This latest project by Groovedesign Kollective is rooted in movement, thoughtful tension, joyful repetition and dreamy release.
United Tribes
The Groovedesign factor shapes itself in the opening track 'United Tribes' by repositioning intimacy over chaos, a life affirming sound that belongs to those magic early morning hours that really shape experiences. And generations. A unique blend of Afro, Funky beat and Disco Clubby grooves merging with visionary House piano's themes within a rich, deep electronic tapestry and dubby effects.
Supremes
This track perfectly complements the previous yet it is its own groove and carries great dancefloor weight. Further developing the concept of exquisite fusion and fine contamination between already blurred genre's lines, where feelings and emotions meet their sonic counterparts.
Feeling the dancefloor comes as a second nature to Groovedesign: unrelenting yet subtle, innovative yet grounded. Their music carries experience and innovation without announcing itself, guided by an intuitive sense of energy rather than formulas.
Keen listeners who have dug below the surface of Oren Ambarchi"s triple-digit discography know that alongside hypnotic minimalism, veins of irreverent and joyously wayward exploration run deep. Cooked is something of a landmark in Oren"s work, bringing this gloriously cuckoo sensibility right into the heart of his most high-profile solo work. Carrying on the grand Ambarchi tradition of meticulously constructed all-star studio jams (which reached new heights with Shebang), Cooked brings together collaborators from Australia, Germany, Japan and Sweden for two side-long epics where the foot keeps tapping even as the mind boggles. Cooked is a long way from the spacious, light-dappled grooves of Ghosted, but Oren"s Swedish bandmates play starring roles here, with Johan Berthling"s double bass anchoring both sides, and drummer Andreas Werliin lending his delicate touch to the second piece, "Sleight of Hand". Beginning with glistening layers of electric 12-string guitar, "Sleight of Hand" takes some key cues from electric Miles touchstones like "Feio" or his epic take on David Crosby"s "Guinnevere", with Berthling"s sparse basslines punctuating an almost weightless cornucopia of shifting detail, glimmering with subtle contributions from Michiko Ogawa on sho and James Rushford on a panoply of acoustic keyboards. Suddenly, everything is overwhelmed by a knotty, hyper-complex "solo" from Marcus Pal on digital synthesis, teleporting us to an alternate history where Allan Holdsworth traded the SynthAxe for Xenakis" UPIC. Building with additional drums and percussion from Will Guthrie to a peak of sizzling intensity, the music then goes sideways into a gently surreal coda, where some distinctly Zawinul-esque chords and Fredrik Rasten"s guitar float over a sprightly rhythm box, the avian inventions of Swedish virtuoso whistler Isak Hedtjärn wafting atop the sunlit stew.
Originally released by Umor Rex on cassette in 2018, Rafael Anton Irisarri’s Sirimiri is now available on vinyl for the first time, newly remastered for this edition. This LP marks the fourth and final installment in a series of four reissues released throughout 2026 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Umor Rex.
It is a fitting way to close such a special anniversary year. Rafael is not only an artist who has released three albums on Umor Rex, but someone who has been part of the label’s history for more than a decade. His sensibility and way of listening have complemented and nourished the label throughout the years, while his mastering work has helped shape the sound of many of our releases. A close friend, and an essential part of what Umor Rex is today.
Sirimiri roughly translates as “drizzle” in Basque, and we can’t think of a better word to describe its content. The album consists of four long-form pieces, each shaped through different processes and with its own distinct identity, in which Irisarri seeks to blend subjective time with the listening experience through loops, repetition, and subsequence-based sound. Following Eno, nothing happens in quite the same way twice: perception is constantly shifting, and nothing stays in one place for long. The desolation and despair—in a strangely positive way—that we heard in The Shameless Years (Umor Rex, 2017) and later in FAÇADISMS (Black Knoll, 2024) are present here, but the impression is more concrete, unfolding through rawer, less rhetorical landscapes. If The Shameless Years existed somewhere between beauty and active tragedy, this record travels through the beauty and melancholy of an observing eye—a quiet, rebellious insurrection.
Written, produced, mixed & mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri at Black Knoll Studio, NY. Carl Hultgren: Guitars on “Sonder”, Taylor Jordan: Electric Piano on “Mountain Stream”. Design by Daniel Castrejón.
Charlotte de Witte now unleashes her slamming three-track EP ‘The Resistance’, featuring Theo Nasa and XSALT, out on KNTXT. It follows the astonishing summer tour of her new audiovisual show ‘The Resistance’, including a spectacular ‘XXL’ version at Belgium’s Rock Werchter in July, for a 40,000 audience watching from inside and outside the tent.
World #1 techno artist Charlotte de Witte’s new show continues a standout year of experimental ventures and celebrations, global pop-up shows, monster street parties, incredible new music (EPs and Deluxe LP)… and most recently ‘The Resistance’ AV show world premier at UNVRS Ibiza and the EU tour. The new ‘The Resistance’ EP is hard, fast, and uncompromising. It features Theo Nasa, whose raw, deep techno EP ‘Lifeline’ was released on her KNTXT label; vocal artist / longtime collaborator XSALT, (previously on ‘No Division’, ‘Overdrive’, ‘Roar’, ‘How You Move’); and Charlotte’s own vocals on a personal track ten years in the making.
‘The Resistance’ EP title track feat. Theo Nasa is urgent, demanding, unapologetic. Juddering main theme, rattling hyperspeed beat, spacey hoover swoops form a matrix for the deep, amused authoritative voice of Nasa – ‘we are unity, we are techno’. The brief ‘The Resistance (Intro Version)’ opens with futuristic FX and Nasa’s voice to the fore introducing the techno credo.
‘Never have I ever teased a track this much as I teased ‘The Resistance’. From the moment the track was being made in the studio, I knew this was going to be a special one. Theo Nasa captures the spirit of the underground and guides you through the essence of club culture like no one did before. An entire A/V show grew out of this feeling, this philosophy. It’s one of the biggest tracks I’ve ever made.’ Charlotte de Witte
‘See Through The Lies’ feat. XSALT: futuristic FX, fast stabby synth theme, and XSALT intoning ‘see through the lies. It’s time to take control’. A message of defiance. ‘XSALT delivers again on ‘See Through The Lies’, offering his own take on the EP's theme. Open your eyes. Break the illusion, see through the lies. Release the pressure. It’s time to take control!’ de Witte says.
‘Another Place’ has relentless pace, twanging pizzicato synth, and de Witte’s whispered phrases becoming full voice. ‘’Another Place’ has been in the making for over a decade. It saw the light of day in Brussels, where the lyrics took shape together with my friend One Track Brain. The track was forgotten and resurfaced years later, leading to an entirely new track created around that magical vocal from all those years ago. This is an EP very close to my heart.’
At the heart of ‘The Resistance’ EP and AV show is a message central to de Witte’s work: Protect Club Culture and the communities that sustain it. That’s why de Witte is donating all proceeds from The Resistance EP to The Nighttime Foundation, a global nonprofit dedicated to safeguarding and shaping the future of nightlife, empowering grassroots communities and promoting nightlife as a vital form of culture worldwide.
CLUB U NITE RECORDS PRESENTS: HIS MASTER’S VINYL EP
Club U Nite Records takes it straight back to the early ’90s with four raw and swinging house cuts.
Manhattan Project opens with “Shufflin’ On” – a fat, slamming shuffle groove packed with jazzy touches, swinging drums and a classic old-school organ. “Everybody Move” follows with chunky Rhodes loops, soulful samples and a straight-up floor-moving vibe. Killer!
On the flip, Black Chunes Productions delivers “Jerk Yu Body”, channeling the raw swing and chord-driven energy of the early-’90s New Jersey vibe. Shuffled hi-hats, snares and dark leads bring the groove of that era straight back.
Reign Of Rhythm closes things out with “Organic Pressure” – stripped-down, driving, dope organ house. Minimal, but seriously fat.
The sun sat high above the desert outside Joshua Tree on October 17, 2024, baking the rocks and shrubbery outside the Farrington Observatory as a small group of invited guests ventured up a steep path towards the telescope. Kyle Simon, the artist and printmaker who founded the Observatory, was standing outside the print studio sat below the towering cylindrical building, greeting friends alongside his wife Sarah and lifelong friend Brian Weitz, the musician widely known as Geologist of Animal Collective. Simon and Weitz had spent the previous day testing and retesting a system that would transform the light of the oncoming full moon captured by the gigantic telescope into a signal that would modulate the control voltage of Weitz’s modular synthesizer. As the sun dipped below the horizon line, the audience gathered on a small wooden patio surrounded by speakers while Weitz readied himself behind the array of patches and knobs. Simon addressed the group, presenting the history of The Sirens, the sonic exploration of the night sky’s mystical and scientific significance about to unfold.
The music conjured under the Hunter’s Moon that night is now documented on this first official release of The Sirens, which was conceived by Simon and Weitz as a recurring performance piece and sound installation. Over a decade ago, Simon began immersing himself in literature on humanity’s sonic relationship to the celestial realm, including Homer’s Odyssey, Plato’s “Spindle of Necessity, ” Kepler’s Harmonices Mundi, and the field of astroseismology. He fitted homemade telescopes with photodiodes and optical sensors to make the images audible, finding latent patterns in the noisy sonic signals he began receiving from the stars. With Weitz, the process expanded as the signal was routed through an analog amplifier and set to modulate the pitch, filter, and other elements of his synthesizer. Together they developed a system of improvisation, with Simon adjusting the telescope to change the intensity of the light based on its relationship with the moon’s position (imagine a theremin player moving their hands in subtle, meaningful motion), and Weitz responding to that input in real time: bending it, amplifying it, or letting it stand on its own. The duo debuted the piece at the Integretron in Joshua Tree in 2018, providing a crucial proof of concept for the performance at Farrington featured here.
The first thing the listener hears on The Sirens is the opening of Farrington Observatory, the cranking of motor and metal. As the lens of the telescope is exposed to the evening air, a wavering drone emerges from the synthesizer, flickering at the margins, the tuning of the oscillators adjusting to the rapidly cooling desert air. The piece progresses and the drone becomes a luminous, spherical constant, bathing the listener in pure tone as Weitz draws out harmonically ambiguous melodies that spiral upwards. Electronics crackle and convulse, coalescing into dense dissonance before widening out into an open octave. Just as the moon orbits the Earth and the stars shift as the planet rotates, so each sonic element appears in flux, interrelationships slowly forming and falling away. Divided into two parts, The Sirens flows as a continuous conversation between the artists and the starlight completing its thousand-year journey across the galaxy.
The Sirens belongs primarily to a lineage beyond music: of sea captains navigating by looking skyward, of astrophysicists studying the formation of the Milky Way, of the modern myths of werewolves, of the stories embedded in constellations. As Simon writes in the album’s extensive liner notes, “These stories and explorations reveal a collective yearning to become conscious of our connection to the universe, our deep-seated desire to understand how we fit into it all.” This music underscores the history of the night sky as the place where poetry and science find common ground, where exploration hinges on the imagination. Driven by curiosity and ingenuity, Weitz and Simon look up and wonder.
A collection of vinyl and limited digital releases, curated by Millsart, an alias of Jeff Mills, of his most eclectic and transcendent compositions that derive from his Every Dog Has Its Day project as well as new unreleased works. Vernacular creations that fall off from the "other side" of the Electronic Music tree, this project is designed for the experienced Techno music listeners, and its goal is to reflect upon the pure artistry of the craft of storytelling. A realization between music and life. Whereas "dancing" is the goal of Dance Music, the goal of this music is about "reflecting on the complexity and simplification of life".Soundtracks for people in their evolutionary process.
This release 'Drifter' is about 'Hype'.
Hype
An animal that prowls on the vulnerable - it excites those who might be looking the other way or with their eyes and minds wide shut.
What is life without hype?
As a transitional tool, hype can be most effective especially when impulse reactions are at play. Something of a psychological currency, there is a lot to gain by giving people what they want - the rush that comes with taking part in a process of making something bigger, more successful and more preferred. Even if there is nothing there.
What's wrong with getting exciting about something?
There are only a few rare masterclass cases that have lasted a lifetime.
As Andy Warhol proclaimed that "everyone will be World famous for 15 minutes" rings darkly true in an era when each one of us can be the talent scout, artist, critic, audience.......and then a revisionist, hoping to bring hype back again by reminding people how great the first round felt.
We are all free to use our attention and time anyway we please. This is the freedom we have, right?
In most cases, we wake up and at some point, the question of justification becomes a debate between those who found unconditional solace and those who re-discovered the subject of substance and "kicked the tires".
Should I care if others like or dislike something?
For some, the hype of something never ends. It hardens and becomes part of a foundation like a cement podium. Something to be stood on to speak over all dissenting voices.
Groovedeep, the international supergroup comprised of Toronto’s Ciel and DC stars James Bangura and Jackson Ryland aka JR2k, brings Fixed Rhythms a 12” of four racing, groovy, energetic, funky and lush techno cuts. This is the second vinyl outing by the group, the first one being the recent “Funk Solo” on Turbo Recordings featuring remixes by Batu, Shed, and Mark Broom.
“Speed Queen” opens up the EP with hypnotizing techno that eschews any four-on-the-floor demands. Up-tempo with a touch of house and handdrums and a tantalizing vocal clip. “Witness” has a similar structure…handdrums, non four-on-the-floor kick drum composition, rhythmic vocal chop-work, but whereas A1 is the leap into the deep, “Witness” has us diving down, exploring the eerier depths.
Whip to the B-side with “Flashback”, a slightly more east coast club track while also incorporating a bit more of a pummeling kick. The aforementioned Groovedeep sonic signatures are there, and…can’t get enough of the handdrums?!?! Well then just let that last “Witness (Bongo Heavy VIP)” track slide in, a slightly meaner (and of course bongo-ier) boom of a take on the A2.
For over 25 years, David Madson (aka Odd Nosdam) has been stationed away from the light of the mainstream, diligently working the nightshift. Every so often, we awake to find another of his bleary and beautiful missives slung into the waking world – albums whose assemblages of sampled grooves, atmospheres and voices are unified by a hallucinatory sense of melody, like disparate visions strung together through ribbons of sleep-talk. From his earliest days as a member of the seminal group cLOUDDEAD, through his remixes for artists such as Boards of Canada and Black Moth Super Rainbow, Nosdam has been reporting back from his rounds upon the perimeters of culture and consciousness, forging a musical language all of his own.
On Patrol is the second Odd Nosdam LP to be released on The Notwist’s imprint Alien Transistor – following on from the 2019 album Mirrors – and continues a collaborative history that begun with a 2008 remix of The Notwist song, “Sleep”. It’s a love letter to the vinyl format, produced with the aim of optimizing for a single LP. This objective permeated every aspect of the album’s production, from the duration of each side through to the vinyl mastering (Jessica Thompson) and lacquer-cutting (Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin). As we've come to expect, the album is built almost entirely from found sounds, many of which were taken from obscure and second-hand vinyl gathered during Nosdam’s ceaseless crate-digging escapades. Other sources include field recordings made in 2022 at the Catalonia summer home of artist Salvador Dalí, which are baked into the swirling sci-fi glide of “Here to Know (Adéu Mix)”, and a sumptuous clunking bass line courtesy of Organi’s Mike Walti, which runs like an infinite highway through the fuzzy, sunbaked sprawl of “Deepsimple”.
Odd Nosdam’s work has always swept the entire atmospheric spectrum, from rhythmic vigour to levitational beauty. On Patrol is perhaps his finest assimilation of these extremes. “Sgt. Pepsi” is the perfect case in point: a formidable slow groove capsizes into vinyl crackle after a mere minute, before the song resurrects itself through sweeping strings and vocal harmonies, sliding against each other like the overlain romantic denouements to a dozen Hollywood films from the 1940s. Elsewhere, “Get You In (Belong Mix)” drapes shoegaze guitar over a trundling funk backbeat, straddling the physical world and the outer realms, while hushed voices point toward the song's implied themes of cultural cliques, critical consensus and the plight of the eternal outsider: “Sure, I can get you in... these people are my friends, I’m one of them - I belong.”
