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The Tallest Man On Earth - the project of Swedish musician Kristian Matsson - presents Too Late For Edelweiss, an album of new covers out ANTI. With Too Late For Edelweiss, Matsson weaves together a sparse collection of home recordings made in Sweden and North Carolina, captured fresh off a 39-date run with the adrenaline of tour rattling through his veins. The songs on Too Late For Edelweiss have been with Matsson since he started playing music as The Tallest Man on Earth in 2006. In those early years, Matsson used to perform "Lost Highway" by Hank Williams before he had enough songs to flesh out a full set. In July 2022, Matsson released a cover of Swedish super star Håkan Hellström"s "För sent för Edelweiss," a precious song that has been The Tallest Man"s walk-on music before every performance for over a decade and what inspired the title of this covers album. Since then, in the lead-up to this announcement, he has quietly released other selections, including Lucinda Williams" "Metal Firecracker," Yo La Tengo"s "Tears Are In Your Eyes" and now "Lost Highway." Mattson explains, "When I was a teenager I borrowed a Hank Williams album at the local library, and "Lost Highway" has been haunting me ever since. Many vocal sound checks throughout my career have heard Hank"s advice." As much as Too Late For Edelweiss feels like a scrapbook, an intimate memento with the ghosts of The Tallest Man"s earlier, sparser sound hovering at the edges, it"s also just the artifact of a moment - a flash of joy, of feeling recharged, of feeling good. These are the songs that happened to be in Matsson"s head at the time he sat down to record It came together so simply and easily - and in that way, it"s the purest distillation of making music - and being a fan of it, charting the connective tissue of a songwriter"s life.

Drummer and composer Tony Williams’ adventurous 1965 album Spring—his second as a leader for Blue Note—found him convening a stellar line-up with saxophonists Wayne Shorter and Sam Rivers, pianist Herbie Hancock, and bassist Gary Peacock. The five Williams originals presented here offer the musicians spacious realms in which to go exploring.

This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is stereo, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

Verwirrung - das Gefühl, perplex und verwirrt zu sein - ist die Inspiration für das neue Album von Pale Jay. Es ist eine gefühlvolle Erkundung des allmählichen Zerfalls einer Familie aufgrund von jahrelanger Vermeidung und Missverständnissen. Während dieser schwierigen Zeit begann Pale Jay, die Geschichten, mit denen er immer gelebt hatte, zu hinterfragen und seine Identität neu zu untersuchen. Das daraus resultierende Werk, Bewilderment, ist sein erstes komplettes Album, das Antworten auf diese und andere Fragen geben will. Pale Jay ist ein ausgebildeter Jazzsänger und Pianist und hat alle Songs des Albums geschrieben, aufgenommen und produziert, mit Ausnahme von "By The Lake", das in Zusammenarbeit mit seinen Labelkollegen Okonski - Steve Okonski, Aaron Frazer und Michael Montgomery - entstanden ist. Die Musik von Pale Jay ist von einer Vielzahl von Songwritern beeinflusst, darunter Labi Siffre, Carole King und William Onyeabor. Bewilderment ist eine nahtlose Mischung aus Pale Jays Markenzeichen, staubigem Soul, langsamer Disco- und Afrobeat, wobei die Streicherarrangements von Raven Bush den beatlastigen Produktionen eine zusätzliche Ebene der Magie verleihen. Pale Jays Debüt-LP ist eine fesselnde Reise der Selbstentdeckung. Jeder Song auf Bewilderment erzählt eine eigene Geschichte, aber alle haben ein gemeinsames Thema: persönliches Wachstum und Selbsterkenntnis.

