Buscar:the act

The Alice Comedies are a series of Animated/live-action shorts created by Walt Disney in the 1920s, in which a live action little girl named Alice (originally played by Virginia Davis) and an animated cat named Julius have adventures in an animated landscape.

The Magic Clock is a whirlwind mishmash of motifs that 1 draws on an unusually wide range of sources: Hoffman’s The Nutcracker and medieval romances working cheek by jowl with Arabian Nights, Ovid, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Peter Pan, Mallarme’s “Afternoon of a Faun,” and Novalis’ blue flower.

Paul Dessau was a German composer and conductor. He composed operas, scenic plays, incidental music, ballets, symphonies and other works for orchestra, and pieces for solo instruments as well as vocal music.

The music is conducted and produced by Hans E. Zimmer, who conducted an extensive repertoire including Die Zauberflöte, Le Nozze di Figaro, Euryanthe, Jenufa, Ariadne auf Naxos, Salome, Der Rosenkavalier, Der Friedenstag, Die Meister-singer von Nürnberg, Lohengrin.

With COVID restrictions now easing, and fresh off the back of their ongoing in-lockdown Quarantine Series, as well as EP + album releases from Calder Valley upstarts The Lounge Society and cult singer-songwriter Stephen Fretwell respectively – the studio is now re-open and Speedy are back to doing what they do best: releasing one-off 7”/digital singles.

The latest band to be welcomed into label boss Dan Carey’s Streatham HQ is the 5-piece London based alt-pop band moa moa comprised of James Ratcliffe (guitars, keys, vox), Connor James (keys, guitar), Sophie Parkes (sax, vocals), Dan Byrne (bass) and Matt Taylor (drums).

Having sent the label a collection of demos during lockdown – of mainly finished songs – the one which caught Carey’s ear was actually a 20-second snippet of just an idea really – which the band had included in what they had sent over. ‘I know it sounds mad’ says the producer – ‘but I just knew there was something in it.’ Meaning in true Speedy style the band and producer alongside engineer Alexis Smith had to build the song around the single motif from scratch on the day – having previously never met before, in what turned out to be a mammoth 13-hour recording session.

‘It was scary and exciting in equal measures going into it’ says the band, ‘but Dan and Lex create such a safe, encouraging creative space, and from that, we somehow came out with a moa track we're all happy with.’

The resulting track ‘Coltan Candy’ is 4 + minutes of hook-laden sunshine alt-pop that layers and builds, perfectly reinforcing the band’s manifesto of marrying ‘unconventional songwriting with pop-leaning sensibilities’, channelling (amongst others) Unknown Moral Orchestra, XTC and MGMT with contemporary R & B influences into something seamless and new. And it’s catchy as hell.

‘Lyrically, the tune is darker and more direct than our other stuff’ says James (Ratcliffe), ‘even if it’s offset by everything else going on in the music. The main hook of the song is the lyric "Coltan Candy" which refers to a mineral that has been mined unethically for decades in Africa for the production of electronic circuits in the West. I’m making some pretty OTT comments about corruption, technology, and the failures of institutions in the West, but also asking some questions about our own involvement and inability to do anything about it.’
Regardless of the seriousness of the content the band just feel relieved to have finished the track. ‘Even up to the night before the session we had 20 seconds of music that we were jamming into what sounded like an awful country track…so, it’s fair to say that the whole process really helped us to focus and make decisions!’
Coltan Candy. The sweet sound of the summer.

Following on from the acclaimed Tiger Balm / Amazonia Dreaming / Immersion LP (BT028), Black Truffle is thrilled to present two major new instrumental works from legendary sound artist and experimental composer Annea Lockwood. Demonstrating the ever evolving and radically open nature of Lockwood’s practice, these two recent works were developed in close collaboration with their performers. ‘Becoming Air’ (2018), developed with and performed by trumpeter Nate Wooley, uses extended technique and electronics to interfere with Wooley’s virtuosic control over his instrument, pushing him into areas of fluctuating pitch and timbral instability. Motivated by a desire for ‘the letting go of sound to be itself’, ‘Becoming Air’ unfolds as a series of texturally distinct moments separated by pauses, each fixing on a particular approach to the instrument (long tones, upper-register whistles, breathy wooshes) and maintaining it in an essentially static fashion, focussing our attention on subtle changes and variations. Dipping into near-inaudibility in the fragile high tones of its opening section, the piece dramatically increases in volume and intensity in its final third, climaxing with a passage of roaring distortion, where the interaction between feedback and trumpet pitches calls up the shuddering interference effects of Robert Ashley’s Wolfman.