This is music that both endures and disappears. Odd Nosdam has always wielded a strange relationship with time, scrambling association with any specific era, weaving together numerous tempos simultaneously. There is no master clock. Each track could happily hold up as an infinite loop, yet Nosdam clearly favours the potency of the gone-too-soon, applying the fadeout just as hypnosis starts to crest. Indeed, the songs are both the product of meticulous long-term construction and spontaneity. While the foundations of On Patrol have come together over several years, the recording process involved channeling vibes through a vintage Roland Space Echo and bouncing song fragments back and forth from hard disk to cassette 8-track, gifting a phased permanence to creative decisions made on the fly – a hat-tip to the production processes of Nosdam's longtime hero, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry. Like a recurring dream, On Patrol appeals to both the plains of momentary ephemera and the long-established backchannels of the unconscious, equal parts revelation and deja vu.
"Memory Remains" A Vinyl Cover Painted by 20 Children Who Believed They Could
A new album where the artwork is as personal as the music, created entirely by first-graders from Croatia.
When it came time to design the cover for Memory Remains, there was only one group of artists who felt right for the job: the first-grade class 1A of Osnovna škola Luka in Sesvete, Croatia.
Every single child in the class took part. Each student was given the chance to draw whatever came to mind: memories, dreams, imaginary worlds, the people and animals they love, and every one of those drawings made it onto the final cover. Nothing was left out, nothing was "corrected." The front and back panels of the vinyl are a patchwork of more than two dozen individual visions, side by side, unfiltered and unmistakably their own.
The idea grew directly out of the album's centrepiece track, "World Child", a song about the simple, often-overlooked truth that every child carries a talent that belongs only to them, and that no two ways of seeing the world are the same. Rather than illustrate that idea with a single artist's interpretation, it felt right to hand the canvas to an entire classroom of six- and seven-year-olds and let them prove the point themselves.
The result is a cover that doesn't try to look polished or professional, because that was never the goal. It looks like a classroom wall covered in a year's worth of drawings, each one different, each one someone's best effort, each one worth keeping. Which is exactly what "World Child" is about.
Memory Remains is out on vinyl.
Track of note: "World Child"
Artwork by: The students of 1A, Osnovna škola Luka, Sesvete, Croatia 2026
(remastered classic incl DL card) Environ is proud to present the Metro Area 15th Anniversary Edition, Metro Area's eponymous debut album, meticulously remastered using the original source tapes and generously spread across three slabs of vinyl. The12-track triple LP and digital package combines all the songs from both the original US and licensed European releases, and features new commemorative artwork unique to this edition. In the late nineties, the budding producers Morgan Geist and Darshan Jesrani bonded over their shared love of slower tempos and '70s and '80s NYC club culture. Obsessed with record digging and the sounds they heard on late-night "club classics" radio shows—and turned off by current releases they saw as artlessly "updating" sublime disco by sampling, filtering and subjugating them with huge kick drums —the duo set out to discover how their favorite old 12" records were made. They naturally gravitated towards extended dubs of songs—full of strange mistakes and echoing backing tracks—instead of the better-known vocal versions. Lacking the big budgets and gear that made so many of their favorite classic records come together, they were forced to take a guerrilla approach. They reprogrammed their techno-oriented arsenal of secondhand synths and samplers, using novel digital recording technology to capture live instrumentation and prioritizing mood over hooks, and the resulting music was just wrong enough to sound unlike anything else being released at the time.After just four underground 12" releases, the duo—now well-known as Metro Area—released their first and only album, Metro Area, in the fall of 2002. Fifteen years later, it's time to celebrate the culmination of their shared history and inspiration once again. Environ is proud to present the Metro Area 15th Anniversary Edition, Metro Area's eponymous debut album, meticulously remastered using the original source tapes and generously spread across three slabs of vinyl. The 12-track triple LP and digital package combines all the songs from both the original US and licensed European releases, and features new commemorative artwork unique to this edition.
SIGNUM REGIS was founded in 2007 and stands for finest melodic Power Metal with both progressive and symphonic elements. Their upcoming new and eighth studio album „Beyond Spacetime“ will be released on October 9th through Fireflash Records and will feature different vocalists. Among them their current singer Mayo Petranen, who just returned to the band, his successor Jota Fortinho as well as top class names, such as Ripper Owens (ex-JUDAS PRIEST), Matt Smith (THEOCRACY), Ralf Scheepers (PRIMAL FEAR), Johnny Gioeli (HARDLINE, AXEL RUDI PELL), Tasos Lazaris (STEEL ARCTUS, WHITE WIZZARD), David Åkesson (SYMPHONITY; QUANTICE), but also Victor Smolski (ALMANAC, ex-RAGE), with a guitar solo on the first single-release „Throne Of Gold“.
„We are so satisfied and proud of it! Even though the last 3 years were not easy for the band, this is definitely not just a ""next"" Signum Regis"" album, we are a band, we are always aiming to create something special - for us and for fans“, comments guitarist Filip Koluš, who also mixed and produced the album.
„Beyond Spacetime“ is rounded up by an excellent artwork from Uwe Jarling, known for his work for acts like HEAVEN’S GATE, GRAVE DIGGER or recently FRONT ROW WARRIORS. „The result is awesome! We are definitely a band that considers the artwork a very important part of our artistic vision. Over the years this approach has only grown stronger, so having a real cover artist has become an absolute must for us“, comments Tommy.
SIGNUM REGIS will celebrate their 20th anniversary next year. „Beyond Spacetime“ already feels like kind of a best-of journey through their past, present and future. „We grew up on the values of traditional melodic metal - this focus will most probably never change“, says Filip Koluš and explains: „At the same time, we are also a group of great friends, who have a common goal - to make the best quality metal music together.“
On his new album Chott, German-Tunisian producer and composer Taroug confronts his origins. Named after the Chott El Djerid, a vast salt lake in southern Tunisia, the ten-track album revolves around personal history and the search for identity. Chott is a conceptual work shaped by contrasting atmospheres, from minimalistic melancholy to raw, bass-heavy intensity. It blends traditional instruments with contemporary electronic text- ures, drawing lines between past and present.
Personal materials—such as vocal samples from family members—add layers of intimacy and cultural depth, most notably on the title track, featuring an original Arabic poem spoken by Taroug’s father, and on 1995,
a song reflecting on early childhood memories in Tunisia. Beyond these intimate dimensions, he works with sonic imagery that captures the sensory experience of heat and landscape in pieces like Saraab and Sirocco. In Nakhla, recordings of palm trees transformed into repetitive movements evoke scenes of southern Tunisia’s palm plantations, where organic and mechanical sounds converge.
For the artwork, Taroug once again collaborated with architect and designer Marie Brosius, assembling an experimental collage from old personal photographs of Tunisia that visually echoes the album’s themes of heritage and remembrance.
Rasante Gitarren, hämmernde Drums und eingängige, aber tiefgründige Texte. Das sind die Mittel, mit denen Pardoner seit über einem Jahrzehnt ihre ,Slacker"-Songs formen. Auf ihrem fünften Album ,Target Practice" verfeinern sie ihren Ansatz weiter, auf der Suche nach einem himmlischen Pop-Hit Ö. Da sie einen kulturellen Rückfall in Richtung Math-Rock und Prog spüren, ist dies ihr bisher geradlinigstes Album. Fehlende sind die überraschenden Blast Beats und Szenenwechsel, die die Markenzeichen von ,Came Down Different" (2021) und ,Peace Loving People" (2023) waren. Übrig bleiben 10 prägnante Songs, geprägt von verspielter Boshaftigkeit und Satire. Es ist schwer, inmitten der feindseligen Kräfte dieser Welt kein ,Blackpilled"-Doomer zu sein. Die Angriffe der Band auf pseudo-intellektuelle Hochkunst und Kollegen aus der Szene sind jedoch nicht frei von Selbstkritik. ,Driving across the country // Preaching bulls**t gospel" wird auf der Lead-Single ,Twisted" halb gesungen, begleitet von klirrenden Gitarrenklängen. ,Target Practice" - vom ,Record Store Final Boss" abgesegnet - ist eine moderne, spritzigere Interpretation des College-Rock der 80er/90er. Flying Nun, Smudge und die lautere Seite von Yo La Tengo sind alle im Geiste präsent. Die Single ,Don't Slouch" ist ein Versuch, einen Blessed-Virgins-Song auf Xanax-Art zu interpretieren. Wann wurde diese Band das letzte Mal auf einem One-Sheet erwähnt? Vor ihrem Album-Closer ,Changing Mags", bei dem die Band ihr Herz auf der Zunge trägt, covern sie die Nuggets-nahen The Barracudas, deren Text ,Target Practice" auf den Punkt bringt: ,Ich bilde mir das nicht ein, ich sehe die Zeichen. Wir leben in gewalttätigen Zeiten."
On Oath's latest, the imprint keeps the jazz-fuelled atmospheres going with 'Seven Dogs', an EP that serves up an astonishing excursion through deeply hypnotic melodies and idiosyncratic grooves, courtesy of an iconic link-up between Rteph88 aka Robin Taylor-Firth and Steve Cobby.
Taylor-Firth and Cobby are musicians whose careers are so richly storied, broad-ranging, and impactful that it's difficult to summarise their output and impact in so few words. Both Taylor-Firth and Cobby firmly established themselves in the 90s, being involved in some of the era's most prominent and celebrated groups and for releasing some truly era-defining records. As such, their discographies reach far and wide, from house and techno cuts through to downtempo, drum'n'bass and leftfield, there is little that is left uncovered, and this spirit remains with them both as they continue to explore the outer parameters of their sounds.
Taylor-Firth, a songwriter, arranger, and producer, is perhaps best known for his long association with Warp Records and its sublabel Nucleus, and for his work as a member of Nightmares on Wax, where his signature keyboard playing style became a staple of the group's legendary sound. Alongside this, he has hundreds of songwriting and arranging credits on a dizzying array of records, and was a member of house music group Anon and Pio Bo alongside Richard Barratt - to name but a few selected highlights of his extraordinary career. Cobby's career is distinguished by his multitude of releases under a variety of aliases, along with his helming of a number of imprints, including Pork Recordings and his most recent label Déclassé. Experimenting with a wide variety of genres and sounds, perhaps his best-known work was with the duo Fila Brazillia alongside Dave McSherry, who released a plethora of immersive and innovative records in the 90s and beyond.
'Seven Dogs' represents a shared passion, vision, and musicality, two languages borne of similar spaces but reaching through time, space, and existence in creating a richly veiled musical experience that draws from lifetimes spent within the nucleus of music's soul. The EP speaks of the present as such as the past and indeed future, hinting with motifs that feel right at home within sun-kissed skies and within the walls of the chill out rooms. 'Early Doors', the EP's opener, displays the core fundamentals of the unfolding experience, namely the intrinsic relationship between keys and drums and how they express tone and mood. The piano gently caresses, ethereally floating with space to grow, as the drums lightly swing into life, providing an engrossing and rhythmically diverse groove that nods as much as it dives. The title track lands next and leads with a more driving feel. Sonically, the track leads with an oozing bass sequence that worms through the mid range before retreating under an array of compelling piano chords. The drums once again provide a strong backbone, allowing the melodic elements up top to fully express themselves - in a myriad of ways, murmuring and clamouring all at once.
'Visiting Hobo' brings the groove down a few notches. Slightly sombre in its delivery, the piano and bass interchange above a sparse yet hard-hitting groove, with as much emphasis placed on the emptiness as on the melodically full sections. The piano has a certain tonality here, with the notes containing a large amount of textural reverb that helps the track feel alive, almost growing out of the speakers. Wrapping things up is 'Titled', which begins with the keys and an array of whimsical features. The drums allow themselves time to grow into being, but when they do, they simmer within an enriching melange. It's a fitting end to a record that abounds with sonic consideration, environmental and emotive feeling, where two technicians bring their best and serve up four tracks of such sublimeness and thoughtfulness. One to drift deep within, on those hot summer days….
The year was 1989, and Derrick May was at a creative peak as both a DJ and producer. Under his Rhythim Is Rhythim moniker, he released a string of landmark records on Transmat, while his residency at Detroit's The Music Institute showcased the distinctive DJ style that would soon take him onto the international stage. Around the same time, he hosted a weekly radio show on Detroit radio station WJLB, alongside influential programs by The Electrifying Mojo and The Wizard (Jeff Mills).
For one of these broadcasts, May assembled a 15-minute megamix in his studio during the week leading up to the show. He opened his radio set with this continuous mix, blending his own tracks and versions into a seamless introduction that reflected his approach to DJing at the time. It includes unreleased versions of classics such as ‘Nude Photo 88’ and ‘Strings Of Life’.
‘All of this is unreleased because I made it as I was playing it on the spot as a special Mayday Mix for my show on the radio station WJLB in 1989, edited together straight from the keyboards live to tape. There is no other recording of these tracks in this form, only here’.
The original WJLB master tapes have since been lost, and no official recording is known to survive. Fortunately, many listeners recorded the broadcasts at home. One such cassette, preserved by Richie Hawtin, eventually made it our way. It has been carefully restored and mastered, with the artist’s approval.
To highlight this remarkable document of techno history, the recording is now available as a limited-edition, one-sided 12-inch release. The mix has been cut as a continuous side, visually divided into eight sections, while the reverse features a custom engraving.
Cut Rate is the debut LP from Detroit-based techno punk band Decliner. Written and recorded over the span of several years, the music reveals a sludgier, darker, and more industrial sound, representing a marked departure from their raw and thrashy roots.
Cut Rate is an album that lives at the edge of potential… a fever-dream where danger, uncertainty, and reckless hope collide. With dark humor, underdog grit, and flashes of raw beauty, it moves like someone risking everything — bravely, boldly, sometimes foolishly.
Intimate yet volatile, Cut Rate balances vulnerability and strength, chaos and tenderness. It unfolds like a roll of the dice, a shot in the dark, a chance that you can’t walk away from.
Produced by Steven Stavropoulos, the record delivers hellish, intricately designed soundscapes that establish the bedrock of each track. Tim Barrett’s guitar adds a dense layer of emotion throughout, elevating the music and further establishing the record’s stylistic ambiguity. Rob Luzynski’s vocals are at once tortured, brazen, and ridiculous, an anti-hero winking at the abyss, telling stories that no one should live by but that we all may learn from.
For over 30 years the Midwest machine menace that is Paul Birken has been developing and exploring his love for the limitless potential that exists when you chain together synths, sequencers, samplers and beat makers, he is a true audio explorer communicating his own unique sonic exploration through his machines + odd dreams. Starting out back in the day merely with a Commodore 64 computer and a few synths, his studio gear arsenal has constantly evolved over the years into a myriad of unfathomable boxes, cables and bangin’ in his attic allowing him to freely manipulate his random audio creations into the most serious and fun grooves anywhere in the techno realms. Along-with his own imprint Tonewrecker Recordings, Paul’s appeared on a huge stack of the most impressive labels including Don’t Recordings, Fun In The Murky, Earwiggle, Mord and of course a plethora of remixes and tracks on our very own RIOT Radio Records.
From within a tomb in ancient lands comes this 'Bandage Boogie.' A hallowed homage to all things that are non-stop breakin' n' stompin' n' boppin' to the RIOT beats that have now manifested themselves on a 'Mummificated' dance floor near you. This aint street life, this is tomb life, and you'll need as many sacred tanna leaves to keep you movin’ as your fiendish high priest will bestow upon you. This brewed techno fluid that we're administering will ultimately invoke 'The Curse of RIOT’ and you’ll be doomed to eternal bouncin' aboot to its 'Pyramid Pongo' beats that go mysteriously THUMP in the night. Each track on here, and especially in his infamously legendary live sets, are unique in that they get erased from his machines after their creation and won’t ever be spawned again, but ssssssssssssssh, Mummy's the word.
The full digital release also features two bonus immortal tracks delving you deeper into the life-giving sounds of this ‘Mummy Wrapsody.’
WARNING: THESE UNWRAPPED TECHNO BEATS CREATE A WONK-A-THON YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE FROM
The Discos Panorama series heads back to Colombia again for PAN016, pairing a heavyweight cumbia classic from Andrés Landero Y Conjunto with a wild Colombian take on one of the great Afro-funk records.
