligeti’s enduringly influential choral works with its gnarled, dissonant vocal harmonies.

The perfect soundtrack for a summer roadtrip in an old car across Death Valley.

“Calexico's musical textures are woven out of a dazzling array of instruments and styles, including mariachi trumpets, countrified pedal steel, Latin jazz percussion, and carnival organ, just to name a few. The songs move at siesta speed, casually looping and loping along, never getting overheated. Bandmates Joey Burns and John Convertino have their hands in so many musical pies--including projects with OP8, Giant Sand, Victoria Williams, Giant Sand, and Richard Buckner--one wonders how they find the time to create the sun-soaked music of Calexico. But thank God they have.” --Tod Nelson

Brixton Heights Records proudly presents the brand new single ‘Am I the Same Man?’, a soulful roots-reggae gem featuring a heavyweight all-star lineup including: Mafia & Fluxy on drum and bass respectively, the Ital Horns on brass, Gussie Clarke on mastering and Gaudi on falsetto vocals + BVs, dub mixing, piano and co-production alongside The Brixton Heights Orchestra.

Drawing inspiration from the timeless instrumental groove ‘Soulful Strut’ by Young-Holt Unlimited, the track channels vintage soul through a deep lovers-rock lens. A fresh and earnest reinterpretation of Barbara Acklin’s 1968 classic ‘Am I the Same Girl?’, this version flips the narrative with an adaptation on the lyrics voiced by none other than Gaudi singing in falsetto, resulting with a smooth, dub-infused love song that combines classic soul and international reggae into a modern masterpiece.
Gaudi is not stranger to falsetto-singing and backing vocals, in fact he has lent his distinctive vocal talent to albums by reggae giants such as Steel Pulse, Horace Andy, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Don Letts, Johnny Clarke, Mad Professor, Hollie Cook, Michael Rose, Creation Rebel, Africa Unite, Awa Fall, African Head Charge, Lion D & Capleton.

Mixed and co-produced by Gaudi at his Metatron Studio in London UK and mastered by Gussie Clarke at Anchor Studios in Kingston Jamaica, ‘Am I the Same Man?’ is more than a cover version, it’s a heartfelt transformation that captures the emotional core of the original song while creating a whole new vibe that speaks to today’s lovers and soul seekers alike.

The B-side presents a meticulously crafted dub version by Gaudi, produced exclusively with analogue equipment and vintage studio hardware. The mix brings forward the intricacies of the original instrumentation and enhances the lyrical elements through spacious delays and warm, analogue textures. Last but not least, in order to maintain the highest level of authenticity and an organic sonic texture, all recordings were done at 432Hz, tuned to resonate naturally.

'Fully licensed, all tracks restored & remastered for the 1st time!
'Lots of Loving was the third album, originally released in 1980 by Freedom Sound Record, by legendary and controversial Jamaican deejay and singer Ranking Dread.
'Recorded at Channel One studio, with Barnabas as engineer and produced by Sugar Minott the album featured musicians from the Black Roots Players, Sly & Robbie, Steeely (Steely & Clevie) and many others... Voiced and mixed at King Tubby's Studio!
'One of the most dangerous rub-a-dub deejay lp’s!'