quête:tender

Dedicated to Nora Forster, John Lydon's wife of nearly five decades, who passed away on April 5th 2023! Public Image Ltd. (PiL) announce their 11th studio album and first album in 8 years, End of World, to be released on 11th August 2023 on PiL Official via Cargo UK Distribution, followed by a 37-date UK and European Tour. The band began writing and recording End of World in 2018, during their 40th anniversary tour.

After The Great Pause, the band regrouped in the studio and "there was just this massive explosion of ideas," Lydon says. The result finds PiL set to release 13 of the best tracks they have ever written. The announcement comes with the release of new single Penge, which John describes as, "something of a mediaeval Viking epic." Earlier this year, PiL released Hawaii, the most personal piece of songwriting and accompanying artwork that John Lydon has ever shared. The song is a love letter to John's late wife, Nora, who had been living with Alzheimer's since long and sadly passed away on April 5th this year.

A pensive, personal yet universal love song that has resonated with many since its release in January, the song sees John reflecting on their lifetime well spent and in particular one of their happiest moments together in Hawaii. The powerfully emotional ballad is as close as John will ever come to bearing his soul. "It is dedicated to everyone going through tough times on the journey of life, with the person they care for the most," John says. "It's also a message of hope that ultimately love conquers all. As I say in the song, all journeys end and some begin again, but this is the beginning of a new journey with us. And, oddly enough, as bad as Alzheimer's is, there are great moments of tenderness between us. And I tried to capture that in the song." Celebrating their 40-year anniversary in 2018, the band is widely regarded as one of the most innovative and influential bands of all time. PiL's music and vision has earned them 5 UK Top 20 singles and 5 UK Top 20 albums.

With a shifting line-up and unique sound - fusing rock, dance, folk, pop and dub - Lydon guided the band from their debut album First Issue in 1978 through to 1992's That What Is Not, before a 17 year hiatus. Lydon reactivated PiL in 2009, touring extensively worldwide and releasing two critically acclaimed albums This is PiL in 2012 followed by their 10th studio album What The World Needs Now_ in 2015, which peaked at number 29 in the official UK album charts and picked up fantastic acclaim from both press and public. (The album also peaked at number 3 in the official UK indie charts and number 4 in the official UK vinyl charts). What The World Needs Now_ was self-funded by PiL and released on their own label 'PiL Official' via Cargo UK Distribution.

In 2018 PiL celebrated their 40th anniversary with a career-spanning box set and documentary, both called 'The Public Image Is Rotten', and a 32-date UK/Europe tour, plus dates in Japan. John Lydon, Lu Edmonds, Scott Firth and Bruce Smith continue as PiL. They are the longest stable line-up in the band's history and continue to challenge and thrive. PiL will be touring the UK and Europe in September and October 2023.

Dedicated to Nora Forster, John Lydon's wife of nearly five decades, who passed away on April 5th 2023! Public Image Ltd. (PiL) announce their 11th studio album and first album in 8 years, End of World, to be released on 11th August 2023 on PiL Official via Cargo UK Distribution, followed by a 37-date UK and European Tour. The band began writing and recording End of World in 2018, during their 40th anniversary tour.

After The Great Pause, the band regrouped in the studio and "there was just this massive explosion of ideas," Lydon says. The result finds PiL set to release 13 of the best tracks they have ever written. The announcement comes with the release of new single Penge, which John describes as, "something of a mediaeval Viking epic." Earlier this year, PiL released Hawaii, the most personal piece of songwriting and accompanying artwork that John Lydon has ever shared. The song is a love letter to John's late wife, Nora, who had been living with Alzheimer's since long and sadly passed away on April 5th this year.

A pensive, personal yet universal love song that has resonated with many since its release in January, the song sees John reflecting on their lifetime well spent and in particular one of their happiest moments together in Hawaii. The powerfully emotional ballad is as close as John will ever come to bearing his soul. "It is dedicated to everyone going through tough times on the journey of life, with the person they care for the most," John says. "It's also a message of hope that ultimately love conquers all. As I say in the song, all journeys end and some begin again, but this is the beginning of a new journey with us. And, oddly enough, as bad as Alzheimer's is, there are great moments of tenderness between us. And I tried to capture that in the song." Celebrating their 40-year anniversary in 2018, the band is widely regarded as one of the most innovative and influential bands of all time. PiL's music and vision has earned them 5 UK Top 20 singles and 5 UK Top 20 albums.

With a shifting line-up and unique sound - fusing rock, dance, folk, pop and dub - Lydon guided the band from their debut album First Issue in 1978 through to 1992's That What Is Not, before a 17 year hiatus. Lydon reactivated PiL in 2009, touring extensively worldwide and releasing two critically acclaimed albums This is PiL in 2012 followed by their 10th studio album What The World Needs Now_ in 2015, which peaked at number 29 in the official UK album charts and picked up fantastic acclaim from both press and public. (The album also peaked at number 3 in the official UK indie charts and number 4 in the official UK vinyl charts). What The World Needs Now_ was self-funded by PiL and released on their own label 'PiL Official' via Cargo UK Distribution.

In 2018 PiL celebrated their 40th anniversary with a career-spanning box set and documentary, both called 'The Public Image Is Rotten', and a 32-date UK/Europe tour, plus dates in Japan. John Lydon, Lu Edmonds, Scott Firth and Bruce Smith continue as PiL. They are the longest stable line-up in the band's history and continue to challenge and thrive. PiL will be touring the UK and Europe in September and October 2023.

The anticipation is there in Elizabeth Stokes’ solo guitar riff under the opening lines of “I’m Not Getting Excited”: a frenetic, driving force daring a packed Auckland Town Hall to do exactly the opposite of what the track title suggests.

As the opener of The Beths’ Auckland, New Zealand, 2020 expands to include the full band, the crowd screeches and bellows. It’s a collective exhalation, in one of the few countries where live music is still possible.

The album title, and film of the same name, deliberately include the date and location, lead guitarist Jonathan Pearce says. “That’s the sensational part of what we actually did.” In a mid-pandemic world, playing to a heaving, enraptured home crowd feels miraculous.

In March 2020, everything seemed on track for another huge year for The Beths. Home after an 18-month northern hemisphere tour, they had just finished recording sophomore album Jump Rope Gazers and were primed for more extensive touring. But within days, New Zealand’s lockdown split the band between three separate houses. All touring was cancelled.

“It was existentially bad,” Stokes says. As well as worrying about economic survival, they lost something crucial to the band’s identity: live performance. “It's a huge part of how we see ourselves... What does it mean, if we can't play live?”

The band found an outlet through live-streaming, returning to the do-it-yourself mentality of their early days to connect with a global audience. The album and film have their genesis in that urge to share the now-rare experience of a live show, as widely as possible.

The fuzzy-round-the-edges live-streams pointed the way aesthetically. Native birds, wonkily crafted by the band from tissue paper and wire, festoon the venue’s cavernous ceiling while house plants soften and disguise the imposing pipes of an organ. The presence of the film crew isn’t disguised: much of the camerawork is handheld; full of fast zooms and pans.

With much of the material still fresh, the band was less focused on re-invention than playing “a good, fast rock show”, Pearce says. The tempo is up on crowd favourites “Whatever” and “Future Me Hates Me” (released as a live single on its third anniversary) as both band and audience feed off the mutual energy in the room.

Certain songs have taken on special resonance post-Covid. Pearce has found “Out Of Sight”, a tender rumination on long-distance relationships, hits particularly hard with live audiences.

Album closer “River Run” visibly brings Stokes to tears as a mix of achievement and relief kicks in. “You can finally relax at that point … You play the last note, breathe out a sigh and look up - and you’re in a giant room full of people happy and smiling.”

Simply calling Curtis Harding a soul man feels reductive. Harding's voice conveys pain, pleasure, longing, tenderness, sadness and strength-a full gamut of emotions. Today his voice takes on an optimistic lilt with his his new album, If Words Were Flowers. If Words Were Flowers is Harding's first new music since 2018, a follow up to his critically acclaimed 'Face Your Fears" album. It features songs like " Hopeful" , where Harding croons with devotion over a classic soul groove, textured with infectious horn playing, background singers and modern psychedelic flourishes. Harding fuels his psychedelic sound with the essence of Soul but isn't bound by it. Instead, his songs convey an eclectic blend of genres leaping from the many musical lives he has lived from following his evangelical Gospel-singing mother on tour around the country as a child to rapping in Atlanta, forming a garage band with The Black Lips' Cole Alexander to singing back-up for Cee Lo Green. Through these experiences he fully embraces life's darkest intricacies and conjures dynamic, addictive melodies.

The tender and curious songs on the first album by songwriter and preschool teacher Mr Greg and acclaimed indie chameleon Cass McCombs
celebrate the joys of learning and discovery
The pair of longtime friends make connections for young children just beginning
to find their own way in the world and for parents regaining their own childlike
sensibilities. Set to tunes straight from the mold of Ella Jenkins and Woody
Guthrie, the duo sings about the importance of friendship, understanding those
different from yourself, and taking care of your body. They also pay musical
tribute to heroic figures of bravery and justice like Ruth Bader Ginsberg and
Harvey Milk. These songs are bridges to many adventures in the making and
include suggested activities for youngsters to supplement their listening and
exploration.
Coverage in Pitchfork, Stereogum, Under the Radar, Brooklyn Vegan, SPIN, Our
Culture

Kym Register + Meltdown Rodeo (formerly LOAMLANDS) is a
transgressive and distorted country music outfit based in North Carolina
that places queer storytelling at the forefront
Their music intimately grapples with identity, retribution, reconciliation and queer
existence in both modern- day and historical (inclusive of mostly all) southern
culture.
Register is also contributing a queer lens to the southern rock ethos. By way of
supporting cast, Sinclair Palmer (bass), Joe Westerlund (drums), and Matt
Phillips categorically deliver. Check out the title track for a perfect example of the
band's ability to travel between gritty
responsiveness and tendern reflection at Register's lyrical instruction. Whether
grappling with the constrictions of gender expressions on dating apps ("How Do
You See Me"), evoking the semi-autobiographical loneliness of Dorothy Allison's
Carolina bastards ("Maureen"), or daring white folks to "get right with their history
of compliance in racial capitalism" ("Loamlands"), Register affirms that
songwriting, at its best, is a gross but necessary confrontation.
Ultimately Register and Meltdown Rodeo (both the newly named band and
album) have achieved in eleven songs something the south has only halfheartedly attempted - undoing generational curses by retiring "bless your heart"
lip service.

Crème de la Deutz are a desire freeway and palm lodging. Mousy trees yearning for shell stars. During the release phase Crème de la Deutz will show an exhibition at Matjö, Cologne as well as perform at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf / Salon des Amateurs and at Temporary Gallery, Cologne on the occasion of Düsseldorf Cologne Open Gallery Weekend.

Nabihah Iqbal veröffentlicht ihr lang erwartetes neues Album „DREAMER“ auf Ninja Tune. Fünf Jahre nach der Veröffentlichung des Debüts „Weighing Of The Heart“ der in London geborenen Künstlerin, Kuratorin, Radiomoderatorin und Dozentin und nach zwei Jahren Arbeit ist „DREAMER“ Iqbals bisher rohestes und reflektiertestes Werk. Das Album ist eine intime Reise durch Schnappschüsse und Erinnerungen aus ihrem Leben und erforscht die persönliche Identität und die Trauer durch die Weichzeichner-Linse der Melancholie und ist nicht auf einen bestimmten Sound festgelegt. Ihre unkonventionelle Lo-Fi-Ästhetik zieht sich wie ein roter Faden durch das Album, und sie schafft es, zwischen den Tracks zu wechseln, ohne jemals zusammenhanglos zu klingen. Zurück in Großbritannien, begab sie sich für die Fertigstellung des Albums auf einen Aufenthalt in Schottland und Suffolk, wo sie sich vom Internet abschaltete. Iqbal moderiert seit 2013 Radiosendungen auf NTS und BBC (u.a. bei Radio 1, 1Xtra, Asian Network, World Service und 6Music). Seit der Veröffentlichung ihres Debütalbums bei Ninja Tune im Jahr 2017 ist Iqbal sowohl als Live-Act als auch als DJ ausgiebig durch die Welt getourt. U.a. hat sie bereits im V&A Museum, MoMA PS1 und SXSW sowie beim Glastonbury Festival, Warehouse Project, Printworks, Boiler Room, Worldwide Festival und Sónar gespielt.

Formate:

- Standard CD im Digisleeve
- Schwarzes Standardvinyl im Gatefold Sleeve

Hurry has grafted the best qualities of ‘90s bubblegum power pop—the pitch-perfect songwriting, the pop-rock sheen, the borderline saccharine vocal melodies—onto something far more raw and emotionally resonant. Don’t Look Back is striking in its tenderness and candor—approximately half of the lyrics on the record concern the deterioration of an 11- year relationship Scottoline was in, with the other half being a celebration of new love. The first words Scottoline sings, in opening track “Didn’t Have to Try,” is essentially a statement of theme: “And we’re back at the beginning / Never thought I’d see a face like that again / It attacks when we’re not ready / And I won’t play it safe this time.” This is pop music about actual feelings which means it’s automatically better than most pop music. It is challenging and addictive.

There is not a single moment on Don’t Look Back that isn’t completely drenched in melody and emotion. “Parallel Haunting” evokes the tuneful ache of golden age Evan Dando; “Little Brain” sounds like golden age Evan Dando and golden age Noel Gallagher. Don’t Look Back is, in a word, bittersweet, with melodies that feel like a jackhammer on your brain’s pleasure center and lyrics that feel like getting slapped in the heart.

The collaboration between Klara Lewis and Nik Colk Void somehow seemed inevitable. Both artists having seen their releases published by Editions Mego, individually carving out idiosyncratic voices in the worlds of extreme, abstract electronic music. With Full-On, Lewis and Void explore and assimilate the very edge of their individual practice where a unique collaborative interface allows two voices to combine and morph into a third voice.


Lewis and Void play ping pong with the conversation of sounds, generating ideas and bouncing them off each other, simultaneously encouraging the other to go further with their ideas opening up an opportunity to engage with previously unexplored terrain. Guitars, synths, euro rack modular systems, voice, sampling and outboard processing are folded in a playful unification with a propensity to tease, explore and extract new ideas and shapes, sometimes brutal, sometimes playful.

Trust was also a compositional tool allowing instinct to freely move on any aspect of the sound and space. This sound/feeling/instinct/association let this wild and wonderful material grow organically into something new.

The result of this exploratory interplay are 17 intense miniatures reveling in the process of unadulterated experimentation and whimsical interplay, not just between the humans, but the machines themselves. United in an endless series of sonic U-turns, this daring duo intertwine pop and noise whilst also bringing together visions of tender techno and forthright ambient.

The various zones which manifest from all this reveals vocals shifting in mysterious ways, dust drenched beats churning limpidly and devilish string loops navigating a disorientating domain. The experience of listening to Full-On is to be confronted with a range of ideas resulting in a platter of emotions. A place where beauty and the beast collide with the impulsive and outright weird. What a wonderful world.

In an era defined by futility, isolation, and precarity, it can be difficult to envision a utopia. But on Skeleten’s thrilling, immersive debut album, Under Utopia, the Sydney musician dares to imagine new ways of being that are not characterized by doom or despair. Across eleven tracks of free-flowing, transcendent, and often euphoric electronic music, Skeleten praises the power of comradery and community; while dreaming of a future that is joyously boundless. 



Skeleten, real name Russell Fitzgibbon, has always been fascinated by the ideas of utopias. He’s thought a lot about how the concept has shifted and morphed throughout history, and how the goal post for a utopia is always moving further and further away. “We're more familiar with the idea of a dystopia in the modern world - that's more close to our consciousness. I think on this album I wanted to explore the importance of imaging and embodying a new world.”