‘Into the Vanishing Point’ (2019) is a collaborative work developed with New York piano and percussion quartet Yarn/Wire, who have performed work by major contemporary composers such as Olivia Block, Catherine Lamb and Klaus Lang. Carrying on the ecological and environmental concerns of some of Lockwood’s previous works, ‘Into the Vanishing Point’ was inspired by a devastating news article on the global collapse of insect populations. Discovering that the four members of Yarn/Wire had also read this text, Lockwood mapped out a loose structure for the piece that would allow the composer and four performers to explore their ‘feelings about what is happening ecologically’. Working with a huge variety of instruments, objects and techniques of sound production, the resulting work is an alluringly lush, organically unfolding tissue of unorthodox textures and haunting tones. Though not intended to sonically represent ecological issues in any direct way, its unique sound world of rubbed piano strings, gently handled objects and chiming pitches often calls up natural images: of insects and frogs, wind rushing through trees, a bird’s wings in flight. Presented in a stunning gatefold cover with liner notes by Lockwood, Wooley and Yarn/Wire, Becoming Air/Into the Vanishing Point is a testament to the generosity and experimentation that continue to characterise the work of this extraordinary artist, active for over fifty years.

Constructed from the brains and limbs of Wayne Adams and Henri Grimes, Big Lad is difficult to frame in words and perhaps much better served by their actions. Their live show having been continually captured, cropped and chopped over the years since their formation in 2015.

The project was rather appropriately founded off the back of a chance email, when Drummer Grimes (formerly Shield Your Eyes) suggested that the duo collaborate on a crossover project, having heard Adams’ vast Breakcore back catalogue. Adams had, somewhat serendipitously, been busy writing a Drum Trigger programme shortly before the email had hit his inbox and he jumped at


the chance to test the creation in a practice room. With Grimes strapped into this new system, songs started to appear thick and fast, and Big Lad was swiftly born.

2015’s recorded debut announced their collaboration, consciously marrying the collective excitement of both underground Punk and Electronic subcultures. 2018’s Pro Rock saw Big Lad extend the euphoria of their live show, using primal energy as an antidote against the jargonistic culture of our present.

After a year away from the heat of the stage lights, 2021 sees the triumphant return of the duo, announcing a brand new LP titled Power Tools. It’s a collection that sits as an unashamed monument, chiselled and stripped back to present the raw strength of what Big Lad has become. The results range from more familiar high octane tracks that nod to history of the rave community, to more brooding moments that appear (and vanish) like the ghosts of warehouses long since vacated.

A deep dive into the one of most collectable jazz catalogues in the world, a selection of some of the rarest and most sought-after recordings from the 60s and 70s, a time when British jazz began to find its own identity. Drawn from the iconic labels of Decca, Deram, Argo, EMI Columbia/Lansdowne Series, Fontana, Mercury, & Philips. If one were asked to pick an album that represented the best of British jazz in the 1960s, Le Déjeuner Sur l’Herbe by the New Jazz Orchestra would be a serious contender. Recorded in September 1968, it draws together many of the key streams that had developed in British jazz in the preceding years, and also presages much of what was to come. Notwithstanding the line-up, which includes some of the very best British jazz musicians directed by an inventive and ingenious leader in Neil Ardley, the session features pieces written by the most distinctive jazz composers active in Britain at that time alongside idiosyncratic interpretations of works by John Coltrane and Miles Davis. And it’s all captured beautifully by engineer Howard Barrow and producer Tony Reeves and it features a stella cast of some of the greatest musicians, not just from that era or genre but beyond; Jack Bruce, who would become one of the founding members of Cream, Barbara Thompson, Ian Carr, Michael Gibbs, Dave Gelly, Dick Heckstall-Smith and Jon Hiseman, who went on to form one of the greatest jazz/progressive/rock bands – Colosseum.

