Buscar:story

Limited Edition of 1,000 Hand-Numbered Units on Ruby Red Vinyl. Includes never heard before audio and lyrics printed on heavy board inner sleeves!

40 years later - and still no one does it like this. We’re celebrating the unstoppable legacy of one of hip-hop’s most iconic collaborations: Doug E. Fresh and Mc Ricky D (now globally known as Slick Rick) “La Di Da Di" along with the pop dance tune "The Show."

From its very first breath, this track reshaped sound, style, and storytelling — a cultural moment that became a timeless movement. Decades on, its influence is everywhere: sampled, quoted, reimagined — but never duplicated. “La Di Da Di”and “The Show” didn’t just belong to an era — they created one.

To mark this monumental anniversary, the Hip-Hop legends decided to drop a limited 12” 40th Anniversary Edition. The release features the original versions of “La Di Da Di” and “The Show” - plus a rare demo of "The Show" as well as an unreleased street version of "La-Di-Da-Di" recorded live from The Lincoln Projects in Harlem NY) that take you deeper into the sound that started it all with the Get Fresh Crew.

There are two versions of the vinyl edition: classic 140g black record or limited (Universe Edition) 140g black + 7" black vinyl with two bonus tracks.


WE ARE THE BIOBOTS is an album by Michal Baj (DJ Eprom), who has ties to Silesia. It will be released on 21th January 2026, by the legendary Polish label JuNouMi Records (est. 2002). WE ARE THE BIOBOTS is an album that not only talks about technological progress, but also touches on the digitization of human consciousness in the 21st century. Although it discusses the dangers of AI development, no artificial intelligence was used in its creation.

The album features legendary hip hop DJs, including the art of scratching. The album will feature the most outstanding DJs from Poland, England, the USA, and Japan. Thanks to this, the album has a chance to gain a broader, international context. Eprom's professional experience to date has allowed him to bring together such a wide range of artists and bring them together on the album, including:

DJ D-Styles – a legend of scratching from the USA. A pioneer of the genre. Member of groups such as The Beat Junkies and Invisibl Skratch Piklz, creator of many scratching techniques still used today.
DJ Prime Cuts – founder of the legendary Scratch Perverts from London, multiple world champion and creator of unique scratching techniques.
DJ Flip Flop, Prolifix – representatives of the DJ community from the US coast.
DJ Tigerstyle – a leading representative of the DJ community in England, multiple world champion in scratching.
DJ IQ – the most successful scratching champion in the world.
DJ Miyajima – the unrivaled master and creator of the Japanese school of scratching.
DJ Melo-d – co-founder of The Beat Junkies collective, multiple DJ champion hosting a legendary show on Radio HOT 97 in the US.
DJ Ben, Krootki – co-founders of the Modulators group from Poland, World Champions in scratching.
Daniel Drumz – Polish DJ and music producer known worldwide.
Mr Krime – pioneer of DJing and turntablism in Poland.


Michal Baj is a multi-talented musician, artist, and music producer born in Jastrzebie-Zdroj, as well as the owner of the analog Eprom Sounds Studio, where tracks based on mixing and mastering are produced and gain worldwide recognition.

The inspiration for the album is Eprom's connection to Silesia. His work at the KWK Borynia mine, surrounded by heavy equipment and mining technology, became a direct inspiration for creating a musical story about people, machines, as well as the directions of technological development and the impact they have on society.

The album is released by JuNouMi Records, a label specializing in vinyl records, founded in 2002. Your wax supplier.

A raw, groove-driven selection of previously overlooked 1990s recordings by legendary Turkish jazz impresario Okay Temiz, compiled here for the first time.



As the story goes, throughout the 1990s, Okay Temiz roamed the nights of İstanbul in search of rhythm — moving through its far corners, from the seedy underbelly to gypsy neighborhoods, from the outskirts of the city to smoke-filled taverns where cigarette haze turns into a living cloud atlas — capturing a largely unknown and maverick period of his work.



Compiled by long-time producers Haluk Damar and Erinç Güzel, the album brings together Turkish folk textures, İstanbul tavern sound, spiritual jazz, raw street groove, and flashes of Turkish psychedelia — with moments shaped by Temiz’s own distinctive vocals. The result is a deep, percussive, and highly playable set.