Written before and during the pandemic, the album was born out of a desire to connect with others and to shake the mantle of introspection that had been placed on his previous works. From the opening notes of the otherworldly album opener “Generator”, it's clear that this record prioritises immediate pleasures without forgoing intimacy. The lyrics are also more explicit, reaching outward with inviting choruses and mantra-like melodies. “I think the album came out of the experience of feeling this great desire to reconnect and dreaming of the power of community,” says the musician.

This is especially present in lead single ‘Sharing The Fire’, a song that crackles with optimism. A sprawling dance track with pulsating synths and Fitzgibbon’s gentle, warm vocals, the song is about futures that are full of brightness and bliss. As the artist repeats in the song’s chorus: “for all that you know, summer could be around the corner.” The song is about an “almost frustrated desire to connect with more people and feel that sense of community through shared goals.” The accompanying video clip, shot on 35mm, is similarly invested in ideas of companionship and gathering. Shot in a clinical, drab office space, friends and revelers fill the space with warmth and energy.

Elsewhere, this invocation of paradise is infused in the stripped-back, singular title track “Under Utopia”. The song was significant to Fitzgibbon, as it allowed him to gather all his thoughts and ideas about his new music under one message. “It’s something I wrote when I had this collection of songs and wanted to give it a single voice, which was about seeing the world entirely new, full of hope and beauty, and all of us underneath pushing it upwards.” 

An antidote for gloom presented in Under Utopia is the transformative power of love. There’s “Heart Full Of Tenderness”, a woozy, languorous love song, awash with cloudy vocals and glistening synths; the truncated beats and hypnotic pleading of “Territory Day” and “Right Here It’s Only Love” which explores the icier and ambient side of R’n’B.


Another hallmark that characterizes Under Utopia is Fitzgibbon’s airy and spacious mix, which gives his songs room to sprawl out and simmer; as well as allowing his calming baritone to come to the fore. This is notable in the contemplative, synth-laden “Colour Room”, the funk-tinged “Walking On Your Name,” the previously released “No Drones in the Afterlife,” and the beloved early single “Mirrored,” which speaks of finding yourself through a connection to those around you.

Fitzgibbon has been enmeshed in the Sydney music scene for years. Skeleten emerged out of a need to experiment and make music without worrying about the outcome. “It was just me making music that felt right, and very much focusing on this kind of meditative aspect of exploring without any goal,” says Fitzgibbon. But as the project has evolved, the artist has gained clarity on what he hopes his music will achieve: bringing people together, and creating an atmosphere of elation. Or as Fitzgibbon puts it on Under Utopia’s hallucinatory album closer “We’re gonna get everything we need in the world.”

Everybody Digs Bill Evans was Evans's second album, done two years after his first record as a leader. Though his producer (Orrin Keepnews) had wanted Evans to record a follow-up album to his debut sooner, the self-critical Evans felt he had "nothing new to say" before this album.

The recording captures Evans at a time when he frequently played extended musical ideas using block chords, a technique also favored by Milt Buckner, George Shearing, Oscar Peterson, and other jazz pianists. That combined with his use of pedals gave him a sound considered by critics to be innovative. Though Evans had quit the Miles Davis band a month before the album was recorded, Davis was enamored of Evans's piano sound as it was developing through 1958, and decided to use him as the pianist for four of the five tracks on the 1959 recording Kind of Blue.

Mancunian pianist and producer Matt Wilde prepares to release his debut album 'Hello World' via Band on the Wall Recordings. With a slew of hotly tipped projects released over the past two years via Root Records & Inner Ocean Records- Matt has been steadily gaining support from the likes of Jamie Cullum, Gilles Peterson, Jazz FM & many more. With his name firmly cemented as one to watch in the Jazz / Beats landscape, 'Hello World' promises to be his most expansive body of work to date.

'Hello World' is an audio catalogue of personal experiences, thoughts and feelings, shared with honesty and curiosity for the human condition. Matt crafts emotive and uplifting compositions denoting a tender illustration of the human experience, finding and celebrating the simple and beautiful moments of life.

The best of the first period of the Queen of Soul… Madame Aretha Franklin! From Over the Rainbow to Try a Little Tenderness… Discover all the quintessence of her highness ARETHA FRANKLIN. These 16 tracks show us how great the Diva’s influence on contemporary music was, paving the way for other great female performers.

Keni Burke's seminal Changes yielded the eternal club classic "Risin' To The Top". You need this record for this iconic steppers anthem alone. However, it's crucial to acknowledge that the whole of Changes, first released in 1982 on RCA but now a tricky one to find, is something truly special. It's a masterpiece of sophisticated 80s groove, containing first class funky soul that sounds as fresh as ever. This is multi-tempo soul music conceived in heaven.

Ace bass player, songwriter, arranger and producer, Keni Burke was discovered by Curtis Mayfield and a childhood member of the Five Stairsteps. Emanating from that magical 81-83 era and pristinely recorded at Philadelphia's legendary Sigma Sound Studios, his third solo album Changes really perfected Keni's groove. It incorporated tight, snappy rhythm arrangements which, despite the era, featured *real drums* courtesy of Steve Ferrone (from Average White Band) to compliment Keni's meaty bass lines. With Dean "Sir" Gant on synths and keyboards and Ed Walsh handling the Vocoder-OBX and Prophet 5, wonderful lines from Earth, Wind & Fire's legendary horn section and hooky rhythm and lead guitar riffs courtesy of Ed "Tree" Walsh, Keni was truly spoiled for excellence. With Doc Gibbs on percussion and Vince Montana on vibes elevating the sensational writing and arrangements, Keni couldn't really go wrong.

“Risin’ To The Top” is undoubtedly the defining crown and lasting legacy of this album. Wth its instantly captivating bassline, slowly creepin' groove and uplifting lyrics, it was a favourite among both the 80s soul steppers and hip-hop crowd and remains canonical to this day. Written by Burke, Allan Felder, and former Chic member Norma Jean Wright, it incredibly failed to garner much American radio play or really trouble the soul charts. Whilst it was an instant classic in the U.K., in the States it took the hip-hop generation and later R&B and hip-hop samples of the tune to finally make it popular, many years later. Of note, Big Daddy Kane sampled it for "Smooth Operator", LL Cool J for "Around The Way Girl", Pete Rock & CL Smooth for "Take You There" and O.C. with "Born 2 Live".

But the highlights are not restricted to this one behemoth. For example, the track which precedes "Risin'" on Side B is another steppers favourite. "One Minute More" is a perfect mid-tempo ballad and the epitome of deep modern soul. A truly timeless work of genius. We, for one, struggle to think of a better song segue than the moment you're still reeling from the intense beauty of "One Minute More" and "Risin'" elegantly stirs into action. Frisson in excelsis. The propulsive, bass-heavy opener "Shakin" is an indisputable cracker and its followed by the timeless mid-tempo class of "Hang Tight". Just gorgeous. Next up, "Can't Get Enough" is another emotional, horn heavy chugger. The side closes with the sparse, tender, floating sl-o-o-w jam "Who Do You Love"; a truly divine ballad. The B-side beings with the title-track, "Changes", a squelchy, melodic boogie banger with fantastic keys, incredible vocals, ace shuffling percussion and spacey synths. It's followed by the ultimate one-two in "One Minute More" and "Risin'" before this sensational set closes with the glorious easy glide "All Night".

An absolutely essential record for fans of deeply soulful modern-funk, Changes was mastered for vinyl by Simon Francis and cut by Cicely Balston for Alchemy at AIR Studios. The artwork was restored at Be With HQ over many painstaking months so, hopefully, this fresh new edition ensures this long-lusted after album is no longer so awkward to find.

Grammy-winning producer, composer, guitarist and songwriter Blake Mills returns with his first solo record since 2020’s Mutable Set, co-produced by Blake and experimental artist Chris Weisman.



Blake Mills has released four acclaimed solo albums and produced, played and recorded with artists such as Fiona Apple, Alabama Shakes, Phoebe Bridgers, Perfume Genius, Moses Sumney, Bob Dylan, Laura Marling, Cass McCombs, Weyes Blood and Randy Newman, among others. His album Mutable Set, released in in 2020, was praised by Pitchfork as “a hushed collection that floats through the subconscious like a tender dream” and earned their Best New

Music title. Most recently, Mills worked as the Executive Music Producer and chief songwriter on Amazon Prime’s limited series Daisy Jones and the Six.

Phi-Psonics is a meditative, deeply soulful immersive jazz group from
Los Angeles, led by bassist Seth Ford-Young and featuring Sylvain
Carton on woodwinds, Mitchell Yoshida on electric piano, and Josh
Collazo on drums. Their deeply soulful music draws on jazz and
classical influences together with Ford-Young’s own musical
experiences, relationships, and his introduction to spirituality, yoga and philosophy at a young age, along the way they create something
uniquely their own, beautiful landscapes for your thoughts to roam
within.

Octava is their second album and like the Cradle before it’s emotional,
introspective, and unusual approach to spiritual jazz offers us a
beautiful space for uplifting contemplation and wields a quiet power to create a spiritually inspiring world of timeless, warm melodies and
instrumental exploration for the deep listener. Originally from
Washington DC area, Ford-Young moved to California in the early 90s
and fell in love with the deep sounds of the upright bass and the music of Charles Mingus, John and Alice Coltrane, and Duke Ellington along with Bach, Chopin, Pärt, and Satie. He immersed himself deeply in music and keen to learn combined intense personal study with
collaborations, tours, and recordings with artists such as Tom Waits,
Beats Antique, and John Vanderslice. In 2010 he moved from the SanFrancisco Bay area to the Los Angeles hills and continued his
explorations and although Phi-Psonics music has been described as
spiritual jazz, or deep immersive listening music but this is music for
fans of Radiohead and The Invisible as well as fans of Alice Coltrane
and Pharaoh Sanders.

The album opens with Invocation as we embark on our journey. The
repeated melody at the end feels ancient but also contains an energy
that is driving forward. An Offering is a humble but beautiful tune full of texture and colour. We Walk in the Gardens of Our Ancestors shows clear eyed reverence for those who came before us as we walk through their gardens. Green Dreams is a tender, gentle love song to Seth’s wife.Where We've Been Is a group improvisation centered around the drums. Lunar Reflections is a romantic ode to nature that draws inspiration from where Seth lives a green oasis within the sprawling cityscapes of LA. Becoming draws on memories of the dark days of 2020 but this was a period that was also full of beauty and light and this song elevates and uplifts us. Finally New You offers hope of change

Phi-Psonics is a meditative, deeply soulful immersive jazz group from
Los Angeles, led by bassist Seth Ford-Young and featuring Sylvain
Carton on woodwinds, Mitchell Yoshida on electric piano, and Josh
Collazo on drums. Their deeply soulful music draws on jazz and
classical influences together with Ford-Young’s own musical
experiences, relationships, and his introduction to spirituality, yoga and philosophy at a young age, along the way they create something
uniquely their own, beautiful landscapes for your thoughts to roam
within.

Octava is their second album and like the Cradle before it’s emotional,
introspective, and unusual approach to spiritual jazz offers us a
beautiful space for uplifting contemplation and wields a quiet power to create a spiritually inspiring world of timeless, warm melodies and
instrumental exploration for the deep listener. Originally from
Washington DC area, Ford-Young moved to California in the early 90s
and fell in love with the deep sounds of the upright bass and the music of Charles Mingus, John and Alice Coltrane, and Duke Ellington along with Bach, Chopin, Pärt, and Satie. He immersed himself deeply in music and keen to learn combined intense personal study with
collaborations, tours, and recordings with artists such as Tom Waits,
Beats Antique, and John Vanderslice. In 2010 he moved from the SanFrancisco Bay area to the Los Angeles hills and continued his
explorations and although Phi-Psonics music has been described as
spiritual jazz, or deep immersive listening music but this is music for
fans of Radiohead and The Invisible as well as fans of Alice Coltrane
and Pharaoh Sanders.

The album opens with Invocation as we embark on our journey. The
repeated melody at the end feels ancient but also contains an energy
that is driving forward. An Offering is a humble but beautiful tune full of texture and colour. We Walk in the Gardens of Our Ancestors shows clear eyed reverence for those who came before us as we walk through their gardens. Green Dreams is a tender, gentle love song to Seth’s wife.Where We've Been Is a group improvisation centered around the drums. Lunar Reflections is a romantic ode to nature that draws inspiration from where Seth lives a green oasis within the sprawling cityscapes of LA. Becoming draws on memories of the dark days of 2020 but this was a period that was also full of beauty and light and this song elevates and uplifts us. Finally New You offers hope of change

The English is Federico Jusid's sweeping, nostalgic and raw score to Hugo Blick's six part contemporary Western. Giving a nod to 1950s western soundtracks, the score is enriched by Dvořák’s String Quartet No. 12. known as the "American", written during Dvořák’s stay in America, and only three years after the events of the series. Also featured on the album are the beautiful folk songs by The Wailin' Jennys, Melanie, Crooked Still, Ora Cogan and Tom McRae. The second track on the album, Tâtačiksta_ - I Cherish You, features a tender reading by Emily Blunt.

Jusid’s music structure is based on leitmotifs, very simple and symmetric, constantly varied and developed to mirror the protagonists’ journeys. Big orchestral sounds underpin epic and romantic themes. Sound design, processed percussion and ethnic instruments effortlessly blend in with the orchestral material. Federico describes his compositional process – “Unlike other projects, I started working with Hugo Blick, at a very early stage, some time before he even started shooting. Inspired by the scripts, his story board and chatting about the classics, I wrote different piano tunes and first mock-ups and sent them over to him… Often, I have received scenes cut to my own music and that made the process deeply organic and profound. The music became a core element of the structure of the show, instead of a later addition. In the end, Hugo and I worked for an entire year to develop this score”.

When Chet Baker lit up the West-Coast scene during the 1950s, he became a Jazz idol who
appealed to a younger generation and impressed even the most acerbic critics. He jammed
alongside Tenor Sax stars Vido Musso and Stan Getz, and joined Alto Sax legend Charlie
Parker on various West-Coast gigs. Hailed as the Prince of Cool, Chet caused a sensation
when his mellifluous Trumpet tones were first heard blending with Gerry Mulligan's deep
toned Baritone Saxophone in the famous Mulligan Quartet . It was in 1952 when they joined
forces on tunes like Walking Shoes and Line For Lyons. It wasn't long before they departed
ways with Chet establishing his own Quartet that launched a recording career blessed by
the plethora of performances gathered on this triple LP set. He plays his distinctive style of
trumpet along with presenting Chet the singer. Our collection opens with Let's Get Lost and
My Funny Valentine before advancing to include I Fall In Love Too Easy, The Thrill Is Gone,
That Old Feeling and Chetty's Lullaby. So, let's get lost in the eternally cool world of Chet
Baker.

Richie Culver had been waiting his whole life to record I was born by the sea. His debut album immediately and messily inscribed the artist into the canon of outsider music and experimental electronics, serving both as an arresting statement of intent and a painful reckoning with the difficult path that lead up to it, stealing one last glance back at a place he always knew he had to escape. Between grim lamentations, faded memories and anxiety attacks, all told with searing honesty and disarming openness, I was born by the sea excavates a space for hope, finding Culver digging through Humberside silt to find a world weary optimism, the raw material from which his visual and sound art is shaped. For this collection of expansions and inversions, Culver invites a collection of kindred spirits, contemporary inspirations and old heroes to wade into the salt water of his formative years spent living for impromptu raves and afterparties, connecting vivid memories of his birth place of Withernsea to artists hailing from as nearby as Preston and Bridlington, further afield, from Manchester and London, Berlin and Paris, before returning back to Hull, to where it all began.