Die gemeinsamen Alben und Auftritte des legendären Filmkomponisten John Williams und der Stargeigerin Anne-Sophie Mutter gehören zweifellos zu den Highlights der letzten Jahre. Dieses Album ist das neueste Ergebnis der langjährigen Freundschaft und Zusammenarbeit der weltweit gefeierten Künstler: Mutter spielt das Zweite Violinkonzert von John Williams, das der Komponist für sie geschrieben hat. Williams sagt über sein Violinkonzert: „Für mich geht es in diesem Stück vor allem um Anne-Sophie Mutter und
um die Violine als Meisterwerk der Geigenbaukunst. (…) letztlich wurde diese große Künstlerin selbst zu meiner Inspiration und Antriebskraft.“ Die vorliegende Aufnahme für die Deutsche Grammophon, mit dem Boston Symphony Orchestra unter der Leitung von Williams selbst, entstand kurz nach der Uraufführung
des Zweiten Violinkonzertes im Juli 2021 in Tanglewood. Der Boston Globe schrieb: „Selbst in dieser Uraufführung trug Mutter das Solo wie eine alte Freundin und formte jede Phrase mit Absicht und Elan.“
Dem lyrischen und sehr persönlichen Konzert folgen auf dem Album drei fantastische Zugaben: Beliebte Filmthemen von Williams, u.a. aus Star Wars und Indiana Jones, die er alle komplett neu für Anne-Sophie
Mutter arrangiert hat. In diversen Details des Violinkonzertes, aber auch in den schönen Filmmelodien, spiegelt sich die Ausdruckskraft von Mutters Spiel ebenso wie ihre virtuose Brillanz und die lyrische Wärme ihres Geigentons.

The history of film music would be different without John Williams. Cinema classics like Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Harry Potter are inextricably linked with his musical style. His soundtracks captivate listeners with thrilling, moving themes and a tremendous range of atmospheres and sounds. John Williams conducts the greatest orchestra in the world; a once in a lifetime recording celebration. The album includes beloved hits such as the “Superman March”, the Theme from Jurassic Park, excerpts from Close Encounters of the Third Kind and the Star Wars, Harry Potter and Indiana Jones films. There are also works such as the Suite from Far and Away and the moving Elegy for cello and orchestra, that may be less familiar but are no less brilliant.ng the legendary composer’s 90th birthday. Featuring completely new arrangements and repertoire all recorded in breath-taking Dolby Atmos sound.

„Eine blühende Solokarriere aufgebaut auf einfallsreicher Programmgestaltung und einem sondierenden Interpretationsstil“,
sagt die New York Times über Daniel Hope. Auf seinem neuen Album erkundet der Stargeiger die Diversität amerikanischer Musik in atemberaubenden neuen Bearbeitungen von Werken aus
Klassik und Jazz, die von George Gershwin, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, Kurt Weill, Florence Price, Duke Ellington, Sam Cooke und Samuel A. Ward stammen.

Begleitet wird Hope vom Zürcher Kammerorchester und von großartigen Gastmusiker*innen, u.a. Soul-Sängerin Joy Denalane und renommierten Jazzpianisten Marcus Roberts. Als künstlerischer Leiter des New Century Chamber Orchestra in San Francisco hat Hope einen engen Bezug zur amerikanischen Kulturlandschaft und dies wird nun auf seinem Album „America“ durch vielfältige und faszinierende Werke musikalisch erlebbar.

„In jüngster Zeit gibt es eine starke Bewegung mit dem Ziel, afro-amerikanische Komponisten wiederzubeleben und neu zu
entdecken, etwa Florence Price oder William Grant Still. Es gibt noch viele andere Komponisten, deren Geschichten erst heute erzählt werden‘“, sagt Hope.

Markus Roberts fügt hinzu: „Amerikanische Musik verkörpert das amerikanische Leben: Flexibilität und die Fähigkeit, kontinuierlich etwas zu erschaffen und neu zu gestalten“. Hope und Roberts sind über die Jahre oft zusammen aufgetreten; mit dieser Aufnahme
faszinieren sie einmal mehr durch einen exzellent musizierten Dialog zwischen Jazz und Klassik.

"For her 3rd Blue Note album Twenty One recorded in 1994, the brilliant pianist and composer Geri Allen joined forces with two masters—bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams—for a dynamic trio date.
Allen’s stunning lyricism, as well as her boundless harmonic and rhythmic creativity, shines on this 12-song set that presents originals like “Feed The Fire” alongside choice standards and pieces by Thelonious Monk.
This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is mastered by Kevin Gray, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal."