Positioned between global jazz, rare groove, and dancefloor material, İstanbul Groove is a strong crossover release with appeal across both listening and DJ set contexts.

Hypnotize Minds is proud to present Kingpin Skinny Pimp's King Of Da Playaz Ball on a limited edition orange crush double vinyl! Featuring classic Memphis rap such as "Lookin' for Da Chewin'" and "One Life 2 Live (feat. DJ Paul & Juicy J)"

On the label's latest, Oath are proud to present 'Times', the latest morphological masterclass from Ukrainian producer extrodinaire Vakula, on which his boundless and intuitively captivating sound remains as absorbing as ever.

Drawing deeply from a rich palette of genres such as deep house, ambient, dub techno, and jazz, and feeding in inspirations from natural and philosophical spheres, Vakula's musical ethos has allowed him to continuously explore the inner and outer reaches of his universal soundscape. By feeling things out through hardware, he allows his music to grow organically, blending humanistic tendencies with technological outputs that always bring harmonious musical riches to the surface.
'Times' represents another seismic chapter in his story, one which contains a series of genre-defying blends that twist, turn, and enthrall with their ever-evolving beauty. 'Atmos Time' plays out as the EP opens up, and draws the listener close with a textured melodic chime and spaced out groove.

Floating along on a bed of cosmic ambience, the groove and melodic features cascade as one, drifting further through the layers of time and thought. 'Break Time' ups the urgency ever so slightly, with a similar atmosphere unraveling above an energised broken beat.
'Drum Time' brings in side B, and this one shifts perspective once more. The melodic sways up above merge and blend with the poly-rhythmic undertones, with the jungle-lite broken beat creating an enchanting energy. 'Soul Time' wraps things up, which moves into a distinctly ambient techno sort of realm. Dreamy pads and looping key lines intertwine amongst a captivating sea of mood and tone, as a laid-back beat shimmers underneath with poise and elegance. . A fitting end to a record filled with moments of tonal excellence, ever-shifting melodic feeling and rhythmic sequencing - an experience that forever drifts through the memory, always capturing the imagination….

Born from a demo session originally recorded in 2011, “I Like” finally came to life when Daniele “Shield” Contrini and Piero Pirupa reunited in late 2025 to complete the track, transforming an early idea into a powerful new collaboration featuring two legendary voices of house music: The Egyptian Lover and Paris Brightledge.

Daniele “Shield” Contrini, founder and creative force behind Rebirth Records, joins forces with globally respected DJ and producer Piero Pirupa to deliver a record designed to fire any dancefloor.

Blending Italo disco influences, classic house grooves and a powerful bassline, “I Like” carries a warm, uplifting energy while paying tribute to the golden era of club music. The track is driven by the unmistakable vocal presence of The Egyptian Lover, the pioneering American artist, producer and DJ Greg Broussard. Widely recognized as one of the architects of West Coast electro and early hip-hop, he helped shape the sound of 1980s Los Angeles electronic music through his groundbreaking use of the Roland TR-808.

Adding further depth to the record is the distinctive voice of Chicago house legend Paris Brightledge, whose haunting and melodic tone became iconic through classics such as “It’s Alright” and “Paris Dub 1”. Over the years he has collaborated with some of the most important names in house music including Joe Smooth, Frankie Knuckles, Marshall Jefferson, Ron Hardy, Mike Dunn, Farley “Jackmaster” Funk and Byron Stingily, while also appearing on projects with Pet Shop Boys, Paranoid London and Groove Armada.

With its blend of electro heritage, Chicago house soul and contemporary club production, “I Like”connects different generations of dance music in a single record, a collaboration that bridges eras, styles and scenes. Set for an official release on 22nd May, the track marks another chapter in the label’s ongoing story and its commitment to celebrating the roots of club culture while pushing it forward.

With Mr. Coconut, Cosmo Dance delivers a four-track EP that strengthens a distinctive sonic identity, blending retro aesthetics, club culture and cinematic sensibility into a cohesive body of work.

The title track unfolds through refined dynamic control. Warm multilayered percussion, textured guitars and a deep yet restrained bassline create an organic groove that evolves gradually rather than relying on obvious drops. The production favors subtle progression and hypnotic growth, resulting in elegant, mature dance music.

