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Since their formation, The Hirsch Effekt have carved out a unique niche in the German-speaking music scene. Yet, despite—or perhaps because of—their elusiveness, the band has captivated a devoted audience. Musically, The Hirsch Effekt have always embraced limitless possibilities. Acoustic, introspective moments—where bassist Ilja John Lappin brings out his cello or guitarist Nils Wittrock returns to his classical roots—sit naturally alongside massive progressive metal onslaughts. The band is equally at home on intimate club stages as they are at international festivals, evidenced by repeated appearances at Euroblast and numerous events across the UK. Recently, they toured Germany alongside scene giants like Leprous, Tesseract and traversed Europe with Caligula’s Horse. Yet between these extremes, The Hirsch Effekt continually create songs that flirt with radio accessibility—almost—because the band steadfastly resists any form of standardization. With their seventh album, Der Brauch, they continue this course uncompromisingly. While earlier works, despite their diversity, were still labeled “metal albums,” this new record explores paths first hinted at on the multilayered second album, Holon : Anamnesis—the same album that fans of VISIONS magazine voted the only German-language entry among the 20 best albums of all time. Der Brauch can be seen as a return to that pivotal point—and simultaneously as a bold step forward. Drummer Moritz Schmidt doesn’t entirely forgot blast beats, but the record demands a new heading. In the end, though, there is only one truth: it unmistakably sounds like The Hirsch Effekt.

Do you remember the last time you were breathing consciously? Either way, you are likely doing it now. On his new album Observation of Breath« for the Swiss-based Hallow Ground label, Lawrence English worked exclusively with an organ for four compositions that are exercises in »maximal minimalism,« as their creator himself notes in a nod to Charlemagne Palestine, who coined this term. While it seems somewhat fitting that those four pieces based on a steady flow of air were conceived and recorded in a situation of accelerated standstill caused by a respiratory disease, the Room40 founder is not so much concerned with capturing the zeitgeist than rather incorporating the spirit of time itself. »It is a record about presence and patience,« he explains. Exploring the unique sonic affordances of a singular instrument, »Observation of Breath« is not only devoted to the durability of sound but also to its density. That it marks his debut on Hallow Ground after having shaped its sound by mastering most of the label’s releases in recent years is just as fitting then as its release following albums by Kali Malone and FUJI|||||||||||TA, whose innovative work with organ instruments have facilitated a rediscovery of their possibilities.English’s compositions however are neither directly indebted nor responding to these musicians. His exploration of the organ’s many facets started a decade ago when the composer was given access to an instrument built in 1889 that is presently housed at The Old Museum in Brisbane. After it had already played a crucial role on his seminal albums »Wilderness Of Mirrors« and »Cruel Optimism,« last year’s self-released »Lassitude« was the first record that English entirely composed and recorded with that instrument. »During the soft lockdowns, I spent many days playing to an empty concert hall, recording the pieces that became ›Lassitude‹ and then, this album,« says English in regards to an unfortunate situation that fortunately provided him with time and space—two major themes but also key qualities of the four new compositions. In this sense, he goes on, »Observation of Breath« resolves a number of the questions originally raised by »Lassitude.

For over six decades, Charlemagne Palestine (b. 1947, New York) has been a pioneering composer, performer, and multimedia artist, celebrated for his ecstatic sonic explorations and ritualistic, metaphysical performances. Emerging from the cross-disciplinary New York art scene of the 1960s and ’70s, he helped shape a heretical edge of minimalism alongside figures like Conrad, Riley, Niblock, and Glass. Trained as a Jewish cantor and later as the carillonneur at St. Thomas Church, Palestine cultivated a deep fascination with resonance and overtone—an obsession that evolved through his use of percussion, early synthesizers, and monumental piano works, influencing artists from John Cale to Nick Cave.

Animated by a spirit of ecstatic play and what he calls his »meschugge« (Yiddish for »crazy«) sensibility, Palestine’s universe blends the sacred and the absurd, filled with soft toys, ritual gestures, and immersive sound environments. Rejecting the »minimalist« label in favor of a maximalist, »spontanimalist« approach, he creates long-form, resonant performances that transform spaces into vibrating, living organisms—opening portals into the nature of time, sound, and devotion.

In the same vein, the aptly titled live record »The Organ is the World’s Greatest Synthesizer« – performed during the Sonic Acts Festival at Amsterdam’s Oude Kerk in 2025, and taking its title and cover art from a drawing realized by Palestine himself during the concert – adds to his opaque yet vibrant personal mythology and intimate transcendence, marking a return to the Staalplaat catalog after »Fffroggssichorddd« (2020) and »Music for Big Ears« (2001).

Beginning with a resonating bell and his falsetto overtone singing, then surrendering to the endless, wild soundscapes of tone-feeling and beat frequencies generated by the church’s organ, across 40+ minutes, single sound sources evolve into clusters, entangle fully with one another, and establish their own spatial existence and aural architectures. We witness the traces of something that can be described as a perpetual performance, a test for the ever-changing interaction between artist, instrument, space and, ultimately, us.

Since Palestine has always defined his execution as a form of anti-composition - of simply »being in the music« as if inhabiting a space - the true power of »The Organ is the World’s Greatest Synthesizer« lies in encapsulating a moment of Palestine’s practice in its most authentic, live dimension. Sound becomes at once subtle substance and strange telluric force, animating physical forms from some unknown channel beyond and within, accessible only through our sensorium. The point in this liminal temple of tone, timbre and frequency is not to learn anything but to simply enter. Palestine earns once again his self-given title of contemporary shaman by keeping this sonic portal open, allowing us to witness and make it last.

»I have always felt and heard and mixed the sounds in my world as liquids not as solids. Sonic liquids are material that is endlessly transformable. But I’m not crazy about people who go around defining stuff.«

Mighty Joseph is the combination of emcees Vast Aire (Cannibal Ox) with his long-time rhyme ally Karniege. The duo's sole album, Empire State (2008) was released during the tail-end of the last great non-commercial Hip-Hop period.

Never released on vinyl before, the album will be available soon on a double LP edition.

Rooted in the concrete streets but lyrically abstract, features and beats are provided by equal musical foils including Madlib, Camu Tao, Murs, J-Zone, Poison Pen and Vordul Mega (Cannibal Ox) among others.

Fan and critical attention were positive with All Hip Hop summing the album as "solid post-millennium product that bridges the gap between gritty street tales and a paranoid view of the future."

Plug One Magazine added that "Empire State" "unravels a unique perspective, documenting not only much personal change between the two emcees but also the changes in the streets of New York City. From poverty, to the September 11 attacks, to the abuse of Hip Hop culture in general, "Empire State" stands strong as a snapshot of the city."

NPVR is the avant garde duo made up of the late Peter Rehberg and Nik Void. Editions Mego is proud to present their second and final release. No this is not some kind of Beatles synthetic AI that raises the dead reconstructed recordings but rather a new album made by the humans and their machines.

The initial meeting of Rehberg and Void was in London in 2016 and despite or due to their mutual awkwardness found solace and compatibility in the fact that they both had a similar electronic modular set up, along with matching cases to transport all. The idea to collaborate was an obvious and organic process as a means to connect their individual gear together and observe the outcome. The fruits of these initial experiments, recorded in London, resulted in the playful experimentation of their acclaimed 2017 release 33 33 (eMego 251).

Now in 2024 Editions Mego presents the logically titled follow up, 33 34. These sessions were recorded six months after the initial recordings at Peter’s home in Vienna. This was planned out as a mirror city release to the original London recordings. With Peter having access to his full studio set up this time around we encounter a rich audio landscape which organically folds together a variety of musical genres blurring any distinction between these forms so the resulting music hovers as a new cloud of sound. Any musical form, be it industrial, electro-acoustic, ambient, drone and techno all coexist and melt into the other as the ensuing result unveils a hypnotic swarm of divergent sounds (music). When active there were no lines or contexts with NPVR, either between sound or genre within these recordings or live where NPVR were at home playing at a techno club one night and an avant garde venue the next.