For some, responding to I was born by the sea means diving even deeper into the record’s furthest reaches. Space Afrika clear away the pummelling loops of noise from ‘It’s hard to get to know you,’ revealing a cool and cavernous expanse in its wake. Distant chatter, previously heard as though through thin, plasterboard walls, now echoes from outside the maddening claustrophobia of the original’s Sisyphean sonics, illuminated as a dense storm cloud suspended amidst a more open scene, washed clean by a lighter rain, allowing the tender heart of the track to beat clear. London producer MOBBS stretches out ‘Pigeon Flesh’ into an epic, 10-minute, cold-sweat spiral, strung-out tension wrung from disconnected phone tones twisted in unexpected directions, snatches of Culver’s voice turned inside-out and deep fried bass threatening to tip the track over into oblivion, the build-and-release of a nervous breakdown experienced in real time. In an act of subversive self-reflection, Morgane Polanski switches one kind of ennui for another in her adaption of ‘I was born by the sea,’ swapping the sea for the city, English seaside towns in January for summer evenings in Paris and flashing lighthouses and sparkling oil rigs for the Eiffel Tower and the traffic around L’Arc de Triomphe. Even Culver finds time to revisit ‘Dream About Yourself,’ a track taken from his EP Post Traumatic Fantasy, breathing new words into its glacial drift, the half-remembered testimony of a shut-in: Woke up in the evening / Pray for me / Don’t trust anyone / Pray for algorithm. Reframed in a more melancholy light, the track’s reverberant keys even more clearly evoke a mournful nostalgia, fresh pain felt in old wounds.

Others find a parallel universe in Culver’s visceral world building. Rainy Miller flips the script with a scorched, avant-drill rework of ‘Daytime TV’, threading puncturing hi-hats and queasy low-end surge through the track’s steady ambient cascade, invoking the irresistible Preston beat magic of Miller’s own essential debut album, Desquamation. Aho Ssan melts away the crystalline textures of ‘Love Like an Abscess’ with the ominous crackle of a nascent fire, building through swathes of organic Max/MSP squelch and brittle, nails-down-chalkboard scrape, swelling and metastasising the original to spill over Culver’s desperate hymn to corporeal desire, at once flesh and not. Teresa Winter transports us an hour up the coast from Withernsea to her native Bridlington, replacing the sea wall of synthesis on ‘Nervous Energy’ with muffled ASMR murk and fever dream whispers, transforming Culver’s unflinching observations into a haunting call-and-response, filling in the blanks with her own eerie utterances, a fleeting conversation with a ghost. In a touching victory lap, Fila Brazillia, eccentric stalwarts of beloved ‘90s trip hop imprint Pork Recordings, whose performances at Hull institution The Lamp convinced a young Culver of the necessity to make his mark on club culture, resurface for their first remix in 20 years. Steve Cobby and David McSherry lead a low-slung, heartfelt stroll back through a suite of tracks from I was born by the sea, tracing a full circle saunter from Culver’s origins to his current musical practice, the sounds of his present repurposed by the sound of his youth. In a gesture that reflects the emotional complexity of the project, Fila Brazillia find joy at the end of Culver’s troubled reflection, picking out an undeniable groove in the stasis of feeling trapped in your hometown. Underlining Hull’s vital musical legacy, from Baby Mammoth to Throbbing Gristle, Cobby and McSherry demonstrate that, though there are certainly storms, by the sea there is also sun and through the fog, if you listen, you can hear a singular sound, a sound now carried by Richie Culver.

Participant is a record label and creative studio run by William Markarian-Martin and Richie Culver

On October 24th only Jimmy Bond was still with Chet : Peter littman had returned to America, and his seat was now accupied by Nils-Bertil ‘Bert’ Dahlander, a Swedish drummer who’d accompanied Lars Gullin. At the Keyboard was an almost-unknown pianist named Gérard Gustin who’d just been signed to a contract by Eddie Barclay. Given the context, they were obliged to fall back on standards. Chet knew how to play these better than anyone. He chose eight : ‘These Foolish Things’, wich stayed in his quartet’s répertoire for a while ; five others, wich the trumpeter performs here for the first time – ‘There’s a Small Hotel, Autumn In New York, Summertime, You Go To My Head, Tenderly – and two – I’ll Remember April and Lover Man – that he’d done less than tend ays earlier together with Lars Gullin and Dick Twardzik, whose disappearance was still something Chet refused to accept. Given this state of affairs, the whole session exudes a kind of sadness that’s impossible to put down, whatever the choice of tune or tempo.

Never before had Chet been as totally moving as he is throughout ‘You Go To My Head’.

Three years after his last album ‘I Need Space’, Mounika. is back on his favorite playground: electronic music, which arouses his curiosity since his beginnings. He is now ready to unveil ‘Don't Look At Me’, a new opus that takes us, by other paths, to his unique universe. Recorded during the confinement in the intimacy of his home studio, the French artist reveals little by little another facet of his artistic personality, more raw and affirmed, without totally abandoning the cottony sounds already proposed on titles like ‘Cut My Hair’ (diamond single) or ‘Tender Love’ (gold single). We discover sensitive compositions, still inspired by his love for trip-hop, piano and artists who made his musical culture during his youth: Moby, Ratatat, Air or Bonobo. After all, a Mounika. album without a tribute to these figures is not really an album...

But something new was needed to distinguish this opus from the previous ones. From the very first tracks, we can clearly feel this need for exploration that has always guided the French producer. ‘BonXair’ or ‘Nomadics’ take us, for example, in a more straight electronic, more heady than usual. In the same spirit, the rhythms close to the deep house of a track like ‘See You Dancing In The Dark’ offer to the album a new direction, and yet is quite representative of the work undertaken by Mounika. these last years.

In this new record that will also satisfy the fans of the first hour (a sample loop well felt, as on ‘Little Love’ or ‘I Looked Into Her Eyes’, always makes its effect), the French artist has also opened to collaborations of choice. Mounika. works on the heart, and thus wished to welcome those who have particularly marked him during his more or less recent discoveries. The American artist Roland Faunte lends his voice to the effective ‘Little Love’, while Ural Thomas & The Pain (discovered notably on the series ‘It's Bruno’) takes care of the chorus of ‘I Looked Into Her Eyes’. The British rapper Lord Apex delivers a spellbinding performance on ‘Memories’.

Finally, if you listen carefully, you can even hear Mounika. singing on some tracks... like ‘20’ or ‘Don't Smoke’. Put together, these appearances perfectly complement the energy transcribed by Mounika. throughout ‘Don't Look At Me’.

And what could be better than an amazing graphic universe to open the doors of this album like no other? Meet Carl & TJ, two cartoonish characters created in collaboration with Berlin-based artist Joe Taylor, who take care of guiding the listener through this new adventure. One is dreamy and contemplative, the other asks himself a lot of questions... and between them, they form a colorful duet illustrating with tenderness the universal emotions that punctuate this third opus, and that Mounika. will notably defend in the first part of Wax Tailor's French tour starting next April.

The successive pianos composing the productions of ‘When In My Heart In Your Heart’ then ‘Outro’ come, at the end of the record, to conclude the setting in orbit proposed by this ‘Don't Look At Me’. One more step in the sensory journey that Mounika. is committed, from the intimacy of her room to the international success, to build relentlessly.

Repress!

Japanese crustpunk and grindcore icon Eri Fuzz-Kristiansen, aka Gallhammer’s Viviankrist, keeps
the curveballs coming on Diagonal with a bloodied mastication of charred noise and and rhythmic
electronics, following up the label’s acclaimed sides by Sote and Not Waving/Jim O’Rourke
Co-released with the metal-minded Ritual Productions label, ‘Cross-Modulation’ is a brutal
testament to the acridly personalised sound that Viviankrist has explored solo since 1995 in Tokyo,
when she performing vocals, sax and SP-202 sampler in her first industrial/noise unit. 23 years
later her music is still sorely raw, yet riddled with a new found poignance and atmospheric unease
that places her music sometimes as close to Kali Malone’s see-sawing dissonance as the power
electronics of Pan Sonic or the possessed pulses of Conrad Schnitzler and Merzbow.
Since the demise of Eri’s main project Gallhammer at the start of this decade, when she moved
from Tokyo to Oslo (home of her husband and bandmate in Sehnsucht, Maniac - also former
vocalist for BM legends Mayhem), she returned to her early Viviankrist alias from 2017 as a place
to express her primitivist-futurist urges, resulting a trio of CDs including the vicious solo strike
of ‘Morgenrøde’ for Cold Spring. Now on ‘Cross-Modulation’ she intuitively tempers that album’s
phosphorous burn with a deadly incisive application of what Black Metal/Techno pioneer Black
Mecha terms “mentation electronics.”
Alloying avant-metal with rhythmic noise, ambient techno and mind-bending drone to a
metallurgic tang, ‘Cross-Modulation’ serves a dense flux of energies in seven parts, piercing a path
thru maelstrom electronics in ‘Eleventh’ to churn up grizzled Vainio-esque rhythms in ‘Blue Iron’,
while the tenderly bruised ambience of ‘Midnight Sun’ provides a bittersweet palette cleanser for
the tart technoid prang of ‘Insects’, a bout of slow gripping psychedelia in ‘Out of Body’, and the
rugged North European pastoralism of ‘Behind Mirror.’

The ever-prolific and established artist Alan Abrahams aka Portable makes a swift and very welcome return to Circus Company with the impressive lead single "Guiding Me", giving us an early taste of his forthcoming album Augmented Dreams to be released in the fall.

Conceptually the direction of this new project refers to the use of technology to alter our dreams, inadvertently or not, as so much tech advancement becomes available and ingrained in our daily lives. The timely lead single here inspired by Abraham's South African ancestors the Khoi San people and the guidance they provide, appropriately exuding both futurist formed sonics and dream-like tenderness in content, led by his dulcet-toned vocals and delivered with the super solid production we've come to expect. Wonderful multi-purpose electronic music which will find itself right at home on late-night discerning dance floors, or indeed guiding the listener through their respective travels, solo meditations or get-downs in headphones.

Along with the excellent "Guiding Me" original mix, we are graced with a masterful remix by Hamburg's Lawrence of Smallville and Dial fame, who takes the track into an even more floor-focussed realm with his patented rolling sub-bass lines which will guarantee plenty of summertime sound system finessing, as well as the EP-exclusive B2 track "Vigor" in which Portable goes even deeper in tone with classic styled vocal cut-ups and repurposed shards of tasty sound design added to keep the dancers endlessly entranced when and wherever they may be.

"Another Love Song - The Frames are an Irish indie rock band formed in Dublin in 1990. The band is known for their passionate and emotive sound, which blends elements of rock, folk, and traditional Irish music. Over the years, they have released several critically acclaimed albums, including ""Another Love Song,"" which is widely regarded as one of their most influential works.
""Another Love Song"" was released in 1991 and marked a turning point in the band's career. The album featured a raw, stripped-down sound that was a departure from their earlier, more polished work. The songs on the album were deeply personal and introspective, exploring themes of love, loss, and the complexities of human relationships. The album's title track, ""Another Love Song,"" became an instant classic, showcasing the band's signature sound with its driving rhythms and soaring vocals. The song's bittersweet lyrics and haunting melody struck a chord with listeners and quickly became a fan favourite.
In addition to ""Another Love Song,"" the album features several other standout tracks, including ""Say It to Me Now,"" ""The Dancer,"" and ""Downhill."" Each song on the album showcases the band's dynamic musicianship and poetic lyricism, earning the album a reputation as a seminal work in the Irish indie rock scene. Over the years, The Frames have continued to evolve and innovate, releasing several more critically acclaimed albums and earning a dedicated following of fans around the world. With their unique blend of raw emotion and musical artistry, The Frames continue to inspire and captivate audiences with their powerful, soulful music.


Fitzcarraldo - ""Fitzcarraldo"" is the sixth studio album by the Irish rock band The Frames, released in 1995. The album marked a significant departure from the band's earlier work, with a more experimental sound that blended rock, folk, and experimental elements.
The album takes its name from the Werner Herzog film of the same name, which tells the story of a man who attempts to build an opera house in the Amazon jungle. This theme of ambition and perseverance in the face of adversity runs throughout the album, as frontman Glen Hansard explores themes of love, loss, and the human experience. The album opens with the hauntingly beautiful track ""Revelate,"" which sets the tone for the rest of the album with its soaring vocals and intricate guitar work. From there, the album takes the listener on a journey through a diverse range of sounds and emotions, from the upbeat rock of ""What Happens When the Heart Just Stops"" to the melancholic balladry of ""Fitzcarraldo.""
One of the standout tracks on the album is ""Lay Me Down,"" a tender and heartfelt ballad that showcases Hansard's powerful vocals and poetic lyricism. The song has become a fan favourite and is often performed live by the band. Another highlight of the album is the epic nine-minute track ""Fitzcarraldo,"" which features lush instrumentation and intricate guitar work. The song is a tribute to the film of the same name and explores themes of ambition and determination in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
Overall, ""Fitzcarraldo"" is a powerful and deeply personal album that showcases The Frames at their most ambitious and experimental. With its diverse range of sounds and emotions, the album remains a fan favourite and a landmark in the Irish rock canon.

Dance the Devil
Dance the Devil is the fourth studio album by the Irish rock band, The Frames. Released in 1999, it marked a significant departure from the band's earlier sound and was a critical and commercial success.
The album features 10 tracks, including the hit single ""Pavement Tune,"" which received extensive radio play and helped to propel The Frames to greater prominence in the music industry. Dance the Devil showcases the band's versatility and musical prowess, blending elements of rock, folk, and pop to create a unique and compelling sound. The lyrics are introspective and poetic, exploring themes of love, loss, and self-discovery.
Produced by Steve Albini, the album was recorded in just five days, giving it a raw and unpolished feel that perfectly captures the energy and passion of The Frames' live performances.
Dance the Devil remains a beloved album among fans of Irish music and continues to inspire new generations of musicians. Its enduring popularity is a testament to the artistry and vision of The Frames and their commitment to pushing the boundaries of what is possible in rock music.
"

"Another Love Song - The Frames are an Irish indie rock band formed in Dublin in 1990. The band is known for their passionate and emotive sound, which blends elements of rock, folk, and traditional Irish music. Over the years, they have released several critically acclaimed albums, including ""Another Love Song,"" which is widely regarded as one of their most influential works.
""Another Love Song"" was released in 1991 and marked a turning point in the band's career. The album featured a raw, stripped-down sound that was a departure from their earlier, more polished work. The songs on the album were deeply personal and introspective, exploring themes of love, loss, and the complexities of human relationships. The album's title track, ""Another Love Song,"" became an instant classic, showcasing the band's signature sound with its driving rhythms and soaring vocals. The song's bittersweet lyrics and haunting melody struck a chord with listeners and quickly became a fan favourite.
In addition to ""Another Love Song,"" the album features several other standout tracks, including ""Say It to Me Now,"" ""The Dancer,"" and ""Downhill."" Each song on the album showcases the band's dynamic musicianship and poetic lyricism, earning the album a reputation as a seminal work in the Irish indie rock scene. Over the years, The Frames have continued to evolve and innovate, releasing several more critically acclaimed albums and earning a dedicated following of fans around the world. With their unique blend of raw emotion and musical artistry, The Frames continue to inspire and captivate audiences with their powerful, soulful music.