I could smell the curves of the river beyond the dusk and I saw the last light supine and tranquil upon tide-flats like pieces of broken mirror, then beyond them lights began in the pale clear air, trembling a little like butterflies hovering a long way off. -The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner

This is the third and final instalment of Jeremiah M. Carter’s album triptych, »Vessels«. Following »Rejoice« and »Speak You Also«, all three album’s where conceived within a 6 month period during ferociously exalting creative sessions.

The Emotional turmoil of the early pandemic is as present on »Vessels« as it is in the other two albums, yet the final instalment showcases as more distinctive sense of focus, where the earlier albums saw Jeremiah expel a state of uncertainty and trepidation into an intense, almost spiritual form of musical cleansing, Vessels still bears those same hallmarks, yet comes across with an air of refinement and finality.

Spanning six pieces, each work feels like an integral part of the albums overarching narrative, fervently nestled amid divinity and humility. By its final piece, which also clocks in as the longest in the entire triptych, we are treated to one of Jeremiah’s finest moments, and for a few seconds, it all comes together for one last swansong, forming a sonic distillation of elation and grief, desire and passion. – It’s all here.

Be With present the first ever reissue of the ultra rare double pack DJ promo of Malcolm McLaren & Bootzilla Orchestra's "Call A Wave". Originally slipping out in 1989 to a select few, there were rumoured to be only ever 300 copies pressed. Indeed, the entire package never got a proper release and now goes for a small fortune.

Say what? Bootsy Collins, Jeff Beck and Malcolm McLaren, all in one band, composing over a Barry White sample? And that's just the original. But you can forget about that for now. Here we have the incredibly sought-after "DFC Dance Mix", mixed by Massimino Lippoli of Morenas / Sueño Latino fame for the legendary DFC Italy. It's a throbbing, vital, dramatic slice of dreamy ambient house. A deep, entrancing track that's both blissful and dancefloor dynamite. It features the iconic, disaffected female vocal chopped up over elegant piano snatches, Beck's ace guitar stylings over rolling, heavy drums and a killer, hypnotic bassline with sparkling harp coming and going. It's exotic, otherworldly and brimming with that very special late 80s/early 90s Mediterranean vibe. Yes, it's Balearic, it's House. Above all else, it's a pure uncut slice of halcyon summer days, pressed on wax.

But on side B we also have the mesmeric "Breakdown Mix", again mixed by DFC Italy. For some, *this* is the mix to have - and who are we to argue? This time, the vocals are treated so they're uttered backwards, contributing to the wonderfully disorienting magic of this particular mix.

And how could we forget the equally iconic "Orbital Mix"? Not by the actual group Orbital, but courtesy of S'Express's Mark Moore & William Orbit, no less. A brilliant, beautiful remix that's perhaps more musical. They make more obvious use of the sample from the original Barry White track ("I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby") that Malcolm was inspired by. Flip over to Side D to find the duo's uber-horizontal "Return To The Deep Ambient Mix", a floaty, beatless gem that'll leave you swooning.

To round out this quite astonishing package, the "New Age Mix", again coming from the DFC Italy camp, elegantly sends us off into the cosmos with minimal percussion and maximum vibes.

Every mix on this DJ double pack is truly killer. Simon Francis remastered the original audio for this release and Cicely Balston's precise cut for Alchemy at AIR Studios ensures this 2x12" well and truly pumps. The immaculate Record Industry pressing will ensure this incredibly sought-after masterpiece finds a home in many more DJ boxes this and every summer. For the artwork, we've recreated the original DJ promo, a plain white gatefold sleeve complete with the iconic burnt orange hype sticker. Hold tight. Roof down, tops off.

Das Grammy-nominierte Album von Janelle Monae ist auf Crystal Clear Vinyl gepresst und enthält die Hits "Pynk", "Make Me Feel" und "I Like That".