Goodbye expands the project’s narrative dimension. Inspired by the atmosphere of Italian ’70s library music, the track represents the protagonist’s theatrical exit from the club — not a melancholic farewell, but a charismatic closing scene. A playful detail emerges when Dandolo (Cosmo Dance’s alter ego) delivers an ironic “cough solo” precisely as an off-voice introduces Mr. Coconut, adding a self-aware cinematic twist.

Dub nuts explores deeper dub-informed territory. Built through layering and subtraction, the track showcases careful spatial control and restrained low-end management.

The EP closes with the Coccappella Version, a stripped-down reinterpretation of the title track focused solely on percussion and voice, revealing the rhythmic backbone of the project.

Mr. Coconut is a refined balance between club functionality and cinematic storytelling — controlled, elegant and unmistakably personal. It’s not about peak-time fireworks — it’s about atmosphere, detail and identity.

Destination Unknown is an EP by Unpronounceable born from an archive of sounds collected between 2019 and 2024—sonic fragments that took shape without a predetermined direction guided only by an open idea in constant transformation. The original track conceived as a “destination unknown” composition developed its own independent identity. However precisely because of its fluid and cross-genre nature Unpronounceable chose not to place it within a traditional EP context instead opening it up to a multiplicity of perspectives by inviting five artists to reinterpret it freely without genre constraints.

The result is an EP that unfolds like an alternative map of the same sonic territory where each remix explores a distinct direction transforming Destination Unknown into a multifaceted and ever-evolving experience.

In Carl Finlow’s remix Destination Unknown takes on a strong cinematic and narrative dimension. Inspired by the title Finlow imagines a mysterious journey toward a futuristic dystopian city turning the track into a kind of electro soundtrack—dark yet ironic rich in character and capable of evoking vivid images and motion.

MANASYt pushes the track toward more physical and ritualistic territories focusing on the dark pads and the more oneiric vocal elements of the original. The result is a hypnotic pulsating tribal-industrial reinterpretation where rhythm and sonic material become central intensifying the track’s most visceral qualities.

With Gay Horror the focus shifts to an emotional and narrative dimension. The vocals are deliberately made elusive and undefined while the structure develops through a slow controlled crescendo that recalls the atmospheres of ’90s trip-hop. This version also reflects a long-standing human and artistic relationship conceived as a story that travels through time and reaches the present day.

Kevin Follet adopts a more conceptual approach overturning the perspective of the original track. Rather than working with its main elements he brings the underlying structures to the foreground transforming what usually remains hidden into the core of his reinterpretation. His remix is elegant and deep balancing sound exploration with a strong attention to songwriting.

Closing the EP is GP The Synth Roller with a radical and highly experimental reinterpretation. The track behaves like an unstable system: parameters shift without warning surfaces lose coherence sudden accelerations collide with moments of arrest. There is no resolution only a sonic condition in constant tension eventually condensing into a dark compact mass.

Taken as a whole Destination Unknown is far more than a simple remix collection: it is a collective exploration of the potential of a single composition. Unpronounceable’s original track and the reinterpretations by Carl Finlow MANASYt Gay Horror Kevin Follet and GP The Synth Roller move across electro techno industrial and experimental territories offering six different perspectives from the same starting point. An open journey with no fixed destination where every detour becomes an integral part of the path.

Twoosty Mayonez is a duo consisting of Bartosz Wolert (drums) and Kornel Karolak (synthesizers), creating post-jazz music and is considered to be part of the new Polish wave of this genre. The album is a continuation of the story begun in 2123, when Captain Harrison Focus, as a result of an emergency landing of his rocket, lands on the unknown planet Carmin. This story was described and released by U Know Me Records and this is how the (universe) world learned about Twoosty Mayonez. Their latest album is a story about what happens on the surface of the mysterious planet Carmin. This time, the main character of the album is Triceradiplodocus. The songs show changes in mood and atmosphere. The music is full of energy, harmony and emotions that reflect the diversity of the world the hero goes through.

All compositions were created on a weekend in September 2023, as a result of the duo's collective improvisation. The recordings were made at the Twoosty Room studio in Warsaw by the band's drummer.