Fitzcarraldo - ""Fitzcarraldo"" is the sixth studio album by the Irish rock band The Frames, released in 1995. The album marked a significant departure from the band's earlier work, with a more experimental sound that blended rock, folk, and experimental elements.
The album takes its name from the Werner Herzog film of the same name, which tells the story of a man who attempts to build an opera house in the Amazon jungle. This theme of ambition and perseverance in the face of adversity runs throughout the album, as frontman Glen Hansard explores themes of love, loss, and the human experience. The album opens with the hauntingly beautiful track ""Revelate,"" which sets the tone for the rest of the album with its soaring vocals and intricate guitar work. From there, the album takes the listener on a journey through a diverse range of sounds and emotions, from the upbeat rock of ""What Happens When the Heart Just Stops"" to the melancholic balladry of ""Fitzcarraldo.""
One of the standout tracks on the album is ""Lay Me Down,"" a tender and heartfelt ballad that showcases Hansard's powerful vocals and poetic lyricism. The song has become a fan favourite and is often performed live by the band. Another highlight of the album is the epic nine-minute track ""Fitzcarraldo,"" which features lush instrumentation and intricate guitar work. The song is a tribute to the film of the same name and explores themes of ambition and determination in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
Overall, ""Fitzcarraldo"" is a powerful and deeply personal album that showcases The Frames at their most ambitious and experimental. With its diverse range of sounds and emotions, the album remains a fan favourite and a landmark in the Irish rock canon.

Dance the Devil
Dance the Devil is the fourth studio album by the Irish rock band, The Frames. Released in 1999, it marked a significant departure from the band's earlier sound and was a critical and commercial success.
The album features 10 tracks, including the hit single ""Pavement Tune,"" which received extensive radio play and helped to propel The Frames to greater prominence in the music industry. Dance the Devil showcases the band's versatility and musical prowess, blending elements of rock, folk, and pop to create a unique and compelling sound. The lyrics are introspective and poetic, exploring themes of love, loss, and self-discovery.
Produced by Steve Albini, the album was recorded in just five days, giving it a raw and unpolished feel that perfectly captures the energy and passion of The Frames' live performances.
Dance the Devil remains a beloved album among fans of Irish music and continues to inspire new generations of musicians. Its enduring popularity is a testament to the artistry and vision of The Frames and their commitment to pushing the boundaries of what is possible in rock music.
"

Label boss Carlo rallies the troops again. This time for his own new collaborative EP, ‘VERSUS’.
Aterral regular, firm family favourite and one of the labels founding artists, Black Loops, steps up on the gorgeously groovy ‘Hungover’. No cloudy heads or slow steps on this collab. Woozy keys yes, but these are kept true by the spritely xylophone melody and warm rolling bass. A perfect opener from this pairing.
Following his popular DOS despatch, ‘Be Pe Em’, much was expected of Emanuele Barilli’s new adventure alongside Carlo. ‘Lelazo’ doesn’t disappoint. Sharp shuffle, filtered keys and popping bassline, all make for a perfect beach-bound soundtrack. Close your eyes, feel the sun on your skin.
From Hungover to another victim of the session, as Carlo teams up with German producer Hauke Freer on ‘Maison.’ Deep, low slung vibes on this ode to the sound we all love. Beautifully constructed, from its patient creamy bassline to its bright rimshots and tender vocal. This is our house. Our home. Come on in.
The most personal of Carlo’s new tracks brings things to a close as he teams up with his young son on ‘Einhorn Poops’. The sun’s warmth is felt again on this beautifully crafted slice of balearic house that matches O's vocals to the equally innocent chimes and bird song to create a fitting and sublime finale.

First single to be taken from Skinshape’s ‘Nostalgia’ album. For fans of Khruangbin, El Michels Affair, Tame Impala and Bonobo. Despite the drama insinuated on ‘High Tide, Storm Rising’, Skinshape aka Will Dorey takes it easy with one of his signature laid back lolls featuring tenderly strummed guitar. “The strings in unison, arranged by Jon Moody, almost have a 'Bollywood' feel” says Dorey, completing the contentment with brass melodies that truly set the track adrift on memory bliss. ‘Theme for Lazarus’ is the album’s opener expressing wide-eyed wonderment; expanding upon the delicate, folk-edged setting in which the track sits, his vocals echoing in the distance like somebody you used to know, Dorey offers that “you often get themes for characters in film soundtracks. For the music, I wanted to create something that had elements of classic Skinshape, but also to add some new ideas that I hadn't used before such as the pizzicato strings”.

A Colourful Storm presents Seance, a new set of songs by Maxine Funke.

Following a productive recording period beginning with Silk (2018) and ending with Forest Photographer (2020), Seance marks a remarkable levitation of Funke’s tender, softly spoken songcraft first documented on Lace (2008) and Felt (2012) into new creative heights. Folksong confessionals with the burden of memory. Ghostly confines, murmurs from the cracks. Soil, blood and skin. The beauty and mundanity of the everyday.

The voice of Funke is a distinctive instrument, one which perfectly elucidates her sometimes confessional, at other times deeply inward allusions to love, loss, joy and disquiet. Lyrics grounded in observation and adventure (“Eyeballs, asphalt, grass clippings, peppercorns”) unravel into uneasy truths daubed in self-consciousness and forbidden desire (“I’m not shy / There's just a sparkle in your eye and I don't feel right”). The simplest things can be the most difficult to express.

Opener ’Fairy Baby’ and ‘Homage’ are sensuous and probing, celebrating new beginnings while cautiously closing old chapters. ‘Quiet Shore’, a seven-minute reverie of guitar strum and poetry, conjures spirits long forgotten and shines as Funke’s first solo foray into longform songwriting. A perfect accompaniment to the album’s centrepiece, ‘Lucky Penny’, a euphoric, entrancing rush foreshadowing the delicate dreamspeak still to come.

An assertive, visionary recording by one of New Zealand’s most extraordinary voices, Seance is a lover’s lament, a revealing of self and a secluded wander through fields of enchantment.

A track first recorded by Felix Dickinson, DJ Shacra and Blane Lyon in 2001 finally gets a release in Blane’s memory with remixes from Ron Trent, Crazy P and Brother Lee Love.

Felix’s Dub offers a stripped back, slouchy workout that previews Blane’s lyrics in tastefully dubbed-out snatches. From this open canvas, Blane’s voice melts into disco glitter and cool funk, courtesy of UK mainstays Crazy P. On track three, house royalty Ron Trent spotlights Blane’s vocals underneath a steady groove, soaring into euphoria with passionate pads and colourful synths.

Next, Brother Lee Love’s Heads Down remix pulls the record into techy minimal territory: Blane’s voice loops pensively, speaking to the sultry, eyes-closed part of the night. The digital release also features the bonus Brother Lee Love’s Hands Up mix which takes us back to the surface of house music’s hopeful vision with the help of tender melodies, Blane’s direct speaking voice, and a chorus of joyous synths.

Glasgow's Work For Love have once again descended deep into the cellars of Thee J Johanz early 90’s DAT recordings and pulled a companion selection to 2017's Declassified EP.

This time they've come back up the ladder clutching a sultry yet sturdy triple-tracker, a little snapshot detailing the full spectrum of house and techno hybridisation that was rife in the rave at the time. The EP kicks off lovingly lamenting the second summer of love with the proto house jam of Tender Tales which features Johanz himself giving his best Sleazy D impression on vox whilst masterfully tickling the 303 to several squelchy climaxes.

Flip over for Desire, a curled-lip 4am weird and wonky warehouse destroying techno leviathan that captures the stark minimalism of yer best Axis records and ads a real touch of John Carpenter esque menace to the affair. Bringing things to a close is the refreshing twinkly pulse of Prophet to say goodnight

Tenderly propelling and full of haunting melodies: Studio Mule re-issues Sakura Tsuruta’s so far digital only, self-released debut album “c / o” from november 2022.

An evocative first long player by Tokyo based artist, who was trained in classical piano during childhood, played with brass instruments, studied music production, and is today active as a composer, live performer, and versatile dj.

With “c / o” she expressed her personal history in a fluid, around 43-minute long light flooded, yet dark-ish musical vision. eight profoundly composed tracks, melding complex rhythms with emotional airs, tripping arpeggios, and ghostly sounds, slightly influenced by some of her fa-vorite artist like björk, holly herndon, or kaitlyn aurelia smith.

“c / o is a love letter for the experiences, people, and memories i had in the last two years that i spent producing this album. i also like that the letter “c” looks like an incomplete circle, whereas the letter “o” is a full circle.

This release will come in 10 alternative sleeves limited to 100 copies of each so the bedroom design of the front cover has been painstakingly adapted for devotee’s of; 1. Sex Pistols 2. The Clash 3. The Jam 4. Buzzcocks 5. The Damned 6. The Stranglers 7. Siouxsie & the Banshees 8. Generation X 9. Ramones and 10. Blondie… and that design comes with a signed and stamped print of that design inside…
Mal-One’s new five track 12’’ offering has broached the tender subject of the bedroom wall and what as a teenager we would cover it with, as we revelled in our teenage glory. During what we now fondly remember as the Punk Rock period, this would have been the promo posters, gig tickets, flyers, badges, t- shirts anything we could find to extend our allegiance to the Punk Rock cause. Track one of this extended play covers this dilemma in fine style:

Side One
1. Punk Rock Pictures on my Wall …from floor to ceiling and ten feet tall !!!
2. JJ’s Alright relates a true story of Mal-One’s run in with the Euroman Cometh himself and finding out first hand that
even if his band The Stranglers were to become Punk’s social outcasts that in fact JJ was Alright and so in fact was
Hugh….
Side Two
1. The Buzz-Cocks Are Coming tells the Buzzcocks connection to this movement and their entry point into the affray.
2. Damned Disciple tells what is required to become a Damned devotee. Which includes amongst other requirements
and as stated on one of their early badges ‘skipping off school to see them play’
3. The Satellite Kid tells the engaging story of Mr Paul Weller coming to London seeing the Sex Pistols for the first time
at the Lyceum Ballroom on The Strand. In doing so he found some likeminded souls and more importantly people the
same age that he could relate to and forge an identity with.
Hopefully to hang on your bedroom wall… it’s never too late Punk….

Repress!

A warm rain in August, the cool feeling of soft ice cream on the lips, golden light and tender smiles. The sweet scent of strawberries, people laughing in the backyard and autumn is already in the air. This is how the music of Bionda e Lupo feels. Joy and melancholy, warmth and goosebumps – that is “La Deutsche Vita”.

Six summers – ten songs for the double album by the Berlin couple. Lively German lyrics allowing us to immerse ourselves in the world of Gertalo, as we surf on synths in the New German Wave and refresh ourselves with a splash of cheeky Schlager pop.

The private pressing, only available on heavy vinyl, enchants with its lavish presentation. In the colorful gatefold, with a huge sticker, you will not only discover artistically designed inner sleeves with all of the lyrics, but also a greeting card and a secret little surprise.

Limited to 300 copies, “La Deutsche Vita” is sinfully sweet seduction for lovers and fetishists of the black gold. Hmm … delicious!

Iyer's 2020 full-length KIND was the result of years of touring, connecting
with community, and an ethos based in self-love
But rest is approached from a different angle - Rest is in many ways a reflection
of myself, asking the question, "Who am I when it all stops?", explains Iyer,
referencing, of course, the early pandemic and its halting effect on the world.
Being stuck at home indefinitely allowed Iyer to examine her relationship to rest
on a more critical level. With this newfound downtime, Iyer began to realize an
active pursuit of rest, with deliberate and kind intention, eventually turning to back
songwriting as part of her new practice. The resultant five songs that comprise
rest explore Iyer's mindful intentions through a graceful amalgam of tender pop
with inflections of jazz, backed with orchestral experimentation.

Hania Rani announces "On Giacometti" a tender meditation on the life and art of Alberto Giacometti and family. "On Giacometti" is a collection of beautiful recordings inspired by the renowned artist and family and features some of Rani's most profoundly delicate compositions to date. Invited by film director Susanna Fanzun, to score her forthcoming documentary on the legendary artist Alberto Giacometti, Hania Rani took herself to the Swiss mountains to compose in blissful isolation. As Rani explains eloquently below the compositions are based on improvised melodies, simple harmonies and structures and inspired by the silence of the mountains as Rani returns to her main instrument, the piano. The results are beguilingly reminiscent of her beloved debut album Esja, but with subtle extra layers of synthesiser, and on two tracks cello from friend and long-running collaborator Dobrawa Czocher.

'On Giacometti' is presented as a limited edition LP with bespoke packaging featuring Les Naturals - Chocolat (Gmund) sustainable recycled paperboard made from 100 % recovered paper with Foil Artwork by Łukasz Pałczyński. Plus Double sided printed insert and download code inside.

Hania Rani "On Giacometti":
‘When I was asked to compose a soundtrack for a movie about the family of Giacometti I didn't think twice.

Alberto Giacometti, a Swiss artist, who worked mainly as painter and sculptor has been one of my favourite artists for a long time. His individual style, aesthetics and the character of his creative process is still fascinating to me on many levels, so being able to dive even deeper into his universe, getting to know not only him but also his family was an opportunity that I couldn't miss. Little did I know how far this "yes" will take me - not only mentally and on a creative level but also physically. Thanks to the director of the documentary - Susanna Fanzun and by a stroke of luck and a couple of extra questions I decided to move for a couple of months to the Swiss mountains, not far away from the place where Giacometti was born and where the place he called home was, although he didn't live there. Susanna showed me a place close to her hometown where I could rent a studio and work on the soundtrack but also for my other projects. It was the middle of a winter, the area was full of ice and snow, just like only it can happen still in the mountains. The residency house was located in a valley surrounded by high mountains and the sun in the winter season was not coming up for too long during the day. I remember she told me about it and added "that not everyone is feeling well there, but I hope you will". I did.

Being almost separated from reality, the city and its entertainments, people rushing and everything that usually takes my attention I could fully concentrate on the music and soundtrack, spending most of the day with my own thoughts and having enough space to experiment and be free in a creative process. This soundtrack would probably be a very different thing if composed in a place that I am usually living in. I took this a chance to explore something new about myself as a composer and human being, taking the opposite direction that I would usually choose for myself.

The album "On Giacometti" includes the excerpts from the soundtrack, the most representative tracks and those which became a strong voice itself. Based a lot on improvised melodies, simple harmonies, structures and silence it reminds me of my debut album "Esja" which was partly composed and recorded in another chilly place - Iceland. All these components, both mental and physical, guided me back to my main instrument - piano, which I tried to redefine again with a language of the space that I was working in. The space is usually the key element that gives me the answer about the arrangement or character of the project. Space seems to be the first to appear and music is the invisible power which is changing its angels.’ Living surrounded by mountains makes you change the perspective and understanding of scale as Alberto Giacometti once famously wrote in a letter: It gives an impression that things that are actually far away, like mountains, are close and the other ones that are not so far away, like people, seem small, watched from a distance. You feel like touching the mountain top with your finger could be as easy as touching the tip of your nose. The snow additionally protects the whole area from the noise, each sound lands softly on the ground accompanied by echoes of immeasurable space. Each scratch or whisper is becoming an autonomic entity, opening the gate to the world of ghosts and lost spirits. It's easy to think that time stands still there, while nothing is moving and changing at the first sight. But the ubiquitous ice and snow reveal the passage of time, transforming frozen paysage into the wild stream of water - each day, hour and second. Melting and vanishing, clearing the space from white powder and noise consuming surface. Invisible process for a one night traveller, becomes painfully real for longer time settlers. Time flows with each new wave of sound coming through the river, reminding us that we are part of the cycle, which endlessly repeats itself.

"Into The Abyss", the new album by Joel Holmes (former band leader of Carl Craig's synthesizer ensemble and member of Grammy-nominated cult band Roy Hargrove) is a perfect capturing of Berlin's new jazz and electronic scene.

Before Aretha Franklin rose to fame, she was signed to Columbia Records. This 3LP compilation album is a collection of some of Aretha's most notable songs during her time at Columbia from 1960 to 1965. The Queen in Waiting highlights Franklin's jazz and big-band recordings, and includes the songs "Won't Be Long", "Walk On By", "Today I Sing The Blues" and "Try A Little Tenderness" a.o.

The Queen in Waiting: The Columbia Years 1960-1965 is available as a 3LP limited edition of 2000 individually numbered copies on gold & black marbled vinyl and comes with three printed inner sleeves.