On the A-side, “La Pava Congona” is Landero in full flight. Known as El Rey de la Cumbia, Landero had that rare ability to make the accordion feel raw, hypnotic and completely dancefloor-ready. This one is all about the rolling rhythm, the call-and-response feel, and that unmistakable sabanero swing. Proper Colombian cumbia with weight behind it.
On the flip, Afrosound take on Manu Dibango’s “Soul Makossa” and send it straight from Colombia’s northern coast. Where the original is already a landmark Afro-funk groove, Afrosound bring their own Colombian flavour to it: fuzzed-out guitar, tropical percussion and loose psychedelic touches and that brilliant energy that made their records so special. A track that when we heard Hugo “Crucial Juice” spin, we knew we had to reissue.
Together, it’s exactly what the Discos Panorama series is about.
As always, PANORAMA Records is here to bring rare and essential music back into circulation with care, respect and admiration. Proper records, properly pressed, and ready for the dancers.
Dina Summer is the Berlin-based collaborative project of Greek-German dark-disco couple Local Suicide and Bavarian electronic producer Kalipo. The supergroup began working together in 2019 and have since been refining their combined sound. It is a unique blend of their influences, drawing from 80s italo disco, new wave, EBM and early 00s electroclash for a dark retro-futuristic synth/wave pop sound that stands out with club-ready basslines, epic melodic hooks, and lyrics ranging from dadaist abstractions to empowering, thought-provoking themes.
The trio will return with their new mini album, “Children Of The Night”, bringing together all the elements that have defined their sound so far. From the disco infused synth pop of “Burning Heart” and “Bats In Paris,” recalling their debut album Rimini (2022), to the dark club driven tracks “Fuel”, “Komodo 3000”. and the title track “Children Of The Night,” which echo the atmosphere of Hide & Seek (2024), and the dark wave influenced indie songs “Rat Race” and “On The Road”, which would have felt right at home on “Girls Gang” (2025), the release showcases the full spectrum of the band's musical identity. The nine track record takes its title from and pays homage to Bela Lugosi's iconic line in Dracula (1931): “Listen to them. Children of the night… what music they make”.
Format: Ltd transparent clear vinyl
Dina Summer ist das in Berlin ansässige Gemeinschaftsprojekt des griechisch deutschen Dark Disco Duos Local Suicide und des bayerischen Elektronikproduzenten Kalipo. Die Supergroup begann 2019 gemeinsam zu arbeiten und hat seitdem ihren gemeinsamen Sound kontinuierlich weiterentwickelt. Dieser verbindet auf einzigartige Weise ihre Einflüsse und schöpft aus Italo Disco der 1980er Jahre, New Wave, EBM und Electroclash der frühen 2000er. Das Ergebnis ist ein dunkler, retro futuristischer Synth Wave Pop Sound, der sich durch clubtaugliche Basslines, epische melodische Hooks und Texte auszeichnet, die von dadaistischen Abstraktionen bis hin zu empowernden und zum Nachdenken anregenden Themen reichen.
Das Trio kehrt nun mit seinem neuen Mini Album „Children Of The Night“ zurück, das alle Elemente vereint, die ihren Sound bisher geprägt haben. Von dem Disco geprägten Synth Pop von „Burning Heart“ und „Bats In Paris“, der an ihr Debütalbum „Rimini“ (2022) erinnert, über die düsteren, cluborientierten Tracks „Fuel“, „Komodo 3000“ und den Titelsong „Children Of The Night“, die die Atmosphäre von „Hide & Seek“ (2024) aufgreifen, bis hin zu den von Dark Wave beeinflussten Indie Songs „Rat Race“ und „On The Road“, die ebenso gut auf „Girls Gang“ (2025) hätten erscheinen können, zeigt die Veröffentlichung die gesamte Bandbreite der musikalischen Identität der Band.
Das Album mit seinen neun Tracks trägt seinen Titel in Hommage an Bela Lugosis ikonische Zeile aus dem Film Dracula (1931): „Listen to them. Children of the night… what music they make.“
An evolution of her radio show, event series and Bandcamp community under the same name, this compilation plots a globe-spanning day-into-night voyage across 16 tracks, from artists, countries and scenes that have shaped Jamz' musical worldview. Each track, many of which are exclusive to this comp, tells a story of heritage and roots, whilst pushing boundaries and pioneering new sounds in their respective regions. From the Reunion Island to Latin America, East Africa to the Caribbean and Pacific, it's a 24-hour cycle moving from downtempo to dancefloor. The concept of Dance Around The World began in the summer of 2025 but has ultimately been a part of Jamz' journey in music since the beginning. At the centre of it is her 15-year career as radio presenter - her tastes evolving from the early days on Reprezent Radio, to a 1Xtra residency and now a Saturday daytime show on BBC 6Music. There has always been a desire to highlight music from underrepresented scenes to new audiences.
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.
Following hot on the heels of the Frequency Damage EP, DJ Quest returns to Cyberfunk with Squeaks / Snake Style— a two-track release that dives deep into the unmistakable sound that made Quest’s productions stand out during the early 2000s.
Rather than simply recreating the past, both tracks tap directly into the DNA of the original Cyberfunk sound: rolling breakbeats, huge basslines, twisted analogue synths and the kind of distinctive production that became synonymous with DJ Quest at the height of the Bassline Breaks era.
Built around original analogue synth work throughout, Squeaks / Snake Style is a deliberate throwback to the raw, futuristic sound of the early 2000s, produced with the weight and clarity needed for today’s sound systems.
It’s classic Quest, strange noises, big bass, rolling drums and plenty of attitude.
A. Squeaks
Everything DJ Quest became known for rolled into one track. Squeaks is an unapologetic throwback to the classic Quest sound of the early 2000s, driven by heavyweight breaks, deep bass and original analogue synth work throughout.
Twisted electronic squeaks and evolving analogue sounds weave their way around the drums, giving the track that instantly recognisable combination of funk, darkness and futuristic weirdness that characterised so many of Quest’s early productions.
Raw, energetic and built firmly for the dancefloor, Squeaks takes the spirit of the original Bassline Breaks era and brings it straight back onto a modern sound system.
AA. Snake Style
On the flip, Snake Style takes the same analogue-driven approach but moves into deeper rolling territory.
A more hypnotic, heads-down breaks roller, the track develops around a heavyweight bass groove, rolling drums and constantly shifting analogue synth lines. There’s less emphasis on the immediate impact of the A-side and more on building a groove that locks into a DJ set and keeps moving.
Still unmistakably Quest, Snake Style combines the rawness and character of early-2000s breakbeat with modern low-end weight and production, proper rolling Cyberfunk business.
Special Vinyl Edition
Making this release particularly special for collectors, the 12” vinyl comes with an exclusive book showcasing the artwork from some of DJ Quest’s biggest and most memorable releases.
The book looks back through Quest’s extensive catalogue and the visual identity that accompanied the records, bringing together a selection of classic release artwork from across his career plus photo collages of memories made across his journey.
It turns Squeaks / Snake Style into more than just a new DJ Quest 12”, it’s also a celebration of the music, artwork and history surrounding one of the original pioneers of the Bassline Breaks sound.
For long-time followers it offers a piece of Quest history alongside two brand-new productions, while newer listeners get an introduction to the catalogue and imagery behind the sound
There’s this feeling that House Music is sometimes diluted into a pleasant, non-offensive and conformist formula. Well, Jackie Gritness - you may have heard of her big bro Gary - is bringin’ all the sweat, the attitude and the filth down - take it or leave it.
Jackie introduces herself from both sides on this well-strapped debut 12” - the slick swingin’ & sangin’
on the bass-heavy A side, and the raw clave trax and cunty snarls of the acid-laced B side.
No trace of over-production or tired sampling here: this is just Jackie, her mic and her lil’ groovebox -
gettin’ raw in the studio just like she does onstage. Only thing added is some wall-shaking mastering by New York OG Dietrich Schoenemann.
This is the kinda House that’s supposed to make regular folks wanna turn it off. This ain’t rated E for Everyone, it’s rated F for Freaks.
It’s music from the underground, for the underground - as it was first revealed on the runway of Glastonbury’s infamous NYC Downlow last summer.
And if that’s more than you can take - it’s alright. It’s not like Jackie will hold it against you.
Jackie Gritness
“Gary’s little sister.” His studio session resume reads like a House music who’s who - from David Morales to Fred P. He’s also been rockin’ clubs with the Playin’ 4 The City and MLIU crews - but she’s also been seen on Gideon’s fierce Homo-Centric Records. See, this bitch’s true feelings about House are stripped-down, bare-bones, and unapologetically sexual. With a radical ‘live’ attitude, she’s serving the realness with an irresistibly acidic zing.
Love or its absence dominates the intimate songs on the new album from ARBORIST – the musical outlet of Mark McCambridge. Looking For Love, Arborist’s fourth album of exquisitely inventive Americana, places us firmly in his hometown of Belfast, allowing it to act as a microcosm of the wider-world, with all its foibles and charms. We find fictional protagonists scouring the dark corners of the city, wiling-away afternoons in strip clubs, wandering the streets in all weather and reflecting on the harsh reality of modern society, all in search of an elusive love – emphasising our need for it now more than ever.
Looking for Love is ARBORIST’s first album to be self-produced by McCambridge, largely from his home studio in Belfast – and at times it feels like we are in the room with him. It’s a different kind of record for him as previously he has always sought collaboration; whether it be with Kim Deal who chose to sing intertwined harmony on his debut single “Twisted Arrow”, or recording in The Curfew Tower owned by The KLF’s Bill Drummond who described Mark’s songwriting as being “riven with more loss than any record since Leonard Cohen quit this world”, and who Matthew E White and his Spacebomb band collaborated with to such astonishing effect on the previous Arborist LP, 2023’s An Endless Sequence of Dead Zeros, winner of the prestigious Northern Ireland Music Prize. This time, with no outside producer steering the way, McCambridge found that the quiet hours were where he felt most at ease, despite periods of trial and error, and, by his own admission, moments of feeling genuinely lost in it all.
Despite playing many of the parts himself, McCambridge still called upon old friends from the community around him; Spacebomb’s resident bassist Cameron Ralston (Bonnie Light Horseman, Hiss Golden Messenger) again features throughout the record, alongside Eamon Ferris (The Waterboys) on drums, with the great and the good from Belfast’s vibrant music scene. Grainne Meyer plays concert harp and Aga Olek plays violin for the quasi-title track “Looking 4 Love” – an off-kilter love-letter to Belfast. Meilana Gillard provides a sleazy saxophone on “Bye Bye Johnny Cash” – a seedy tale of a man obsessively visiting a dancer in a club, and The Larne Community Youth Choir provide backing vocals for “Go Kill The Fatted Calf” – a song Mark wrote about his son growing up, a take on the parable of the prodigal son, with Jonny Ashe’s blistering guitar solo adding an album highlight. The Errigal Ensemble String Quartet and Aisling Agnew’s breathtaking flute solo feature on “What Is It You’re Asking” – a song about love, or its absence, both personally and universally in these times.
McCambridge was recently honoured with a “Fellowship” by the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen's University Belfast where he collaborated with such illustrious names from the literary world as Nick Laird, Caoilinn Hughes and Conor McPherson. Through the University he was given access to the music department's Steinways and pipe organs, and decided to try one out for the album’s centrepiece “I’ve Been A Flaneur”. As Mark explains, "The drone on the pipe organ — and the sound of it starting and stopping — was so visceral that I decided to try a half-written song against it right there and then, and this came out in one take… The song was a breakthrough artistically - I don't think I'll ever record in the same way again after this."
The album was engineered by longtime collaborator Ben McAuley (Van Morrison) and mixed by Jimmy Robertson (Anna Calvi, Beth Gibbons, Fat Dog). The results are staggering, devastating and uplifting in equal measure, calling to mind albums such as Songs Ohia’s Magnolia Electric Co., The Divine Comedy’s Regeneration, The Blue Nile’s Hats and Wilco’s Ode to Joy, as well as early-70s records from John Cale, John Lennon and Bill Fay.
Belfast native Mark McCambridge played his first show as Arborist supporting James Yorkston. A solo tour followed, and impressive performances led to notable support slots alongside Low, Cat Power, Echo & The Bunnymen and Guy Garvey. Arborist's debut single, the Americana-tinged "Twisted Arrow," caught the attention of the critics with an astonishing duet with Kim Deal of The Breeders. The debut album Home Burial (2016) and its follow-up, A Northern View, both received glowing praise, from The Guardian ("instant classic" ----) to MOJO ("devastatingly bleak… upliftingly beautiful" ----) to Uncut (8/10), with BBC 6 Music play from Cerys Matthews, Cillian Murphy, Lauren Laverne, Radcliffe and Maconie and Gideon Coe — and Steve Lamacq calling single "Taxi" "one of those records that makes you immediately stop what you're doing." He went on to even greater success with the 2023 Northern Irish Music Prize winning third LP, An Endless Sequence of Dead Zeroes, which was recorded at SpaceBomb Studios in Virginia with musician and producer Matthew E White. For his fourth LP, Looking For Love, he has signed with Fika Recordings and with a tour approaching in November, 2026 looks set to be a seminal year for the Irish artist.
2026 Repress
Oh yes! First ever official reissue of the positively sublime and very rare Butterfly LP, recorded in Tokyo in 1979 by Japanese songstress Kimiko Kasai and jazz legend Herbie Hancock.
Due to it's super-rare status as a Japan-only release, this exquisite collection of covers never got the recognition it deserved at the time, despite incredibly inspired performances from Kimiko, Herbie and the supremely talented musicians assembled for the project. From heavenly drummer Alphonse Mouzon and renowned organist Webster Lewis to bassist Paul Jackson, reedman Bennie Maupin and the master percussionist Bill Summers, the legendary performers crafted amazingly good vocal versions of Herbie / Headhunters jazz-funk. Unsurprisingly, it has been heavily in demand for many years.
The LP opens with Kimiko's highly desirable version of "I Thought It Was You", an elegant take on Herbie's own anthem. Other superb re-workings include the delicately soulful "Butterfly", jazzy groover "Sunlight", the smooth and sexy "Tell Me A Bedtime Story" and the beautiful ballads "Maiden Voyage" and "Harvest Time". A wonderful example of perfectly understated and masterful jazz-funk soul fusion that shouldn't be missed, the set closes with a jaw-dropping version of Stevie Wonder's "As".
This lovingly curated reissue enables a long overdue reappraisal of this hitherto unavailable masterpiece. The stunning artwork which adorned the original jacket - complete with OBI strip and sumptuous
4 page folded insert - has been faithfully restored. Simon Francis' sensitive mastering elevates the sound throughout and, as ever, it has been pressed at a reassuringly weighty 180g. Essential.
Rocksteady Disco comes through with more tasteful and timeless edits on this fourth volume of its series which focuses on sounds from Detroit. Gino steps up on the A-side with the leggy grooves and funky bassline soft 'Funk Beyond' then 'Sunshine Ramp' pairs a classic vocal sample with a bubbly, percolating groove full of fun. On the flip, things get more textured and expressive with the busy jazz horns of DJ Righteous's '6 Minutes Of NRG' then 'Never Forget' brings heavyweight drum-first funk with warm organ chords and a busy mix of bass and melodies under the soaring vocals. Scorching stuff.
Almost immediately after hearing the Beatles' North American debut album at eight years old, Al Di Meola decided he wanted to become a musician. Just 11 years later, he was recruited by Chick Corea to replace Bill Connors in the legendary jazz fusion band Return to Forever, together with Stanley Clarke and Lenny White. His tenure turned out to be a short one—just two years—but turned out to coincide with the group's career peak.
Around the time the group broke up, he released his first record Land of the Midnight Sun, followed by Elegant Gypsy in 1977. On this album Al showcased his prowess for fast electric guitar riffs, lyrical acoustic passages, and every technique in between. The record clearly showcases his predilection for flamenco and Latin jazz, exemplified by the record's two most important tunes: "Mediterranean Sundance" and "Race With Devil On Spanish Highway".
Elegant Gypsy is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on red vinyl and includes in insert.
Discrepant presents Fantarombo, a new album by Giovanni Lami.
While his previous works often moved through memory, residue, degradation, and dialogue with existing materials, Fantarombo takes shape as an unstable, bodily gesture.