The album features guest appearances by: Alicja Sobstyl (flute), Ola Szmidt (vocals), Wojtek Mazolewski (double bass), Olaf Węgier (sax). The cover was designed by Dominika Kiszkiel, and the mix and mastering was done by Maciek Goliński (Envee). The album, released in LP and digital formats by U JAZZ ME Records, is scheduled for January 9, 2025.

Slim Smith is high on the list of great singers that came out of Jamaica.
Although Jamaica was bursting with musical talent, few could match his soulful and heartfelt style.
Sadly he had a very short career but he produced a catalogue of music that still stands the test of time ,like all the great artists his story carries through the songs he left behind.
We have compiled some of his finest moments from his period working alongside the Hit Maker from Jamaica producer Bunny Lee...
A great set of tunes that we hope will keep his memory alive
Keep the Light Shining.....Respect

Repress.

Step into a journey through time with Lapa Dula's debut album "Agua", proudly presented by the Early Sounds team. “Agua” is a sonic and aesthetic collage, a tribute to the sounds and memories of Naples and its surroundings in the vibrant cultural and social scene of the mid 1980s, not just a reflection of producer’s Alessandro La Padula childhood memories, but also a nod to the myths and legends of Partenope. Written between Rome and Naples and co-produced by label head Pellegrino, "Agua" is the latest addition to the imprint’s distinctive "Mediterranean sound" blending funk, Latin, world music, and disco, with songs like the balearic title track "Agua" and the nostalgic ode to rural life "Sibilla", also inspired by the myth of the Sibyl of Cumae, this album takes you on a journey of emotions and experiences.

From vernacular "Scemanfu", a fun play on the French expression "je m'en fous" (I don't care), to the contemplative "Navigante", dedicated to those who have found solace in the sea or in the virtual world, and the final track "Baibai", inspired by the adventurous and licentious affairs of English nobleman Sir Nathaniel Thorold, who lived on the island of Capri, each song tells a story and adds a piece to this mosaic of sounds, images, and places.

Prajñāghoṣa's debut ambient album on Into The Deep Treasury is a narrative, a musical poem, an attempt to share the story of a transformative odyssey — an outer and inner journey marked by higher aspirations, spiritual growth, and a profound connection with the world.

"SABLE, fABLE" ist das fünfte Album des Projekts von Justin Vernon und enthält eine Liebesgeschichte, die mit üppiger, strahlender Popmusik unterlegt ist. Während das Album mit der verletzlichen Entlastung der im vorangegangenen Herbst erschienenen "SABLE," EP beginnt, geht das Triptychon nahtlos in eine neue, neunsongige Saga über, in der aus einer Person zwei werden, Dunkelheit sich in lachsfarbene Schönheit verwandelt und Traurigkeit in unbändige Freude umschlägt. Während SABLE eine karge und einsame Abrechnung mit einem Schmerz ist, der lange die Vergangenheit bestimmte, blickt fABLE in eine lebendige Zukunft voller Licht, Sinn und Möglichkeiten. "SABLE, fABLE" wurde von Justin Vernon und Jim-E Stack produziert und hauptsächlich in Vernons April Base in Wisconsin aufgenommen, nachdem das Studio während einer Renovierung jahrelang still lag. Das Konzept für das Album entstand am 22.2.22, als Stack mit Danielle Haim dort eintraf. Mehrere Tage lang eingeschneit, vereinten sich Vernons und Haims Stimmen auf "If Only I Could Wait", einem Duett mit entscheidender Perspektive, in dem es darum geht, dass man nicht die Kraft hat, die beste Version von sich selbst außerhalb des Glühens einer neuen Liebe zu sein. Wenn SABLE der Prolog war, ein Prolog in der Dunkelheit, eine kontrollierte Verbrennung, die den Weg für neue Möglichkeiten ebnet, dann ist fABLE das Buch, das folgt. Wo SABLE, ein Werk der Einsamkeit war, ist fABLE eine ausgestreckte Hand. Strahlende, verschnörkelte Popmusik umspielt Vernons Stimme, während er sich auf eine neue und schöne Ära konzentriert. Bei jedem Lied sind seine Augen auf eine bestimmte Person gerichtet. Es ist Liebe, was bedeutet, dass in fABLE eine intensive Klarheit, Konzentration und Ehrlichkeit herrscht. Es ist das Porträt eines Mannes, der von dieser ersten Begegnung überflutet und überwältigt ist ("Everything Is Peaceful Love"). Es ist ein Tableau, das von Sex und unbändigem Verlangen geprägt ist ("Walk Home"). Ein Mann, voller Licht und Tatendrang, der eine ganze Zukunft vor sich sieht. Verliebtheit hat etwas unbestreitbar Heilendes an sich, und die intensive Klarheit, Konzentration, Ehrlichkeit und Feierlichkeit, die sie in diese Songs bringt. Doch der Schatten von SABLE liegt noch immer in der Luft, und alte Gefühle können zurückkehren, selbst wenn man sich die Mühe gemacht hat, neu anzufangen. Wie in einer Fabel vermittelt jeder Track eine Lektion, und in fABLE geht es um den selbstlosen Rhythmus, der erforderlich ist, wenn man mit einer anderen Person verstrickt ist. Der vorletzte Song - und im weiteren Sinne das ganze Album - ist ein Versprechen. Er ist bereit, diesen Rhythmus zu finden.