Manchester's Avant-Jazzy-Funk outfit Swamp Children were enviably eclectic and Taste What's Rhythm is their mini masterpiece. Flitting gracefully through a feast of genres with consummate ease, the band were almost indefinable and, accordingly, nigh-on impossible to market. So whilst this cult EP, originally out in 1982 on Factory Benelux, remains in demand for those in the know, it has also glided under the radar of many otherwise clued-up heads for over 40 years. If you don't know, get to know...

The Taste Whats Rhythm EP was originally released in 1982 on Factory Benelux (an informal partnership between the legendary Manchester-based Factory Records and Belgium-based Les Disques du Crépuscule). With it's kaleidoscopic brightness, silky panache and superb execution, it remains one of the most startling documents of a remarkable time and place.

The EP opens with the oh-so-Balearic title track. "Taste Whats Rhythm" gently unfolds with a Spanish guitar, hazy, drifting vocals and sun-bleached Latin percussion. After this most sumptuous of intros, the tempo is raised, the rhythms grow in complexity as horns jostle amidst the restrained chaos quite wonderfully. And then it winds down again. Proper fluctuating rhythms and tempos throughout. I guess that was the point - taste the variety!

“You’ve Got Me Beat” is a *perfect* piece of post-punk pop-jazz. A mysterious, after dark jazz-dancer, the aching vocals serve as a touching, tender resignation to love. A guitar hook which seems to elegantly reference The Blackbyrds' "Rock Creek Park" and a flowing pulse from New York's No Wave scene. It still sounds so fresh all the years later.

Closing out this most perfect of EPs, the twisted synths and nimble rhythms of bass-heavy roller "Softly Saying Goodbye" combine to create a super-slinky gem; Brit-Funk of the highest order.

Swamp Children formed in Manchester in 1980, around core members Ann Quigley (vocals), Tony Quigley (bass, metalaphone, percussion), John Kirkham (electric & acoustic guitars, metalaphone, percussion), Ceri Evans (keyboards, bass, percussion, background vocals), Cliff Saffer (saxaphone, clarine) and Martin Moscrop (drums, percussion, trumpet). They initially practised at a rehearsal space shared with fellow post-punk funkers A Certain Ratio and Joy Division/New Order. Young and relatively inexperienced upon getting together, the ages of Swamp Children's members ranged from just 16 to 19. Talk about the brilliance of youth.

From the outset, Swamp Children shared DNA with A Certain Ratio. Martin Moscrop was a founder member of Ratio, while Ann provided artwork for them. Although the close association with ACR led some to assume that Swamp Children were simply a splinter group, the new band pursued a more overt latin and jazz tinged direction, at the same time adopting a post-punk attitude towards making music, influenced by the records they were listening to at the time: Miles Davis, Brazilian jazz fusion and heavy funk dancefloor sides.

The band made their live debut at Manchester's infamous Beach Club in May 1980. Thanks to a double-booking blunder another support band turned up and were turned away, having travelled all the way from Dublin for a string of British dates. The name of the unlucky band was U2...

With arrangements that emphasised Tony Quigley’s darkly-coloured basslines (and Ann Quigley’s impressionistic vocals as another instrument in the mix) Swamp Children possessed an easygoing grace and a bubbling energy which indicated that the band's true strength was as an ensemble. The band’s musical sophistication (a fusion of funk, jazz, and bossa nova) would prove to be a strong influence on later UK acts like Sade. Indeed, Swamp Children themselves later mutated into the more known and acclaimed latin jazz outfit Kalima.

Working directly with James Nice, custodian of Factory Benelux, means that the audio for this re-issue of the classic EP comes from the original tapes. Cut at 45 RPM and released in the house Be With disco sleeve, we’ve made sure this record is well up to the job of having a permanent place in every DJ’s bag. As far as we’re concerned, this is essential stuff.

Yves Tumor - Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds)

"Yves Tumor redefines Rock Stardom." - The New York Times

"Tumor's idiosyncratic and even intimidating aesthetic choices are precisely what gives the work its glowing modernity." - The Nation

"The quintessential performer, Tumor exudes Prince's androgyny flare, D’Angelo’s tender masculinity, Iggy Pop's freakazoid mania, and Grace Jones' magnetic mystique." - The Austin Chronicle

Yves Tumor - Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds)

"Yves Tumor redefines Rock Stardom." - The New York Times

"Tumor's idiosyncratic and even intimidating aesthetic choices are precisely what gives the work its glowing modernity." - The Nation

"The quintessential performer, Tumor exudes Prince's androgyny flare, D’Angelo’s tender masculinity, Iggy Pop's freakazoid mania, and Grace Jones' magnetic mystique." - The Austin Chronicle

Yellow Vinyl

Yves Tumor - Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds)

"Yves Tumor redefines Rock Stardom." - The New York Times

"Tumor's idiosyncratic and even intimidating aesthetic choices are precisely what gives the work its glowing modernity." - The Nation

"The quintessential performer, Tumor exudes Prince's androgyny flare, D’Angelo’s tender masculinity, Iggy Pop's freakazoid mania, and Grace Jones' magnetic mystique." - The Austin Chronicle

An unmissable pairing of Texan-born soul queens! Ruby Wilson was Memphis based for most of her life whilst Emily spent her formative years in Houston before relocating to Stockton, CA, to raise her family. Both were signed to Malaco Records in Jackson, MS, where these two timeless example of Southern Soul were recorded nearly 30 years apart and now appear on 7” vinyl for the first time.
Ruby Wilson first came to our attention in the mid-70s with two singles on T.K. subsidiary Glades, with Number One In Your Heart and the funkier Sky High both still sounding good today. She signed to Malaco during their most fruitful period, and her self-titled album in 1981, from which this classy below-midpaced selection comes, despite being a typically polished affair never reached the highs with the label that Jewel Bass, Fern Kinney, and of course Dorothy Moore had set over the previous few years. It remained her only outing with them, but she went on to make a further three albums in the late 80s with the Hot Cotton Jazz Band, one with the Climax Jazz Band, and finally back on her own A Song For You (2000 Cadre Ent.) and Show You A Good Time (2005 Unkut Music). She became an accomplished actress and was also known as the Queen Of Beale Street for her many club performances in Memphis. Sadly, Ruby died in 2016, but hopefully this release on Jai Alai will help us remember what a talent she really was.
Not only is Emily David an extraordinary talent, she is a remarkable woman too. Her only album Queen Emily was a direct result of her finishing as a semi-finalist of America’s Got Talent in 2008 at the tender age of 40. She was no stranger to talent shows having won a Sammy Davis Jr award in 1999, but back then, as a single-mother decided to put her singing career on hold to bring up her two daughters. One day her troubled sister arrived to stay but left without taking her two boys with her, so Emily felt she had to bring up her nephews as well. Her dreams of a musical career had evaporated but years later her daughters encouraged her to try once again.
It was almost a year after America’s Got Talent that Malaco boss Tommy Couch Jr. called out of the blue and offered her a contract without meeting her. As Queen Emily, a digital 4-track EP was released in the US, but her eponymous CD album, bizarrely released by Malaco in the UK before the US, is one of the best examples of 21st century Southern Soul, steeped with the label’s trademark live instrumentation by the Muscle Shoals Horns Rhythm Section and contains a number of polished standards such as Use Me, Angel In Your Arms, I Betcha Didn’t Know That and Going Crazy. However, it is the George Jackson-penned ballad Throw Away Me that really stands out and deservedly received critical acclaim in the UK at the time. It now gets a very welcome vinyl debut on Jai Alai and makes for a fabulous pairing.

Turkish underground rock misfit Erbatur Çavusoglu's first solo album is finally here: an intimate collection of previously unreleased songs and new versions, with fresh arrangements by Big Daddy Mugglestone. The result is like Iron & Wine being fronted by a Taksim Square street poet, or a Turkish Crazy Horse.

Erbatur's wavering falsetto delivers heartfelt and tender songwriting, accentuated by an eclectic band of old and new Berlin friends. A must for fans of Indie Americana and Turkish Psychedelic Folk, this is a warm and haunting departure from his previous work with Zardanadam, deeply personal but with open arms.
Supported by Initiative Musik gGmbH with project funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media

ULTRADISC ONE-STEP BOX SET OF BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN'S 1973 DEBUT PLAYS WITH AUDIOPHILE SOUND: LIMITED TO 7,500 NUMBERED COPIES.

1/4" / 15 IPS analogue master to DSD 256 to analogue console to lathe

Teeming with identifiable characters, youthful romanticism, vivid narratives, and sophisticated arrangements, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. is a personal postcard from the heart, soul, and mind of a rock ’n’ roll lifer bent on discovering his world and what lays beyond it. The 1973 album establishes many of the signature themes and sounds Bruce Springsteen would embrace throughout his unparalleled career. No wonder a majority of the songs — “Blinded by the Light,” “Lost in the Flood,” “Spirit in the Night” included — remain staples of the New Jersey native’s fabled concerts.

Sourced from the original analog master tapes, pressed at RTI on MoFi SuperVinyl, and strictly limited to 7,500 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity's UltraDisc One-Step 180g 33RPM LP set is the definitive-sounding version of Springsteen’s daring debut. Afforded the benefits of SuperVinyl’s nearly non-existent noise floor, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. plays with a clarity, directness, and emotionalism that practically whisks you into the New York office in which Springsteen — accompanied by then-manager Mike Appel — played a few originals for legendary Columbia Records executive John Hammond and earned a record deal.

That solo-centric aspect of Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. — credited only to Springsteen and featuring only a handful of accompanying musicians — helps make it unique in his catalogue. So do the acoustic-based frameworks, revealed on this pressing with newly exposed detail, nuance, and immediacy. The music emerges with an openness that gives flight to the Boss’ storytelling. His words flow with unbridled, stream-of-conscious pacing and vibrant imagery; they pay homage to and update a tradition established by Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, and Jack Kerouac. Equally important, Springsteen’s still-underrated vocal performances can now be appreciated in full-range fidelity. Earnest, transparent, and sincere, his singing comes across with an urgency that distinguishes him from the era’s singer-songwriter mold and a raw energy that underlines his unflinching belief in rock ’n’ roll.

Recorded in just three weeks, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. also stands out by way of its insightful artwork. Designed by Grammy winner John Berg, the inviting cover is appointed with images of the local landmarks, beachfronts, and geography that provide the backdrops for some of the songs. Those graphics are complemented by the beautiful packaging of Mobile Fidelity’s UD1S edition. Tucked in a sleek slipcase, the LP is housed in a special foil-stamped jacket with faithful-to-the-original graphics. In every way, this reissue is made for listeners who prize sound quality and who want to engage themselves in everything involved with this invigorating album.

An aspirational declaration by a then-23-year-old musician who was already a seasoned veteran of the Jersey Shore bar-band scene, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. can in many ways be seen as a semi-fictional autobiography released more than four decades before Springsteen penned his official tome. Elaborate, descriptive, and absorbing, Springsteen’s lyrics spark with the enthusiasm and exuberance of a wide-eyed adventurer ready for possibility, excitement, and fun — but who is also mindful of loss, pain, and disappointment. Words often tumble and collide like dice spilling from a jar; shaken and fully intact, they pour forth with purpose and without self-conscious concern.

One of two songs composed after label president Clive Davis cited the need for a radio-friendly single, the opening “Blinded by the Light” provides an unforgettable introduction. It flares with a blend of confidence, fun, and poetry that helps define Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. Crackling with wiry guitars, funky chords, Clarence Clemons’ cool-toned saxophone, and action-packed lyrics, the shuffle simultaneously expands and contracts — and establishes Springsteen as a master of rhyme, alliteration, and breathless expression. The thread continues on “Growin’ Up.” Steered by ascending piano lines, soulful grooves, and frisky rhythms, the coming-of-age confessional is at once rebellious and controlled, fearless and vulnerable, honest and boastful. It is a tale to which multiple generations still relate.

Such universality has always been a Springsteen trademark. It surfaces throughout Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., as does another Boss hallmark: the importance of friendship and tight bonds. These concepts relate to the fact many of the songs — see the feverish “Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?,” strutting “It’s So Hard to Be a Saint in the City,” and tender “For You,” the latter complete with brilliant Hammond organ shading — are directly tied to the friends, acquaintances, places, and happenings he knew. “Lost in the Flood,” whose cinematic drama and epic scope hint at the directions Springsteen would pursue on his next LP, extends that familiarity while addressing the kind of socially conscious issues with which he’s forever been associated.

Balancing the label’s vision of him as a folk-based singer-songwriter and his own desire to play rock ‘n’ roll with a full band, Springsteen never again made a record like Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. One of the most captivating debuts in history, it heralds the start of a legacy whose import Springsteen seemingly foretells on “Blinded by the Light”: “He’s gonna make it tonight.” And how.

Over the course of a nearly 50 year romantic and creative partnership sound artist Annea Lockwood and the late pioneering electronic composer Ruth Anderson have shared space on a number of significant releases of early electronic and tape music, including Charles Amirkhanian’s trailblazing 1977 anthology of women electronic composers New Music for Electronic and Recorded Media, a 1981 split LP on Opus One, a 1997 CD for Phill Niblock’s XI imprint, and 1998’s Lesbian American Composers compilation on CRI. The couple additionally taught a course on the history of women’s music-making, at Hunter College, called Living Women, Living Music. Throughout their time together, they co-authored a number of Hearing Studies designed for people with no formal musical training, which were collected for a 2021 book publication by Open Space Music. They spent most of their private life between Crompond, NY and the house they built themselves at Flathead Lake, Montana. Although Ruth passed away in 2019, the composers’ dialogue continues today with Tête-à-tête, a collection of unreleased archival and new material spread across an LP and a single-sided 10” record.

It all began with a telephone call. In 1973, Ruth Anderson was seeking a substitute to cover a yearlong sabbatical from her position as the director of the Electronic Music Studio she had founded at Hunter College in New York City. Her friend Pauline Oliveros too was on sabbatical, but recommended Ruth call Annea Lockwood—then living in London—about the post. Already drawn to America by the work of the visionary composers with whom she would soon be labelmates on Lovely Music, Annea jumped at the opportunity and within days of meeting in person the pair were, in her words, “joyously entangled.”

Over the next nine months, while Ruth was living in Hancock, New Hampshire, the couple would speak daily by phone in between visits. Ruth recorded these phone calls and, in 1974, surprised Annea with a cassette containing “Conversations,” a private piece she composed by dexterously collaging fragments of their conversations alongside slowed and throwed snatches of old popular songs: “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby”; “Oh, You Beautiful Doll”; and “Bill Bailey.” The centerpiece of Tête-à-tête, this side of intimate musique concrète extends to its listeners a rare invitation to eavesdrop on the halcyon phenomenon of two people falling in love. Tender and playful throughout, “Conversations” comes to its zenith with a cut-up of relentless laughter of a contagious beauty that is, for once, properly convulsive.

“For Ruth” is Annea’s elegy to her life partner. In 2020, Annea returned to Hancock as well as to Ruth’s resting place at Flathead Lake to make field recordings, which she wove together with further excerpts of the couple’s 1974 conversations for a commission presented as part of the 2021 Counterflows Festival in Glasgow. A consummate field recordist, Annea imbues the simple sounds of church bells, birds, wind, and the bodies of water that permeated her time alongside Ruth with an otherworldly depth and sense of narrative akin to that of her celebrated sound maps of the Hudson, Danube, and Housatonic rivers. An oneiric, subtly tonal evocation of a meeting at the shores of existence.

The collection opens with “Resolutions,” Ruth’s last completed electronic work, from 1984. A meditation for the individual listener composed as the result of her study of Zen, it’s a rigorous, process-driven piece that charts the very slow, smooth descent of a 5th from the octave above middle C down to sub-bass frequencies. Minimalist in execution, yet powerful in effect, it glides by almost imperceptibly, with new tones arriving and hovering or levitating upwards, seemingly out of nowhere. A healing piece, it harnesses the highly focused energy of pure tones as a means to, in Ruth’s words, “further wholeness of self and unity with others.”