Since signing with Rhymesayers in 2015, Sa-Roc has continued to both invigorate and grow her fanbase with a string of singles, accompanied with powerful and visually enthralling music videos, including “Forever”, which is nearing 4 million views on YouTube. In that time, she has continued to cultivate and sharpen her skill sets, and now she is set to release her first album for the label.

Speaking on the meaning of the album’s title and inspiration, Sa-Roc shares, "The Sharecropper’s Daughter speaks to my father’s actual beginnings on a Virginia tobacco farm where his family sharecropped. The title is meant to signify that both my father’s and my upbringing, though so different, are linked by a shared history that informs the way I move through the world. Although his formative years were spent in the Jim Crow era of the south, where he suffered through poverty and racial oppression, and mine were shaped in the heart of DC, amidst the war on drugs and the effects of its fallout, the album finds points of connection in two very different yet tragically familiar stories of Blackness in America. It’s a sonic reflection of the things we inherit. About the emotional weight that we unknowingly bestow upon the next generation; the genetic transfer of both trauma and triumph that we, both donors and

MIEKO SHIMIZU is a London based Japanese singer, songwriter, composer
and producer. She first erupted onto the scene as Apache 61, fusing layers
of cross-woven breaks and battling shards of sub-bass within stateless
melodies drawn from the fringes of the avant-garde.
Mieko has produced scores for contemporary dance company Phoenix Dance
Theatre as well as the Ballet ‘The Red Balloon’ at the Royal Opera House’s
Linbury Theatre. She was made an ‘Emerging Artist in Residence’ at London’s
Southbank Centre where she collaborated with the London Philharmonic Orchestra on her own compositions.
ROAD OF SHELLS was originally released back in 1990 and now being released
for the very first time on vinyl. Recored at Wold Studios in London, the record
features an array of talented musicians from Claude Deppa on trumpet and
guitar from Dominique Brethes. ‘Blue Dancer’ and ‘In The Garden’ features
Mieko’s brother Yasuaki Shimizu on saxophone.
20 years on from Road Of Shells original release date the record has now has
be released for the very first time on Vinyl in Japan and available in the UK
and worldwide.
Mieko has worked with David Cunningham from The Flying Lizards, Robert
Lippok of To Rococo Rot and re-mixed the likes of Coldcut. Haruomi Hosono
of the cult electro-pop act ‘Yellow Magic Orchestra’, signed Mieko to his label
‘Daisy World’.
Mieko has performed at Sonar, alongside Kraftwerk and supported Massive
Attack at their Melt Down Festival.

Licensed in 1975 by Gemelli, Rendez Vous is possibly a holy grail in Nicolai’s long-running career as a composer. The orchestra director and musical editor is been active for at least 30 years and his majestic opus an overwhelming data for any avantgarde freak or moviegoer obsessed. While studying piano and composition at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome, he befriended Ennio Morricone and formed a long working relationship, with Nicolai eventually conducting for and co-scoring films with Morricone. Nicolai also scored a number of giallo exploitation films and wrote many scores for director Jesús Franco. His work was featured in the Quentin Tarantino films Kill Bill: Volume 2 and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Tension! Pretty much what this whole record is all about. An imaginary soundtrack that turned out to be an in-demand obscure library, Rendez Vous shows up the many skills of the composer and his alumni. Possibly Morricone is playing muted trumpet in several episodes – Diffidenza and Subdolamente – absorbing thrilling experiences similar to the Maestro soundtracks for Dario Argento early movies (not a case that Nicolai was the conductor for several adventures in movie sound theatre such as ‘L’Uccello Dalle Piume Di Cristallo’, ‘ Il Gatto A Nove Code’ or ‘4 Mosche Di Velluto Grigio’).

Rendez Vous is now to be ranked among the most adventurous Nicolai soundtracks, a unique combination of classic contemporary arrangements and superb jazz noir sketches

Assemble Music returns in 2021 with its 25th release: a 5-track heavyweight compilation featuring a handful of the finest electronic acts in Portugal and two well sought after internationals.
Population One a.k.a. Terrence Dixon, having released in iconic labels such as Metroplex, Tresor, Rush Hour and Jeff Mills’ imprint Axis in the last decades, kicks off this record with ‘Unfolding’ some Detroit Techno cargo (A1), followed by a hypnotizing, spiraling acidic Techno bomb - ‘Acid Grind’ (A2) - courtesy of the Algarve duo Roundhouse Kick. Prolific Portuguese DJ and producer, formerly based in The Netherlands, Lake Haze finishes off this first side with the Electro infused, twisted ‘Acid Warfare’ (A3).
Over to the B side, Roma Zuckerman, originally from Siberia and also releasing a double LP on Nina Kraviz’s трип this year, pulls off a classic fast-paced Acid groove on ‘We Call Its Acidomine’ (B1), while the Lisbon duo 2Jack4U takes us to a dream party land with the anthem ‘Acid 00010’ (B2)
Surely a must-have tool for an upcoming post-pandemic rave!