Sound is not recalled or reconstructed, but triggered, pushed, and set in motion as an active force. Lami approaches modular synthesis as a physical, hands-on practice rather than a technical exercise or display of system mastery. The modular setup becomes a responsive body: something to be nudged, listened to, and occasionally resisted.
The pieces unfold through slow accumulations, unstable feedback paths, and carefully misaligned sequences. Rather than driving toward resolution, the music lingers in states of suspension, allowing small shifts in voltage, timing, and texture to reshape the whole. Chance and duration play a central role, with structure emerging gradually from repetition and drift.
There is an unmistakably organic quality to the sound: porous, tactile, and quietly resonant. A sensitivity to space, grain, and micro-movement, where subtle changes carry as much weight as overt gestures. On Fantarombo, process takes precedence over control, and the circuitry is allowed to speak back, resulting in music that feels intimate, unstable, and quietly insistent, revealing itself slowly through sustained attention.
A music of unresolved behaviours, suspended somewhere between obsolete digital optimism, imaginary systems and malfunctioning computational folklore.
J Old Rat aka DJ Lao Laoshu aka DJ老老鼠 presents China Underground.
DJ Old Rat is the moniker of Steve Barker, the legendary British broadcaster, music journalist, and host of the long-running On the Wire radio show on BBC Radio Lancashire.
Here he presents underground music from China 2002-2011, Between 2002 and 2011, Barker lived in China working on cultural projects for the British Council. During this decade, he produced and broadcast On The Wire directly from Beijing, embedding himself deeply into China's developing experimental and electronic underground music scen
To kick off our 5th year party celebrations the label begins its new set of releases starting with the joined forces of Regal86 and IMOGEN. The artists contribute two tracks each to the four track vinyl alongside remixes of each other's work, meeting at sonic crossroads.
The EP journeys through rave nostalgia filled with warmth and hope for the future, recollecting some favourite memories of the dance floor.
The A side is fast, driving with a sense of longing for the Halcyon Days and the offline times of partying when things felt easier. The release opens with ‘One Night In 1992’, IMOGEN’s nostalgic ode to an earlier rave era, built around a vocal recollection of her mother’s experiences on the dancefloor in the 90’s. Raw, hazy and deeply personal, it sets the tone for a record rooted in memory while remaining firmly in the present. Regal86 follows with ‘Rush’, bringing a different energy to the record. Driven by rolling rhythms, playful movement and a strong sense of groove.
The B side takes a more optimistic turn looking into the future with dubby aquatic pads and euphoric breakdowns, carrying a feeling of forward motion. There is a lightness to the tracks, a sense of joy running beneath NC Station and keeping the momentum locked whilst turning inwards on the final track, IMOGEN’s ‘Midnight At Bret’ rounds out a release that moves naturally between nostalgia, propulsion and the shared language of the dance floor.
As the next release launches, IMOGEN takes wigs on tour for a five year special run of shows starting on release at Tresor for a two club take over following with further cities: London, Milan, Dublin and more.
Tropical Fu*k Storm revisit the live album concept on ‘Inflatable Graveyard Vol. 2’, their second live album and the follow-up to the critically acclaimed ‘Fairyland Codex’. Recorded over three nights during a sold-out residency at New York venue TV Eye, the album finds the band at the height of their incendiary powers, turning already combustible songs into something even more ferocious and unpredictable.
Fine-tuned and road-tested through heavy touring, songs from ‘Fairyland Codex’ are stretched into new forms. Ballad “Stepping on a Rake” takes on heavier undertones, “Irukandji Syndrome” becomes a launchpad for a guitar solo worthy of the Velvets’ “I Heard Her Call My Name” and “Moscovium” sounds more urgent than ever.
The band also revisit back catalogue favourites including “Who’s My Eugene” and “You Let My Tyres Down”, alongside a cover of Australian punk heroes The Saints’ “This Perfect Day”.
Tropical Fu*k Storm have built a catalogue worth obsessing over, but their live show is where the band’s brilliance really breaks open, and ‘Inflatable Graveyard Vol. 2’ catches that chaos in the act.
Key Quotes:
“Tropical Fuck Storm are masters of tension and release.” The Guardian.
“If anyone's qualified to make music about all-encompassing terror, it ought to be Tropical Fuck Storm.” Pitchfork.
“Thrilling noise-rock pranksters” Uncut.
“End times chaos… A gloriously imperfect storm” MOJO.
“A galvanising opus of incredible political bite” The Line Of Best Fit.
“One of the most rewarding listens in rock music” Consequence Of Sound.
Tropical Fu*k Storm revisit the live album concept on ‘Inflatable Graveyard Vol. 2’, their second live album and the follow-up to the critically acclaimed ‘Fairyland Codex’. Recorded over three nights during a sold-out residency at New York venue TV Eye, the album finds the band at the height of their incendiary powers, turning already combustible songs into something even more ferocious and unpredictable.
Fine-tuned and road-tested through heavy touring, songs from ‘Fairyland Codex’ are stretched into new forms. Ballad “Stepping on a Rake” takes on heavier undertones, “Irukandji Syndrome” becomes a launchpad for a guitar solo worthy of the Velvets’ “I Heard Her Call My Name” and “Moscovium” sounds more urgent than ever.
The band also revisit back catalogue favourites including “Who’s My Eugene” and “You Let My Tyres Down”, alongside a cover of Australian punk heroes The Saints’ “This Perfect Day”.
Tropical Fu*k Storm have built a catalogue worth obsessing over, but their live show is where the band’s brilliance really breaks open, and ‘Inflatable Graveyard Vol. 2’ catches that chaos in the act.
Key Quotes:
“Tropical Fuck Storm are masters of tension and release.” The Guardian.
“If anyone's qualified to make music about all-encompassing terror, it ought to be Tropical Fuck Storm.” Pitchfork.
“Thrilling noise-rock pranksters” Uncut.
“End times chaos… A gloriously imperfect storm” MOJO.
“A galvanising opus of incredible political bite” The Line Of Best Fit.
“One of the most rewarding listens in rock music” Consequence Of Sound.
After two highly praised singles on consecutive Razor-N-Tape Family Affair compilations, Dennis Liber brings his signature tropical disco sound to the Astro Danza EP, his first solo outing on the label. Inspired by years living in and creating community in the Caribbean, the EP brings together an international crew of musical cohorts to take listeners on a journey through different shades of paradise. From the hypnotic night time energy of the title track, to the tropical joy of Être Heureux (with a standout remix from French producer Anoraak), and the dreamy celebration of feminine freedom in Femme Papillon, the Astro Danza EP is the cosmic and sensual sound of endless summer!
The Sound Of Soulfuric Vol. 3 continues the label’s commitment to vocal-led, soulful house music, bringing together four standout cuts that balance classic songwriting with contemporary club production.
This is another DJ-focused selection built for the dancefloor, moving between uplifting vocal house, deep grooves and energetic remixes. From the driving Romeo Louisa rework of Urban Blues Project’s ‘Testify’ to Souldynamic’s take on The Lab Rats’ ‘Music Is My Way Of Life’, each track brings its own character while keeping the Soulfuric sound firmly in focus.
Featuring vocals from Jay Williams, Lisa Millett, Michelle Weeks and Kelli Sae, with remixes from Romeo Louisa, Souldynamic, Fouk and D’Ambrosio & Tappert, Vol. 3 brings together some of the scene’s strongest vocal talent and production names across four highly playable house cuts.
DJ Support: Glenn Underground, Leo Mas, Sean Johnston / ALFOS, Massimiliano Pagliara / Panorama Bar, Al Mackenzie / Field of Dreams, Shane Johnson / Fish Go Deep, Flash Atkins / Paper Recordings, Pete Gooding, Mark Broadbent, Max Essa and plenty more.
2026 has been a particularly busy year for Visions of Light, the Balearic/ambient/dub trio founded by Freebooter Records’ Simon Sheldon alongside Muzka and Dan Dub Lounge. Following the Dedications EP – their warmly received collection of Balearic dub reinterpretations of White Isle-friendly club classics – the trio return with ‘Mycelium Bloom’, the follow-up to their 2025 debut LP The Mandela Vortex. Mycelium Bloom sees Visions of Light expand their signature sound, blending downtempo dub grooves and sunbaked Balearic soundscapes with hallucinatory electronics and psychedelic touches. Layered guitars, deep bass, immersive textures and dreamlike melodies run throughout an album designed for both sunset listening and deeper late-night excursions.
Opener Split The Scene sets the tone with acidic electronics circling languid beats, heavy bass and spacious pads, while All The Best Thing taps into the spirit of early ’90s chill-out rooms, adding desert blues influences to its hazy, enveloping atmosphere. Holding Jupiter pushes further into psychedelic territory, built around low-tempo rhythmic drift, effects-laden guitars and expansive chords. Elsewhere, the trio reconnect with their rootsier dub foundations. B Town delivers a warm, summery skank, while Radiant Flux shifts towards Balearic dub dancefloor territory. Perfect You, featuring words written and performed by Richard Dormer alongside flute from Luis Vilca, is a gorgeous sunset-ready highlight, while Let Go closes in on pure Balearic bliss through gentle melodies and slow-burning atmosphere.
Hip-hop royalty returns—Bun B and Statik Selektah team up once again for the fourth chapter of their blazing collabo-rative saga: TrillStatik 4. Recorded in real-time with that unmistakable underground urgency, this album is a master-class in modern rap chemistry, blending Bun B’s Southern grit with Statik’s boom-bap precision.
The guest lineup is nothing short of legendary. From DJ Premier setting the tone on “Live From Houston,” to Griselda heavyweights Westside Gunn, Conway The Machine, and Boldy James blessing “Trillselda 2,” every track hits with purpose. Regional flair runs deep, too—Paul Wall, Maxo Kream, and Lil’ Keke represent H-Town with pride, while East Coast lyricists like Termanology and Tek bring bar-for-bar fire.
This is more than a record—it’s a cipher of cultures, connecting street narratives, soul-drenched beats, and coast-to-coast talent.
Back from ‘96 — Abacus’ legendary The Abacus EP returns, now reissued as Erotic Illusions. Deep, soulful and hypnotic house at its finest, straight from the Guidance era. Pure timeless heat — grab it before it vanishes again.
DJ Feedbacks :
Laurent Garnier : Classic <3 <3
Nick Hoppner : OOOOOH YES
Dan Beaumont (Chapter 10 / NTS) : Decadent dub for me! lovely
Louise Chen (NTS) : Huge fan, this is a wonderfully sexy reissue!
Joel Martin (Quiet Village) : Timeless Classic from one of the masters - Essential!
Kölsch (IPSO / Kompakt) : Still sounds so fresh
Sven von Thuelen (SVT / Work Them) : Sublime!
Josh Wink (Ovum) : Sounds just as great as when it first came out!
Satoshi Tomiie (Abstract Architecture) : Soooo good! Every details tuned precisely
Carista : sickkkk
Crackazat (Freerange / Local Talk) : yes. of course
Anthony Collins (Frank & Tony / Scissor & Thread) : fantastic record
Hunee (Rush Hour) : classic!
Call Super (Houndstooth) : lovely thxxx
Erol Alkan (Phantasy Sound) : Downloading Thanks!
Radio Slave (Rekids) : Such a big fan !!! Full support and congrats on the re-release. Peeps need to know about "Abacus".
Ben Sims : Now downloading... will check asap!
nd_baumecker (Ostgut Ton) : YAAAAAS! Finally I have this in a better quality than my vinyl rip from the original 12". Vinyl is preordered. Thanks!
Jonnie Wilkes (Optimo) : SEMINAL.
Lawrence (Dial) : OMG Fave Classic!
Fouk (House of Disco / Razor N Tape / Room With A View / Heist) : Ooooh yes! <3
Hector Romero (Def Mix) : Love it. H
Aleqs Notal : Lovely repress
Alinka (Twirl / Classic / Crosstown Rebels / Batty Bass) : Beautiful tracks
Terry Farley : fantastic reissue for those that missed the golden era
Ian Pooley (Pooledmusic) : Sooooooooo good !
Marcia Carr : The Dub without a lot less of the sleazy vocal is cool.
Nick Holder : FIRE
DJ Bone (FURTHER) : Poetic Illusions and Decadent Dub both work for me.
Nat Wendell (Depth of My Soul / Courtesy of Balance / Love & Loops) : classy!!
Luke Solomon (Classic / Freaks / Music For Freaks) : absolute classic Kenny Hawkes special xxx
ROD / Benny Rodrigues : !!!!
Domenic Cappello (Subclub) : still sounds fresh
Alexkid (Rawax / FUSE / NG Trax) : Total Dopeness
Jimpster (Freerange) : An absolute classic from the golden era! Got the vinyl but I'm sure these new masters will sound better than my well worn vinyl rip! Will keep on banging this beauty.
Bake (All Caps / Rinse FM) : the best! thank you for reissuing :)
Dj Deep (Deeply Rooted) : Nice to see this beautiful release available again
Kai Alce (Real Soon) : CLASSIK!!
Mr. V (Sole Channel / Strictly Rhythm / Salter / Defected) : Solid work on this classic Thanks
Baby Rollen (Holding Hands / Slump / Futureboogie) : timeless
DJ Gregory (Point G / Faya Combo) : Alwayes loved that classic
Tom Esselle (YAM / Rhythm Section / WOLF Music) : Killer reissue!
Harri (Sub Club) : nice, will play and support
Hifi Sean (Defected / Plastique) : Diggin' this dub big time
Jenifa Mayanja (Bumako Recordings) : This reissue sounds just as good second time around. Straight dance floor magic. Moody and dubby perfect to zone out to in a dark corner somewhere.
Demuja (MUJA / Let's Play House / Madhouse / Freerange) : nice!!
Marcel Dettmann : thx
Kosh (Syncrophone) : doesnt get any better than this
Dj Hutch (Ambers / Rinse FM) : Lovely deep business! Thank you!
Geir Aspenes (G-Ha / Sunkissed) : Kool, thanks
D'Julz (Bass Culture) : classic alert!
Sublime frequencies from the golden era of ambient electronica.
Plumbing hidden depths beneath a deceptively tranquil surface, MLO's mid-90s masterpiece Io is an overlooked gem from a golden era for ambient electronic music. Originally released in 1994, Jon Tye and Pete Smith's collaborative album responded to the growing chill-out movement by leaning into classical and avant-garde influences from Satie, Debussy and Cage through to Soft Machine, Incredible String Band and Eno. Recorded across various studios stacked with classic and rare synths, Io was patiently composed into slowly unfolding suites punctuated with ripples of arrhythmic interference to arrive at a purist vision of true ambient.
The next instalment in Forever Records' ongoing reissue series shines a light back on this landmark piece of UK electronica with the first official reissue since its original edition on Rising High. As well as the original double LP pressing and a new CD digipak version, there will also be a uniquely numbered, limited edition housed in a gatefold sleeve that comes with a bonus 10" featuring two previously unreleased versions of the album's opening cut, 'Wimborne'.
Press response to Io:
"Not so much ambient, more environmental music, Io lets you bring as much (or as little) of your surroundings in as suits your mood. Every listen can be different. Interactive ambient at last.”
IO is pure ambience. Relying on motif as opposed to melody, MLO have produced a truly evocative album.
Peter McIntyre, Mixmag, UK 1994.
"MLO's influences range from the likes of Eric Satie and the intellectual salon music of his era to the more predictable reference point of dubby, modern techno, though they feel, perhaps rather contentiously, that "ambient music can exist in isolation from the rest of the dance music arena". Can it? Take a trip to Io, and find out."
Generator Magazine, UK 1994.
"If you like your ambient deep and moody with long chords that creep along at approximately the speed of drying paint then check out MLO’s Io."
Mixology, UK 1994.
"MLO set the controls for the heart of headspace for their first full album release. Io is top grade ambient brain… Ace album…"
Select, UK 1994.
Sublime frequencies from the golden era of ambient electronica.
Plumbing hidden depths beneath a deceptively tranquil surface, MLO's mid-90s masterpiece Io is an overlooked gem from a golden era for ambient electronic music. Originally released in 1994, Jon Tye and Pete Smith's collaborative album responded to the growing chill-out movement by leaning into classical and avant-garde influences from Satie, Debussy and Cage through to Soft Machine, Incredible String Band and Eno. Recorded across various studios stacked with classic and rare synths, Io was patiently composed into slowly unfolding suites punctuated with ripples of arrhythmic interference to arrive at a purist vision of true ambient.