The record is largely sung in Scots language, one of Scotland’s three official languages along with Gaelic and English. “Scots gives me a way of expressing myself which is connected directly with the landscapes I love. It brings the songs alive and it is a fascinating language. The name of the record is in Scots - Forefowk means the people who came before, or ancestors. When we say ‘mind me,’ we can mean a few things- remind, remember, watch over or care for me. The record explores how tradition needs to be constantly reconnected with, built upon, looked after, and shared.”
Quinie sings with a style inspired by Scottish Traveller singers. “I began singing unaccompanied Scots Song in 2015 after hearing Scots Traveller singer Sheila Stewart on the radio. Initially I felt like I shouldn't sing these songs because I'm not a Traveller, and I saw people around me doing that in a way that made me uncomfortable. But on the other hand this music made sense to me and I felt driven to learn. Over the years I have met Traveller friends who taught me that settled people sharing these songs could contribute to raising awareness. Scottish Travellers are marginalised and discriminated against in modern Scotland, despite being custodians of so many of our important traditions. So I started to perform them and tell this story. From there I built on my repertoire and started writing my own songs”.
To develop this record, Quinie travelled across Argyll with her horse. They went on a pilgrimage of sorts through the ancient landscapes of the West of Scotland to explore the interconnected relationships between people, ancestors, animals, and place. The album’s vinyl release is accompanied by a book and film, documenting this unusual research process.
Forefowk, Mind Me was recorded in August 2024 at The Big Shed in Highland Perthshire with support from Creative Scotland. Quinie is accompanied by an ensemble of musicians: Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh (viola), Oliver Pitt (duduk, bouzouki, percussion), Harry Górski-Brown (small pipes, violin), and Stevie Jones (double bass, recording, and mixing). Each of these artists brings their own distinctive voice, bridging contemporary experimental practice with worlds of traditional and early music.

Demilitarize follows Nazar’s remarkable 2020 debut Guerrilla, which reprocessed Angolan kuduro music with rough textures, field recordings and media clips, telling a personal story of the civil war that exiled his family to Europe, while his father, a rebel General, fought a losing battle in the jungle back home. After Guerrilla, and an extended period of serious illness, now Demilitarize is motivated by a reckoning with mortality and the flowering of new love, turning the ‘rough kuduro’ of Guerrilla inside out.This is a deep sound world, genuinely dreamy, the arc of the album describing shedding the armour of trauma and surrendering to this new situation. A constant and unexpected aspect of Demilitarize is Nazar's gentle, submerged vocal. Insistent and mantra-like, it’s like a cross between Elisabeth Frazer, Arthur Russell and Frank Ocean, and the music is fragile and opaque in response. The rhythms of kuduro are still here,but move around his voice like fish around a swimmer, while precise sound design illuminates from different angles. Chords spiral, ripple and shoot through the beats giving tracks the loosest of settings; songs disassemble; vocals float off-centre.