Elvis Costello’s “This Year’s Model” will be reinterpreted all in Spanish with 19 of today’s top Latin artists (Luis Fonsi, Sebastian Yatra, Juanes, and many more) representing a total of 9 countries. The lyrics have been precisely translated to have the featured Latin artists sing to the original multis. We are working closely with our Universal Latin label partners for artist participation and overall support on this release.

Spanish Model tells the story of what happens to a seminal album (This Year’s Model) recorded 42 years ago when it is reinterpreted with new voices in another language. This is a story of transformation, adaptation, reflection; a mash-up of language, geography, culture, and passion. How past/present and time/ space can partner with music/talent to reimagine a completely new work – Spanish Model.

Atlanta’s The Masamune presents his debut 12″ release on Ohm Resistance – 4 absolute dancefloor controllers, with a special guest appearance from DJ Hidden on remix duties. This self-titled EP is aimed squarely at the next generation of Drum & Bass DJs and listeners, competing for the top step on the production podium. A direct representation of the storied Drum & Bass history of the label, The Masamune wires together his signature traditional symphonic strings and orchestral elements with the hardest hitting modern dancefloor sound. His beats range from half time punishers, in his signature Neuro-hop style, to running and rolling steppers, with a strong hip hop/b-boy influence appearing throughout his produdctions. According to The Masamune: “This project was made almost specifically to serve as a prelude to the full length LP I’m currently writing for Ohm Resistance.” The EP showcases the numerous talents of the artist, as well as crucial amplifications from his collaborators. Including Jakob Klug on artwork (previously work includes Black Sun Empire and The Outside Agency) and The Netherland’s legendary DJ Hidden, who has remixed the closing track – Doomslayer. The Masamune comments: “I consider DJ Hidden a pioneer and an early influence of mine. He was gracious enough to lend his talents on the remix of my 2018 track “Doomslayer”. The Masamune is a multi-genre producer, remixer, & live act from Atlanta, GA. A composer and sound designer known for his niche style of blending orchestral elements into the chaotic palettes of hard drums and heavy synths, his tracks explore dark themes and deliver punishing consistency. A top-flight production ethic combines with rich exploration of the dark side of Drum & Bass, his works are an automatic dancefloor uplifter in the hands of skilled DJs. He has released on Harder & Louder, Mindocracy, Smackdown Recordings, and was a participant in the Ohm Resistance 7″ series, as well as an annual contributor to the Perihelion compilation series.




d B2 Doomslayer DJ Hidden Remix

Folklore Series is the music label created by the FOLKLORE team, based in Toulouse, south of France. Active since 2009, we gradually diverged from traditional clubs in order to reconnect with a certain freedom and to assert our values by investing alternately abandoned places, clearings and warehouses for our parties. The music we produce is inspired and dedicated to these gatherings and more generally to the sound system culture.

The music that would become Conversation Peace began with a trip to KPM’s London HQ in late January of 2020. I had just finished wrapping up post production on my album Ocean Bridges with Archie Shepp and Raw Poetic. I actually received the invitation during the summer of 2019 during studio sessions for Ocean Bridges and scheduling for the top of 2020 made the most sense. So I packed up a few records and a few drum machines then embarked on my first trip to England. We had a quick meeting about expectations, then it was time to see the archive. As a record collector, I’m very familiar with the legacy of the KPM brand. I had been lucky enough to find a few over the past decade during my digging trips up and down the east coast, but looking at the complete vinyl catalogue was a great privilege. I anxiously began combing through records from morning to night looking for the right sounds. The whole experience was surreal.