The next instalment in Forever Records' ongoing reissue series shines a light back on this landmark piece of UK electronica with the first official reissue since its original edition on Rising High. As well as the original double LP pressing and a new CD digipak version, there will also be a uniquely numbered, limited edition housed in a gatefold sleeve that comes with a bonus 10" featuring two previously unreleased versions of the album's opening cut, 'Wimborne'.
Press response to Io:
"Not so much ambient, more environmental music, Io lets you bring as much (or as little) of your surroundings in as suits your mood. Every listen can be different. Interactive ambient at last.”
IO is pure ambience. Relying on motif as opposed to melody, MLO have produced a truly evocative album.
Peter McIntyre, Mixmag, UK 1994.
"MLO's influences range from the likes of Eric Satie and the intellectual salon music of his era to the more predictable reference point of dubby, modern techno, though they feel, perhaps rather contentiously, that "ambient music can exist in isolation from the rest of the dance music arena". Can it? Take a trip to Io, and find out."
Generator Magazine, UK 1994.
"If you like your ambient deep and moody with long chords that creep along at approximately the speed of drying paint then check out MLO’s Io."
Mixology, UK 1994.
"MLO set the controls for the heart of headspace for their first full album release. Io is top grade ambient brain… Ace album…"
Select, UK 1994.
EELS, eine der eigenwilligsten und beständig gefeierten Bands der Rockgeschichte, melden sich mit ihrem 16. Studioalbum zurück. COOKIE HAPPENED findet E (Mark Oliver Everett) dort, wo er am stärksten ist: in den kleinen Siegen des Lebens, den unvermeidlichen Enttäuschungen – und dem stillen Wunder, überhaupt hier gewesen zu sein.
Den Albumtitel erklärt E mit einem Zitat des großen Philosophen unserer Zeit, dem Cookie Monster: „Me no cry because cookie is finished. Me smile because cookie happened." Alles wird vergessen werden – aber war es nicht trotzdem etwas Schönes, dass es geschah?
Die erste Single 'Cap In Hand' gibt einen bittersüßen Vorgeschmack: ein abgeklärt-bewegender Song aus der Perspektive von jemandem, der seine Fehler endlich eingesteht und versucht, die Dinge wieder geradzubiegen.
COOKIE HAPPENED folgt auf das 2024 erschienene und vielgelobte EELS TIME! und beweist einmal mehr, dass kaum ein anderer Künstler so gut darin ist, im Chaos des Lebens Bedeutung zu finden.
EELS, eine der eigenwilligsten und beständig gefeierten Bands der Rockgeschichte, melden sich mit ihrem 16. Studioalbum zurück. COOKIE HAPPENED findet E (Mark Oliver Everett) dort, wo er am stärksten ist: in den kleinen Siegen des Lebens, den unvermeidlichen Enttäuschungen – und dem stillen Wunder, überhaupt hier gewesen zu sein.
Den Albumtitel erklärt E mit einem Zitat des großen Philosophen unserer Zeit, dem Cookie Monster: „Me no cry because cookie is finished. Me smile because cookie happened." Alles wird vergessen werden – aber war es nicht trotzdem etwas Schönes, dass es geschah?
Die erste Single 'Cap In Hand' gibt einen bittersüßen Vorgeschmack: ein abgeklärt-bewegender Song aus der Perspektive von jemandem, der seine Fehler endlich eingesteht und versucht, die Dinge wieder geradzubiegen.
COOKIE HAPPENED folgt auf das 2024 erschienene und vielgelobte EELS TIME! und beweist einmal mehr, dass kaum ein anderer Künstler so gut darin ist, im Chaos des Lebens Bedeutung zu finden.
Sadurn’s sophomore album The Underworld is a collection of heart-rendingly personal and instantly relatable songs, due out this fall on Run For Cover Records. Following years of lingering vocal issues for guitarist G DeGroot, the album is the culmination of an emotion- al and spiritual journey and a a deeply personal meditation on loss, healing, and transformation.
Sadurn began in 2017 as a solo project for G DeGroot, and from the start their approach to songwriting was informed more by emotional intuition than any kind of real ambitions to be heard. “I discovered songwriting as an outlet for processing my reality,” they explain. “A lot of times when something is hard to say, it flows more easily in songwriting. It’s a place where you can circle back to your own truth.” After moving to Philadelphia, DeGroot was joined by gui- tarist Jon Cox, drummer Amelia Swain, and bassist Tabitha Ahnert. The group recorded Radiator, a debut that immediately connected with listeners and was met with critical acclaim.
Throughout The Underworld, the rawness of DeGroot’s lyrics are matched by Cox, Ahnert, and Swain’s evocative playing. Stunning opener “the weight” describes the early stages of a relationship deteriorating, with brilliant soloing from Cox and DeGroot’s warm voice intertwining through its widescreen outro. Highlights like “mess,” “never tell me,” or “whole thing” strike a perfect balance be- tween lush arrangements and intimate performances, while tracks like “why does my heart” or “can’t stop” add unvarnished, single take moments of spontaneity, or GarageBand demo looseness that perfectly compliment the unabashed longing in the songwriting.
Sadurn’s sophomore album The Underworld is a collection of heart-rendingly personal and instantly relatable songs, due out this fall on Run For Cover Records. Following years of lingering vocal issues for guitarist G DeGroot, the album is the culmination of an emotion- al and spiritual journey and a a deeply personal meditation on loss, healing, and transformation.
Sadurn began in 2017 as a solo project for G DeGroot, and from the start their approach to songwriting was informed more by emotional intuition than any kind of real ambitions to be heard. “I discovered songwriting as an outlet for processing my reality,” they explain. “A lot of times when something is hard to say, it flows more easily in songwriting. It’s a place where you can circle back to your own truth.” After moving to Philadelphia, DeGroot was joined by gui- tarist Jon Cox, drummer Amelia Swain, and bassist Tabitha Ahnert. The group recorded Radiator, a debut that immediately connected with listeners and was met with critical acclaim.
Throughout The Underworld, the rawness of DeGroot’s lyrics are matched by Cox, Ahnert, and Swain’s evocative playing. Stunning opener “the weight” describes the early stages of a relationship deteriorating, with brilliant soloing from Cox and DeGroot’s warm voice intertwining through its widescreen outro. Highlights like “mess,” “never tell me,” or “whole thing” strike a perfect balance be- tween lush arrangements and intimate performances, while tracks like “why does my heart” or “can’t stop” add unvarnished, single take moments of spontaneity, or GarageBand demo looseness that perfectly compliment the unabashed longing in the songwriting.
Sadurn’s sophomore album The Underworld is a collection of heart-rendingly personal and instantly relatable songs, due out this fall on Run For Cover Records. Following years of lingering vocal issues for guitarist G DeGroot, the album is the culmination of an emotion- al and spiritual journey and a a deeply personal meditation on loss, healing, and transformation.
Sadurn began in 2017 as a solo project for G DeGroot, and from the start their approach to songwriting was informed more by emotional intuition than any kind of real ambitions to be heard. “I discovered songwriting as an outlet for processing my reality,” they explain. “A lot of times when something is hard to say, it flows more easily in songwriting. It’s a place where you can circle back to your own truth.” After moving to Philadelphia, DeGroot was joined by gui- tarist Jon Cox, drummer Amelia Swain, and bassist Tabitha Ahnert. The group recorded Radiator, a debut that immediately connected with listeners and was met with critical acclaim.
Throughout The Underworld, the rawness of DeGroot’s lyrics are matched by Cox, Ahnert, and Swain’s evocative playing. Stunning opener “the weight” describes the early stages of a relationship deteriorating, with brilliant soloing from Cox and DeGroot’s warm voice intertwining through its widescreen outro. Highlights like “mess,” “never tell me,” or “whole thing” strike a perfect balance be- tween lush arrangements and intimate performances, while tracks like “why does my heart” or “can’t stop” add unvarnished, single take moments of spontaneity, or GarageBand demo looseness that perfectly compliment the unabashed longing in the songwriting.
SECOND REISSUE ON THIS HEAT’s OWN NEW IMPRINT FOLLOWING ‘THIS HEAT’ (TH01LP) WHICH WAS UNCUT ‘REISSUE OF THE MONTH’ RECENTLY WITH 9/10 REVIEW + 4-PAGE FEATURE WITH Q+A.
*24 bit/96 kHz re-master from original analog tapes.
*Heavyweight 180gm vinyl and heavyweight sleeve with pantone printing to match original 1979 release.
Simon Reynolds on Health and Efficiency:
“For some fans, Health and Efficiency is This Heat’s peak achievement – their most concentrated blast of visceral intensity and wayward experimentalism….Lead track “Health & Efficiency” combines fierce angular rock that fully lives up to Cunningham’s belief that This Heat could become a postpunk King Crimson, with a multi-part babble of vocals, clattering percussive timbres, and found sounds.’’
Flipside “Graphic/Varispeed” is more subdued and hypnotic: a wavering tonescape whose duration depends on whether you play it at 45 rpm or 33 rpm. This reissue reproduces the original release’s striking cover image of a human figure painted in blue by Pete Cobb, along with the cryptic flipside of text in many different languages.
Although widely considered to be Post-Punk’s finest, This Heat actually began performing and recording their music in 1976, the early days of London’s punk era. Within their two albums and an EP they perfected a strange and volatile new strain of avant-garde rock that time has proved to be massively influential, a blueprint for much that would follow: post-rock, math rock, homemade musique concrète, experimental electronica. Numerous critics have recognised the band's influence on the music of Sonic Youth, Glenn Branca, Steven Wilson, Public Image Ltd., Radiohead, Swans, Shellac, Young Knives, Black Dice, Lightning Bolt and numerous other experimental and post-rock bands.
Disbanding in 1982 they have left an undeniable legacy that has only continued to grow in stature and relevance.Having recently passed the 50 year anniversary of their first gig, and the recording of material that appears on their debut album, the group’s surviving members Charles Bullen and Charles Hayward, true to their DIY roots, have set up an imprint to release their recordings for their growing fan base that is increasingly recognising their influential place in music history.
‘They went beyond punk before punk had properly started…the entire album is a controlled explosion of ideas. Nearly fifty years on, This Heat’s debut is something the world has still not completely caught up with.’ - Simon Reynolds
‘Over the years, there have been bands to play as aggressively, or even as strangely, but very few have been able to rise from their collective influences and histories to create music so singularly distinctive and inspiring.’ – Pitchfork 9/10
‘This Heat sounded like the future then ... and still do now.’ - Dan Snaith (Caribou)
‘This Heat had a certain kind of force the post-punk bands were unable to adequately control without falling foul of rawk excess, and which the punk bands—albeit blitzing and rowdy—were too basic in form to build.’ – John Calvert , The Quietus
A dream come true for A Colourful Storm to be releasing an early gem by Tenniscoats, a duo whose DIY spirit, boundless creativity and lust for life and collaboration has left an indelible mark. From self-releasing albums and tapes on their own Majikick imprint to meeting kindred spirits The Pastels, Bill Wells and Jad Fair in between outings for Morr Music, Chapter and Häpna, to name but a few, Tenniscoats have embodied an understated determination and optimism for over two decades.
"A foghorn melodica, voice, fractions, fragments, nothing and everything all at once. We Are Everyone opens out slowly, a little eerily, magic tumbles into play in well-measured rations. Meanwhile, on the cover, Saya and Ueno's heads seem to merge into the sky as if living amongst the wisdom of the clouds. Or maybe somewhere between sleep and reality, like Ueno's description of Tenniscoats' music. We Are Everyone is one of those records where you almost feel engulfed in its making - you feel like you're in the room with Tenniscoats as they push themselves to the limit, trying to make the very best record they can." - Stephen Pastel
American DJ, producer, and Ovum label boss Josh Wink remixes Chris Liebing's 'Eye C' via CLR on 25th September 2026, one of the standout tracks from Liebing's first fully solo-produced LP, 'Evolver', which landed in March. The album featured collaborations with the likes of Luke Slater, Charlotte de Witte, and Daniel Miller, with Josh Wink the latest to rework material from the project. The Philadelphian is an electronic music veteran who has shaped countless releases on his own Ovum, while also remixing the likes of Depeche Mode, Moby, and Radiohead.
Josh Wink showcases his production skills once again with a blistering take on Chris Liebing's 'Eye C', rewriting it with fizzing synth modulations and prickly acid lines. The track grows in intensity as rumbling drums march on, and the synths become ever wilder before pulling back into a deep, atmospheric groove, rebuilding beneath the menacing vocals and icy, incendiary hi-hats.
The original version of Chris Liebing's 'Eye C' is a deep, rolling techno masterclass with pulsing synths and deft percussion peeling away from the groove. It's linear and heady, perfect for the small hours, with unsettling vocal fragments refracted around the mix and subtle hypnotism floating overhead as the drums grow ever harder.
What an unbelievable record. From the wild cover to the iconic breakbeats, Roots from Ian Carr’s Nucleus is one of the dopest albums we know. This is seriously thick, funky-prog jazz-rock heaven. Originally released on Vertigo in 1973, other than a couple of versions at the time for other territories, Roots was never re-pressed since so it’s gone on to become another one of those impossible to find records.
Maybe it was a little too out there for the time, but it’s aged very, very well indeed and this Be With re-issue, re-mastered from the original analogue tapes, shows off just why this deserves to be back in press.
Genius trumpeter and visionary composer Ian Carr was one of the most respected British musicians of his era. He was a true pioneer and saw the potential in fusing the worlds of jazz with rock, just as Miles Davis and The Tony Williams Lifetime did in the US. In late 1969, following the demise of the Rendell-Carr quintet, and tiring of British jazz, Carr assembled the legendary Nucleus. Regarding music as a continuous process, Nucleus refused to “recognise rigid boundaries” and worked on delivering what they saw as a “total musical experience”. We can get behind that.
Under bandleader Carr, Nucleus existed as a fluid line-up of inventive, skilled musicians. This constant evolution and revolution was all part of the continuous musical exploration and discovery that took jazz to new levels.
Working together with producer Fritz Fryer and engineer Roger Wake, the seven compositions by Carr, Brian Smith and Dave MacRae that make up Roots flirt with perfection, and Nucleus at that time made up of the cream of 1970s UK jazz with Brian Smith on tenor saxophones and flutes, Dave MacRae on piano and electric piano, Jocelyn Pitchen on guitar, Roger Sutton on bass, both Clive Thacker and Aureo De Souza on drums and percussion, Joy Yates delivering the vocals and of course Carr on trumpet.
The spellbinding title track immediately renders the album indispensable. Riding the illest of loping breakbeats, “Roots” is low-slung, doped-out heist-funk. An absolute monster. If it sounds familiar then that’s likely down to it being sampled by Madlib for Lootpack and Quasimoto’s “Loop Digga”, as well as by a whole host of beat manipulators. “Roots” conjures prime instrumental hip-hop / beat music, only 20 years ahead of its time. Truly, these are the roots. Through sinuous bass, twinkling keys and a hypnotic guitar riff, a smoky brass motif weaves its way into a gloriously deep haze around Carr’s solos. “Roots” is over 9 minutes long, but there’s not a single wasted second, not surprising given that this is a condensed version of an originally 40 minute long commissioned composition.
The soothing vocal fusion delight of “Images” follows. Meticulously constructed, with gorgeous flute work from Brian Smith, with Joy Yates’ silky vocals and Dave MacRae’s Rhodes never sounding better. The cool, driving “Caliban” closes out the first side. Originally the third movement in a four part commission to celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday it stands up on its own, all robust rhythms and blended brass. Keyboard colour and Carr’s trumpet are splashed across the funk drums and basslines (and there’s even some bamboo flute). This really is fusion: the elements of jazz and rock coming together in beautifully synthesis.
Side two opens in riotous fashion with the short, thrilling samba of “Wapatiti”. Next up, “Capricorn” forms a smoothed-out, jazzy constellation. Mellow and dreamy, its twinkling percussion and languid horns slowly build the vibe before head-nod drums and a killer bassline enter the fray. With a distinct heaviness that Black Sabbath would’ve envied, “Odokamona” is a venomous slice of riff-soaked jazz metal (yes, you read that right), elevated by Carr’s wah-wah horns.