Im Frühling 2023 ging Angelo Kelly gemeinsam mit dem Multiinstrumentalisten Matthias Krauss auf „MIXTAPE Tour Vol.3“. Die Resonanz war riesig und die Songauswahl war wieder mal sehr überraschend! Was das MIXTAPE Konzept ausmacht ist, wie die Beiden es schaffen aus Liedern, die man schon kennt, ganz andere Versionen zu schaffen. Die Songs haben alle eine sehr persönliche Note und sind nicht nur anders, um anders zu klingen. „Titanium“ von David Guetta in dieser Form zu hören, macht einem erstmal bewusst, was in so einem Dance Track drinsteckt, „Angels“ von Robbie Williams ist nicht so einfach zu covern, aber bei dieser Version bekommt man direkt Gänsehaut!

Mit „My Hero“ und „Sweet Child Of Mine“ wird die Bühne gerockt! Einen ’Iron Maiden’ Song hätten wohl die wenigsten erwartet, aber die Version von „Wasted Years“ wird bestimmt einige dazu bringen, sich das Original anzuhören. Bei den insgesamt 18 Songs gibt es ein paar Lieder wie „Purple Rain“ und „Who Wants To Live Forever“ wo man zuerst denkt: ‚Das kann man gar nicht covern.’ Es sind aber genau diese Stücke, die einen umhauen und zeigen welche Freiheit sich Angelo Kelly mit seinem MIXTAPE Konzept nimmt. Grossartig! MIXTAPE Live Vol. 3 erscheint als CD in einem schönen Digipack Design. Das Highlight ist aber ganz klar die Vinyl Edition. 2 x Splattered Vinyl in einem Gatefold und dann gibt es ein wunderschönes 8 Seiten großes Booklet mit Tourfotos und persönlichen Geschichten von Angelo zu jedem der Songs.

The follow up to the band’s celebrated 2020 release Fish Pond Fish and Darlingside’s fourth LP marks a subtle but remarkable departure for the Boston-based quartet NPR once described as “exquisitely arranged, literary minded, baroque folk- pop.” While the album retains much of the lushness and sophistication of Extralife (2018) and Fish Pond Fish, the band’s latest work highlights the individuality of the four songwriters in a way that adds a fitting element of reinvention to an album that captures brilliantly the quality of the moment in which it was made. Grappling with change both personal and universal, with quandaries domestic and existential, Everything Is Alive is an album about loss and the struggle for a semblance of redemption; themes of grief, distance and hope permeate an album filled with vivid imagery and lyrical creativity. Comprised of Don Mitchell, Auyon Mukharji, Harris Paseltiner and David Senft, four likeminded multi-instrumentalists who first met at Williams College in 2009, Darlingside’s career has been defined by the elegance of their compositions and the remarkable unity of their four voices. Their talent for harmony and melodic world-building is part of what garnered praise from outlets like NPR, Rolling Stone and The New Yorker, and what has created demand worldwide for their extraordinary live performances. Becoming beautifully unindividualized has, in other words, worked very well for Darlingside in the past. With a vigor and discipline more common to graduate-level writing workshops than to indie rock, Darlingside have, over the years, experimented with all manners of idiosyncratic methods for elevating and upholding a truly democratic process of songwriting—processes that include multiple rounds of group writing and recording exercises—all with the aim of escaping the trap that bands with multiple songwriters often fall into: the ruse of ego-driven infighting and artistic incoherence. Everything Is Alive is Darlingside taking a risk. Nudged by the limitations created by pandemic isolation, as well as through other more voluntary catalysts, the album, which was produced and recorded by the band and mixed by Tucker Martine (My Morning Jacket, Sufjan Stevens, Iron and Wine), foregrounds in a sustained and heretofore untried way the individual voices of each member.