Listening to the entire catalogue was a history lesson and the amount of great composers and compositions in the recordings was endless. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t somewhat overwhelming. As a producer looking for textures, inspiration and grooves, the abundance of those things made it extremely difficult to narrow down what I wanted to use. From drums to sound fx to orchestras to small rhythm sections to ambient noises, I heard a wide variety of things and they were all so well produced and recorded. Every instrument you can think of was there! I spent a little over a week capturing sounds knowing that my work was cut out for me when I returned to my home in DC. Once I got home, I got to work. I captured so much, that it took me about a month just to organize all those ideas. Little did I know the world would drastically change in the next month following my return. My flight to and from London would indefinitely be my last time traveling for a while. I worked diligently with the material and took my time making sure I had strong ideas. The history of KPM and the opportunity to collaborate with the prestigious lineage made the stakes very high for me and I knew I needed to deliver a quality product. It’s an honor to be the first artist to release a KPM Crate Diggers title. - Earl Davis (Damu the Fudgemunk)

THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA is back! The band that formed as an idea of friends from several well known rock/metal bands (SOILWORK, ARCH ENEMY, MEAN STREAK) back almost a decade ago and has been dropping jaws ever since. With 5 albums already under their belt, 2 nominations for the Swedish Grammies, countless live shows and praises from fans and media alike, TNFO have steadily upped their game when it comes to paying tribute to a decade that influences all sorts of people and even industries to this day - the 80s. With hits like ‘Domino’, ‘Lovers In The Rain’, ‘West Ruth Ave’, ‘Divinyls’ or ‘This Time’, the band manages to maintain a variety of vibes and emotions within every album. From hard rockers, poppy digressions to progressive epics, disco-esque songs and almost cheesy yet loveable ballads.

Enter 2020, TNFO had just released their recent record, ‘Aeromantic’, and kicked off their European tour in support of it, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Björn Strid, the AOR dictator helming this exceptional collective called NFO, recalls “We made it one week into the tour after some absolutely amazing shows and then it all went south and we had to go home. Just about everyone on the tour got sick when they came home, with varied conditions.”
The band didn’t step back and accept the situation but decided to do what they do best instead: “It was pretty clear after some months into the Covid madness, that it was here to stay and that we weren’t gonna be able to tour for quite some time. So we made the best out of it. The remedy was simply to hit the studio again as soon as everybody was well again. It ended up being an incredibly creative 1,5 years and so many amazing songs came out of it.”

That being said, the second part of the ‘Aeromantic’ saga really captures what this band is all about: being in motion and romanticizing traveling, sometimes even with a broken heart - accompanied by the good things in life. Namely with songs like ‘White Jeans’, yet another jaw dropping classic rock gem about hot young love, cramped with nostalgia, or ‘Change’, which encompasses all the vibes you know from your favorite decade: Urgency, emotion, warmth and excitement. But also groovy danceable songs like ‘Chardonnay Nights’, a groovy, dreamy, yet uplifting homage to parties and hot love, or ‘Burn For Me’, a true feel good anthem for the summer - driving people to dance in the streets, all worries aside, to a brighter future.

On the other hand there are tracks like the almost progressive ‘Amber Through A Window’. A little throwback (at least titular) to the NFO’s epic 2017 album ‘Amber Galactic’: “Amber is with us wherever we go and I think she’ll keep coming back. She’s our mascot of escapism. The song was very interesting to compose. It takes you on quite a journey with key changes and goes from minor to major when you least expect it and throws you between different set of emotions. At the same time it feels pretty direct and operates like a mini epos. Really happy with how it turned out“, cites Strid.

Besides all this, the band has also stepped up their game when it comes to music videos for their timeless anthems. “White Jeans” for instance features Swedish TV personality Fredrik Lexfors and is a sweet little homage to the LGBTQIA+ community. “Fredrik is a good friend of mine and has loads of experience in the musical/theatre world and is super creative. He created this character called ”Kantorn” (The Cantor) some years ago and became a hit on YouTube. He has a very twisted and unique way of singing and acting, which is very funny. He was a part of Sweden’s Got Talent TV Show and went really far and became a crowd favorite. Fredrik has a lot of friends in the LGBTQIA+ community and I also have quite a few. We saw it as a joyful tribute and we’ve only gotten really good response. It’s of course also humorous but has a very nice balance and a very positive message.”