Tape transfers by Maggi Payne, master by Giuseppe Ielasi and lacquers cut at Dubplates & Mastering, with domestic photos and liner notes provided by Annea Lockwood.

New York painter and musician exploratory industrialist Tor Lundvall initially envisioned his 14th album, Beautiful Illusions, as an entirely instrumental affair, "inspired by memories of sitting in a church or cathedral watching the shifting sunlight through stained glass." Although he ultimately chose to wreath the majority of the tracks with hushed, poetic vocals, his original muse still resonates. These are certainly songs of shadowplay and vaulted skies, the quiet grandeur of dusk deepening on the horizon. Lundvall characterizes the lyrical subject matter, too, in ways both specific and surreal, exploring "the doubts, the anxieties and even the bleak fantasies the mind spirals into during moments of isolation, separation and distance." Tricks of the eye, mind, and ear, magnified by silence and the looming long winter. Shivering pulses and muted bass lines tread the twilight while icicle synths and wiry guitar map the melody until the voice enters, narrating oblique moods of essence and absence, tenderness and truth. Glimpses of dark humor flicker in the wordplay but the greater sonic landscape is one of falling leaves and failing light, small gestures rendered as revelation, cloaked in reverb and spatial fog. Lundvall's mastery of nuance and negative space continues to heighten, whispered brushstrokes of the invisible and the unsaid, what lies beneath and what lies beyond: "Behind the shields and false fronts is usually a sadness. The heartbreaking reflections of what might have been."

2023 Clear Vinyl Repress! nthng finally follows up his four stunning EPs with a full album proper, arriving in a whopping 3xLP pack.Arriving a good 6 months after the LT029.5 album sampler which debuted both Soms and In My Dreams, nthng adds another seven hazy, hooded techno bangers to those to make up a pretty dazzling body of work.Opener 'Touches' is true ambient bliss, with shrouded, blissful synths fuzzing into view and cut through by a soft low distant sunlight. Both Galaxy and Eternal thump into view with a hi-paced drums colliding and clashing with syncopated stabs and smooth dusty baselines, recalling the tender techno-trance precipice danced by Dutch producers at the start of the 90's. The huge mysterious fan favourite and title track It Never Ends gets it's pride of place with 9 mins of deep, cavernous techno, all rippling with epic string-synths and washes of mountainous reverb.Even deeper numbers are extracted from the hard-drive, including the pensively, digitally-bubbling computer jam Unity sitting tidily alongside the super deep and subtle rolls of Abyss. Rounding the album out is the appropriately-titled Last. A dark, shimmering, almost emotionless number that cements a different idea of the future. A hard, pounding, yelping, depth-charged technoid closer. For us, the album feels like a real masterpiece, conjuring a spectrum of intimate and emotive moods, feelings and nostalgia-tinged memories that float into the mind, like the settling fog in the valley on a crisp winters morning.

For Anyone That Knows You, an album of mostly piano solos by Josiah Steinbrick, was recorded riot for smoothness or posterity but to emphasize the piano as object, the person playing it, and the moment it sounds. On three of the pieces, the saxophone of Sam Gendel hovers ok or the piano like a faint change in the light, adding resonance and gentle reinforcement rather than counterpoint. Three others are delicate renditions: "Green Glass" interprets an untitled recording by Quechuan folk musicians Leandro Apaza Roams and Benjamin Clara Quispe; *Tyne Road" abbreviates one of Malian kora master Toumani Diabatels most tender compositions: and "Lullaby" is an arrangement of a traditional Creole song, originally recorded in 1954 by the Haitian-American guitarist Frantz Casseus.

It is no longer a secret that Lady Linn has a very rich and unique voice with a versatility that is second to none, ensuring that she is right at home in a myriad of styles.

She proved exactly that in her new 'trilogy', a series of three E.P.'s - 'I'm Fine', 'Sea of Trees' & 'Nocturne'- each one telling its own unique story, and now bundled on the album 'Trilogy'.

The common thread throughout the album is her affinity with jazz, soul and dance, but also lyrically, various themes return: the tenderness within family life, melancholy, nature, and the magic of the dance floor.

There is also a clear evolution with the arrangements going from a sober, stripped-down quasi-electronic sound of the JX-03 on 'I'm fine' (with contributions from Gustaph, Gregory Frateur and producer Frederik Segers) to dreamy and warm analog synths by producer Joris Caluwaerts on 'Sea of Trees', to an organic, energetic sixties sound on 'Nocturne' with starring role for her partner and bass player Filip Vandebril and partners in crime: The Magnificent Seven, arranger Frederik Heirman and producer Jan Chantrain.

In addition to a selection of the three EPs, 'Trilogy' also includes the extra song 'Hurricane', one of Linn's personal favorites, recorded at Daft Studios with The Magnificent Seven:

'I had just watched a documentary on Laurel Canyon (on the topic of Los Angeles - the epicentre of the 'counter culture' or better 'hippie culture' - in the late 60's and early 70's and the habitat of The Mamas and the Papas, Frank Zappa, Jim Morrison, etc.) which fed my fascination for the 60's that I already had thanks to my parents. The way in which music was created and recorded in that era is a dream for every musician, me included. With the surplus in time due to the lack of gigs during the pandemic the time was right to follow my dream and record in the Daft Studios with my own band. I felt a bit like Carol King behind my piano, but I was also inspired by Joni Mitchell.'

A quote from the lyrics of 'Hurricane': 'I wanna feel the wind like the birds outside/Dive like a seagull, enter the water from flight/Into the deep I slide'.

'A very personal song about losing yourself and the longing for freedom. I composed this one specifically with 60's songs in mind, with loads of modulations and pretty complex chords.'

Lady Linn wrote a versatile trilogy, inspired by a diverse set of influences that had her digging in music history in a very original and contemporary way. She also made her mark on the sound of the productions. On both 'I'm Fine' and 'Nocturne' she was co-producer.

Deluxe Eco Vinyl LP with 16 page lyric booklet! London slowcore band deathcrash have announced their new album Less, due March 31st via untitled (recs). Recorded at the UK's most remote studio in the Outer Hebrides, Less follows their critically acclaimed 2022 album, Return with a statement in reduction that turns out to be as powerful and potent as it is tender and introspective. "The mission statement was to be super minimal," says deathcrash singer Tiernan Banks. "Just simple and beautiful guitar parts and to be really bare. To be...less." Swiftly following Return, the band initially had no plans to make a full length. "The last thing we felt like doing was making another album," says bassist Patrick Fitzgerald. "It was like, 'let's do this little EP that's aesthetically quite different and pared down'." Less was always planned to be a statement in reduction but it soon became apparent that the songs the band were writing were significant, personal and, despite the intentions to strip things back, bigger. "As time went on, we started putting much more emotional weight into it and it became more important to us," says Banks. The result is a record that is as powerful and potent as it is tender and introspective, with arrangements that manage to feel refined yet detailed and with a deep emotional resonance at the core of the record. Banks' voice shifts from hushed whispers to guttural screams, one minute tapping into the kind of fragile beauty that artists like Elliott Smith managed so well, on tracks such as 'Duffy's' before unleashing a doom metal growl in thundering unison with the band on 'Empty Heavy'. The record has confirmed early press support from a number of UK publications, including a 4-page print feature in Loud & Quiet, a feature in Line of Best Fit, and early indications of support from Stereogum and a number of other U.S. publications too. A radio campaign will also be run for the second single 'Duffy's' and we expect support from BBC 6 Music, Apple Music and other tastemaker stations

Pink Blue Marbled Vinyl

Angelo is an EP, named after a car, featuring nine songs Brijean have crafted and carried with them through a period of profound change, loss, and relocation. It finds percussionist and singer Brijean Murphy and multi-instrumentalist/producer Doug Stuart processing the impossible the only way they know how: through rhythm and movement. The months surrounding the acclaimed release of Feelings, their full-length Ghostly International debut in 2021 which celebrated tender self-reflection and new possibilities, rang bittersweet with the absence of touring and the sudden passing of Murphy's father and both of Stuart's parents. In a haze of heartache, the duo left the Bay Area to be near family, resetting in four cities in under two years. Their to-go rig became their traveling studio and these tracks, along with Angelo, became their few constants. Whereas Feelings formed over collaborative jams with friends, Angelo's sessions presented Murphy and Stuart a chance to record at their most intimate, "to get us out of our grief and into our bodies," says Murphy. They explored new moods and styles, reaching for effervescent dance tempos and technicolor backdrops, vibrant hues in contrast to their more somber human experiences. Angelo beams with positivity and creative renewal _ a resourceful, collective answer to "what happens now?". Angelo the car is a 1981 Toyota Celica they got off Craigslist during their first stint in Los Angeles, where Murphy and Stuart have since settled. "Such a bro-y, `80s dude car, it's been super fun to drive around in a new town," Murphy says. "He's older than us, he's a classic, he's got a story." It is a spiritual vehicle with a cinematic appeal, first dropping them off in an alleyway for the scene-setting intro, "Which Way To The Club." The question is quickly resolved by "Take A Trip" as a cruising bassline mingles with crowd sounds, hand-claps, cuíca hiccups, whip-cracks, even a horse neigh. Brijean have found some club on this cross-dimensional trip - the kind of imagined space or chamber within one's self capable of "shifting a fraction of who you are," says Murphy. They wrote the track with the simple intention to be "as free as we could be," adds Stuart, likening the flip on the B section to a realm unlocked: "What if the world changed completely? You open the door to a new room." Next is "Shy Guy," a motivational anthem for the wallflowers among us. Murphy sets up the daydream: "We are in junior high, we're on the dance floor, what's going down, who is dancing, who is not, how are we gonna make them dance?" The narrator, the MC, hypes up the room as conga-driven rhythms bounce between languid synth and guitar lines. "Show me how to move...I feel something...I know you feel it too," Murphy sings sweetly, calling back to the opening lines of Feelings, and this time the audience chants it back. It is easy to picture Brijean performing this one - something they only got to do a handful of times until more recently, opening shows for Khruangbin and Washed Out, an experience they found informative. Murphy explains, "It was inspiring to be out there and let loose more. To see how people can expand their expression on stage gave me more liberty with how I viewed my musicianship. My role for so long was to be a backup percussionist, so why would I ever leave the drums, you know? But then after playing all these runs, you see these artists and realize you can, you have permission." "Angelo" and "Ooo La La" deliver the danciest stretch in Brijean's catalog to date. The title track adopts a deep house pulse replete with strings, hi-hats, and kicks. The latter opts for a funkier groove that foregoes verses in favor of warbled hums and extended breakdowns. What follows is perhaps the duo's dreamiest run, a comedown initiated with the honey-hued interlude "Colors" drifting into "Where Do We Go?", a tropicália reverie where Murphy contemplates the passage of time and space. It all culminates in "Caldwell's Way," a fond farewell to their Bay Area community - "a part of my life that I knew couldn't come back," says Murphy. Above shimmering organ sounds, lush strings, and the birdcall of their former neighborhood, she wistfully articulates the uncertainty of moving on by remembering the characters dear to them. There's the wisdom of their neighbor, Santos, who refused payment when helping them move out: "I'd rather have 100 friends than 100 dollars." And the song's namesake, Benjamin Caldwell Brown, a friend and club night cohort for many years. "I'm only miles away, maybe I'm just feeling lonely," the line resigns to warm nostalgia, and "Nostalgia" runs the closing credits to this healing and transportive collection.

Public Image Ltd. (PiL) will release Hawaii on 7” limited edition vinyl on 31st March. The release follows an incredibly brave and well received performance on The Late Late Show Eurovision Special on Friday 3rd February, in which John Lydon’s heartfelt emotions were visibly on show.

The track is the most personal piece of songwriting and accompanying artwork that Lydon has ever shared. The song is a love letter to John's wife of nearly 5 decades, Nora, who is living with Alzheimer’s. A pensive, personal yet universal love song that will resonate with many, the song sees John reflecting on their lifetime well spent and in particular one of their happiest moments together in Hawaii. The powerfully emotional ballad is as close as John will ever come to bearing his soul. “It is dedicated to everyone going through tough times on the journey of life, with the person they care for the most,” John says. “It’s also a message of hope that ultimately love conquers all.” Celebrating their 40-year anniversary in 2018, Public Image Ltd. haven’t been going quite as long as John and Nora, however, the band is widely regarded as one of the most innovative and influential bands of all time.

PiL’s music and vision has earned them 5 UK Top 20 singles and 5 UK Top 20 albums. With a shifting line-up and unique sound - fusing rock, dance, folk, pop and dub – Lydon guided the band from their debut album First Issue in 1978 through to 1992’s That What Is Not, before a 17 year hiatus. Lydon reactivated PiL in 2009, touring extensively worldwide and releasing two critically acclaimed albums This is PiL in 2012 followed by their 10th studio album What The World Needs Now… in 2015, which peaked at number 29 in the official UK album charts and picked up fantastic acclaim from both press and public. (The album also peaked at number 3 in the official UK indie charts and number 4 in the official UK vinyl charts). What The World Needs Now… was self-funded by PiL and released on their own label ‘PiL Official’ via Cargo UK Distribution. John Lydon, Lu Edmonds, Scott Firth and Bruce Smith continue as PiL. They are the longest stable line-up in the band's history and continue to challenge and thrive. PiL will be releasing their new album ‘End Of World’ this year. Details to be announced soon…

“Uncharacteristically soul-bearing” - Pitchfork

“a swooning, poignant ballad awash with memories of happier times… He’s remarkably tender as he croons: “Don’t fly too soon / No need to cry, in pain / You are loved.” It’s the vulnerability that is most striking. Lydon’s love for his wife shines through like sunrays breaking through clouds, casting everything in a golden light: “I remember you,” he reassures her. He’s backed by harmonising chants of “aloha”, the Hawaiin term that is both a greeting and a farewell. It’s a message from the heart, overflowing with spirit and compassion. What better word for what Lydon is trying to convey here?” - The Independent

“a beautiful and rueful ballad written by 66-year-old Lydon to his wife Nora, who suffers from Alzheimer’s. It’s a peach of a track: both pensive and personal, it reflects on one of their happiest times together in Hawaii. “Remember me/ I remember you… You are loved,” not-so-Rotten sings over a lush soundscape of gently twanging guitars vaguely reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac’s Albatross.” - Telegraph

The "Punctual Problems" EP is the first solo release of Paul Prier, who has already accompanied artists such as Charlotte Gainsbourg, Christine & The Queen or Woodkid on stage or in the studio.

The record is in perpetual balance between a learned music, inspired harmonies and an impeccable production and the desire to propose a pop record accessible to all.

Ex-member of the electro-pop duo Toys and decisive stage man on the keyboard for Charlotte Gainsbourg, Christine & The Queens and Woodkid, Paul Prier is the brand new signature of the Research and Development house (Jacques, Miel de Montagne, PPJ). With his first EP "Punctual Problems", the Parisian finally presents himself alone, with the audacity to turn his phobias into strengths and the elegance to make them light.

We can better appreciate what Punctal Problems means - and what drives its engine. All the technique (his classical and jazz training), the hard work (an obsession with detail that is the lot of arrangers), the erudition (always ready to talk about harmonies with Stevie Wonder or choruses with Thundercat), are here only to serve the beauty of simple and limpid melodies, that we will hum everywhere. Inner dialogues, self-critical and tender at the same time, disguised as love songs so that everyone can project themselves into them. "It's harder to make a really good, sophisticated pop song that speaks to everyone than an ultra-codified jazz song reserved for a niche. In pop, anything goes, so it's all a matter of dosage. That's why Paul Prier can do a hundred versions of a song before he finds the right one... and too bad if it's the first.