Mike Cooper wrote his final songwriter record, a suite of gloaming glam-rock anthems performed with a spiritual jazz trio, while living on the Costa Tropical of Granada, Spain, an era when he was considering retiring from music altogether. A chance encounter and a last-ditch record deal convinced him to make one last album, which he recorded in 1974 at Pathway Studios in London, with “The Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World,” featuring the inventive South African jazz rhythm section of Louis Moholo and Harry Miller with UK saxophonist Mike Osborne. This first-ever reissue includes a bonus CD of Milan Live Acoustic 2018, a previously unreleased solo set that represents Cooper’s return, after forty-four years pursuing free improvisation and electronics, to a new, deconstructed approach to singing, steel guitar, and songcraft. The deluxe LP+CD edition also features a six-panel insert with additional artwork and an essay by the artist about both records. The deluxe 2xCD gatefold edition features an eight-panel version of the same insert. In the wake of his magisterial triptych of early 1970s avant-folk-rock records Trout Steel (1970), Places I Know (1971), and The Machine Gun Co. (1972) the British songwriter, guitarist, and fledgling improviser Mike Cooper retreated to the Costa Tropical of Granada, Spain. With no prospects for touring or recording again, his fiery band the Machine Gun Co. had disintegrated. Cooper sets the scene in his liner notes of the first-ever reissue of his unjustly forgotten next album Life and Death in Paradise (1974): No one came running with offers of fame and riches, and we fell apart, and I left the country and headed for the beach, disillusioned and a bit disorientated musically. I went to Almuñécar in Andalusia, a place I had been going since 1969, because a painter friend from Reading, Rowland Fade who made the collage in the gatefold of my earlier album Trout Steel had moved there in 1968. It was in this synthetic coastal “paradise,” unmoored and adrift, considering retiring from music altogether, that he began tentatively writing new songs. A chance encounter with producer Tony Hall, who offered Cooper a last-ditch record deal on Hall’s nascent Fresh Air label, convinced him to make one last album with the stipulation that he could assemble what he called “The Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World.” I told Tony that I would do it if I could hire some of my South African jazz musician friends that I had used on my Pye/Dawn albums and some friends from Reading that I still knew and admired. I called up Harry Miller, Louis Moholo, and Mike Osborne, who were in fact a trio at the time … and several local Reading heroes, including the singer-songwriter Terry Clarke. The result, recorded live with minimal overdubbing at Pathway Studios in London, was Life and Death in Paradise, an utterly singular suite of gloaming glam-rock anthems performed with a spiritual jazz trio comprising the inventive South African jazz rhythm section of Moholo and Miller with UK saxophonist Osborne. Unlike anything else in Cooper’s extensive catalog. Fresh Air fizzled, and Life and Death became Cooper’s final record as a songwriter, having pushed the form as far as he could. Drifting north from Spain back to the UK, he fell into the scene of the London Musicians Collective (LMC) including Paul Burwell, David Toop, and saxophonist Lol Coxhill, Cooper’s bandmate in the Recedents and fully embraced free improvisation. He was still, however, interested in singing and lyrics, so, influenced by Tom Phillips, William Burroughs, and Brion Gysin, he began experimenting with text collage and cut-up techniques, arriving at his own hybrid compositional strategy for improvisatory songs. The previously unreleased solo set Milan Live Acoustic 2018 represents Cooper’s return, after more than four decades pursuing free improvisation and electronics, to a new, deconstructed approach to singing, lap steel guitar, and songcraft. Presented here together with Life and Death in Paradise, the two records provide fascinating bookends to Mike Cooper’s long, mercurial, and pioneering practice as a songmaker.

Originally released on Island Records in September 1998, the soundtrack to the box-office smash film, written and directed by Guy Ritchie, quickly became a must-own album, and is frequently cited as one of the best movie soundtracks of all time.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels redefined the British gangster film and established Guy Ritchie as one of the greatest directing and writing talents of his generation. Using a frenetic mixture of filmic styles, humour, violence, breakdown of the fourth wall, narration, and vast amounts of swearing, it is hard to imagine a time when this film and its influence was not around. It made a star of the-then unknown Jason Statham, and, amazingly, hard man footballer Vinnie Jones, who as Big Chris, had several scene-stealing moments. Taking his cue from Quentin Tarantino, who had been meticulously curating his film soundtracks since the early 90s, Ritchie made the music to his film tell its own story, complete with memorable snatches of dialogue between many of the tracks.

It offers a beautifully eclectic selection of songs from the preceding three decades, plus then-current artists providing some of their best material, such as Hundred Mile High City by Ocean Colour Scene or E-Z Rollers' drum'n'bass masterpiece Walk This Land. Of the heritage tracks, Dusty Springfield sings her sultry take on Spooky; James Brown appears twice with The Boss and The Payback; The Stooges with I Wanna Be Your Dog, and two versions of Pete Wingfield's masterful one-hit-wonder 18 With A Bullet; in its 1975 original and a contemporary cover by Lewis Taylor and Carleen Anderson. And this is only half of it.