The initial session of these recordings was edited by Rehberg and sent to Void to further develop. Over time the final versions were agreed on and then shelved as other outside projects took over. The awkwardness had been surmounted and the two had become close friends. NPVR performed at a range of venues such as Tresor, Sutton House, Corsica, Blitz, Paris GRM #Focus2, LEV Festival and Rigas Skanumezs Festival. Following Rehberg’s untimely passing Void had difficulty listening back to the sessions but eventually thought it fit to complete and release this album, of which even the artwork (like 33 33, an image from Zurich photographer, Georg Gatsas) had been decided upon prior to Rehberg parting ways.

There is an unmistakable joy to these recordings. One encounters an enthralling exploration of their chosen machines which conveys the excitement of what can be randomly conjured when people speak through such devices. There is no grand statement or argument here, just the sheer thrill of creation and the recorded results of random encounters. The art of collaboration was always a mainstay of Rehberg’s practice from the advent of the MEGO adventure. Rehberg & Bauer was an initial collaboration with former business partner Ramon Bauer. Even at this stage one can hear a relaxed sense of delight in the sheer discovery of sound.

A mix made for the Wire magazine following the release of 33 33 hints at the freedom that comes with endless urge for exploration and discovery. Abstract tracks from Z'EV. Jérôme Noetinger and Jung An Tagen are included alongside British stalwarts The Fall and New Order. There were no lines between pop / academic / underground or mainstream in Rehberg’s world. All of it sat at the same table. It is just matter in the atmosphere, like the diverse exploration found in these recordings that comprise 33 34.

Towards the end of his life Rehberg was obsessing over the immense output of the German ambient musician Pete Namlook. An artist renowned for not only his sprawling catalogue of ambient masterpieces but one who often said his main inspiration was nature. This is apt with regards to the work of NPVR which also aligns with such thought as the intertwining of the two individual artists and their machines results in a natural symbiotic flow, as it happens, just like in the world around us.

Pioneering experimental electronic record receives first-ever complete vinyl pressing, featuring expanded content and exclusive liner notes.

Editions Mego release the highly anticipated vinyl reissue of Get Out, the groundbreaking second album by Peter Rehberg under his influential PITA moniker. Originally released in 1999, this seminal work stands as a landmark achievement in experimental electronic music, praised for its revolutionary fusion of ear-splitting noise and melancholic melodies. Moving beyond the era's trend of pure abstraction, Get Out represents a pivotal moment when experimental electronic music began exploring new territories laying forth a path which many artists would subsequently follow.

This expansive reissue marks a significant milestone for collectors and enthusiasts, presenting all 12 tracks from the 2008 eMego CD version on vinyl for the first time. The inclusion of the rare Detroit live recording (remastered by Jim O’Rourke) provides invaluable insight into PITA's performance practice during the album's original touring cycle, whilst new liner notes from Jim O'Rourke and Chris Clepper provide further personal and anecdotal insight.

Since its original release, Get Out has been recognized as essential listening for understanding the evolution of experimental electronic music in the late 20th century. This authoritative reissue ensures that Rehberg's visionary work remains accessible to new audiences while providing longtime admirers with the definitive version of this crucial album.

The vinyl comes with a DL code which contains a 20 minute live performance in Kyoto, Metro, 25.01.1999.

KEG announce new EP Girders set for release September 2nd on Alcopop! Records/BMG. The band also share the frenzied and whip-smart new single Kids. The band, who have been hotly tipped across the board for 2022, will also play their debut UK headline tour plus festivals which include Green Man, End Of The Road, Latitude and more. Kids strides into the deep lineage of British art-punk songwriting that is both self-referencing and outward-facing - while being consistently innovative. Few singles manage to take aim at both the restaurant chain Itsu and the comedian Michael McIntyre, but KEG somehow pull it off.

Following a widely successful debut single release Heyshaw in the summer of 2021, KEG saw major support from publications such as NME, DIY, Dork, So Young, Clash etc. Leading into their debut EP Assembly, released October 2021, KEG toured with contemporaries such as Squid and Talk Show.

KEG are a seven piece. Albert (vocals), Joel (bass) & Will (synth) grew up together around the seaside Yorkshire town of Bridlington; and like many artists growing up in removed quarters of the country, they shared a yearning to leave. Spreading to different parts of the country after leaving school, they found their bandmates in their respective cities and found one another once again on the southern shores of Brighton.
Frank (guitar), whose background resides mostly in hip-hop, afforded a unique pulse with a guitar sound which is manic, discordant but firm. Jules (guitar) whose songwriting sensibilities come from a love of cadence and craft of beautiful soul ballads, imbued the band with his structured sense of composition. Both Charlie (trombone & shell) and Johnny (drums) come from classically trained Jazz backgrounds.
The announcement will receive digital marketing support and will launch with new tour dates announced (below) with pre-order for presale access available.

Bruit's sound is a tectonic collision of raw noise and patient, cinematic structure: layers of metallic percussion, low-end rumbles and fractured melodic fragments that creep, accumulate and then converge. Balancing soaring melancholy and industrial grit with meticulous dynamics, they turn long-form pieces into physical architectures where silence, resonance and sudden force are equally important. In this reissue of their staggering debut EP `Monolith', Bruit give us the opportunity to rediscover their first ever release, the completely self-produced and recorded record that defined their direction and introduced their world-shattering sound. `Monolith' is an epic portrayal at the centre of the human experience, the band's use of melancholia, industrial textures reimagined through patient dynamics, sculpted resonances, and a singular attention to momentum gives listeners access deep and power terrains. `Monolith' is the first expression of Bruit's exploration of material sound and human scale. Building on the dense palette of integrity and compositional mastery, Bruit interrogates what long-form composition can hold: memory, pressure, and a cinematic coalescence. Bruit's sound captures the exorbitant nature of the times, the outrageousness of humanity at a moment in time that is grotesque in scale and overwhelming in scope. Two long tracks for FOR FANS OF Hans Zimmer * Nils Frahm * Godspeed You! Black Emperor * Balmorhea * Max Richter * Olafur Arnalds * A Silver Mount Zion * Boards Of Canada

Bruit's sound is a tectonic collision of raw noise and patient, cinematic structure: layers of metallic percussion, low-end rumbles and fractured melodic fragments that creep, accumulate and then converge. Balancing soaring melancholy and industrial grit with meticulous dynamics, they turn long-form pieces into physical architectures where silence, resonance and sudden force are equally important. In this reissue of their staggering debut EP `Monolith', Bruit give us the opportunity to rediscover their first ever release, the completely self-produced and recorded record that defined their direction and introduced their world-shattering sound. `Monolith' is an epic portrayal at the centre of the human experience, the band's use of melancholia, industrial textures reimagined through patient dynamics, sculpted resonances, and a singular attention to momentum gives listeners access deep and power terrains. `Monolith' is the first expression of Bruit's exploration of material sound and human scale. Building on the dense palette of integrity and compositional mastery, Bruit interrogates what long-form composition can hold: memory, pressure, and a cinematic coalescence. Bruit's sound captures the exorbitant nature of the times, the outrageousness of humanity at a moment in time that is grotesque in scale and overwhelming in scope. Two long tracks for FOR FANS OF Hans Zimmer * Nils Frahm * Godspeed You! Black Emperor * Balmorhea * Max Richter * Olafur Arnalds * A Silver Mount Zion * Boards Of Canada

As genre conventions continue to morph and blur, there's a wealth of stunning
new music being made wherever groups of musicians have the imagination
and ingenuity to transcend the old boundaries and just play whatever comes
naturally
Sun Speak are such a group and their album Probiotic Orchestrations is full of music
that's urgent, powerful, accessible and humorous, pulling together sounds and
textures from the worlds of rock, jazz, electronica, Americana and the outer reaches of
progressive music into compelling whole. Guitarist Matt Gold and drummer Nate
Friedman first came together as Sun Speak ten years ago amid the white heat of the
Chicago experimental scene, where they'd worked with such luminaries as Makaya
McCraven and Patricia Barber.
On this, their sixth release, they continue to develop their own distinctive sonic world
with the aid of fellow Chicagoan Daniel Pierson who joined as engineer/ sound
sculptor and now increasingly takes a collaborative role as a third member of the
band on keyboards. Now the trio are dispersed and live in different corners of the USA,
but in 2024 they came together in a remote seaside cabin in New Hampshire, writing
and recording every day in an intense undisturbed whirlwind of creativity. Probiotic
Orchestrations is the result - a dazzling mix of improvisation and composition,
exploring rhythm, colour and texture with the directness of rock and the fearless
improvisatory flair of jazz.
Available on heavyweight black vinyl + 6-panel digipak CD editions.