Balearic believers rejoice! Japanese tropical-fusioneers Coastlines are back with the worldwide vinyl release of Coastlines 2. The follow-up to their classic debut, this is the sound of Coastlines's global influences. If the dedication to intricate sonic details is particularly Japanese, the overarching feel captures the sprawling grandeur of the international balearic community. As they put it, Coastlines 2 presents "a more precise and beautifully polished magic hour." If that isn't Balearic, we don't know what is.

Takumi Kaneko and Masanori Ikeda don’t radically alter their sumptuous template with this second LP; and we wouldn't want them to. Yet with a more focused flow from first track to last, both Coastlines and Be With feel this is an even stronger album than their first. One thing that hasn't changed is the use of instrumentals instead of words to express their themes; namely, "the emotional expression of being soaked."

Opener "Tenderly" is appropriately titled, a gentle Latin shuffle easing you back into the Coastlines sound. An organ-heavy synthy exotica that's in step with Lovelock's contemporaneous "Washington Park". Their über-horizontal take on Hawkshaw & Bennett's "Mile High Swinger" (from Synthesiser And Percussion, reissued by Be With!) evokes cocktails-by-the-pool as the sun slowly sets. The blunted deep jazz-funk swing of "Alicia" is a rearranged reimagining of the Gabor Szabo song from his classic Jazz Raga LP. This here sounds like an outtake from The Chronic.

As the sun goes down, "Combustione Lenta" soundtracks the relaxing slow burn of an idyllic bonfire on an isolated beach. Displaying a beautiful new side of Coastlines, we're treated to Moments In Love vibes and melancholic guitar arcs. The piano-laden early morning wonder of "Night Cruise" started life as a completely different song, but the duo found a particularly good loop from the initial sketch and reconstructed it into this sophisticated 80s instrumental soul groove. "Waves And Rays" is all undulating acid waves and lighthouse light. A chopped and screwed steel drum G-Funk with soaring synths and nods toward the squelchy machine soul of Mtume and Jam & Lewis. Yes, *that* good.

The bouncy futureboogie cosmic chug of "Sky Island" represents the beginning of the sunrise, casting images of 80s Japanese fusion and definitely one to play out early doors to get the crowd stepping. "Area Code 868" is the strutting staccato sound of Joe Sample waking up in the Caribbean to craft his piano funk drenched in sunshine. Accordingly, the tentative, naive melodies of "Sand Steps" represent that vivid feeling first thing in the morning, as you step on to the sandy beach in the sunshine and take a deep breath. The world is yours.

The emotional, organ-piano-steel drum-driven "Song For My Mother" is a slo-mo show of sincere gratitude to all the great mothers. "Yasmin's Theme" is Coastlines's Brazilian homage, recalling for them that early summer feeling. It's propelled laconically by the carnival beat of batucada`s big bass surdo drum and complimented by sweeps of warm keys and radiant vocal harmonies. Blissful beatless closer "Asafuji" conjures a scene from a wonderful morning spent with the people of Shizuoka, the symbolic mountain of Japan, Mt Fuji and its inhabitants. It sounds like Dâm-FunK jamming with Sabres Of Paradise.

Coastlines 2 was painstakingly crafted, across the pandemic, at Masanori's rented place in Tokyo and then brought back to his home studio and worked on slowly and repeatedly. With limited time to see each other, the duo became more united in their "consciousness with natural progress."

Mastered by Simon Francis and cut by Cicely Balston at Air Studios, this magnificent double LP has been pressed by the good people at Record Industry.

The electronic music producer and DJ whose catalogue of collaborations namechecks acts as diverse as Agoria, Green Velvet, Roman Flugel to Nitzer Ebb, Depeche Mode and David Holmes is set to release his 6th studio album The Strand Cinema on the 24th March on his own label PKR.

The last five years have seen an evolutionary shift for the electronic musician, undertaking more soundtrack work, including for film (Nightride on Netflix, Rough), radio (The Northern Bank Job BBC R4) and theatre (East Belfast Boy).

The Strand Cinema album is a tribute to the art deco cinema building , The Strand, where Phil’s recording studio is. A stirring and beautiful record, it seamlessly traverses the worlds of contemporary classical to beautifully elevated dance music with a recognisably cinematic influence. Managing to sound both grand and expansive, as well as minimal and introspective – it’s a record that explores the macro and the micro.

The opening track “Strand Cinema”, begins with a steady, gentle, looping pulse, almost recalling the kosmische ripples of Cluster, before sweeping and enveloping strings enter, resulting in a track that manages to sound both grandiose and tender in one fell swoop.

Lead single “Atlantic” perhaps most perfectly encapsulates the various sonic worlds that Kieran is operating in, merging a bordering on euphoric dance beat layered with infectious melodies, while remaining anchored to organic sounds, as strings and percussion collide with the driving and hypnotic groove of the track.

“Strike the Match” showcases Kieran’s talents for detail, in a track that feels almost palpably textural and rich in complexity but without feeling overly busy or superfluous; while “Elephant in Castle” utilises intense, almost gargling electronics, that drone with a foreboding and ominous tone, but also produces fractured moments of light, beauty and poignancy.

Created during Covid Kieran’s method was “To literally be like a tuning fork and ask: What's in my chest? If I were to describe what's inside me, and what's going on in the outside world, If I had to score that in a film, what would it sound like right now? I guess I sort of soundtracked my own life”

“One positive side of lockdowns was that we spent more time in natural surroundings where I’d make field recordings. I’d also record acoustic sounds: cello, violin, percussion, guitar etc and then create my own sample bank from all these single one-note sounds. So, creating your own loops and drones. The album was created from organic sounds manipulated by machines; melted, mangled and hacked with computers but machines only sound as good as the human spirit put into them.
The idea of nature and humans versus technology is the concept behind the album’s A/V show which debuts in Belfast in March before touring. Featuring works by 11 artists from across the worlds of film, animation, advertising, architecture, computer science and dance such as Scottish BAFTA nominated Simone Smith, LA based director Frederico Marzio Vitetta who is famous for skateboarding films like ‘Wet Dream’ with Spike Jonze, to futuristic CGI from BAFTA nominated Kris Kelly and a video from contemporary dancer Oona Doherty. onscreen visualisations that explores The visuals explore nature and technology along a timeline from past, present to future with cinema as a loose reference point with varying degrees of utopian versus dystopian moods.

Strawberries ripen in the spring. Or so they used to, in a more reliable world, one that seems to be rapidly receding in our collective rearview mirror. Presently, “spring” is a troubled concept — fraught with anxiety. Our seasons, if they are seasons at all, are paradoxical. Crops fail, or they ripen prematurely, all at once, and into a burst of rot. Impossibly, somehow, the supermarket shelves stay stocked (mostly, for now at least), and there are buckets of strawberries on every corner. But, of course, their nature is suspect. And they don’t taste like they used to. Or maybe that’s just ruinous nostalgia. But somewhere along the way we certainly lost something. Everybody knows.

Strawberry Season (Leaving Records, November 9 2022) responds tenderly to this sorry state of affairs, not with false comfort — nor escapism. Rather, the album conveys, often wordlessly, that there remains an abundance of sweetness amidst our increasing unease. While much of twentieth century American popular and folk music may have dwelt on the beauty and plenitude of the prairie, More Eaze applies a similar Romantic focus to the small bursts of fecundity that now hide in plain sight. Blending found sound, generative music, a knack for elegant, classically-informed melodic arrangement, and a sort of Liz-Fraser-by-way-of-hyperpop approach to vocals, Strawberry Season offers unique solace — providing an occasion for the kind of deep listening that our overstimulated and undernourished spirits require if there is to be any hope at all (and of course there must be hope).

More Eaze (serving as composer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and sound artist) guides us incrementally to this locus of attentiveness. Strawberry Season begins with the softly sweeping gentle pets. Early intimations of Velvet Underground give way, indeed, to a string arrangement that John Cale might have saved for Paris 1919. The second track, Suped, features a kaleidoscopic swirl of grocery checkout scanners that eventually coalesce and release with the subtle strumming of a harp. On known, in the midst of a nearly elegiac outflow of feeling, a shower starts to run. Someone steps inside, pulling the curtain back, sending the plastic rings clattering. Moments later, the unmistakable sound of the showerer blowing their nose — an inclusion that is at once light-hearted and jarringly, movingly intimate.

Strawberry Season’s second to last song, low resolution at santikos, serves as a sustained meditation on all that has come before it. Building slowly throughout its nine minutes, teetering, at times, on the edge of danceability, it dissipates suddenly, and Strawberry Season concludes with the rustling of clothes, snippets of distant conversation, creaking floorboards, an exhale and a sniff. There is a feeling of having arrived, of temporary reprieve in the face of uncertainty. A hint of a season yet to come, or one that is perhaps only now accessible in dreams.

You can't claim to know anything about Danish jazz unless you're familiar with the great and beloved tenor saxophonist Jakob Dinesen - aka Dino.
Dinesen's reputation as a versatile and virtuosic saxophonist has brought him all over the world and has cemented him as one of Denmark's most
sought-after musicians, performing with jazz, rock, pop and world music elite for the past 30 years. Now, at the age of 54, he is a fully-formed,
dynamic tenor titan with an instantly recognisable voice. His sound on tenor has a tenderness that's totally his own, and his phrases glide and soar
with a seemingly effortless technical command of the instrument.
In early December 2021, Dino travelled to the United States to record with one of his heroes - legendary American drummeer Jeff 'Tain' Watts - who
at 62 years old is considered by many to be the most prominent and influential drummer of his generation. In addition to Dino and Tain, this
resultant album also features two young virtuosos from Denmark - guitarist Jacob Artved and bassist Felix Moseholm - both still in their twenties but
making waves with their incredible talent, drive and taste.
The result is a recording that takes listeners on a journey offering plenty of room for each of the four musicians to shine brighter than ever before.
Jakob Dinesen - tenor saxophone; Jeff 'Tain' Watts - drums; Jacob Artved - guitar; Felix Moseholm - bass.
A limited edition 180g vinyl release.

With Synthetic Hearts, Tubatsi Mpho Moloi, Msaki and Clément Petit issue an invitation to the listener and lover to journey to another place. Here, hearts, experiences, and sounds meet, shift and evolve across an inventive nine track album. Experimental, playful and complex, the project merges voices, instruments and sounds, across geographies and genres, creating sparse, yet lush atmospherics that spin on the universal themes of love. As skilled musical shapeshifters, Synthetic Hearts melds Msaki and Moloi"s folk sensibilities with electronic elements, as Petit teases out distinct textures from his cello across the record. On Synthetic Hearts, love, longing, confusion, sorrow, despondency and queries are opened up and negotiated in songs that vibrate with their naked, honest and tender vulnerability.

Castelli is the musical moniker of Milan’s Stefano Castelli. His debut album, Anni Venti, combines all the synth history of his native Italy with soulful song writing. Produced by Luca Urbani, the record draws on inspiration from the analogue sounds of pop and wave whilst commenting on our contemporary condition. Rumbling basslines and clean beats are elevated by the glorious chorus lines of the opening “Festa.” The tracks on offer are short and bursting with energy, like the lilting “Cosmonauti” or the addictively upbeat duet of “Wave Goodbye.” A retrospective future dawns in the vocoder and rhythmic pulses of “Cani,” electro echoes of a man machine world. A range of styles are drawn on to create Castelli’s signature sound, his band background merging with synth warmth in “Paradiso Tropicale.” Italy’s famed soundtracks come to the fore in the measured drama of “Quando Guardi I Film.” What permeates the collection is a tender hopefulness, one that culminates in the enthusiasm and electronic exploration of “Nave.” A ten track journey from the heart of Milan.

Brazilian psych soul wunderkind, producer and singer Tagua Tagua has joined the Wonderwheel Recordings family with a tender selection of cuts on his second album Tanto.

Recorded in the rural outskirts of Sao Paulo there is a sense of yearning that permeates throughout the set list of ten unapologetic love songs that fly between lush psychedelic pop to warm, beat-laden neo-soul with Brazilian flavor. The album maneuvers subtly between the different dynamics, and purposefully so, as it was 'a vibe' that Tagua Tagua AKA Felipe Puperi wanted to instill from start to finish - channeling soul heroes past and present like Bill Withers, Shuggie Otis & Sault.

The album title and first single Tanto translates to Portuguese as 'so much', and Felipe sees the track and entirety of the album as "a feeling of falling in love for the sake of falling in love". The track is a slice of horizontal soul music and possesses a sweet, almost drug induced fervor, simple on arrangements. Felipe sings in a melismatic tenor, at times tipping into falsetto, with subtle effects enriching his delivery.

Based in the city of São Paulo, Felipe previously fronted the group Wannabe Jalva and has an extensive musical resumé, having played at Lollapalooza Brazil, supported shows for Pearl Jam and Jack White, and created a name for himself as one of the most promising breakout acts in Brazil. Yet there was a break-out moment of self discovery, a re-connection with his language that led to a personal and musical revolution culminating in his debut solo album in 2020, Inteiro Metade.

Whereas his previous longplayer had changing musical personalities from tropical psychedelic to funk and soul, Tanto only flirts outside of the mellow psychedelic soul prism and whilst there are ebbs and flows, it delights in its sparse and sweet minimalism. "Pra Trás" opens proceedings, and aptly, as Tagua Tagua moves from one album to the next, it's about leaving things behind. There are strings and orchestrations, a killer guitar hook and Tagua Tagua's seductive delivery. "Colors" is full throttle future-soul, squelchy synths pulsed by a lazy, yet insistent shuffler of a beat. Further dreamlike timbres are found in "Barcelona", a journey of a song and Brisa, perhaps the body-mover of the collection, with silky synths and a chorus you're sure to repeat.

All songs were written and recorded by Felipe himself, mixed by fellow Wannabe Jalva band member Tiago Abrahão, and mastered by Brian Lucey (The Black Keys, Chet Faker). Recently, Tagua Tagua toured Europe and played several shows at SXSW and along the West coast in the US.

On Al Hadr, Sabrina Bellaouel taps into myriad influences: from spirituality, astrology to club culture, romance, the body and self-love. Creating a balance between places, identities and sounds is a huge part of the charm of Al Hadr. As a true Libra, she’s finding a balance between honoring her roots and carving out her future.

Following two solo EPs, also on InFiné — 2020’s We Don’t Need To Be Enemies and 2021’s Libra — the French-Algerian producer and vocalist’s unique style of electronic R&B blossoms with Al Hadr, a 13-track album featuring collaborations with dance producer Basile3, experimental club DJ and writer Crystallmess, jazz musician Monomite and pop singer Bonnie Banane, among others.

Born, raised and based in Bagneux, outside the southern périphérique of Paris, Bellaouel lives between worlds. At home, her Algerian heritage and Muslim faith have fused tight familial bonds and a keen sense of history and culture; as “Berbers”, she speaks French and Arabic. In her headphones, she finds comfort in the sparse experimentalism of Radiohead and romantic tales of Jill Scott. On the hot club dance floors of Paris, driving house beats connect her to her body.

In swirling these private and public passions together on Al Hadr — which translates from Arabic as “the present time” — Bellaouel is the most vulnerable she’s ever been on record. Classic neo-soul and silken R&B blend with club electronics. Tender harmonies are sung and rhymes are spoken in English, French and Arabic, exploring love, faith and identity. Samples of drum machines are the backbone for wisps of woodwind, strings, keys and environmental ‘found sounds’, including Bellaouel’s own live recordings.

Creating a balance between places, identities and sounds is a huge part of the charm of Al Hadr. As a true Libra, she’s finding a balance between honoring her roots and carving out her future.