LP includes Poster.

When Sacred Bones first began their Mort Garson reissue project in 2019 with a proper reissue of Plantasia, the Garson-naissance began in earnest. Soon after, you could hear Mort Garson and his Moogs bubbling up on TV shows, documentaries, podcasts, hip-hop tracks, or anywhere else, the man a cultural phenomenon once more.

Like a perennial that returns with each new spring, the Mort Garson archives have brought to bear yet another awe-inspiring bloom.

Journey to the Moon and Beyond finds even more new facets to the man's sound. There's the soundtrack to the 1974 blaxploitation film Black Eye (starring Fred Williamson) alongside some newly unearthed music for advertising. Just as regal is "Zoos of the World," where Garson soundtracks the wild, preening, slumbering animals from a 1970 National Geographic special of the same name.

The mind reels at just what project would have yielded a scintillating title like "Western Dragon," but these three selections were found on tapes in the archive with no further information. The crown jewel of the set is no doubt Garson's soundtrack to the live broadcast of the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing, as first heard on CBS News. That's one small step for man, one giant leap for Moogkind. But for decades, this audio was presumed lost, the only trace of it appearing to be from an old YouTube clip. Thankfully, diligent audio archivist Andy Zax came across a copy of the master tape while going through the massive Rod McKuen archive.

So now we get to hear it in all its glory. Across six minutes, Garson conjures broad fantasias, whirring mooncraft sounds, zero-gravity squelches, and twinkling études. It showcases Mort's many moods: sweet, exploratory, whimsical, a little bit corny, weaving it all together in a glorious whole.

Maybe at the time it scanned as crass and opportunistic for Garson to apply his keyboards to subjects like astrological signs, the occult, hippiedom, houseplants, or the moon landing. But more than most other electronic music pioneers of his ilk, Garson foresaw the integration of such electronics into our daily lives, how they would allow us to engage with the world.

LP includes Poster.

When Sacred Bones first began their Mort Garson reissue project in 2019 with a proper reissue of Plantasia, the Garson-naissance began in earnest. Soon after, you could hear Mort Garson and his Moogs bubbling up on TV shows, documentaries, podcasts, hip-hop tracks, or anywhere else, the man a cultural phenomenon once more.

Like a perennial that returns with each new spring, the Mort Garson archives have brought to bear yet another awe-inspiring bloom.

Journey to the Moon and Beyond finds even more new facets to the man's sound. There's the soundtrack to the 1974 blaxploitation film Black Eye (starring Fred Williamson) alongside some newly unearthed music for advertising. Just as regal is "Zoos of the World," where Garson soundtracks the wild, preening, slumbering animals from a 1970 National Geographic special of the same name.

The mind reels at just what project would have yielded a scintillating title like "Western Dragon," but these three selections were found on tapes in the archive with no further information. The crown jewel of the set is no doubt Garson's soundtrack to the live broadcast of the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing, as first heard on CBS News. That's one small step for man, one giant leap for Moogkind. But for decades, this audio was presumed lost, the only trace of it appearing to be from an old YouTube clip. Thankfully, diligent audio archivist Andy Zax came across a copy of the master tape while going through the massive Rod McKuen archive.

So now we get to hear it in all its glory. Across six minutes, Garson conjures broad fantasias, whirring mooncraft sounds, zero-gravity squelches, and twinkling études. It showcases Mort's many moods: sweet, exploratory, whimsical, a little bit corny, weaving it all together in a glorious whole.

Maybe at the time it scanned as crass and opportunistic for Garson to apply his keyboards to subjects like astrological signs, the occult, hippiedom, houseplants, or the moon landing. But more than most other electronic music pioneers of his ilk, Garson foresaw the integration of such electronics into our daily lives, how they would allow us to engage with the world.