'Tense from the first note and decisively uncompromising ‘GHSTING’ is the debut collaboration by Polish artists Alex Freiheit and Aleksandra Słyż, an incredibly unique piece of work that mixes fiction, spoken word poetry, theatrical antics, dense synthesis, acoustic ensemble and dark landscapes all set within the backdrop of a sinister Eastern Europe hotel. The resulting sound is menacing, humorous, harmonious, tumultuous, and at times quietly erotic.

Alex Freiheit, a poet and vocalist, is widely recognized for her captivating work with the SIKSA duo. Over the past decade, she has delved into the realms of personal feminist storytelling, postmodern fairy tales, and queer legends, crafting unique and thought-provoking narratives. In this groundbreaking collaboration with talented composer Aleksandra Słyż, they are now delving into the herstory of lies and exaggerations, extracting the raw essence of these tales filled with stench, stains, secretions, and torn organs. Eyeless Freiheit haunts the hotel guests while dressed in a binder and holding a bottle filled with a corrosive substance. She shares compelling stories about the hidden activities and other secrets that unfold within the walls of hotels when no one is watching. Her gripping narrative is complemented by equally haunting and eerie music. Słyż divides the text into four chapters, skillfully intertwining synthetic and acoustic elements. She combines the sounds of synthesizers, woodwind and percussive instruments with vocals, creating a tense, dynamic soundscape. Freiheit’s voice possesses an earnest quality, where a frightening cadence suspiciously flips into a meditative cycle.

Together, Freiheit and Słyż have crafted a bold and suggestive story that feels like the mesmerizing soundtrack to a contemporary Eastern European horror film, captivating an essence that is hard to pinpoint but instantly recognizable. This is abstractly powerful music that pushes listeners into a kaleidoscopic spiral that channels ecstatic over loss.

WRWTFWW Records presents an ultra limited (100 copies !) vinyl edition of Meemo Comma’s Decimation Of I album, originally released digitally in 2024 on Mike Paradinas' Planet Mu label. The collector’s pressing is housed in a heavyweight sleeve.
Decimation Of I is the fifth album by Brighton-based electronic musician Meemo Comma. It's a work based on the Strugatsky brothers‘ 1971 novel Roadside Picnic, a book that was also turned into the Russian cult classic Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky. The inspiration came from reading the book alongside the backdrop of global climate disasters where an environment is rapidly becoming less habitable, all while powerful nations occupy and commit genocide.

The rough story of both film and novel is about a select group of characters exploring a land that has been transformed by alien visitors. We never meet the extraterrestrials, nor is it important to, we only have the artefacts left behind. The environment itself becomes the character, neither wholly Earth-like nor alien, but a surreal blend of both, inviting introspection on our insignificance amidst profound change. Within this land’s rebirth, our characters confront ego death, a necessary step towards the profound revelation, the discovery of one's true desire in the absence of ego.

The album opens with the innocent flutes of ’They, spoke,‘ and the disorienting electronica of ‘The Soldier‘ building towards the Terry Riley like undulating clarinets of ‘The Poet’, whose intertwining synth organ drones set the scene. Nods to the seventies electronica of Wendy Carlos and Eduard Artemyev can be heard with the use of Bach melodies in ‘P3Alpha Exotoxin‘ and ‘Area X,‘ however each of these songs draw the listener to primal noise undercurrents, their disintegrating melodies hinting at humanity's gradual dissolution, unveiling profound revelations beyond our comprehension.

As the album reaches its midpoint, ‘Spectral Alignment‘ paints a hazy morning prairie scene with Aaron Copland style French horn, restful woodwinds, spatial arpeggios and a warm drone culminating in an emotional pitstop as the soldiers wake in the dewy morning of this alien landscape, unaware the last of their humanity remains.

The last sentence in Roadside Picnic “HAPPINESS FOR EVERYBODY, FREE, AND MAY NO ONE BE LEFT BEHIND!” is the inspiration for ‘As It Is Written.’ We can either take from this the total annihilation of self has been filled with propaganda from their homeland, or the epiphany of their own autonomy in the war against a land and its inhabitants.