The album closes with MacRae’s exceptionally cosmic “Southern Roots and Celebration”. Very much in conversation with Weather Report, it opens as a languorous, spiritual jazz of chiming keys and serene guitar that turns slowly, gorgeously into a mid-paced, brass-laced banger. It’s another sure-fire party starter and the sound of the band having a righteous blast, building an ecstatic chaos that ends with Yates screaming.
And of course we need to talk about Keith Davis’ cover for Roots. Perhaps the coolest record cover of all time? Certainly one of the most bonkers. Just your run-of-the-mill high-gloss, acid-tinged airbrush dystopian/utopian living-room party scene. Consider this your chemical flashback trigger warning.
Front-and-centre the hip-to-death green robot holds court with their giant ball of yellow barbwire wool, hooked up to… something(?) being teased out from under the stairs (probably best not to ask). A thoroughly zoned-out, long-legged Pop Art party-goer lounges half-plugged in to the painting behind her as a pair of legs flail into shot from the the top of the stairs opposite. We won’t even begin to guess what the chap’s up to in the middle, but the view out of the windows is rather nice, and someone’s already got the hoover out ready to tidy up. All of the Nucleus sleeves are something special, but this particular one? Crikey.
This Be With edition of Roots has been re-mastered from the original Vertigo master tapes, Simon Francis’ mastering working together with Pete Norman’s cut to weave their usual magic with these wonderful recordings. The crazy cover has been restored at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.
December 2012 I showed up totally exhausted in Vancouver BC after touring stupidly and relentlessly for however many straight months and got a job at a call centre raising money for the Red Cross. It was a scent free office but one time this woman cooked a piece of fish in the microwave for 10 minutes on low and hot boxed the whole office - we got sent home early no pay. There was the other woman I named the Call Centre Coltrane because her pitch and routine usually involved improvised flights of fancy that went off in both directions at once somehow landing back down with a credit card number and a donation. I used to sleep under the desk. I was there a few months and at the time I reconnected with John Brennan who I had played with briefly in Montreal at the Mutek Festival. In Montreal John was running an experimental music night at a burrito shop downtown called Garbage Night. While in Vancouver I began connecting with the music scene there and would go hang out with the Shearing Pinx lads who I think lived with Sydney the bass player at the time. I knew Nic and Jer from an AIDS Wolf Tour and was so stoked to get to know them both better. I really fell in love with that era of Vancouver's music scene.
Fast Forward to today. 2024
Actually it was the dying days of 2023 but you get it and John asks if I'll sit in with Earth Ball and I keep thinking about Earth Balance, the vegan butter everyone eats here. I brought my aching bones and my ipads on the beautiful ferry named the Queen of Oak Bay and out to Nanaimo BC, home of the nanaimo bar (a dessert treat - special to this region - that seems to be more popularly found under the weird glass sneeze guards in office building deli's out east in Ontario.... anyhoops ). No one in Nanaimo wants to talk to me about the famous treat. I asked a couple of people. Silence. Nanaimo is like London, Ontario but more fried and by the sea. The town is filled with blown out old sea dawgs with tin coffee pots and loose leaf tobacco, then there's the usual streetfolk you find in this part of the Canadian Pacific Northwest and a bunch of bohemians who I guess have left Vancouver behind - that fine city having become uninhabitable for those not making over 100k a year. And then up the way are all the retirees.
Yup Nanaimo is a strange one. They mined the shit out of this region and Nanaimo is surely haunted by those buried in mining shafts or maimed by the heavy machinery or blown up by accident in the explosives store house. And when Earth Ball fire up the amps in Izzy and Jer's basement you can hear the voices of the ghosts hum through electrical lines and out the speakers, Kellen's hued feedback, Izy's sturdy basslines, Jer's paperbag guitar tone and rumble pack zaps, Liam's (aka the Kid) sheets of sound and Brennen's multidirectional drums.
You wouldn't guess Earth Ball was auto-composing and from what my rat brain can tell - the lyrics are improvised too...Improvising lyrics and singing them is the hardest thing to do in all of music.. Izzy and Jer are pros. And their attitudes are pro too.
The live show is scorched and without naming names they've been known to make headliners nervous. Lucky ones will get to see them live as they tour this beast of a record entitled ‘It’s Yours’ (out May 17th on Upset The Rhythm) and I hope I'm one of them.
But now you, fan of fun but totally fucked up music, have the opportunity to Ball with them thanks to Upset The Rhythm. Enjoy
-Alex Moskos, Montreal QC, Feb 2024
"Here is a tender journey through loss and rebirth — a raw exploration of grief, heartbreak, and the emptiness that follows. It unfolds the fragile moments after losing a beloved friend, the fragile attempts to mend a fractured love, and the sudden rupture that shakes the soul to its core. Amidst the turmoil, anxiety pulses and the body aches with memories too heavy to hold. Yet, slowly, the darkness gives way to light. Breath returns. Support is found in unexpected places. Memories surface through hypnotic whispers, guiding the way back to softness and hope. This is not a story of instant healing, but a delicate awakening — a reckoning with old patterns, a reclaiming of the self, a learning to love differently.
Intimate and universal, fragile yet fiercely alive."
Community Function’s debut release presents four raw, floor-focused cuts from Detroit’s Hood: three originals spanning high-energy breakbeats and atmospheric techno-house and a low-slung, chest-rattling remix from France’s Cruise Control.
Rooted in traditional Middle Eastern music with a percussive background, Hood channels a rhythm-centric mindset through machines to deliver fat grooves, funky basslines and drums that don’t quit.
ANEMOIA opens as a lean, late-night warehouse tool locking a sultry breakbeat over a driving 4/4 pulse, bridging raw machine funk and classic electro with a cheeky vocal sample, a dominant low-slung bassline, and constantly shifting top-end percussion for unvarnished, high-energy club material. XATION shifts into heavy, driving yet atmospheric territory that blurs the line between Detroit Techno and '90s Tech House, held together inside a deeply textured sonic environment that moves between rhythm-centric and melodic structures before a massive breakdown of lush pads and warm strings lifts the floor and grounds it back in groove. PLAYTEST tracks out live with the foundational 707 and SH-101 combo, relying on a single chord, a dystopian vocal sample, and raw, on-the-fly programming to deliver a relentless, hypnotic chugger for the purists. XATION (Cruise Control Remix) closes out with a low, heavy bassline that hits the chest first, dragging bodies into its sway and taking its time to build tension before releasing it.
2026 re-issue, 180g vinyl, remastered from the original tapes
Be With have raided the KPM archives to re-issue another of our favourites from the KPM 1000 series. They say: Hard Afro Pop featuring large percussive rhythm section and front line. We say: One of the best-loved of all the KPM LPs. Afro Rock was recorded at Morgan Studios by John Cameron and Alan Parker in London in 1973 as a collection of stripped-down African rhythms, virtuoso jazz instrumentation, fuzzed up wah wah guitars and spaced out library breaks. The percussion is effortlessly funky, and those flutes so melodic, it’s as if the LP was crafted with the beat lovers of the future firmly in mind. As Cameron himself described it in Unusual Sounds, this is “heavy duty drum-and-bass salsa music”. As with all of our KPM re-issues, the audio for The Road Forward comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. We’ve taken the same care with the sleeves, handing the reproduction duties over to Richard Robinson, the current custodian of KPM’s brand identity. And don’t worry! Those KPM stickers aren’t stuck directly on the sleeves!
Theory Therapy presents “Smoker’s Choice,” the second release and first full-length from Alien D, the project of New York producer Daniel Creahan. Following last year’s “For the Early Hours of a World in Bloom” EP, the record takes on a decidedly more spacious, inward bent, with softened rhythms and arrangements given more room to breathe, folding electronics and acoustic composition into a shifting, ethereal wash.
Featuring a range of collaborations across the record, including guest vocals from his wife Ellen, Creahan’s electronics serve as a base for a series of dubwise interpolations of his collaborators’ work, from washed-out zither and bowed banjo to scorching saxophone leads.
There’s a particular pleasure in the obfuscation here, each instrument buffed into a mass of sound. A sub-bass tone might linger beneath the surface before receding into the haze; a groove can feel steady one moment and subtly shift the next. Repetition becomes less about locking into a pattern than watching it slowly change, like the same view seen through moving water.
“Smoker’s Choice” finds its depth in these small shifts, with dub rhythms, soft-edged electronics and acoustic inflections reaching something dreamlike but tactile, where atmosphere and groove are never quite separate. The record feels like a snapshot of several forces moving in slow motion – a landscape of drifting forms and blurred boundaries, where nothing feels entirely fixed.
4/5 REVIEW IN MOJO: “HEARTBEAT TONES DISSOLVE INTO BEAUTEOUS SHIMMER AND STELLAR SYNTH MEDITATIONS GIVE WAY TO CAREFULLY ORCHESTRATED ELECTRONICA.”
4/5 REVIEW IN UNCUT: “IT'S MASTERFUL, THOUGH IT WILL LEAVE YOU FEELING LIKE A SPECK OF GRAVEL IN A SELF-DESTRUCTING WORLD.”
NME - 8/10 review (w/c 14 October) "He’s mastered this stylistic skittishness and you’ll do well to find much dispute about his talent."
NARC - 5/5 review (October issue) "An immersive soundtrack to your own personal psychodrama."
WIRE - ONE PAGE REVIEW (October issue) "The sentiments it stirs to life are shadowed and ambiguous, simultaneously personal and impersonal. It is also fantastically immersive, dragging the listener into its turbulent undertows, then washing them back on dry land, intact but changed.’’
Virgins was recorded during three periods in 2012, mostly in Reykjavik, Montreal and Seattle, using ensembles in live performance.
While this album remains committed to a painterly form of musical abstraction, it is also a record of restrained composition recorded live primarily in intimate studio rooms. This record employs woodwinds, piano and synthesizers towards an effort at doing what digital music does not do naturally—making music that is out of time, out of tune and out of phase.
Some pieces go off the rails before forming into anything, others eschew crescendo
compositional structures or bombastic density while going sideways instead. It points to the ongoing development of Hecker's work. It suggests illusory memories of drug- hazed jams or communal music performance that may have never been performed or been heard.
It is an offering of music into the void, a gift of digital filler between distractions. Yet hopefully it also stands as a document of the enduring faith in the narcotic, enigmatic function of music as long-form expression.
Mixed by Valgeir Sigurðsson and Tim Hecker. Additional assistance by Randall Dunn and Ben Frost. Mastered by Mandy Parnell at Black Saloon Studios in London, UK.
In a blizzard of crushed breaks and dissonant tones, Shelley Parker lands on Sneaker Social Club with her third album, Screed. Taking a forensic approach to noise sculpture and harmonic interference, the UK-based artist maintains a fringe perspective on the legacy of hardcore-derived dance music, extrapolating the renegade spirit of the earliest innovators into unexplored zones where sound art and sound systems collide.
Parker's path through the underground has been informed by her art school background, equally at home in the parallel world of galleries, installations and institutions as she is in the club. This dualistic dimension to her practice charges her music with an outsider spirit that manifests across 10 striking new productions on Screed. Focusing on the sound over an umbrella concept, it's an album that rejects comfortable, functional formulae in favour of original expression.
There are plenty of forthright structures for DJs and dancers to lock onto, from the militaristic techno thrust and tightly clipped breakbeat loop of 'Relentless' to the splayed boom bap guiding the giddy string sequences of 'Stargazer Lily'. The insistent pulse of 'April' meanwhile offers only the faintest of paths to navigate dense thickets of jerky, swinging static and metallic clamour. 'Georgian Wire' closes the record out on dissembled drum licks with a brittle patina - a scooped out closer with the skeletal remains of a rave dialect that's second nature to someone with as much skin in the game as Parker.
In amongst those tracks lies a wide-ranging tapestry of rhythmic, textural and emotional approaches, from head-knocking beatdowns to billowing clouds of dub techno, angular stabs and industrial smudges. On Screed, Parker proves herself to be peerless and purposeful in her quest to find new forms within the well-worn canon of hardcore and rave.
By the end of 1986, with Miles Davis’ career in resurgence, he was approached by the producers of the movie Siesta, based on the book by Patrice Chaplin and starring Ellen Barkin, Gabriel Byrne and Martin Sheen. Miles agreed to create the music for the movie and immediately asked Marcus Miller to help compose and produce.
As had taken place with Tutu, Miles looked to bassist Marcus Miller—working with keyboardist/programmer Jason Miles—to compose and construct the various tracks, over which he blew his trumpet parts. Matching the music to the mood and tempo of the film’s scenes lay on Miller’s shoulders. The soundtrack came together in early 1987 in Los Angeles, Miller and Jason Miles working in North Hollywood, and Miles driving in from Malibu to play his parts. Miller brought in a number of players to add solos and texture: guitarists John Scofield and Earl Klugh; flautist James Walker, and drummer Omar Hakim.
Dedicated to arranger Gil Evans, the music is greatly influenced by his style with Miller creating an electrified but very warm orchestra to accompany Davis' melodic solos. This was the first of several instances in which Miles Davis, in the twilight of his life, returned to his roots.
Siësta is available as a numbered limited edition of 1000 copies on gold vinyl.
Hallelujah Trial is Tom Roberts (Cranebuilders, Beatowls) and John Canning Yates (Ella Guru): two Liverpool songwriters who knew each other for twenty years before they ever played a note together. Roberts brought a folder of songs to Yates' front room. Yates answered with piano. A weekly ritual of tea and talk became a repertoire, the repertoire became a debut performance at the final La Violette Società, and a few weeks later the songs became an album, recorded in May 2026 in the Gustav Adolf Church, the Scandinavian seamen's church on the edge of Liverpool's Baltic Triangle.
The sound is spacious, stripped back and gloriously melodic: voice, guitar and piano, songs in a room, storytelling that recalls Bill Callahan, Lee Hazlewood and the late Johnny Cash records. Yates' Ella Guru drew a Peel session and 'the best debut album since Marquee Moon' from the Independent on Sunday. Roberts' Cranebuilders recorded two Peel sessions of their own. The pedigree is genuine. The songs are better.
Recorded, mixed and produced by John Canning Yates. Mastered by Jason Mitchell (PJ Harvey, Aldous Harding). Sleeve by Pascal Blua, after a rose from William Turner's herbal of 1568. The closing 'Reprise' carries a hallelujah chorus of friends and family, recorded live in the ch
Renowned London producer, DJ, and Apron Records founder Steven Julien taps into his alter-ego with his new album, 808 PRINCE out 16th October.
Written and produced around iconic drum machines, 808 Prince embraces raw drum programming,
analogue textures, and bass-heavy compositions.The record moves fluidly between peak-time club energy and experimental rhythm studies, exploring the shared languages of techno, house, acid house, grime, and electro. Rather than looking back, the album reimagines the influence of the 808 through Julien’s distinct production style, creating a body of work that is both timeless and forward-looking.
The album features a strong lineup of collaborators, including James Massiah, J. Caesar, Jarren, Touch Sensitive, and KIAH, expanding Julien’s sonic universe while remaining anchored in pure groove and movement. More than an album, 808 PRINCE marks a new chapter in Steven Julien’s artistic practice, bringing together decades of club music influence, hands-on studio craftsmanship, and a lifelong fascination with rhythm into a singular statement designed for dance floors worldwide.