Sometime in 1984, San Diego native Anthony "Antone" Williams found himself sitting alone at Pure Sound Studios, tinkering around with a drum machine. Eventually he landed on a "sinister groove" which would lay the propulsive foundation for his hauntingly melodic tour de force, "Windows of My Mind." Released the following year as a seven-inch single on his own Unity Records label, the song features Antone's otherworldly production. Some have referred to the result as "post punk soul," but we'll let you be the judge.

Coming up in San Diego in the Seventies, part of an extensive musical family, Antone's creative fuse was lit by the sounds of Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind & Fire, and the Jackson 5.. At the age of 13, he was performing in area clubs, making a name for himself. By age 22, he had opened his own recording studio, Pure Sound. The influence of Sly and the Family Stone was decisive for Antone, who took to wearing a star-shaped gold necklace, not unlike the one famously worn by Stone on his epochal 1975 LP High on You.

"Windows of My Mind" was Antone & The Underworld's sole release. Limited to 500 copies and handed out as a promotional tool for a purported album of the same name, the single didn't get much traction. (A story as old as time.) Perhaps the music was ahead of its time and Antone's visionary message will finally sink in 2023. "I didn't want to make a song like Shake Your Booty", he says now. And yet we think that this long-lost record with its "sinister groove" is eminently danceable, almost 40 years later. We challenge you to take a listen to this home-grown 1985 7", remastered directly from the original tape, and make an assessment of your own.

Long time Leng recording artists 40 Thieves are back with one of their most notable singles to date – a surprise collaboration with two NYC disco originals, storied vocalist Cinnamon Jones and multiinstrumentalist/producer Gary Davis.

San Francisco outfit 40 Thieves has been serving up cosmic, dubbed-out and otherworldly contemporary disco treats since the mid 2000s, and have been part of the Leng family since 2011. The crew, headed up by Layne Fox, Jay Williams and Corey Black, have released countless killer cuts on the label, as well as an expansive
debut album, 2014’s The Sky Is Yours.

They’ve worked with other artists before, but nobody at the same legendary level as Cinnamon Jones and Gary
Davis. The latter cut his teeth as a musician working with iconic disco producers Patrick Adams and Peter Brown at their P&P Records stable, before becoming a producer and artist in his own right writing and arranging the disco classic ‘Got To Get Your Love’ performed by Clyde Alexander & Sanction.

Jones, meanwhile, has enjoyed a hugely successful career both in her native New York (as Joyce Jones, an original member of First Choice) and on the West Coast, where she not only became an in-demand performer, but also snagged a role in the Supremes biopic Dream Girls.

‘The Gift’ is one of Jones’ most cherished solo songs – a joyful celebration of a new day dawning that has long been popular in her live sets. With input and instrumentation from Davis and a fantastic delivery of her own lyrics by Jones, 40 Thieves has successfully re-framed the track as a sunrise-ready future Bay Area free party
favourite; a dubbed-out, suitably cosmic creation that’s presented in three potent versions.

Leading the charge, and stretched across side A of the vinyl version is the band’s ’Disco Mix’ which boasts a fully realised instrumental arrangement and extensive use of passages from Jones’ vocals. Not all the lyrics are present as the Bay Area band has chosen to focus on selected lines that most neatly fit their musical vision and
celebrate the joys of dancing at sunrise. There are more spaced-out keyboard solos, sharper guitars (smothered in effects in true 40 Thieves fashion) and sound design that’s as immersive as it is heady and intoxicated.

On the flip is the ‘Disco Dub’. A bona-fide dub disco chugger rich in relentless synth-bass, addictive guitar licks, echo-laden vocal snippets, sparkling nu-disco electronics, tactile, deep house style electric piano stabs and cosmic effects aplenty, it’s a track tailor-made for slowly shuffling while the sun peeps over the horizon.

To complete an inspired package, 40 Thieves have also included a killer DJ tool: a ‘Beats’ take that wraps energy packed percussion hits, trippy electronic noises, trailing dub delays and sparse melodies around a metronomic drum machine beat. It’s a wavy, groovy and pleasingly mind-altering way to conclude one of 40 Thieves’ most magical EPs to date.