Drawing from her constant searching for her own unique sound she filters her love of rhythm and groove through her Nordic sensibility to create an accessible, compelling blend of excitement and introspection. Growing up on the island of Saaremaa in her native Estonia, Britta Virves was a keen piano student playing a strictly classical repertoire. A chance encounter introduced her to jazz: "I wanted to learn guitar. So I went to my teacher Tit Paulus, and he told me to stay with piano, and introduced me to Keith Jarrett, Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans - my mind was blown - a new world opened up." Britta immersed herself in the music and her talent soon attracted attention.

Moving to Sweden to further her studies, she was soon touring Europe with the acclaimed Norrbotten Big Band, under the direction of Joakim Milder, working closely with featured guest vocalist Genevieve Artadi and accompanying Artadi on a duo tour opening for Louis Cole. Each tune on the album draws inspiration from an aspect of Britta's own life. "Simple Things" has the directness of a pop song married to the depth of jazz, as Genevieve Artadi's ethereal vocals float over an insistent backbeat that supports limpid depths of harmony.Other tracks include "Bravery", whoch showcases the subtlety and dynamic control of the rhythm team and is one of Britta's favorite tracks on the album - "I feel it's like a big waterfall that's rushing down and making its path just by flowing naturally." By contrast, "Chances" plays with a neatly delivered set of accents that tie the roots effortlessly

TIMEPOINT is the studio album distilled from Stéphane Bissières’ eponymous audiovisual performance, where modular synthesis meets generative real-time visuals. In the live show, sound and image are intertwined: each musical gesture informs a visual response, creating a dynamic, evolving environment where music and visuals interact organically.

Paris-based composer and new media artist Stéphane Bissières works at the intersection of electronic music, generative art, and cybernetics. He develops algorithmic systems that explore timbre, structure, and the interplay of energies, translating data into immersive sensory experiences.

For TIMEPOINT, Bissières transforms the live, algorithmic energy into a self-contained sonic journey. Using modular synthesis and generative composition, he builds intricate, evolving textures that balance chaos and structure — a sonic ecosystem reflecting movement, pattern, and organic order.

The music explores timbre as a central element, sculpting sounds that resonate with the visual patterns of the performance. Each track functions as a microcosm of the show: algorithmically generated sequences, cybernetic textures, and evolving layers converge to form a lush, immersive soundscape.

TIMEPOINT invites listeners to explore a world where technology, imagination, and organic structure coexist. It’s an intimate translation of a live audiovisual universe, now accessible as a focused listening experience.

South Street International return with the house goodness once again, reissuing Vick Lavender’s house anthem “The L.O.V.E. Song (From Chicago To New York)”. Originally self-released on his label Sophisticado Recordings by the Chicago producer and musician, this is one of those timeless deep house gems that’s become an underrated weapon for discerning DJs worldwide.

Lavender – known for his work with Glenn Underground as part of the legendary Strictly Jaz Unit – has been shaping deep and soulful house for over three decades, blending world music, jazz fusion, R&B and more into a sound that’s both spiritual and deeply rooted in the dancefloor. Here he brings the best of both cities into one track: the soulful musicality of Chicago, the cosmopolitan polish of New York. Warm Rhodes, fluid percussion, and vocal refrains ride over a groove that’s equally at home in a dark basement session or a sunrise terrace set.

With originals changing hands for eye-watering prices on Discogs, this official reissue makes this must have record accessible again. Lovingly remastered by The Bakehouse and presented on South Street International, This record is a must-have for fans of deep house, and anyone who believes in the eternal conversation between Chicago and New York.

The Vibracid operation has cracked the code. With control systems collapsing, the third transmission pierces the very fabric of reality, unleashing patterns that overflow any known algorithm.

From Earth to the far reaches of the interplanetary galactic network, six architects of sound unite to chart routes beyond logic: corrosive FM sequences, blasts of mutant acid, haunting vocoders, and electromagnetic pulses engineered to infiltrate both bodies and machines.

Each track is a node in the insurgent network, an access point to the domain where matter, music, and mind can no longer be separated.

Careful sound and mastering, and exceptional design for a limited edition of 150 copies solid orange vinyl.

Ground-breaking percussive ambient recordings from Gabrielle Roth & The Mirrors, inducing altered states of consciousness through ecstatic dance. "Selected Works from 1985 to 2005" finally available on Time Capsule

Despite featuring an extraordinary cast of musicians (with credits including Pharoah Sanders, Miles Davis, Sun Ra, Santana and Milton
Nascimento) and selling hundreds of thousands of albums, the music of Gabrielle Roth & The Mirrors remains largely unheard beyond their sphere. Conceived as live, improvised soundtracks to Roth’s transcendental dance workshops, musical acclaim was never on the agenda.Instead, for a passionate dancer and spiritual polyglot like Gabrielle Roth, movement was a means through which to channel a wide spectrum of teaching, from experimental psychology to psychedelic counter-culture. It was from this heady mix that she devised a movement meditation known as 5Rhtyhms, which came to define her life’s work.

As “guide and catalyst”, Roth would dance to inspire the percussion-led instrumentals that would in turn fuel her 5Rhythms workshops, stimulating a secular form of ecstatic dance with roots in Native American shamanic traditions, Afro-Brazilian Candomblé and Yoruba drumming. Using anything from a Sioux pony drum to East African kihembe and Japanese Kabuki drums, Gabrielle’s lawyer-turned-drummer husband Robert Ansell set the foundational rhythms for The Mirrors’ recordings, each of which would then feature a rotating cast of friends and professional musicians.

“The secret of everything we’ve done is that we never told anybody what to play,” Robert shares. “Instead of our albums being a musical vision of one person like me or Gabrielle, they were the musical vision of a whole bunch of people.”At times the recordings have a Middle Eastern flair, at others, West African and spiritual jazz modes come to the fore. Hints of kosmische musik, proto-house and electronic ambience are laced like LSD through the organic rhythmic structures. This was kaleidoscopic ambient music to stir the body and free the mind.

In practice, the task of synthesising these different elements fell to Scott Ansell, Robert’s son and a recording engineer whose credits now include Nile Rogers, Duran Duran, Grace Jones. With meticulous attention to detail he captured and translated the dynamic energy of each drum onto record. Their sessions became legendary, and with access to the best studios in the NYC, The Mirrors sparkled.

Despite being initially overlooked by the burgeoning ‘80s New Age market, which preferred pipes and gongs to The Mirrors’ heavy-grooving drums, Robert Ansell set up Raven Recording to self-release the music, creating a vast sonic archive of sixteen albums over almost forty years. The breadth of Raven’s catalogue is such that curator Pol Valls had to cut an initial selection of sixty-six tracks down to the eleven featured here. What crystallises is a stunning, mind-altering collection which spans, in Pol’s words, “a variety of genres, styles, and vibes within their catalogue, whether it is emotional, esoteric, spiritual, melancholic, hypnotic, dark, or at times a combination of these elements together.”Music for immersive and intimate environments, Gabrielle Roth & The Mirrors were born from the dance. In the hands of the right DJ, at the right time, in the right place, they might just return there.