With her hypnotizing voice and vivid lyricism, Jackie Mendoza makes fantastical, intimate electro-pop propelled by ukulele-based dance grooves. Having grown up between her birthplace of Chula Vista, California and Tijuana, Mexico, the 29-year-old singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist bridges these two worlds with dynamic soundscapes that pull from Latin pop, electronic music, and indie pop. She creates a musical universe that exists beyond strict borders of genre and geography, giving her the space to traverse the vast expanse of her interiority. Mendoza first started performing in 2014 as the vocalist for Brooklyn dream pop bands Gingerlys and Lunarette. She then broke out as a solo artist with her 2016 pop hits "Islands" and "La Luz," which showcased her imagery-packed, yet deeply introspective lyrics. On LuvHz, her 2019 adventurous debut EP that was initially inspired by a painful breakup, she turned her personal experiences into songs that observe greater truths about the world around her. As a result, the project became a broader reflection on varying forms of love, in relationships with your partner, your culture, and the natural environment. Mendoza expands this approach on her debut album, Galaxia de Emociones (Galaxy of Emotions), which sees her exploring a great range of feelings, from depression, celebration, outrage, numbness, hopelessness, and thrilling love. She uses each emotion as a portal to convey the intricacies of her experience as a queer, first-generation Mexican American woman, who actively defies and criticizes machismo and the Christian culture she was surrounded by. Brought up in the suburban border town of Chula Vista, she recalls being told by her parents to not mix English with Spanish, but speaking "spanglish" quickly became inevitable. It wasn't until high school, that learning to play ukulele and singing in school musicals allowed her to authentically express herself. "This album is about finding the courage to not only face my emotions, but also sharing them by singing them out loud." Mendoza says. The project was co-written and co-produced by Mendoza and Rusty Santos (Animal Collective, Panda Bear), with a contribution from Grammy winning producer and accordionist Ulises Lozano. As Galaxia de Emociones cruises from shimmering indie pop to accordion-laced electronic norteño, Mendoza proves there is both power and tenderness in embracing the fullness of your being and not doubting your instincts that might have been discouraged by society. She says it all in the opening song, "Natural," which blooms with spacey synths and twinkling ukulele plucks. "There is no use in controlling what comes natural to you," she sings in Spanish in a spellbinding loop. With her new album, she hopes that listeners can connect with her words and look within to explore their own galaxy of emotions.

Scottish composer and multi-instrumentalist Bill Wells and virtuoso tuba player Danielle Price once more team up for Karaoke Kalk under the name The Sensory Illusions. The two further explore the affinities between their idiosyncratic musical approaches across a variety of styles and genres while also expanding their sound palette. After its predecessor saw Wells working strictly with his electric guitar, on the »Sensory Illusions II« the piano enters the mix on two of the eleven pieces. Much like his brass-heavy collaboration album »Osaka Bridge« with Japanese collective Maher Shalal Hash Baz—made available again on vinyl by the German label Karaoke Kalk in February 2023—this album injects melancholic atmospheres with a sense of playfulness. Picking up on elements from jazz, pop, blues, and classic songwriting while acknowledging their debt to techniques from the worlds of avant-garde and improv music, The Sensory Illusions weave together disparate elements into a colourful, imaginative suite of songs.

Starting with the folky chords of opener »Four Chord Dream,« the track titles spell out Wells’ characteristic use of ideas that literally come to him in his sleep (the project was even named after a record he found while browsing a store in a dream). The National Jazz Trio Of Scotland leader then fleshes them out together with Price, who again serves as a one-woman rhythm section, as she does throughout most of the album. When Wells enters 1960s spy movie territory with a swirling rendition of John Barry’s »Theme from Vendetta« and picks up on those dynamics with a rolling riff in the next song, her versatile playing provides the backdrop for that. Once Wells sits down at the piano for the tender »Flotsam Bodes,« however, their roles are being reversed and Price—a seasoned and multifaceted musician who was one of only six applicants chosen to attend Chilly Gonzales' Gonzervatory in 2019 and who is currently working with acclaimed London-based trumpet player and composer Laura Jurd—takes the lead. »I’m the Urban Spaceman« makes it even more apparent how seamlessly these two experienced players leave each other space to showcase their respective talent and expand on their individual ideas: Marked by Wells’ soloing and exploring different sonic possibilities of the guitar, it also sees Price showcasing her reduced yet agile solos before they both return to the idea at the heart of the song.

It is precisely those ideas that guide the duo’s way through the individual pieces, but their sometimes widely different approaches yield very distinct results. While working with the piano once more on »Mr. Sophie« results in a fuller and more anthemic sound, they opt for a more restrained, melancholic one the album closer »Desk Aunt«. It is precisely these kinds of variations in mood and tone that underscore how these two musicians are perfectly attuned to each other. As the second duo record in their six years of working together, »The Sensory Illusions II« proves once more how much musical ground they are able to cover with their instruments and open minds alone.

American singer-songwriter, poet, and photographer Thomas Meluch, known musically as Benoît Pioulard, returns with his most structured and vocal release to date. Titled »Eidetic,« a word denoting the ability to recall mental images with extraordinarily rich precision, the album presents unprecedented clarity and vitality for Benoît Pioulard. To access its thematic ground, Meluch looked inward with an affinity towards the people he loves during a period marked by his move from Seattle to Brooklyn in 2019. The resulting work engages with the universe's unflinching mortality and, as he says, »the ways it has modified and improved my relationships, especially with family.« Embodied by the creek, leaves, and ferns of the cover photography — taken in Michigan’s Burchfield Park, where he and his dad used to hike and »muse on existence« — the music glistens and unfurls with the flow of life he’s come to know. »Eidetic« is the culmination of Meluch's craft both as a producer and writer. An evocative sonic vocabulary meets deft lyrical introspection, articulated with the nuance, vulnerability, and confidence of a longtime artist hitting a stride.

Meluch has continually refined, redefined, and adjusted the focus of his gentle pop project over the last 20 years. Recorded primarily with guitar, tapes, and voice — and spanning labels with albums for Kranky, Morr Music, Beacon Sound, and Past Inside the Present — his catalog flows seamlessly between ambient improvisation and pop composition. Much like the analog photos that often accompany his releases, songs can feel dreamily softened and distant, and others beautifully vivid and detailed. 2021 full-length »Bloodless« found Meluch deep in droning decay, expressive yet wordless. With »Eidetic,« he swings back to sharpened forms. Lush banks of treated guitar and synth brush against hushed percussion; there is mist in the distance, but everything up close is intricately constructed and radiant. Meluch's voice is notably forward in the mix — a warm and calming tenor, a harmonic coo more than a whisper — ever-observant and actively processing.

To record much of the album, Meluch filled a cabin in rural Maine with his usual setup of simple percussion, a couple of Fender electrics, and a parlor guitar made by his friend who does bespoke luthier work. The modest utility is what he knows best, and here he pushes the output to its most pristine potential.

»Eidetic« opens in a swirl of familiar haze; »Margaret Murie« eases listeners in, as lush and verdant as the landscapes conserved by its famed namesake. With the setting established, Meluch, the narrator, enters the foreground with »Crux,« a tender piece written about finding new motivations in a new city. »We covet this rare green hue / Here at the farthest point from home,« he sings above a reassuring pattern of strums and percussion. Meluch's prose shines on the swiftly-moving »Nameless,« inspired by the neurological effects that came with the antiquated practice of manufacturing mercury mirrors; »folks would slowly go insane while looking into their own reflections every day,« he adds. The idea informs a series of surreal abstractions before everything drops out in the final minute, and we are left free-floating in eerie nothingness.

Across the album, labyrinthine lyrical ponderings scatter with dazzling imagery, artfully blurring scenes from world history with Meluch's more personal, present-day. The propulsive and earnest »Thursday Night« catches his mind overly active and too stoned, riffing on black holes and songwriting itself. »Halve« references the splitting of the atom, what he considers »the beginning of man's downfall,« and the unrealized initiative proposed by the US government that would have created 'nuclear refuges' in its national parks. Meluch's loved ones weave throughout; »Tet« holds his father's experience in Vietnam and its lasting effects. »Lillian Isola« touches on his maternal grandmother's spinal curvature, and »Pastel Dust« navigates the wake of his cat, who died on New Year's Eve 2020.

At first blush, Meluch's atmospheric and melodic sensibilities resonate purely in their own right. Upon closer meditation, his ability to render stories — many of which surround human tragedy, misfortune, and understanding — through the prism of his poetry makes »Eidetic« even more rewarding.

Dark Green Vinyl

American singer-songwriter, poet, and photographer Thomas Meluch, known musically as Benoît Pioulard, returns with his most structured and vocal release to date. Titled »Eidetic,« a word denoting the ability to recall mental images with extraordinarily rich precision, the album presents unprecedented clarity and vitality for Benoît Pioulard. To access its thematic ground, Meluch looked inward with an affinity towards the people he loves during a period marked by his move from Seattle to Brooklyn in 2019. The resulting work engages with the universe's unflinching mortality and, as he says, »the ways it has modified and improved my relationships, especially with family.« Embodied by the creek, leaves, and ferns of the cover photography — taken in Michigan’s Burchfield Park, where he and his dad used to hike and »muse on existence« — the music glistens and unfurls with the flow of life he’s come to know. »Eidetic« is the culmination of Meluch's craft both as a producer and writer. An evocative sonic vocabulary meets deft lyrical introspection, articulated with the nuance, vulnerability, and confidence of a longtime artist hitting a stride.

Meluch has continually refined, redefined, and adjusted the focus of his gentle pop project over the last 20 years. Recorded primarily with guitar, tapes, and voice — and spanning labels with albums for Kranky, Morr Music, Beacon Sound, and Past Inside the Present — his catalog flows seamlessly between ambient improvisation and pop composition. Much like the analog photos that often accompany his releases, songs can feel dreamily softened and distant, and others beautifully vivid and detailed. 2021 full-length »Bloodless« found Meluch deep in droning decay, expressive yet wordless. With »Eidetic,« he swings back to sharpened forms. Lush banks of treated guitar and synth brush against hushed percussion; there is mist in the distance, but everything up close is intricately constructed and radiant. Meluch's voice is notably forward in the mix — a warm and calming tenor, a harmonic coo more than a whisper — ever-observant and actively processing.

To record much of the album, Meluch filled a cabin in rural Maine with his usual setup of simple percussion, a couple of Fender electrics, and a parlor guitar made by his friend who does bespoke luthier work. The modest utility is what he knows best, and here he pushes the output to its most pristine potential.

»Eidetic« opens in a swirl of familiar haze; »Margaret Murie« eases listeners in, as lush and verdant as the landscapes conserved by its famed namesake. With the setting established, Meluch, the narrator, enters the foreground with »Crux,« a tender piece written about finding new motivations in a new city. »We covet this rare green hue / Here at the farthest point from home,« he sings above a reassuring pattern of strums and percussion. Meluch's prose shines on the swiftly-moving »Nameless,« inspired by the neurological effects that came with the antiquated practice of manufacturing mercury mirrors; »folks would slowly go insane while looking into their own reflections every day,« he adds. The idea informs a series of surreal abstractions before everything drops out in the final minute, and we are left free-floating in eerie nothingness.

Across the album, labyrinthine lyrical ponderings scatter with dazzling imagery, artfully blurring scenes from world history with Meluch's more personal, present-day. The propulsive and earnest »Thursday Night« catches his mind overly active and too stoned, riffing on black holes and songwriting itself. »Halve« references the splitting of the atom, what he considers »the beginning of man's downfall,« and the unrealized initiative proposed by the US government that would have created 'nuclear refuges' in its national parks. Meluch's loved ones weave throughout; »Tet« holds his father's experience in Vietnam and its lasting effects. »Lillian Isola« touches on his maternal grandmother's spinal curvature, and »Pastel Dust« navigates the wake of his cat, who died on New Year's Eve 2020.

At first blush, Meluch's atmospheric and melodic sensibilities resonate purely in their own right. Upon closer meditation, his ability to render stories — many of which surround human tragedy, misfortune, and understanding — through the prism of his poetry makes »Eidetic« even more rewarding.

Green Marbled Vinyl


Following up to his maiden transmission for the label, "Cosmic Silence", issued a year ago, Italian producer Alessandro Cozzolino AKA Cioz resurfaces on Stil vor Talent with his longed-for debut album "Supermassive Whole" - a ten-track cosmic odyssey in sound percolating staple elements of Cioz's palette of choice, from otherworldly techno to Latin-inflected house, via the obvious injection of kosmische and electronica soundscaping.

The lead single "Wachaka" - recorded in collaboration with Cape Town producer Ryan Murgatroyd, exemplifies Cozzolino's electrifying approach to a T. An inch-perfectly balanced mix of Afro-infused polyrhythmic bravura and seesawing synth moves, the track swells with a blazing fire at heart that keeps on sprawling infectiously with each and every bar. Trading the linear buildup for most sensuous levels of syncopation, "Me Monkey" serves up a warmer kind of funk, perfect for getting snug and cozy before an avalanche of seesawing chords up the ante towards space-opera-esque amplitude. All in elusive sinuosity and processed machine talk, "Harakat" dwells the confines of wonky house templates and polyamorous EBM, while "I Always Wanted To..." goes the slo-burning, counterclockwise route, primed for languid moments in the alcove.

"B1" is perhaps the most spitting avatar of the Italian whiz's hybrid rolling-and-pounding rhythmic style, nicely embodying both its quirky, hip-swaying and fanfare-like percussive aspects. The ecstatically bouncy "Do It The Way You Feel" showcases Cioz's more rousing, floor-friendly facet with a killer combo of hi-octane electro dynamics, pop-rock motif'd hooks and slashing breaks taking the controls. The mood also happens to be melancholic at times, such as on the beautifully understated "Is This Real", which bridges the gap betwixt piano-house déjà-vu - here tweaked to distinctively soul-wrenching effect, and a prog buildup glossed under a thick sauce of FX, similar to that of "Sudpol Birgit"'s inflating saturation in the post-prod treatment. Somewhat brushed with balearic shades in mind, "Pace e Amore" follows a more classic curve, slowly veering off onto ambient-laced territories, while "Lost in Space" evokes a certain idea of gravity-defying plenitude through that ever intuitive and subtly arranged collage of tender wistfulness and endless attraction towards the groove, which defines Cozzolino's phraseology so fittingly.

As Deutsche Grammophon celebrates its 125th birthday this year 2023, the Yellow Label marks the occasion by releasing a selection of vinyl LPs for the first time ever.
“Beauty will save the world,” wrote Dostoyevsky, which is the claim that Camille Thomas makes throughout this record. Not beauty for the sake of hedonism, but a beauty that believes there is a burning line to be drawn between pain and hope. Camille Thomas' new album illustrates this, structured like an archipelago surrounding the Cello Concerto composed by Fazil Say. Camille Thomas gave its premiere in 2018, and her album spanning the work of ten composers, allows us to travel the path from pain to hope. On the threshold, we meet three pieces: the heart-rending melody of the Kaddisch by Ravel, a sublimation of the Jewish prayer for the dead; the lamentation from Purcell’s Dido, quasi a lullaby from the queen who awaits her death, in a nakedness without pathos; and between those two works, the tender Dance of the Blessed Spirits from Gluck’s Orfeo, in which we hear the first signals of hope. The album is available today for pre-order and is accompanied by the pre-release track of Gluck’s Dance of the Blessed Spirits from his opera Orfeo ed Euridice.

The 2LP Great Moments With documents the music of Pharoah Sanders from 1983 to 1990, showcasing both the raw energy and tender nature of his music. It contains 12 of his recordings, including “Africa”, “Naima”, “You’ve Got To Have Freedom” and also the previously unreleased version of “Central Park West”. Featured guest musicians are John Hicks, Idris Muhammad, Curtis Lundy, Benny Golson, Cedar Walton, Ron Carter and more jazz masters. For this compilation, Bret Primack has written new liner notes and Timeless Records founders Ria and Wim Wigt here share additional great moments from Sanders’ sublime work.

Great Moments With is available as a limited edition of 1500 individually numbered copies on translucent blue coloured vinyl, housed in a gatefold sleeve.