The bold and jovial video for “Burn For Me” on the other hand maybe among the biggest and best productions, the NFO ever recorded for the depths of the internet: “I’ve had this idea to film a ”Dancing in the Streets” video, where curious people come out of the woodworks and join the party in the streets. It’s a very classic 80’s scenario and very common in videos back then. Sort of the video to IRENE CARA’s ”Fame”. You don’t see it very often these days. We felt that it was needed and after “Burn For Me” was done I immediately envisoned it being the perfect ”post corona dancing celebration in the streets-song”.”

Those two videos are by far not everything the band will have to offer visually, but we won’t tell any more just for now. To be continued…

With all that new greatness up their sleeves, NFO are ready to take the world by storm – again! Even though coming up with a setlist for their scheduled tour starting in September may prove to become problematic according to the AOR Dictator: “Making a setlist might end up being a nightmare haha… I would be up for doing only songs off »Aeromantic I« and »Aeromantic II« since that’s really where we’re at right now, but I think most of our the Midnight Flyers would like to hear some old stuff, too. Maybe we could get away with it as long as we play “West Ruth Ave” as the ending song and create the good old conga train?”

When his mother brought Stanley Turrentine’s Salt Song LP back from a trip to Canada, Julien Lourau, then a teenager, was impressed by the scope of the sound and the groove of the saxophone. He was also charmed by the lush arrangements and funky sound of the record, typical of releases on the CTI label. Created by producer Creed Taylor, CTI left an imprint in the minds of 70s jazz fans much like Blue Note did in the 60s, and it even ended up releasing work by artists who started out on this mythical label such as Stanley Turrentine and Freddie Hubbard. The two even shared the same sound engineer, the great Rudy van Gelder.
Yet CTI, though highly prolific during its 15 years of activity, has not benefitted from the same aura as its predecessor. “To breathe life into this album, I listened to a wealth of CTI releases and discovered some I had never heard before. I noticed, oddly, that many of today’s musicians know very little about CTI - a label unfairly considered as minor.”

The choice of tracks was determined by Julien’s personal tastes, always keeping in mind a desire to help people discover them yet focusing on the joy of actually playing them too.

"The album is made up of 9 pieces. Mathieu Débordes got everything down to the nearest note before we even attempted to play them. CTI didn’t hold back in fuelling their compositions with brass and violins, but I erased this aspect and pared things down to a bass, drums and two keyboards."
English drummer Jim Hart, someone Julien worked with during his London years, propels the group - from hard-bop polyrhythms with “drum & bass” inflections to a reworking of classic Red Clay.

Sylvain Daniel on the bass and Arnaud Roulin on the analogue keys are two musicians close to the saxophonist, and that he met when they were students in 1999 while organising a master class at the Conservatoire de Nantes. Since then, they have become his esteemed companions.

The collaboration with young pianist Léo Jassef began on this recording, where he also plays the Prophet 5. The dynamic and overlap of the many keyboards played by Arnaud and Léo bring the record a richness of timbre and harmony that the strings and brass provided on the CTI recordings.
For the final track on the record, Julien called upon his friend of 30 years, guitarist Bojan Z, for a fresh, Gospel take on Love and Peace, a track recorded by Quincy Jones in 1969, which here, is dedicated to Bojan’s recently departed brother.

“When it comes down to it, this album really is as I had imagined it, with, luckily, a few unexpected turns. I created a playlist I then claimed as my own. But in the end, I must admit that I would have loved to have composed some of these tracks.”

The music that would become Conversation Peace began with a trip to KPM’s London HQ in late January of 2020. I had just finished wrapping up post production on my album Ocean Bridges with Archie Shepp and Raw Poetic. I actually received the invitation during the summer of 2019 during studio sessions for Ocean Bridges and scheduling for the top of 2020 made the most sense. So I packed up a few records and a few drum machines then embarked on my first trip to England. We had a quick meeting about expectations, then it was time to see the archive. As a record collector, I’m very familiar with the legacy of the KPM brand. I had been lucky enough to find a few over the past decade during my digging trips up and down the east coast, but looking at the complete vinyl catalogue was a great privilege. I anxiously began combing through records from morning to night looking for the right sounds. The whole experience was surreal.