With ten original compositions (and one well-chosen cover) to record and a schedule window of just one day in New York City to record them, there was no margin for error. For the frontline Kerry picked a pair of legends - Kurt Rosenwinkel on guitar and Jaleel Shaw on alto and soprano sax. In the rhythm section she selected NYC's busiest bassist Alex Claffy and, keeping it close to home, her partner George Colligan on drums. And in the face of delayed flights and traffic hold- ups, the album Alternate Route was created, hitting the highest standards of performance with the depth and warmth of Kerry's challenging but engaging compositions. It's a set of tough and tender tunes that combine sophisticated harmony with intricate but accessible melodies to inspire some fierce blowing from everyone, all delivered with a concise, timely precision.

The empathy and good feeling flowing between the players are audible from the first notes: "Kurt, Jaleel and Alex all have Philly roots so there's a really strong relationship there. Alex is incredibly gifted, and Jaleel is such a beautiful player with such a huge, recognizable sound. And it was such a thrill to have Kurt on the album - he's one of my favorite composers and I've been a fan for such a long time." Each player has a powerful personality and Kerry allows them free rein, yet such is the strength of her compositions, and her calmly stated but immensely powerful presence on piano, that no one player dominates the music: everyone finds their own alternate route to excellence.

AOKI takamasa and Tujiko Noriko’s 2005 album »28« has become a cornerstone in the artists’ respective discographies. 20 years after its initial release, Keplar issues it on vinyl for the very first time. Three years in the making, »28« saw the sound artist and the avant-pop singer-songwriter combine their distinct aesthetics for an album that defied categorisation. Their combination of advanced electronic experimentation and pop appeal paved the way for a new generation of artists and turned »28« into an enduring fan favourite. Remastered by Stephan Mathieu, the reissue comes with a brand-new artwork by Joji Koyama and a changed track listing—authorised by Takamasa and Tujiko—for the vinyl version to fit it on a single LP, while the digital version remains identical to the original release.

Tujiko and Takamasa first shared the stage together after the turn of the millennium. Both were emerging solo artists, with Takamasa a mainstay on the Progressive Form label and Tujiko forging a connection with Mego in Vienna, Austria. »I simply liked Noriko’s voice and music, and since we often performed at the same events, it felt like a natural progression for us to start working together,« remembers Takamasa. They first collaborated in 2002 for two shows at the Fondation Cartier in Paris and at SonarLab in Barcelona, respectively. The first joint piece was a rework of Tujiko’s »Fly« from »Hard Ni Sasete (Make Me Hard)« by Takamasa, appearing as the album opener »Fly2« on »28.«

After that, the Paris-based Tujiko and Takamasa, still based in Osaka, worked sporadically and remotely on new material. For the first two years of their collaboration, the two met in the context of live events or Takamasa’s visits to the French capital to discuss their process and exchange hard drives while also occasionally sending each other CDrs in the mail. »Aoki made beats and sounds that complemented my music perfectly, building the foundation on which my voice could float,« Tujiko says today. Takamasa used hardware such as the Nord Modular, the Korg Z1, and the Korg ER-1, while also working with different kinds of software and plug-ins as well as Logic. Tujiko was using Cubase, her preferred piece of gear at the time being an AKAI MPC.

After Takamasa moved to Paris in 2004, this enabled the duo to finish the album together in person. Starting with its subtle use of glitches to the almost-anarchic way in which it deals with the structures of a song, »28« came to be an incomparably intricate album. 20 years on, it remains timeless because of its flawless synthesis of the cutting-edge avant-garde ideas of early 2000s electronica with an idiosyncratic but accessible pop sentiment. Both artists look back fondly—though not uncritically, with Takamasa noting a certain »youthfulness« in his contributions—to the album that was titled after their respective age at that time. »Maybe we should make ›51‹ now?,« quips Tujiko. See you in three years, perhaps.

Born from a profound devotion to the piano and a reverence for the organic flow of life, byt’ surprises listeners by presenting "paths of sand", a remarkable creation by Amsterdam-based composer xico, offering sound and soul to those willing to listen beyond the surface.

Through the magic of experimentation, xico captured the fleeting beauty of the muse of improvisation, as described by Nachmakovich, transforming the ephemeral into something lasting. Performances recorded on the same old piano during the 2023 Kaalstaart Festival in the Netherlands have since evolved into a fully realized work. A journey of nearly three years of dedicated silence that began with Telva’s intuitive recognition of xico’s voice, starting with an invitation to her radio show and blossoming into a captivating fascination with what unfolded. This process led to the art of shaping the selected live recordings into a collector’s item, now materialized as a limited edition of 200 pressed vinyl copies, forever remaining as an artistic memento.

Perfectly attuned to the energy of the autumn equinox, paths of sand unfolds as an intimate reflection of music’s ability to hold what cannot be held, to speak what cannot besaid, and to embody what can never be described.

xico is a sound artist and improviser from Ibiza whose work explores the merging point between disruptive and post-natural soundscapes, crafting immersive sonic environments through compositions that unfold like ecosystems.

Encouraged by an understanding of chance as nature’s and awareness' most accessible voice, he focuses on creating generative live-sets with varying degrees of unpredictability. For him, subordinating human intention to nature’s order is a conscious choice, and making art through this lens becomes a statement and a spiritual practice. With his distinctive touch, his compositions resonate with the world in unexpected and profound ways, offering experiences you may never have heard before.

Better Together Records is pleased to welcome the duo Hiworld into the BTR family with their etheral and multi genre project “Temple do Sol”.

Hiworld is the collaborative project of Eora based artists Mondowun and Toaka. Born from a long-standing friendship and shared passion for the world of electronic music. Inspired by their Portuguese and Polynesian backgrounds, nostalgic 90s culture, and reality-altering records. Their forthcoming EP ‘Temple Do Sol’ captures a world where technology does NOT reign supreme and people’s bonds are built through reality and NOT the digital realm. The record builds evocative atmospheres and distinct worlds, offering listeners a space to access personal memories and create new experiences.

As always, Solace in unity at the end of eternity.

2025 Repress

“UR wonders” What happens to jazz if combined with the current electronic sound tools used to make Detroit techno now?
What might Jazz sound like if the inspirational pioneers of fusion ie; Return to Forever, Astral Pirates or Weather Report had access to the music production technology available now or in the future?
The artform called Jazz was a unique reflection of “The African American experience here in the United States.Unfortunately by the 90″s it had been compromised by major record companies and made “smoother” for mainstream consumption and more profits.
Born in America’s rural black south Rock & Roll had suffered the same fate years earlier. Original artists eventually replaced by well studied clones and corporate mega profits!! Also happening the original artform of jazz appeared to be caught, processed & throughly EXPLAINED by people who sought to intellectualize “struggle & human emotion” into mere words and then benefit immensely financially by being authorities on the subject.
Hmm sound familiar?

As you watch the current intellectual colonization of the urban inner city African American art forms house music, hip-hop, Jungle & Detroit techno get studied, bent, twisted renamed and turned into EDM profit formulas.

There stands records like Nation 2 Nation that defy these definitions and inspire the next generation of Pioneers who continue the undefined exploration of Jazz like Derek Jamerson, Jon Dixon, Raphael Merriweathers, Desean Jones, Timeline, Galaxy 2 Galaxy, Raphael Statin & Ian Finkelstein. Mother to daughter, Father to son,

Nation 2 Nation a work inspired and that inspired what’s next.