Verdad Y Error (2026) resides in the tension between the thrashing of external noise and beating centred internal calm. Gibrana Cervantes is known for her work across experimental music and contemporary performance, a practice with focussed intensity and surging physicality, often pushing the limits of endurance, presence, and embodiment. A central axis of her performance practice is her ongoing collaboration with acclaimed choreographer Florentina Holzinger, including composing the music for SEA WORLD (2026), Florentina Holzinger’s critically acclaimed installation for the Austrian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Alongside this, she is a core member of the experimental ensemble Amor Muere (Mabe Fratti, Concepción Huerta, and Camille Mandoki). Cervantes maintains an active recording practice that directly informs her live output including her collaboration Memoria (2025), with Colombian Drone Mafia (Nyksan) for Ambie-Tón (Tratratrax),
Verdad y Error is a record of her artistic approach which expands her body and the violin’s horizon of possibility to near breaking point. Cervantes uses a register closely associated with Metal, yet buried deep in the alchemy of these pieces are motifs which hark back to her classical background. Across these pieces the violin is used as an instrument with a fragmented and shifting voice — blurred, repeated, and reshaped through distortion. “Many of these pieces come from images, memories, and sensations that have stayed with me for years. I'm interested in the blurring of what actually happened and what time transforms.” The recordings are built with layers of violin tones which oscillate between recognisable, processed, stretched and shifted, and lay embedded in a frequency stratum of volatile static and noise. “The violin on this album doesn't appear as a clean instrument. I process it, repeat it, distort it, and multiply it until it begins to feel more like memory than melody. Something blurry, shifting, difficult to grasp.” The origins of the album were born at a time when Cervantes was seeking inner calm amidst a relentless external noise, questioning the validity or possibility of memory and its radically changing perception in relation to experience. Subsequent reflection on this contemplative moment allowed her to develop a relational music which moves through memory, erosion, repetition, and emotional ambiguity. Creating a space that feels both intimate and unstable, mercurial with the patina of lived imperfection.
Akin to the unreliable narrator and linguistic instability, each piece functions as an emotional landscape suspended between clarity and confusion. An album which balances melody, brutality, fragility and noise
throughout its sprawling recordings and artwork, which operates as an analogue to the music. The visual world of the album developed in collaboration with Mauro Ventura was compiled across various media with a mix of handwritten texts, burned typography, metallic textures, and fragile physical materials. “I wanted the record to feel tactile and imperfect — something emotionally direct but physically worn.” says Cervantes. More than offering explanations, verdad y error exists as a conversation between memory and disappearance, noise and stillness, truth and error.
David Norland is an Emmy-nominated English composer, known for his scores for drama and documentary, alongside his experimental choral and electronic music. Bringing stories to life through sound, he received critical acclaim for his debut solo album ‘Glam Tear Stain’ (2019) and is set to release follow-up album ‘La Source’ in June 2026 via Denovali Records.
Relocated back to his London home after many years in Los Angeles, and free from years of drug and alcohol problems, recent commissions for two choral works allowed Norland to return to the innocent origin of his musical world, and his experience as a parent prompted a lot of outward reflection. What kind of world are we leaving to our children?
Inspired by his score to the forthcoming silent black and white film ‘Carousel’ (2026), Norland found other music emerging that refused to be ignored. The film’s director opened the door to an entirely free scoring process – no temp music, no expectation, no guidelines, just pure intuitive expression. ‘La Source’ draws on this experience, alongside his childhood as a touring chorister, the honkytonk upright piano in the north-east London bedroom of his early 20s, his early recording experiments with a TASCAM 4-track cassette recorder, and his intense preoccupation with bells, flutes, stone architecture, and mysticism.
From the haunting, choral beauty of ‘E-Car Soul’ to the breezy album title track, Norland blends minimalist classical structures with electronics. A unified tapestry of blended voices, harmonies and textures, ‘La Source’ is a deeply emotional and melancholic journey for Norland. “In the end, I’m looking to find meaning through the music, like when I was a kid singing in choirs. But I get the most sense of meaning through transcendent experiences, rather than anything intellectual or dogmatic. I have to feel it, not think it. I’m trying to make work that’s luminous, wondrous, shimmering and strange, so I can keep having those experiences,” says Norland.
On his inspiration for the album, Norland adds, “I love making patterns in things and finding patterns. That’s why minimalism was so enticing to me, the patterns are so explicit. I love word play and anagrams. The big sadness coming through as I was making the record is this clarity over the future of my kids. Everything else is a complete distraction. This incredible nurturing planet and its ecosystem are being rapidly destroyed, and the forces destroying it are relentless and punitive. And they seem to be fine with consigning our children to live in an ever-more-hostile wasteland. You can’t pretend that’s not coming, if you do I think you’re lying to yourself. And perhaps eventually it will be the fact that people love their kids that will stir wider fear and action. It’s hard to think of anything more connected to the idea of spirit.” The result is the reflective, ecstatic, mystical and sad world of ‘La Source.’
Norland’s screen work includes the award-winning documentary Anvil! The Story Of Anvil (2008), directed by Sacha Gervasi, and since 2010, he has composed much of the music for US broadcasting giant ABC’s primetime news documentaries. His work for ABC is broadcast in the US and around the world on a daily basis.
In 2012, he was the music supervisor for Hitchcock (2012) featuring Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren & Scarlett Johansson and in 2017, he teamed up once again with Gervasi for the score to November Criminals starring Chloe Moretz and Ansel Elgort. The following year, he composed the score for the Emmy-nominated HBO film My Dinner With Herve, starring Peter Dinklage and Jamie Dornan.
Norland will be performing the score of Carousel later this year, and the score itself will be a forthcoming release on Denovali. 2026 will also see the release of documentary All Permits Secured, a valentine to the history of EDM, featuring Norland’s score.
Seven years after 2019’s ‘The Dusk Loom’, Petrels returns with a pair of new albums, Infangthief and Outfangthief. The first of these releases, Infangthief, was originally written and recorded in 2022, before being reworked in light of a subsequent album, Outfangthief, due to be released later this year.
The two albums act as companion pieces, mirrors revealing facets of the other, overlapping in sound and subject matter. Though Outfangthief may have been written after Infangthief, it is no mere follow-up, with it's own creation causing a re-visiting and re-working of the earlier album, which in turn informed the writing of its twin.
Taking their titles from Old English legal terms ("thief seized without" and "thief seized within”), the central thread running through both albums is the illusion of assumed human authority - that which is given and that which is taken by force. With Western society seemingly hellbent on willingly embracing a brutally destructive economic model (even in its death throes), these albums attempt - in their own small way - to undertake the essential task of imagining alternative ways of being.
Petrels is the solo project of musician and artist, Oliver Barrett. Since releasing his debut, Haeligewielle, in 2011 (#9 in A Closer Listen's Best Albums of the Decade), Petrels has toured across Europe and shared a stage with the likes of Jóhann Jóhannsson, Tim Hecker, FIRE!, Nate Young (Wolf Eyes), Trouble Books, Demdike Stare, Nadja, and Hans-Joachim Roedelius (Cluster). Working from his home in Somerset, UK, Barrett has released numerous albums through his Floating Limb imprint, as well as mixing and/or mastering hundreds of releases for the likes of Keiji Haino, Loren Connors & Alan Licht, Judith Hamann, Incapacitants, Mette Rasmussen & Sofia Jernberg, Yasunao Tone and more
“Petrels sidesteps the chilliness found in much of the music of his peers, replacing it instead with an almost spiritual ecstasy, his ravishing synths and almost choral vocal treatments calling out in cosmic, wide eyed wonder at the universe.” – Paul Margree, Louder Than War
Trumpeter, rapper and sonic wanderer Pan Amsterdam has carved out one of the most distinctive voices operating at the intersection of jazz and hip-hop today.
Pan Amsterdam is a musical enigma wrapped in an enduring riddle. His creator is a jazz musician from Houston who’s found fame working with Detroit punk rock God, Iggy Pop, and British indie royalty, Metronomy, and now makes shapeshifting, adventurous hip hop out of the music’s spiritual home, New York.
He’s an irreverent character born out of frustration and named after a misunderstanding, yet one who’s on the verge of releasing his fifth album of truth-slaying, genre-crossing rhymes and beats. The result is a catalogue that feels both deeply rooted in Black American musical tradition and completely untethered by convention.
Pan Amsterdam returns with ‘Panarama’, his fourth full length album and a bold reassertion of his hip hop identity, released via Def Pressé. Created by Houston-born, New York-based musician and composer Leron Thomas, the record finds Pan Amsterdam embracing the harder edges of his sound while continuing to blur the lines between jazz improvisation, abstract rap, punk attitude, and experimental production
Written as a response to contemporary life and the endless cycle of information, conflict and distraction that defines modern culture, ‘Panarama’ unfolds as a stream of consciousness journey through hyper-normalised realities. Across sixteen tracks, Thomas navigates social commentary, personal reflection, absurdist humour, and cultural critique, delivering his observations with the same spontaneity and freedom that have become central to the Pan Amsterdam project
Lead single ‘Szechuan Beef’, produced by acclaimed collaborator 1FS, serves as one of the album’s defining statements. Built around Thomas’ signature free-flowing delivery, the track explores the overwhelming nature of contemporary life, where domestic conflict, social division, entertainment scandals and political discourse become flattened into a constant stream of content.
In Thomas’ own words: “My stream of consciousness style comes quite naturally to me due to the conditioning of scroll down culture where everything, no matter how minor or extreme, is hyper normalised.”
Elsewhere, the track ‘Vanilla Ice’ was written in response to widely publicised ICE killings and the speed at which tragedy is absorbed and forgotten within online culture. Thomas channels the anxiety and emotional disorientation of endlessly consuming information, allowing his thoughts to unfold in real time as social commentary collides with everyday digital noise. The result is both deeply personal and sharply observational, reflecting the fragmented reality of modern life. Other album highlights include the cinematic, Interpol-esque opener - ‘Old Friend’ complete with shimmering guitar lines and an far-reaching introspective, no-filter vocal as Thomas teams up with Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and Brad Truax (Interpol) across multiple tracks, often the production traverses left-field indie territory, but always maintaining Pan Amsterdam’s unique musical identity throughout. For the hip hop purists and beats lovers there are plenty of riches to discover from the clever nostalgic sample flips of ‘Cutlery’, the sleepy lofi of ‘Shuriken’ and the wonky LA beat scene / early Flying Lotus era beats of ‘Drunken Noodles’ - all boasting quick witted lyricism. ‘Deep Fried Shiney Things’ explores early electro and industrial sonics while album finisher is an upbeat new wave / indie band cut which sees Thomas take a break from rapping, but of course never letting up on the sharp observations nonetheless
While his previous record explored more alternative territory, ‘Panarama’ marks a deliberate return to rap, as Pan Amsterdam explains:
“I just wanted to do a rap album again.I enjoyed making my last album, but I felt like rapping again. I like to have the freedom to move in between musical worlds that suit the current state I’m in. Frequency accommodating frequency.”
This philosophy runs throughout the album. Tracks move effortlessly between jazz-inflected arrangements, experimental beats, punk energy and underground hip hop aesthetics, allowing ideas to evolve organically rather than conforming to traditional structures. Thomas describes himself as an improviser first and foremost: “I think like an improvisor. That’s how my albums pretty much move. It’s improvisation.”
Featuring additional contributions from Spice Programmers, AnOtter and Mr. Shn, ‘Panarama’ presents a wide-ranging cast of collaborators while remaining firmly rooted in Thomas’ singular creative vision. The record embraces contradiction, humour and unpredictability, capturing fleeting thoughts and observations with the same freedom and spontaneity that define jazz improvisation itself.
A musical enigma wrapped in an enduring riddle, Pan Amsterdam has built a reputation as one of contemporary music’s true outsiders. The project emerged from frustration, experimentation and artistic freedom, with Thomas drawing equally from his background as a jazz musician and his collaborations with artists including Iggy Pop and Metronomy. Operating from New York while carrying the spirit of Houston’s musical heritage, Pan Amsterdam has developed a distinctive voice that sits comfortably between avant-garde jazz, underground hip hop and experimental music.
Reuniting with Def Pressé for ‘Panarama’, Thomas explores what he describes as the more hardcore side of his artistic identity:
“They let me do anything and everything I wanna do so long as it’s on audio, and I need that freedom. What may verbally be perceived as vulgar to one group of people may be very thoughtful and a poignant description of the times that we’re presently in, so I’m glad that I’m part of a label home that understands that.”
"Things are looking better than ever for GENERATION STEEL! The quintet from Wetzlar/Germany, has reinvented itself on all fronts and is set to take the music world by storm with its upcoming third studio album, Steelmachine.
With the addition of guitar wizard and songwriter Thilo Herrmann - who made his debut in 1985 on the FAITHFUL BREATH classic “Skol” and has written heavy metal history throughout his career with RISK (including “Ratman”), RUNNING WILD (including “Black Hand Inn”, “Masquerade”), and GRAVE DIGGER (including “Ballads of a Hangman”) - bandleader and guitarist Jack the Riffer now has a living legend by his side.
There has also been a change behind the mic: from now on, Swedish vocalist Mike Stark - who currently sings for the Argentinian band FEANOR and the Swedish group STORMBURNER - is setting the tone. His powerful, high-pitched yet dynamic voice gives the new tracks an absolute seal of quality.
GENERATION STEEL stands for authentic, traditional, '80s-influenced heavy metal, combining the styles of ACCEPT and JUDAS PRIEST.
The ten neck-breaking tracks on the band's third full-length album were produced by Piet Sielck (IRON SAVIOR), who has previously refined classics by GAMMA RAY, GRAVE DIGGER, HEADHUNTER, STORMWARRIOR and BLIND GUARDIAN.
The cover artwork, designed by Gyula Havancsak (who has also created artworks for POWERWOLF, ACCEPT and BLIND GUARDIAN, among others), is equally eye-catching.
Anyone who loves honest, traditional German metal will quickly embrace “Steelmachine”, because the quintet not only takes us back to the '80s, but also shows just how timeless true metal is. Ten home runs, including the four singles “Steelmachine”, “Witches Cross”, “Wings of Fire” and “Fields of Pain”.
Stay Metal – Stay Steel!"
The threeway combo you never knew you needed. Sam Binga, Machinedrum and Cesco built the raw bones of these tunes across a single morning in LA, overlooking MacArthur Park, in an intense session that saw them throwing live Bingerian vocals, raw Brazilian shrimp-sellers and tweaked-out Acid lines into the melting pot.
Further sessions between Highland Park and Stokes Croft saw these bare bones jams get fleshed out into the four genre-bending tracks that make up the Niche Flex EP, all of which have been tested out in clubs and festivals across the world, and which land this September via Binga's Pineapple Records imprint, on both vinyl and digital formats.
While obviously handy in the studio, Team MACESGA (as nobody calls them) also can operate a DJ booth to a reasonably high standard, as witnessed at the raucous Pineapple Takeover at the Beatport HQ in LA, and are available to showcase their Transatlantic Threesome at a Quality Music Venue or Devious Fetish Spot near you.
Fontaines D.C. announce their fifth studio album, Dopamine Chamber, released on 16th October via XL Recordings. Produced by James Ford, it is the follow-up to 2024’s UK platinum-certified Romance – and the sound of a band moving decisively away from the guitar language of their early records into something colder, stranger and more synthetic. It arrives today alongside lead single “Marianne” and its accompanying video, directed by Dave Meyers.
Dopamine Chamber arrives like a constellation behind undulating sighs of smog: potent balladry, anthemic melodies glinting through the murk. In a world tipping towards collapse, it asks how pleasure mutates amid peril—and what our pursuit of it reveals about us. Across the album, Fontaines D.C. – Grian Chatten, Carlos O’Connell, Conor Curley, Conor Deegan and Tom Coll – move between gratification and dread until the two meld together, reflecting the overwhelm of artificial intelligence, environmental collapse and political violence all riding the same algorithms as memes, jokes and celebrity culture. “The album itself is a dopamine chamber,” says Chatten. “You step inside and we test these different mind- or mood-altering pieces of music on you.”
Where Romance held its tension in balance, this record tips it. “I think Romance was maybe 60 per cent human and 40 per cent corrupted by automation, and a loss of feeling,” says Chatten, who spent time among the faded grandeur of Venice, Vienna and Sicily in search of lyrical inspiration. “This one feels more like 60 per cent corrupted — the mask is wearing the face a little more.” He resisted any pull towards easy optimism: “I felt it would be more powerful to leave the hope out and reflect the ugliness honestly. This one needed to feel more like a catastrophic warning.”
“Our albums have always questioned a sense of place,” says bassist Conor Deegan. “First Dublin, then being away from Dublin, and then trying to find the romance elsewhere. On this record, the question became: where do you escape to?” Into the self, perhaps – or hedonism, fantasy, cosmetic perfection, eternal youth or the endless refresh of a screen.