Ten years ago, Anderson .Paak didn't just release an album; he staged a full-scale takeover of the soul and hip-hop landscape. Released on January 15, 2016, Malibu served as the definitive arrival of an artist who had spent years grinding in the underground before a star-making turn on Dr. Dre’s Compton. While his previous work hinted at his potential, Malibu was the moment the world met the "Cheeky Andy" persona in full—a virtuosic drummer, a raspy-voiced crooner, and a sharp-witted rapper all rolled into one. The album is a sprawling, sun-drenched journey through the Southern California coast, blending 1970s funk, church-reared gospel, and gritty boom-bap into something that feels both nostalgic and entirely futuristic. With a heavyweight production lineup including 9th Wonder, Madlib, Kaytranada, and Hi-Tek, the record maintains a warm, analog texture that was a breath of fresh air in an increasingly digital era. It’s an album that breathes, full of intentional imperfections and the kind of "in-the-pocket" groove that can only come from a seasoned live performer. Beyond the infectious, dance-floor-ready energy of tracks like "Am I Wrong" and "Come Down," the album is a deeply autobiographical masterwork. .Paak uses the 65-minute runtime to unpack his life story with startling clarity, touching on his mother’s gambling addiction, his father’s incarceration, and his own brushes with homelessness with a sense of resilience that never feels heavy-handed. He weaves these heavy themes through a lens of triumph, grounded by vintage surfing documentary samples that give the project its cinematic, coastal atmosphere. It’s a celebratory record born out of struggle, anchored by his impeccable technicality on the drums and a guest list—featuring ScHoolboy Q, Rapsody, and The Game—that feels hand-picked to complement his specific brand of West Coast swagger. A decade later, Malibu stands as a modern classic and the blueprint for the soulful revivalism that would eventually lead .Paak to global superstardom and Grammy-winning heights. It remains a testament to the idea that the most profound music often comes from the most personal places, proving ten years on that the best way to move forward is to stay rooted in the groove.

Black vinyl with Starlight Sparkle effect. Barry "Epoch" Topping returns with the long-awaited soundtrack to BIRDCAGE. The widely celebrated game is the debut release of POLYGON BIRD Games. BIRDCAGE is a fast-paced, vertical scrolling shoot 'em up that blends the explosive action of 90s arcade classics, with modern gameplay and storytelling. What is the value of a bullet, when you wield a sword? While players have been praising BIRDCAGE for transferring retro aesthetics into modern times, the incomparable soundtrack is always pointed out for the same reasons. Entering Barry Topping, who gained recognition for the famous Paradise Killer game soundtrack and lately continued to spread those funky city pop vibes with his very own project The Needs. But for BIRDCAGE it was time to stray from his "trademark sound" and explore a different sonic space he had always been passionate for as well.





[e] 5RAPTOR [FLEDGLING]



[i] 9RAPTOR [MOTHER]

In the evolving landscape of modern Southern hip-hop, the pairing of Starlito and Bandplay stands out as a unique bridge between street-level authenticity and refined, calculated musicality. Their collaborative project, Not The Country You Know, functions less like a standard release and more as a manifesto—a masterclass in the chemistry between a seasoned, introspective lyricist and a producer who possesses an intuitive grasp of the region's pulse. It is an exploration of legacy and adaptation, capturing the tension between where they came from and where the culture is currently headed.

Bandplay, long recognized for sculpting the sonic identity of Memphis icons, brings his signature, trunk-rattling 808s to the project, yet he manages to pivot here. The production feels remarkably expansive, masterfully blending the raw, stripped-back aesthetics of classic Tennessee rap with forward-thinking textures that refuse to be confined to a single sub-genre. Complementing this, Starlito operates with his trademark mix of cynical observation and genuine vulnerability. He navigates these beats with the weary grace of an artist who has weathered the music industry's relentless cycles, treating every bar like a necessary piece of a larger, ongoing story.

The album’s title serves as a direct commentary on these shifting tides. Across the tracklist, the duo investigates the growing disparity between the romanticized South and the cold realities of the streets, alongside the inevitable evolution of the music business itself. There is no frantic chasing of streaming-era trends or algorithmic bait here; instead, the project remains a stubborn, confident assertion of artistic identity. By weaving together Starlito’s "voice-of-reason" flow and Bandplay’s evolving, genre-bending sound, Not The Country You Know challenges the listener to abandon their preconceived notions of the region, offering instead a complex, urgent vision of a South that is as haunting as it is vibrant.