Old-time and traditional music stay exciting for their contrasts. Exacting instrumentation honed through mentorships and late-night jams at fiddler's conventions tangles with a community-sourced inventiveness that influences variants and new sounds. Joseph Decosimo is a master of this genre for this very reason, blending deep technique with an openness and curiosity that keep his music crackling with life. A "marvelous fiddler" (No Depression) and banjo player who braids "exultation and veneration" (INDY Week) into his music, on his third solo album Fiery Gizzard Decosimo gathers a close-knit ensemble of friends from his musical career to infuse his interpretations of fiddle and banjo pieces with a contagious communal joy. As an artist working with traditional music from the South and Appalachia, Decosimo chooses songs based not only on historical significance and lineage but also his own sensory approach. For Fiery Gizzard, his ear was tuned to otherworldly tones and mystery, sourcing from field recordings such as Virginia fiddler Luther Davis' hypnotic version of "Shady Grove" while amping up the music's psychedelic potential. On the middle Tennessee banjo composition "Flowery Girls," a VHS of bluesman Abner Jay inspired Decosimo to rig up a pickup inside a fretless banjo and play it thr ough a tube amp to capture some of Jay's edge and funkiness. But to round out the sound and keep it kinetic meant galvanizing a genre-eschewing crew to jam out - and not in a "spaced-out drooly" kind of way, he laughs, but as a sort of "responsive conversation." Decosimo has always been a community-minded artist. He began playing as a seventh graderin Tennessee, fostering relationships with older players at jams and in homes, a learning mode natural to his inquisitive nature and desire for musical connection. A folklorist by intuition, he later became one by profession, studying with old-time legend Clyde Davenport, teaching in East Tennessee State University's renowned bluegrass program, and receiving his PhD at the University of North Carolina with a dissertation titled "Catching the `Wild Note': Listening, Learning, and Connoisseurship in Old-Time Music." In North Carolina, Decosimo kicked about in the verdant environment of Durham and Chapel Hill's folk and indie scenes, collaborating with artists including Alice Gerrard, Hiss Golden Messenger, and Jake Xerxes Fussell. This community has influenced his own music, including his "sublime and strangely heartening" (Bandcamp Daily) 2022 release While You Were Slumbering and Beehive Cathedral, Decosimo's 2024 "Appalachian mountain music treasury" (New Commute) trio album with Luke Richardson and Cleek Schrey for Dear Life Records. Continuing on this path, Fiery Gizzard is home base for a loose outfit of mostly Tarheel-based musicians from within and beyond traditional music. Inspired by a tour with fiddler Stephanie Coleman (Nora Brown), guitarist Jay Hammond, and synth builder and multi-instrumentalist Matthew O'Connell, Decosimo assembled studiomates based on close friendships and comfort. Coleman, O'Connell, and Hammond contribute to Fiery Gizzard, along with bassist and producer Andy Stack (Helado Negro, Wye Oak), horn player Kelly Pratt (Beirut, David Byrne), Mipso and Fust's Libby Rodenbough, Joseph O'Connell (Elephant Micah), and trad/experimental artist Cleek Schrey. Decosimo's fiddle and banjo work is virtuosic, intricate and simple simultaneously, a testament to his many years of study. On some tracks, his playing or lovely, plain-hearted singing is the centerpiece, such as on his interpretations of Texan street preacher Washington Phillips' 1929 recording "I Had a Good Father and Mother" or the Eastern Kentucky fiddle barn-burner "Glory in the Meetinghouse," famously played by Luther Strong for Alan Lomax. But there's also a trusting open-door policy, like where Southern Appalachian tune "Ida Red" relaxes into Coleman's sweet, confident fiddling and Hammond's loping guitar. As a bandleader, Decosimo's confidence and enthusiasm for the music reveal the heart of traditional music and how it can come to life through community. Fiery Gizzard is Joseph Decosimo as a powerful champion of traditional music - a sponge who soaks up as much as he squeezes out, a responsive artist who makes his genre accessible, and a magnet who can bring musicians of all sorts into his orbit with his same passion.

When Harmonia made an album, it was about more than just music – it was about a vision. Released in 1975, Deluxe was the band’s second album. Compared to their debut, it focused more on structure, melody, and rhythm. Harmonia showed a more accessible side without losing their depth.

Now, 50 years later, Deluxe returns in a special anniversary edition: a high-quality gatefold with previously unreleased photos and orange vinyl inspired by the original artwork. This edition is for collectors and anyone curious why artists like Brian Eno and David Bowie considered Harmonia a major influence – and why Deluxe remains a blueprint for electronic music today. Brian Eno once called Harmonia “the world’s most important rock band”¹ – a quote that captures just how visionary their music was, and still is.

High-quality gatefold sleeve with unreleased archival photographs

50th anniversary reissue

orange colored vinyl, inspired by original artwork

From Earth to space, humans are invading and impacting all accessible ecosystems.

Feudo and Donor worked on soundscapes inspired by human activity and nature.

Each piece in this project is the musical illustration of a fictional scene.

For the first time ever, the only full-length album by Spanish soul and garage legends Z-66 is being reissued. Z-66's signature blend of powerful soul, psychedelia, and pop-clearly influenced by bands like The Move, Stones, Vanilla Fudge, and Blood, Sweat & Tears delivers a bold, modern sound that remains fresh and compelling. Unlike other Spanish bands of the time, Los Z-66 enjoyed unique conditions that allowed their sound to stand out as one of the most advanced on the local scene in the late 1960s. As was the case with many other groups, their repertoire for entertaining discotheques had to include the hits of the moment and was not always open to the songs of the most daring international bands, which was the sound that most stimulated the musicians. In the case of Los Z-66, being based in Mallorca meant they had privileged access to hard to-find records, imported by foreign tourists, and to a much more modern atmosphere than in other parts of the country. Songs in Italian and French soon gave way to English hits by the Animals, the Stones, and the Beatles. But it was the offer received from Mike Jeffries, manager of Jimi Hendrix, the Animals, and others, to serve as the house band at the newly opened club Sgt. Pepper's that allowed the group to raise their live performances to a level rarely seen in these parts... They even soon incorporated the distorted sound of fuzz into their guitar when they received a fuzz face pedal as a gift from Jimi Hendrix himself, who was invited to play at the club's opening! Their excellent blend of stunning soul, psychedelia, and pop became their hallmark, not only in the band's concerts but also in the handful of singles and EPs they released on the Regal label. We are now re-releasing for the first time their only full-length album, originally published in 1969, which is actually a compilation of songs previously released in 45 rpm format, complete with two bonus tracks not included on the original LP plus a booklet with liner notes and rare photos.

Cambridge’s acclaimed psych-folk quintet Fuzzy Lights return with their fifth album ‘Fen Creatures’. Following on from 2021’s critically lauded ‘Burials’ the band have created their most conceptually focussed work to date – a mediation on environmental crises that uses the folklore and history of East Anglia as a lens to examine humanity’s fractured relationship with the natural world.

The album operates across multiple historical timelines, from Iron Age hill forts to medieval plague houses, from Byron's Romantic-era environmental warnings to the immediate threat of rising sea levels, creating a temporal tapestry that weaves ancient stories with contemporary concerns.

Musically, the quintet, Rachel Watkins (vocals/violin), Xavier Watkins (guitar/electronics), Chris Rogers (guitar), Daniel Carney (bass), and Mark Blay (drums), have pushed deeper into experimental drone territories while maintaining the crystalline folk sensibilities that have become their signature.

Lead track ‘Greenteeth transforms the traditional cautionary tale of Jenny Greenteeth, the water spirit who lures children to their deaths. "When I read this story to my daughter, she was instantly drawn into it," Watkins notes. "There's something timeless about these tales and the way they speak to fundamental fears and connections that span generations."

Elsewhere, 'War Ditches' imagines the Iron Age dead of a Cambridge hill fort keeping watch over the land, their vigil ending as modern people lose connection with the earth. 'The Promise' creates an imaginary encounter with the ghosts of Landbeach village across multiple eras, connecting the 1665 plague with our recent pandemic experience through shared narratives of community resilience and loss.