Listening to the entire catalogue was a history lesson and the amount of great composers and compositions in the recordings was endless. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t somewhat overwhelming. As a producer looking for textures, inspiration and grooves, the abundance of those things made it extremely difficult to narrow down what I wanted to use. From drums to sound fx to orchestras to small rhythm sections to ambient noises, I heard a wide variety of things and they were all so well produced and recorded. Every instrument you can think of was there! I spent a little over a week capturing sounds knowing that my work was cut out for me when I returned to my home in DC. Once I got home, I got to work. I captured so much, that it took me about a month just to organize all those ideas. Little did I know the world would drastically change in the next month following my return. My flight to and from London would indefinitely be my last time traveling for a while. I worked diligently with the material and took my time making sure I had strong ideas. The history of KPM and the opportunity to collaborate with the prestigious lineage made the stakes very high for me and I knew I needed to deliver a quality product. It’s an honor to be the first artist to release a KPM Crate Diggers title. - Earl Davis (Damu the Fudgemunk)

Hammer Films has long held a special place in the hearts of horror fans, defining the British genre during the 1950’s with classics such as Dracula and The Curse of Frankenstein. Composer James Bernard scored both and went on to compose the music to a host of horror films for Hammer during the Sixties and Seventies. His distinctive clashing harmonies, often doubling the musical theme a tone higher, raise the on-screen action to a frenzied pitch, terrifying 20th Century cinema goers to the degree that his scores have become synonymous with the titular monsters.

Within Melbourne’s burgeoning cinematic-soul scene, which includes
breakout acts Surprise Chef and Karate Boogaloo, mysteriously sit
The Pro-Teens.
Helmed by prolific drummer and percussionist Hudson Whitlock, who also
plays in both aforementioned bands, this breakaway studio project involves an
interchangeable collective of incognito, Melbourne-based, esteemed instrumentalists playing under outlandish pseudonyms such as “’Dead Honest’ Dean
Amazing” and “Libby Clique-Baite”.
Symbolically led by keyboardist “Snooch Dodd”, new album ‘I Flip My Life Every
Time I Fly’ is the latest musical concoction from Whitlock’s eccentric brain,
marrying the soul/funk roots of sample culture with the principles of boombap hip hop.
Incorporating the colourful comic book stylings of MF DOOM and Kool Keith,
or the dark and exotic flavours of Gravediggaz and The Wu-Tang Clan, The ProTeens also take cues from their composing heroes Galt MacDermot, Richard
Evans and Marc Moulin.
The Pro-Teens bop, zip, whip and fling on this phantasmagorical journey - an
unorthodox patchwork of cinematic soul, hip hop-guided funk breaks, vivid instrumental textures and film score-esque moods.
The Pro-Teens work on the same analogue recording model adopted by the
tight-knit College Of Knowledge label, self-recorded and produced with the ragtag crew of musicians putting tracks down live to tape in crammed attic studios
and sharehouse recording spaces.
The first limited pressing of ‘I Flip My Life Every Time I Fly’ was released on the
‘College Of Knowledge’ imprint in late 2020. It was one of the highlights of the
year at Mr Bongo HQ who loved the concept and felt this tripped out masterpiece from Melbourne needed to be heard well beyond those lucky enough to
have bagged those limited first copies.

Un Singe En Hiver (“A Monkey in Winter”) starred the greatest name of the
time in French Cinema, Jean Gabin and a “rising newcomer”,
Jean-Paul Belmondo.
This is popular early 60s mainstream French cinema, with a certain ‘quality’
that would not be to the taste of the nouvelle vague aficionados. In fact this
film is nothing less than the reflection of a certain Gaullist spirit of rebellion,
fiercely individualistic and disabused of all ideologies.
The music of Michel Magne outlines the nostalgic wanders of Albert Quentin
(Jean Gabin) who after an adventurous youth on the Yang-Tse-Kiang now lives
a quiet life with Suzanne (Suzanne Flon) whom he met at the Bourboule and
manages the Stella hotel at Tigreville (actually Villerville in the Normand Calvados) and takes care of Gabriel Fouquet (Jean-Paul Belmondo), a young adman
whose heart was broken in Madrid.
The genius of Magne is found in his evocations of Spain and China not as they
were at the time but as the two main characters picture them with the help
of not just a few drinks. Here is a jolly good record you will want to go back to
every time the right-minded ones try to mess with your basic rights.