Fontaines D.C. have spent five albums refusing to repeat themselves – from Dogrel (2019) through A Hero’s Death (2020), the No. 1 Skinty Fia (2022) and the anarchic, kaleidoscopic Romance (2024). Dopamine Chamber is their most radical turn yet: cold synthesiser tones, marching drums, samples and triggers, several songs with no guitars at all, and the swooning strings of 1960s Italian pop pulled into something synthetic. For guitarist Conor Curley, the aim was to break from the band’s own reference points: “I was trying to find stuff that pointed into the future.” It was made with James Ford between London, the English countryside and Palermo, where Chatten recorded vocals in a makeshift booth built from mattresses and cushions.
“There’s a poignant sense of us being on the brink of some other kind of form of humanity, or non-humanity,” says Chatten. For their fifth album, Fontaines D.C. have built the chamber. What happens to the listener inside it will be the experiment.
"Broken Home"tells the story of an escape that doesn"t really lead anywhere. The song depicts leaving a dysfunctional home hoping to find something better,only to end up in a worldthat feels just as chaotic and empty. The journey takes on a surreal tone, filled with striking, symbolic images: glittering but hollow figures, cheap messiahs, plastic saints-signs of a society that builds superficial, interchangeable idols. Surrounded by a hyperconnected crowd, there"s still a deep sense of isolation running through everything. The city itself feels saturated with excess, addiction, and illusion, where even moments of "cleanliness" or redemption seem fake, as if something as simple as rain could wash everything away. At its core, the song explores alienation and disillusionment, suggesting that escaping your past doesn"t mean much if the world you run into is just as broken.
TV Star aus dem Raum Seattle-Tacoma präsentieren mit ,Music For Heads" ihr Debütalbum und verbinden darin Psychedelic Rock, Jangle Pop, Garage Rock, Shoegaze und klassischen Indie-Rock zu einem warmen, zeitlosen Sound. Inspiriert von Bands wie The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Mojave 3 sowie der alternativen Gitarrenmusik der 1990er Jahre, vereint die Band eingängige Melodien mit atmosphärischen Gitarrenlandschaften und treibenden Rhythmen. Die fünfköpfige Gruppe entwickelte ihren Sound über mehrere Jahre hinweg und schafft auf den zehn Songs eine gelungene Mischung aus psychedelischer Tiefe, Pop-Sensibilität und roher Garage-Energie. Mit ,Music For Heads" liefert TV Star ein ebenso nostalgisches wie eigenständiges Debüt, das klassische Indie-Einflüsse in einen frischen, modernen Kontext setzt.
Injury Reserve was originally a trio, consisting of rappers Ritchie With a T and Stepa J. Groggs and producer Parker Corey. Their mixtapes Live From The Dentist (released in 2015) and Floss (2016) earned them underground buzz, and they capitalized on the attention with their debut album in 2019, the eponymous Injury Reserve.
The group's momentum was put on hold when in June of 2020 Groggs tragically passed away. By the Time I Get to Phoenix was largely completed ahead of Groggs' passing with his contributions, and will be the first Injury Reserve music to be released since their eponymous debut album. Ritchie and Corey took the past year to complete the record, and the title has meaning past simply referencing Injury Reserve's hometown. It's an homage to a song that has been covered countless times, which is in line with Injury Reserve's ethos and approach when it comes to creating music. The group pulls from several styles and eras of hip hop, but runs each one through the Injury Reserve lens, putting their own distinct and cohesive sound across their references. Nowhere is that dynamic more present than on By the Time I Get to Phoenix.
Fila Brazillia is the name of the decidedly singular collaboration between Steve Cobby and David McSherry, born in the coastal town of Hull in the UK. Bending—and often outright breaking—more or less every rule in the book, they've been effortlessly blending deep house, downtempo, breaks, ambient, and wry humour, sampling anything they can get their hands on. Their first outing was the 1990 single-sided white label 12" Mermaids, an airy deep house tune featuring a cheeky sample taken from the theme from Robison Crusoe. Since then, they've released a boat load of singles, seven highly regarded full-lengths, and more than 60 remixes for artists such as Radiohead, Busta Rhymes, and Lamb.
Black Market Gardening is their third full-length and marks a creative high-point for the duo. Over nine tracks, Fila Brazillia guides you through hazy, bass-heavy trip hop, cosmic synth lines, brisk breakbeats, funky guitar riffs, and even touch of drum 'n bass (it's the mid-1990s after all...). There's just so much to take in, leaving the listener wondering where the samples end and the live instrumentation begins. Yes, Fila Brazillia's output fits squarely within the chill-out tradition prevalent in the UK at that point in time, but their unmatched creativity and boundless approach to the studio process makes their music truly timeless.
Black Market Gardening is available as a 30th anniversary edition for the first time since 2001.
Overleaf is the new album by Paris-based musician Théo Martin, following Anti Atlas, released on LAAPS two years ago.
Overleaf was recorded over the course of a few intense months in 2026. Every recording made during this period eventually found its place within the album, transformed, fragmented and reassembled, sometimes far removed from its original form. The process gradually became a kind of puzzle, built from accumulated sounds, accidents and imperfections.
Tape remains at the heart of the album, but this time it is intertwined with a more extensive use of digital tools, opening new paths for transformation and layering.
Overleaf is about carrying what remains into what is yet to come.
Richly progressive folk-informed heavy post-rock and a sick burn to boot. - The Obelisk Rebecca Vernon (SubRosa), the driving creative force behind THE KEENING returns with her second album, Devotion. The new album sees Vernon and company releasing one of the year's most evocative albums; a truly compelling mix of slow burning, ethereal post-rock, folk, goth, and soaring doom. For Vernon, the writing process for Devotion took place in two starkly different environments. It ranged from the contemplative solitude of a friend’s cabin in a deserted Idaho ski resort, to the hectic reality of a 55+ senior living community in Spokane, Washington, where she was staying with her father. This shift resulted in an explosive album with a subtle duality that resonates throughout its most poignant moments. Take the lead single, "A Little Bit of Blood," for example. Quiet, acoustic guitar strums give way for Vernon's haunting vocals, before the backing instrumentation explodes into a soaring chorus reminding the listener that sometimes the best paths taken are the most difficult. "You drew a little bit of blood to show me Just a little bit of blood to make me see It took a little bit of blood to wake me Just a little wound in the night to free me" In a 2024 interview with Decibel Magazine, Vernon discussed the drastic shift in heavy music's themes in recent years, highlighting a willingness to convey raw emotion: "Metal is beginning to share more vulnerable things, more confessional things. Metal has almost become a safe place to talk about those things. People are being open with their struggles. Twenty years ago, they wouldn't have." Devotion lays these emotional confessions bare and showcases a truly bright burn. Devotion was recorded in April 2022, again at Hallowed Halls in Portland, with Billy Anderson and Nathan Carson featured in their same roles as heard on Little Bird. Once again, Vernon showcases her writing prowess, having a heavy hand on all the instrumentation for Devotion; Vernon played drums, guitar, piano, organ, and hammered dulcimer, and provided most of the vocals on both albums, with a few guest vocalists added to the mix.
Since starting Bytes in 2019 we’ve fielded a lot of messages along the lines of, “Is this ever going to be released on vinyl?” The bulk of these requests have concerned remixes of artists on Bytes done by Andy Bell (RIDE/Oasis) under his electronic alter-ego GLOK. And on realising that he has done four for us now (Franz Kirmann, Steve Queralt & Michael Smith, Herrmann Kristoffersen and Seagoth), it seemed silly not to compile them all together on a four-track 12” EP. The super limited edition 12” is on black wax and comes in the original Bytes house bag with a vinyl sticker containing all the release info signed by Andy. Edition of 250. No repress.
A1. SOLITARY (GLOK REMIX) - FRANZ KIRMANN
The first remix Andy ever did for Bytes was a radical reworking of ‘Solitary’, the towering ambient closer to Franz Kirmann’s ‘Madrapour’ album, which was released on Bytes in 2019. Andy’s remix is a heartbreaking, melancholic 3am banger. This is one for fans of Four Tet and Jon Hopkins, a slowburner with billowing plumes of distortion that builds towards an ecstatic rush of a finale.
A2. CHALDEAN ORACLE (GLOK REMIX) - STEVE QUERALT & MICHAEL SMITH
In 2023 Andy took ‘Chaldean Oracle’, a track from the collaboration between his RIDE bandmate Steve Queralt and the writer Michael Smith, down the K-Hole, eschewing Michael’s vocal almost entirely and turning in a Detroit dub-techno monster with echoes of Bandulu and Carl Craig in its shimmering melodies, eerie distortion and pounding drums.
‘Gone Gold’ was the title track of the excellent second album by ambient-techno group Herrmann Kristoffersen (2021). Andy taps deep into the dub at the heart of the original, with echoes of John Carpenter's soundtracks and his own extended electronic excursions under the GLOK moniker.
B2. ETERNITY (GLOK REMIX) - SEAGOTH
It was Andy who brought Seagoth to the attention of Bytes when he played ‘Eternity’ on his Soho Radio show in 2020. It all came full circle when Bytes released ‘Eternity’ as a single in 2021, with a stunning remix by Andy in his GLOK guise on the flip. Andy strips the track back to showcase the resonant vocal in all its glory before the blissed-out outro that makes full use of the track’s dancefloor-friendly drum break.
Folksongs and Ballads by Tia Blake & Her Folk-Group, is more than just a “lost classic”. As clear and honest as can be, Folksongs and Ballads is a magnetic record, a refuge like only Nick Drake, Nico, and a few others have been able to create. A graceful, delicately minimalist approach to classic Appalachian and British folk songs.The perfect balance between melancholy and daydream. Originally released only in France in 1971, Ici Bientôt is very pleased to present the first-ever reissue on vinyl.
When she recorded her only album, Tia Blake was nineteen years old and had just arrived in Paris a year and a half beforehand. She spent most of her time at Disco’Thé, a record shop in the Latin Quarter, a free space, peaceful and inspiring, a hub for students as well as the local artistic community.
There, Tia would occasionally sing—when she managed to overcome her shyness. Two young guitarists who were passionate fans of folk music and regulars at the shop began to accompany her, forming “Her Folk Group.” One year later, they cut 11 tracks at Pierre Barouh’s Studios Saravah.
Folksongs and Ballads is composed of traditional tunes that have been covered many times, but they’re not the best-known folk standards. A collection of stories ranging from the Middle Ages to the 1960s, bringing together sublimely doleful ballads, lamentations for a lost lover, and an unexpected, brilliant version of the road anthem “Plastic Jesus.”
Tia Blake's haunting, unaffected voice captivates and comforts us, wrapping us in its cool embrace. Meanwhile, the tasteful, stripped-down, mellow acoustic arrangements provided by the guitarists, reminiscent of Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, occasionally supported by a kena flute, have created the space Tia Blake needed to reinvent these traditional songs.
Folksongs and Ballads is a timeless record, deep and unique, a longtime companion for repeated listening, in the vein of works by Sibylle Baier, Bridget St. John and Vashti Bunyan.
After decades contributing to records where a single riff could transform a dancefloor, Charlie May turns that instinct inward on Trusted Farms.
For over thirty years, Charlie has occupied a position that seems increasingly rare in electronic music: the musician’s musician, the person behind the machines, the extra pair of hands in the studio, and quite often, the person responsible for the melody you end up carrying around in your head for weeks on end.
Alongside Duncan Forbes as Spooky, Charlie helped shape some of the most important electronic music to emerge from the UK in the early ’90s. That partnership would also sow the seeds for one of Sasha’s defining records: the central riff behind Xpander began life in Spooky’s live material, before Charlie brought the idea into the studio with Sasha and helped transform it into one of electronic music’s most enduring anthems.
Listen closely to Charlie’s work and there’s a particular instinct that keeps returning: knowing when a simple synth line is enough. Knowing which note needs to change. Knowing when repetition stops being repetition and starts becoming the entire reason a track works. More recently, as one-third of Quiet Places on ASIP, he’s taken those same instincts somewhere looser — beatless, gridless and led by improvisation.
Trusted Farms puts those instincts front and centre.
Tiny melodic phrases appear and refuse to leave. Synth lines repeat just long enough to become lodged in your head. Parts rub against each other without being tidied into submission. There’s a sharpness and directness to it all amongst the purposeful analogue warmth.
Some of these tracks feel almost ridiculously simple at first. But simplicity is difficult when you’ve spent decades learning every possible way to complicate something. Many of the parts on Trusted Farms were performed live with minimal editing. A synth line might be doubled, distorted, re-recorded and pushed back through another piece of equipment, but it remains the same idea. Instead of filling the gaps, Charlie works on the weight and character of what is already there. The melodies become physical; slightly worn around the edges.
For someone whose fingerprints can be found across some genuinely monumental moments in electronic music, Charlie has spent decades knowing what to add.
Trusted Farms is about knowing exactly what to leave alone.
Available on black 12”, mastered by Andreas Lupo LOOP-O Lubich and featuring artwork by Peter Skwiot Smith,
Für die Feier des Miteinanders! Mit ihrem zweiten Album "Wenn man das Licht zurückverfolgt, weiß man, wie alt die Sterne sind" gelingt WIM ein eindrucksvoller Schritt nach vorn. Die Hamburger Künstlerin verbindet erstmals ihre poetische Tiefe mit einem neuen, synth-poppigen Sound, der Raum für Leichtigkeit und Bewegung schafft. In zehn Songs erzählt sie von prägenden Momenten, Verlust, Erinnerung und dem, was Menschen im Verborgenen formt. Dabei entsteht ein Album, das Empathie einfordert, ohne zu beschweren - und das zeigt, dass selbst schwere Themen tanzbar sein können. Produziert von Tobias Siebert (Kettcar, Enno Bunger), klingt die Platte organisch und frisch - unverkennbar WIM, aber mutiger und offener als je zuvor, fast schon moderner, urbaner XL-Pop: Die Songs werden rhythmusgetriebener, luftiger und teils konsequent vom Beat getragen. Und wenn es inhaltlich doch zu schwer wird, tanzt WIM im Studio zu Paula Hartmann, hört Chappell Roan und lässt sich von Wir Sind Helden inspirieren. LP farbiges Coke Bottle Green Vinyl (140g), CD Digipak mit Posterbooklet.
THEODOR are a musical export from Darmstadt who are now well known far beyond the insider scene, enchanting audiences worldwide with their atmospheric, slightly psychedelic-sounding sweet soul. GERD JANSON, meanwhile, whoseNew Release Information musical roots also lie in Darmstadt, has been sending house, techno and disco
ravers into ecstasy worldwide as a DJ for decades. The @robertjohnsonclub resident also runs the @runningbackrecords label, which has been in existence since 2002, and regularly tinkers with electronic productions and remixes alongside his sound engineer @lopazz_mixmastering.
Sundae Soul, a Darmstadt-based label, has now, in a mathematical masterstroke, put two and two together and brought THEODOR and GERD JANSON together musically. It just had to be done. The result is a 7” single featuring the boogie-style track “Your Love” (to be found on THEODOR’s second album “Holocene”) on one side and the “Your Love – Gerd Janson 7” Mix” on the other. The term “mix” is almost misleading in this context. For his remix, Gerd has taken “Your Love” apart on the musical dissection table, filleted it and put it back together completely from scratch. The remix builds on the original with great skill and squeezes a technohouse club hit out of the producer-DJ’s repertoire.
We all agree – this one’s got to go straight into the club. So let’s get down to business and grab that vinyl.
This album was born from a long-held, quiet ambition. I always wanted to navigate the entire journey of a record – from the first written note to the final mix. Winterglare is the result of finally stepping into that journey. Recorded in my home, the process was inextricably linked to the life happening just outside the door. Being surrounded by the daily routine and family created a unique tension; time felt precious, limited, and often fleeting. At first, finding mental stillness felt impossible. Yet as the winter deepened, a shift occurred. I found a place of unexpected calmness, where the music began to float, and the domestic noises around me became an accompaniment rather than an interruption. What began as an idea for a piano album expanded to include the Wurlitzer electric piano and the Gigster vibraphone. Some pieces evolved into experiments with percussion, accordion, and finally, the Roland tape echo and field recordings. Throughout this growth, the vision remained: to preserve a sense of space and time, allowing the true ambience of the moment to breathe. My hope is that these compositions find a place in your own quiet moments. I hope they offer your mind and soul the same sense of peace they eventually granted me during those cold months.— Volodja Brodsky