Critics praised ‘Burials’ as "way beyond folk and folk in essence all at once" (Backseat Mafia) and "folk-rock looking back squarely at the early 1970s" (Financial Times), and 'Fen Creatures' promises to cement Fuzzy Lights' reputation as one of Britain's most vital contemporary folk acts. The album positions them firmly within the lineage of artists like Fairport Convention, Trees, and Comus who understood that engaging with tradition isn't nostalgic escapism, but a way of accessing older wisdoms about how to live in the world.

‘Burials’ press:

“...the musical battle between the fuzzy and the light makes Fuzzy Lights special.” MOJO ★★★★
“...a simmering, sinister undercurrent which often explodes with apocalyptic fervour.” SHINDIG ★★★★
“...subverting genre expectations and folk melodies.” FINANCIAL TIMES ★★★★
“Way beyond folk and folk in essence all at once, it's a record that’ll bring you much reward.” BACKSEATMAFIA - 8.3/10
“a genuine delight....a stirring and unsettling listen, goosebumps adding to the pleasure of timeless music played well, with perfect precision. Don’t leave it another eight years, eh?” FOLK RADIO
“...re-inventing the folk-rock playbook and dragging it screaming through an array of influences...Fuzzy Lights’ most unique, reflective and ambitious record to date” FOR THE RABBITS

This anthology of Los Wembler's allows us to appreciate the legacy of the iconic group from Iquitos, the most important city in the Peruvian Amazon which is only accessible by air or river, and their key role in the creation and revival of Amazonian cumbia. Los Wembler's emerged as a family band in the late 1960s in the Belén district of Iquitos and are regarded as pioneers of electric guitar-driven Amazonian cumbia from Perú. The selection of songs that make up this compilation dates from the period between 1972 and 1980, at the peak of the band's career. Songs such as 'Sonido amazónico' or 'La danza del petrolero' have become highly influential classics of the genre. Most of these tracks are reissued here for the first time after remaining unavailable for decades. "Selva" includes an insert with liner notes and photos. Pressed on 180g vinyl.

Originally released in 1973 and pressed in very small quantities, Emerge is the second album by the McCrary family and their non-gospel debut. Long sought after by collectors and modern-soul and funk connoisseurs, it's an exemplar of what was considered "progressive soul" in the early 70s as well as what emerged a generation later as "neo-soul." This long-overdue reissue was produced with the full cooperation of the McCrary family and gives this remarkable record wide distribution and easy accessibility for the very first time since its initial low-key release over half a century ago. The McCrary family started out as a gospel group in their native Youngstown, Ohio but turned to secular music upon relocating to Los Angeles in 1970 and recording this album for the tiny Cat’s Eye label of Beverly Hills. The music veers between sophisticated, jazzy R&B (Charity McCrary’s beautiful “Matter Of Time”) to occasionally grittier funk (as on “Kung Fu”). “Be A Father To Your Son” and “People Run On Love” bear messages that are still relevant decades later. The McCrarys would later gain wider recognition with their hit “You” featuring Stevie on harmonica and with “Any Old Sunday” which was memorably covered by Chaka Khan.

Calling a Deicide album “more accessible” is kind of like calling a velociraptor less lethal than a T-Rex…you’re gonna die either way. But on 1997’s Serpents of the Light, the fourth album from the Tampa death metal quartet, Glen Benton’s rage-filled imprecations are a little more intelligible and songs like “Slave to the Cross” and “Blame It on God” do sport choruses that verge upon being hooky (if you have a meathook in mind). The anti-religion invective remains unabated, however… this remains music in extremis despite the stripped-down production. For its first-ever standalone U.S. LP release, we’ve remastered Serpents of the Light for vinyl and given it an Orange Smoke pressing complete with an inner sleeve featuring lyrics and a 12” x 24” poster of the cover image. Not for even the faintly faint of heart

Calling a Deicide album “more accessible” is kind of like calling a velociraptor less lethal than a T-Rex…you’re gonna die either way. But on 1997’s Serpents of the Light, the fourth album from the Tampa death metal quartet, Glen Benton’s rage-filled imprecations are a little more intelligible and songs like “Slave to the Cross” and “Blame It on God” do sport choruses that verge upon being hooky (if you have a meathook in mind). The anti-religion invective remains unabated, however… this remains music in extremis despite the stripped-down production. For its first-ever standalone U.S. LP release, we’ve remastered Serpents of the Light for vinyl and given it an Orange Smoke pressing complete with an inner sleeve featuring lyrics and a 12” x 24” poster of the cover image. Not for even the faintly faint of heart

L’Osmose returns with their second full-length album First Dog, expanding on their unique blend of groove-driven psychedelia, jazz fusion, and experimental pop with a more vocal-forward production. First Dog features lush arrangements, hypnotic rhythms, and collaborations such as Swiss rapper Rico TK, bridging soulful melodies with bold rhythmic energy. A deep yet accessible record, it stands at the crossroads of jazz, psych-soul, and contemporary fusion. Perfect for fans of Khruangbin, BADBADNOTGOOD, and The Mariás.

Anushka Chkheidze + Robert Lippok’s »Uncontrollable Thoughts« on Morr Music is the duo’s debut joint release. The Netherlands-based Georgian composer and the German sound artist from Berlin first met in 2019 in the context of a workshop programme that took place in Tbilisi, and later worked with Eto Gelashvili, Hayk Karoyi, and Lillevan on the massive »Glacier Music II« music and book project, released in 2021. This led them to engage in a less conceptually driven form of musicking and real-time composition that corresponds with their respective environments. They draw on traditions such as minimal music or late 1990s and early 2000s electronica to integrate subtle beats with elegiac organ drones, playful melodies with lush textures. The first document of an ever-shifting intergenerational dialogue, »Uncontrollable Thoughts« is a product of mutual listening outside time.

Though Chkheidze and Lippok had access to professional studios, they chose to rent a simple rehearsal space, equipped with only the bare essentials—bass and guitar amps as well as a small PA—to maintain immediacy in their working process. The music they made together corresponded to and drew on the respective possibilities and shortcomings of this studio, much like their collaboration in general is characterised by the care with which they approach each other's talents and ideas. While both had loosely defined roles—Chkheidze was responsible for the free-flowing beat programming and the evocative distortion came courtesy of Lippok, for example—they individually contributed in different ways to their joint process, which is as free of hierarchies as it is limitless. Hence, the duo’s focus on spontaneity and out-of-the-moment emergence makes them organically move beyond tried and tested conventions, resulting in music that seems to suspend time altogether.

When the first chimes on »Bird Song« announce a piece that sets rattling kickdrums against a backdrop of layered drones and rhizomatically entangled melodic elements, it becomes clear why »Uncontrollable Thoughts« carries this title: The album follows the constant detours of the subconscious of its makers, letting them explore moments of ecstasy such as on »Rainbow,« melancholy with »Field,« and the interplay of suspense and release through the ten-minute-long title track. But the different pieces also tie into one aother in various ways. The dirge-like organ drones on which »Rainbow Road« ends reappear in the beginning of »Uncontrollable Thoughts,« much like Chkheidze’s gentle yet emphatic piano chords on »Field« seem to provide the starting point from which the artist develops the striking motifs of the final piece »Opening«, whose title itself suggests that the record as a whole can and should be enjoyed as a loop. All this creates a unique, idiosyncratic temporal logic.

While there is much that sets Chkheidze and Lippok apart as solo artists, the major shared leitmotif in their respective bodies of work is the sonic engagement with space. »Uncontrollable Thoughts« is hence best understood as an extension of this practice; as an album that maps the geographies of their minds in motion, tracing musical movements as they melt into each other.

Serie mit unbekanntem Ausgang. Diary of Dreams starten eine Serie von Mini Alben, deren finale Anzahl noch nicht beschlossen ist; Mastermind Adrian Hates erklärt: "Die Serie endet, wenn die Geschichte zu Ende erzählt ist." So beginnt nun am 31.10.2025 die neue musikalische Traumreise mit dem Kapitel "Dead End Dreams". Der Titel ist ursprünglich eine Textzeile aus dem Song Panik? vom 2002er Mini Album PaniK Manifesto, welches für DoD das erste seiner Art war. Die Zeile blieb für Adrian jedoch bis heute inhaltlich unvollendet; es gab dazu noch so viel mehr zu sagen. Es war also höchste Zeit, dieses Sinnbild zu vollenden. Begeben wir uns dafür nun gemeinsam in völlig neue Klangwelten des Tagebuchs. Der Titel verrät ein wenig, womit zu rechnen ist - düstere und apokalypische Szenarien und ein Rückzug in die eigenen Gedanken, um das auszublenden, was kaum fassbar mehr scheint: die Realität; Eine Welt am kollektiven Abgrund. Gegründet wurde die Band 1989 und erspielte sich seitdem mit über 700 Konzerte in 43 Ländern ein treues Publikum.

"Visual artist, musician and composer Satch Hoyt will release a new 10” vinyl album, Un- Muting, on 3 October 2025 on newly minted record label traza, run by Andrea Zarza Canova and distributed by Honest Jon’s Records. This album is the first to document Hoyt’s ongoing, long-term project of un-muting historical African instruments held in Western museum collections and includes his composition: Un-Muting Beyond Misspelt Borders.
Originally commissioned by Nottingham Contemporary for the exhibition Your Ears Later Will Know to Listen, Hoyt’s composition invites listeners to engage with what he calls ‘sonic restitution’, a performative challenge to the silent confinement of instruments within Western conservation standards and ethnographic museums, awakening and celebrating the hybridity, resilience and creativity of the transnational African diaspora.
The composition began with a recording session in October 2023 at the British Museum in London, where Hoyt was granted access to a selection of African instruments held by the British Museum’s Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas. In the presence of curators and conservation staff, he played the instruments without written scores, responding instead to their physical and sonic presence.
The recordings were then further developed in Hoyt’s studio, combined with additional performances on both African and Western instruments from his own collection."

For Hoyt, un-muting is both a creative and political act:
"To Un-Mute is to gain access into ethnographic museum collections where I play and simultaneously record the abandoned ancient African musical instruments. These restituted recorded motifs and rhythms accompany my live concerts and recordings. Un-Muting is also concerned with the chapters of patriarchal and racist supremacy which accompany the instruments’ abductions, vehemently opposing the current continuum of this supremacy, its ongoing colonial expansion and continued capital extractivism. It remains focused on the retention of spiritual belief and stalwart visions of liberation leading to eventual global emancipation and self-realisation."
- Satch Hoyt, June 2025

The 10” vinyl record includes a newly commissioned text by critic and scholar Tavia Nyong’o.
The album will be released on vinyl and digital formats on 3 October to coincide with the opening of Satch Hoyt’s solo exhibition Satch Hoyt: Afro-Sonic Mapping Chapter 4 at KARST Plymouth.

Ancient African instruments: Trumpets (Kuba), Sanzas (Chokwe, Lega, Kongo, Yao), Ilimba (Nyamwezi), Whistles (Chokwe, Luba, Pende, Bambara), Talking Drum (Yoruba), Slit Drum (Kuba, Yaka, Tetela, Songye), Bell (Tetela), Rattles (Yoruba, Luba, Bamileke, Pende) and Flutes (Kuba, Kongo, Mossi, Bambara)

Western instruments: Flute, Electric Flute, Roland Handsonic, Synthesizers, Glockenspiel, Wooden Xylophone and assorted hand percussion

Composed, arranged, produced and performed by Satch Hoyt
Engineered and co-produced by Dirk Leyers
Recordings of musical instruments held by the Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas at the British Museum by Adam Laschinger
Studio recordings of African instruments from Satch Hoyt's collection by Dirk Leyers
Uncredited Female Chant on wax cylinder recording by Karl Edvard Laman (c. 1910), held by the Berlin Phonogramm-Archiv
Additional sound design and production by Call & Response Studios
Mixed by Hendrick Valera (Cali, Colombia)
Mastering and lacquer cut by Kassian Troyer at Dubplates & Mastering
Cover art: Satch Hoyt, Score #1, 2020
Design by Elisabeth Klement
Direction by Andrea Zarza Canova

Belgian pop superstar Max Colombie, aka Oscar and the Wolf, announces new
album ‘The Shimmr’, on PIAS Recordings.
Enter Colombie’s world and you’ll discover a uniquely dazzling and shimmering
fusion of contemporary R&B and a more European electro-pop sensibility, uniting
shivery melody, shifting beats and vocals steeped in drama, sensuality and yearning.
Colombie hears, “a twilight zone where it doesn’t sound dark nor happy. It’s like the
name Oscar and the Wolf; it’s a balance between light and dark, this perfect
combination between the sun and the moon. It’s beautiful and scary at the same
time.”
Oscar and the Wolf’s official debut, the 2012 EP ‘Summer Skin’, showed his gifts
arrived virtually fully formed, but he truly came of age in 2014 with his debut album
‘Entity’. Balanced between dancefloor anthems and slow jams, ‘Entity’ went 4 times
Platinum in his native Belgium and quickly jettisoned Colombie to superstar status.
He sold out arenas in Belgium and the Netherlands, taking the penultimate
headlining slot (behind Muse) at 2016’s Lowlands festival before headlining
Belgium’s Pukkelpop festival, sharing the bill with Rihanna and LCD Soundsystem.
Released in 2017, the second Oscar and the Wolf album, ‘Infinity’, went Platinum at
home, whilst amassing a huge Middle Eastern fanbase across Turkey (where his
2018 tour sold out in minutes), Egypt, Israel and Iran. On stage, Colombie cut a
commanding and lithe performer, often garbed in shimmering outfits that interacted
with the dynamic lighting.
The new Oscar and the Wolf album, ‘The Shimmer’, distils the essence of Colombie’s
sound and vision in its title and the image of Colombie on the album cover, bathed in
starry light. The album is a benchmark of his transformation on record; whereas
‘Entity’ was recorded in a barn, “very lo-fi with no access to gear,” he recalls.
‘The Shimmer’’s bold, rich and layered dynamics were captured at ICP Studios in
Brussels, home to, “one of the best live rooms in Europe, with all this vintage gear.”
More intimate moments were added at Colombie’s house outside the city, “those
magic takes we made just after we’d written something, which are so hard to capture
again.”
By ‘we’, Colombie includes producer Jeroen De Pessemier and multi-instrumentalist
Ozan Bozdag, who had both worked on ‘Infinity’ (and Bozdag on ‘Entity’ too). “It’s a
magical trio,” Colombie says. “Everyone is allowed to be themselves, and to explore
themselves. I’m really happy with ‘The Shimmer’ because I hear a more mature
version of myself. I always want things to grow, and I’m proud that I allowed myself to
not follow people’s expectations and reproduce what had been successful before.
There are no four-to-the-floor clubby pop songs this time.”
Instead, ‘The Shimmer’ more accurately reflects Colombie’s personality. “My
emotions run from super-happy to super-melancholic in a split second,” he says. “To
me, ‘The Shimmer’ feels like the soundtrack to a blockbuster, with many types of
tracks and themes. It’s always changing."

Phylipe Nunes Araújo's songs are as rich and varied as the diverse landscapes they were written in. The hills of Pernambuco, the lagoons of Alagoas, and the beaches of Bahia are all woven into his stripped-back, folk-inspired Brazilian songwriting. As part of a wider movement of musicians originating from Brazil's Northeast, Phylipe sees the process of music-making as the search for beauty itself.

Collaborating with fellow Northeastern artists Bruno Berle, Batata Boy and Nyron Higor among others, Phylipe's debut album represents the latest flowering of this exceptionally talented community's creative search.

The Northeast holds an almost sacred importance in Brazil's collective cultural imagination. The region bore witness to the brutal histories of Portuguese colonization and the African slave trade, while simultaneously amalgamating the diverse cultures, religions and traditions of those who have called it home. Countless Brazilian music greats - Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Hermeto Pascoal, Djavan and Luiz Gonzaga - have emerged from this vast cultural melting pot.

Born in Caruaru, Pernambuco state, and raised in the city of Santa Cruz do Capibaribe (famed for its textiles industry), Phylipe describes his music simply as "Brazilian music from the Agreste of Pernambuco". His masterful compositions thread together regional rhythm, folk poetry and sophisticated harmony.

Phylipe's musical foundations were laid in youth, listening to the local elders rehearsing their forrós, attending São João street parties in front of his house and watching the Junina Quadrilhas dance through his neighborhood. At street fairs he would read the Literatura de Cordel (handcrafted pamphlets of Brazilian folk literature), and watch the rhyme battles between cantadores, violeiros, and repentistas, who improvise verses on daily life, social commentary and philosophy. This tradition of Northeastern folk poetry proved particularly formative for Phylipe as a lyricist. "I always try to write things as simply as possible. I believe that beauty must be easily understood. If I can facilitate the path to the message, there's no reason not to. It's something I learned from the traditional poetry here: it's more beautiful if everyone understands."

At the age of 11, Phylipe first got access to the internet. As he explains: "Still in adolescence I was also able to discover things like The Beatles and Nick Drake - I started to get to know music from the rest of the world and later to correlate that with my local musical experiences." Rich with extended chords and artful dissonances, it's clear from his compositions that jazz and bossa nova also took hold, but he's quick to eschew stereotypes. "Inevitably, people associate a Brazilian musician playing a nylon-string guitar with bossa nova..." "But the foundation is another story," he asserts, "It's the Northeast."

On the guitar Phylipe experiments with the binary rhythms inherent in traditional Northeastern music. Coco, frevo, maracatu and baião are recontextualised, placed alongside Brazilian popular music (MPB), gentle lullabies and stunning ballads. "In these 10 songs, I am experimenting with making pop music on a nylon-string guitar with my foundation in the Northeastern songbook."

The contemporary musical community which Phylipe belongs to developed initially in Pernambuco's neighbouring state Alagoas. Phylipe lived in its capital Maceió for three years, where he built friendships and musical bonds with Bruno Berle and Batata Boy who together produced his album. Bruno also sings in unison with Phylipe on the duet "Valise", a song Phylipe wrote aged just 15.

In recent years, Phylipe, Bruno and Batata have migrated south to São Paulo, where the majority of the album was recorded. Other collaborators on the album include Alici, who provides vocals for the ebb and flow of "Temperim", Nyron Higor who plays drums on lead single "Asa" and the sweet indie moment "Ziz"", bassist Meno Del Picchia who plays on the mystical baião "Bixin" and the propulsive "Subindo a Ladeira", and Raphael Coelho who joins Bruno and Batata on percussion for "Santa Cruz", Phylipe's hypnotically powerful portrait of his hometown.

Limited edition ORANGE SWIRL vinyl 1000 copies worldwide. Remastered by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service. Originally released in 1990 vinyl reissue includes 3 bonus tracks. "We drove up there and my cousin Tracy had turned punk rock. And she said, 'I'm going to this show tonight. Come with me.' And so I went to this club called The Cubby Bear - it's right across the street from the baseball stadium - and a band called Naked Raygun were playing, and they're this legendary Chicago punk rock band. But I'd never seen live music. So my introduction to rock and roll was in a club that held about 150 people that was half full and I was belly up against the stage watching this incredible live band, like, sweat and spit and bleed in front of me." - Dave Grohl interview, The Record, 2011- // Naked Raygun were an extraordinary staple in the Chicago music scene - beginning in the early 80's and continuing until their quiet demise in the early 90's. Their music showed the world that punk rockers could play and be really good at it. Founded in Chicago in 1980, by Marco Pezzati, Jeff Pezzati and Santiago Durango, Naked Raygun released six albums during their eleven year career that would change the sound of punk rock indefinitely. The band is widely recognized as being one of the most influential punk bands of the 80's. Their anthemic style incorporated politics in a uniquely accessible way, melding pop and hardcore into one cohesive sound, that would later be dubbed, "The Chicago Sound". Shortly after their first release, Basement Screams, Durango left to join Big Black permanently, and was replaced by John Haggerty, whose unique style of buzzsaw guitar would define Raygun's sound for their next four albums. Additionally, Pierre Kezdy replaced Camilo Gonzalez and Eric Spicer took over drums for Jim Colao. In 1990, Haggerty left the band to start Pegboy. Bill Stephens joined the band for their final studio release entitled, Raygun...Naked Raygun.

Limited edition DARK TEAL vinyl 1000 copies worldwide. Remastered by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service. Originally released as a 6-song ep in 1983 vinyl reissue includes 8 bonus tracks. "The long- awaited NAKED RAYGUN EP has finally been released, and musically it's a beauty. The songwriting is extremely imaginative, the vocals are unbelievably catchy, and the unique fuzzed-out guitar work sounds wonderful." - MaximumRockNRoll, October/November 1983 - // Naked Raygun were an extraordinary staple in the Chicago music scene - beginning in the early 80's and continuing until their quiet demise in the early 90's. Their music showed the world that punk rockers could play and be really good at it. Founded in Chicago in 1980, by Marco Pezzati, Jeff Pezzati and Santiago Durango, Naked Raygun released six albums during their eleven year career that would change the sound of punk rock indefinitely. The band is widely recognized as being one of the most influential punk bands of the 80's. Their anthemic style incorporated politics in a uniquely accessible way, melding pop and hardcore into one cohesive sound, that would later be dubbed, "The Chicago Sound". Shortly after their first release, Basement Screams, Durango left to join Big Black permanently, and was replaced by John Haggerty, whose unique style of buzzsaw guitar would define Raygun's sound for their next four albums. Additionally, Pierre Kezdy replaced Camilo Gonzalez and Eric Spicer took over drums for Jim Colao. In 1990, Haggerty left the band to start Pegboy. Bill Stephens joined the band for their final studio release entitled, Raygun...Naked Raygun.

Limited edition GRAPE CRUSH vinyl 1000 copies worldwide. Remastered by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service. Originally released in 1988 vinyl reissue includes 4 bonus tracks. "Plenty of bands can claim Naked Raygun as an influence, from post-punkers to hardcore acts. All of them could learn a thing or two or three by studying the whoas. With Jettison... Naked Raygun achieved creative bliss. Here is an album that successfully combines dissonant instrumentation with supremely catchy vocals." - Punknews.org - // Naked Raygun were an extraordinary staple in the Chicago music scene - beginning in the early 80's and continuing until their quiet demise in the early 90's. Their music showed the world that punk rockers could play and be really good at it. Founded in Chicago in 1980, by Marco Pezzati, Jeff Pezzati and Santiago Durango, Naked Raygun released six albums during their eleven year career that would change the sound of punk rock indefinitely. The band is widely recognized as being one of the most influential punk bands of the 80's. Their anthemic style incorporated politics in a uniquely accessible way, melding pop and hardcore into one cohesive sound, that would later be dubbed, "The Chicago Sound". Shortly after their first release, Basement Screams, Durango left to join Big Black permanently, and was replaced by John Haggerty, whose unique style of buzzsaw guitar would define Raygun's sound for their next four albums. Additionally, Pierre Kezdy replaced Camilo Gonzalez and Eric Spicer took over drums for Jim Colao. In 1990, Haggerty left the band to start Pegboy. Bill Stephens joined the band for their final studio release entitled, Raygun...Naked Raygun.